I,
personally, am not much of a re-reader, and I never have been. This goes with
almost any and every text. I never find myself re-reading books or passages.
Sometimes I will go back and re-read a sentence if I truly do not understand
what was being said, but that is about the extent of it. If I am being honest,
I do not even like to go back and re-read my own work. Only reading a piece of
writing or literature once is a terrible habit, but I have never been about to
break myself of it.
Though I do not re-read I do not degrade
this technique. I do not think that re-reading is only for those who do not understand
what is being said. Re-reading is useful for so much more than comprehension.
When one takes the time to re-read a text, she can find herself uncovering new
thoughts and ideas that were not seen during the previous reading. For example,
in Latin class during my Junior year, we read the Iliad. Mrs. Mac had already read this book a dozen times and had
accumulated so many annotations that she actually had to start a new book. This
being said, every time we shared she was excited about something new that she
had discovered that had been hidden from her the previous times. Like I mentioned
previously, I do not re-read very often so I am not as experienced in the task
as I could be, but re-reading is a technique that is highly beneficial and can make
reading the same text seem like reading a different text every time.
Hi Jensyn,
ReplyDeleteYour post worked!!! As for re-reading, I wonder if for the most part, you haven't read lots of things that require or move you to re-read. The beauty of re-reading is that you never know what new thing will rise out of the text. If it's a book of real human worth (literary merit), then there will be so many layers of meaning, that we can't possibly register them all in one reading. That's what keeps bringing me back to things like The Iliad.
Mrs. Mac
I have always been a re-reader. I have been an avid reader since I was a child, and read numerous books multiple times even then. The Great Gataby is my favorite novel, and I thoroughly enjoy teaching it to my juniors. I cannot count the times that I have read it, yet it always seems new to me as I see more elaborate imagery and subtle nuances with each reading. Not only do I re-read entire books, but I often re-read sentences and paragraphs within literature. Sometimes this is because I do not fully comprehend the text, but more likely it is because the sentence or passage is so beautifully written or exciting that one reading is just not enough! Good readers do not just snack on good books; they devour them.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Leonhart
I think that's the beauty of re-reading for me too--the language, the art of it. Sometimes I am just amazed by HOW the author does it, not just what the author does. There are few things more breathtaking than the perfect word articulating the perfect thought!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Exquisite writing is art.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jensyn on the fact that each time a reader rereads a text many new ideas come to light that were not previously noticed. I have not had very much experience with rereading a text until I started AP English and Composition because I never really noticed or knew about all of the literary symbols and meanings that are within each piece of literature. More specifically, when Mrs. Reuschel discussed a passage from Fast Food Nation after the class had read the book, I began to notice many symbols that I had passed over before. This realization helps to display the importance of rereading because the purpose of reading is to understand the author’s real message. I hope that I can break my habit of not rereading, too, because rereading provides a richer understanding of a book and better learning experience.
ReplyDelete