Prompt 2- Rereading

When a little kid learns how to read its first few words, the standard procedure is to fully grasp how letters work together to make a sound that when put together form a word. In a sense, rereading can apply to this same concept. One needs to fully grasp how the words come together to form the idea that the author is attempting to portray. But just as a little kid is beginning to read, there is always more to be known. If they continue to practice and expand their vocabulary, their minds will begin to understand new ideas. The more they read, the more they will come to know. As we read, we typically pick up on the basic meanings in the text. When we go back to reread, concepts that were embedded into the text, intentionally left for thought, begin to peek through. Before the last few Advanced English courses I had taken, rereading wasn’t a priority or even a necessity. I read the book to understand what happened and that was it. As we begin to focus on what the author isn’t actually saying, the practice of rereading is clearly essential. I started to realize this as I was reading Hamlet. Old English isn’t the easiest language to understand at first glance, and so it is understandable that one would go back and reread some passages. After trying to grasp what is physically happening in a scene, however, you start to notice nuances that weren’t at first there. These symbolisms grant the reader more to take away from the text, and I, for one, would have been missing out. Rereading isn’t solely for learning the basics or trying to understand what the words on the page mean, however, sometimes, as in the case of Hamlet, it may lead one to find more than they were looking for and open their eyes to see the bigger picture.