tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post3670844893713731167..comments2024-03-26T22:47:45.276-07:00Comments on Intro to Critical Reading: Finding Meaning in John Marr and Other PoemsAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-2602725751297590542011-02-27T18:51:07.703-08:002011-02-27T18:51:07.703-08:00Overall the entry had a nice flow and informative....Overall the entry had a nice flow and informative. I was left looking for a longer quote from the poem so I could get a better feel of how it was written. Also, I think it could be interesting if you tied in your own beliefs to the topic of life before death. The conclusion left me wanting more, a further expansion of the idea of the other characters aslo contributing to the thesis. All and all I liked the essay and I think it could be interesting to revise and expand.mattsocolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18112261021184047875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-67623955460723449252011-02-27T13:17:41.987-08:002011-02-27T13:17:41.987-08:00You use the poem very well. I think that, as you ...You use the poem very well. I think that, as you finish the novel, it will become even clearer to you that the poem is relevant - there is material about Queequeg close to the end which fits in very well with your reading. The great but problematic philosopher Martin Heidegger has a concept translated as "Being-Toward-Death": that life derives all of its meaning from the reality and from the threat of death, which helps us to organize and structure all life leading up to it. To me, that concept seems at least related to your reading of Melville here, although I may be overreading.<br /><br />I would also ask, given this structure, if you understand the quest for MD as an error, or necessary, or perhaps as a necessary error, given the fact that it is producing meaning or structure for their lives.<br /><br />This was, in short, good and interesting, but its full potential can only be exploited, I think, in relationship with the novel as a whole.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.com