Growing Up With Literature

Since I know the purpose of a position paper and I have got all the necessary references, it is time I should start drafting my work. Just to think of the thesis statement is a headache. As the poem “The Convergence of the Twain” contains a lot of ironies, I tend to focus on it. First, I start with a title, it is “Man’s Arrogance Versus God’s Greatness: Ironies in ‘The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy”. But, I think it is not good to use the phrase ‘God’s Greatness’ so I change it to ‘Nature and Supernatural Forces’. Then, I write my thesis statement as “Throughout the poem, Hardy uses ironies to portray man’s arrogance that become vanity in the face of nature and supernatural forces.” As I have done earlier for my theme paper for “Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister”, I write my position paper according to the same pattern. I comment and do an analysis on the poem.stanza by stanza for “The Convergence of the Twain”.

Today, Miss Dzeelfa, our tutor has given us a handout on writing a position paper. In that handout, I learnt “a position paper presents an arguable opinion about an issue. The goal of a position paper is to convince the audience that your opinion is valid and worth listening to.” (Handouts of Courtesy of UHWO Writing Center, 1998)

Ms Dzeelfa stressed that a position paper must deal with an issue rahter than theme or central ideas. Then, she wanted us to list down three supporting details or topic sentences to support our thesis statement. Since some of us were still on the stage of writing thesis statement, so we continued with our work. Some of my friends were still undecided as to which text to do, so they spent more time for choosing text.

Before I start any writing, it is essential I do some research about the poem. Firstly, I went to the library to look for books on the biography of Thomas Hardy. I read about his details and found out the reason he wrote the poem. It was first printed in the Programme of Covent Garden Charity Concert in aid of the disaster fund, after the sinking of Titanic on 15 April 1912.

After that, I surfed the internet for more information. Sometimes we will get some analysis ever ready for the poem we want. I did find one website that contained an analysis on the poem “Convergence” stanza by stanza and there was a lot of pictures attached. I found the information very useful, I downloaded it and printed it out for reading.

I have finally decided knowledge is more important than grade, thus I choose to do the poem “The Convergence of the Twain”. Though it would mean I have to spend more time in looking for information and reading, I think it worth me to do so. As I like the movie ‘Titanic” and it is the first movie I went to watch with my husband when we were courting, it would be a meaningful poem for me.

Once I have decided which text to do, I felt relief. I can start going with my position paper now. I play the song “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Deon and the soundtrack of the movie “Titanic”, I could feel the anguish and the suffering people go through when trying to get out of the ship. I feel that with the song on, I might get more inspiration for my writing in position paper.

I’ ve chosen the poem “The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy as my text for position paper. However, I am still undecisive as I think the poem ‘Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister” by Robert Browning will be easy for me. As I have done my theme paper for it last semester and got an A for it. I am confident if I use this text for my position paper I might get a better grade. It is an interesting poem and I have analysed very detail on the contrast of a monk’s social roles and his private personality. And also if I choose it for my position paper, I can save a lot of time and energy as I have already its source.

On the other hand, I feel that my purpose for studying degree courses is to gain more knowledge. Once I leave the campus, I may not be able to read and do more about literature. So why not I take this opportunity to get to know more about other poem? I feel that the more text I know, the better I will be in my knowledge of literature.

The reason I choose the poem “The Convergence of the Twain” is because it is a text about the loss of Titanic. It is about history and a calamity that have affected many people’s lives. On the first day of this new semester, Dr. Edwin mentioned this poem. I found it interesting and went back to check from the book “Now Read On”. I was happy to find it but when I read it, I found it difficult to understand. I am rather afraid if I choose it for my position paper, I may not get a good grade from it.

I am rather confused now, which text should I choose? “Soliloquy” or “Convergence”? or Grade or Knowledge?

It is rather bored to start the lesson with the definition of thesis statement. However, as we are going to write a position paper and a research paper on literature, we have to learn how to write a good and strong thesis statement.

A thesis statement is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas. There are six guidelines we need to bear in mind in writing a thesis statement. They are:

a. a thesis statement is an assertion,
b. a thesis statement takes a stand,
c. a thesis statement is the main idea,
d. a thesis statement is narrow,
e. a thesis statement is specific and
f. a thesis statement has one main point.

It is easier to remember these six guidelines than to put them into practice. I have chosen the poem “Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister” by Robert Browning as my choice of literary text for position paper. Though I have done a theme paper on it during the course “Teaching of Poetry”, I still find it difficult to write a thesis statement on it for the second time.

At present, my topic and thesis statement for the poem above are as follow:

Topic:
Social Roles Versus Private Personality: Hypocripsy in “Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister”’

Thesis statement:
Though a monk is supposed to practice his faith by being a good and moral person, Robert Browning has exposed his religious hypocripsy by contracting his social roles and his private personality in the poem “Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister”

However, I don't like to do something I have done before. I am a person who likes to do unfamiliar texts because I want to learn extra things from them. Maybe I will think of using another text which I have or have not learnt during lecture but I have not done any assignment on it. I think that by doing so I can learn more knowledge and improve myself more in writing.

This is our final year for our degree course. As we come closer to the end of my university life, I feel some sort of reluntance. A relunctance to leave the course, a reluntance to leave my coursemates and lecturers, and a reluntance to leave UPM.

During the past two years, I have learnt many literary texts and been exposed to much great works. Reading literature is like an adventure for me. In an adventure, we explore and explore until we discover something new. The same goes to literature, as we explore the texts and make the meaning out of it, we discover new ideas. We discover different things even when we read the same literary text at two different times.

By rereading, I believe the literary work is still of great interests to us. For example, before exposure to any literature, when I read the short story “Paul’s Case” by Willa Carter for the first time, I realise the importance of life, everyone of us should appreciate life and should not take it for granted. However, after much exposure to literature, when I read the same story the second time, I feel that as we can’t take life for granted, we should live a more meaningful life. A person who lives in solitude will not be as happy as a person who lives among friends. In the story, Paul does not have any friends, he lives in his own world, he has no one to confide his problems. When he can’t cope with it, he commits suicide. Thus, the lesson has become clearer that everyone of us need friends. No one can live without friends. It goes true when the proverb says ‘No man is an island’.

In exploring literature, I feel that I am growing from a baby to a mature adult. Before exposure to literature, I was like a baby who drinks milk, I can only take liquid food in that I know very little and the surface meaning of literature. As I grow up, I have to go beyond the ‘milk’ stage, I start to partake solid food. It requires me to chew (thought and research) and digest (application). I do not read literature just for knowing enough to ‘get along’ but for its deeper meaning. I study and analyse it so that I can better able to apply its lessons in dealing with our problems and in helping others to deal with theirs.

Here I like to quote what Barnet and Cain (2003) says about literature, “Literature wakes us up, makes us see, helps us feel intensely some aspects of our experience and perhaps evaluate it.” Yes, let us press on to maturity by exploring literature now!