Below are some of Dr. Stover's prompts/queries for us to explore. Add your own in the comments, change the questions, or respond to one or all!
- Which essay topics drew out your best work? (Nature and the Human Spirit, Zuihitsu, Montaigne imitations, Self-investigation, Prodding the Sacred Cow, The Past and the Retrospective Glance, Shifting Perceptions, Handling Powerful Emotions with Detachment)
- Do you think people nowadays get the same satisfaction form blogging, writing on-line diaries, and writing on Facebook that writers get from writing personal essays? What has been your experience?
Lazar says, "I've read some utterly unique blogs, erudite and less autobiographical, that seemed to be carving out a new spirit of the age, as well as mirroring their times (60) Have you read blogs like this? Are they the contemporary essay form?
Danko says, "I encourage my students to keep a journal mainly for the practice of writing, but also to engage in a kind of self-dialouge, even self-examination. And when keeping a journal, we still may have an audience in mind (which itself can be tied to the creation of voice and persona), but it's a place where we can feel comfortable making a mess before we clean things up" (8). Do you keep a journal as a place to practice writing? What do you think of journal writing in your own life.
Evan says. "...as I write I'm continually amazed at how the form of the essay forces me to reinvent myself (5). Have you had that experience?
Nature has the power to inspire and connect us back to a natural world that we can sometimes go so long without experiencing. There is a classic tradition in Nature writing, one that I have begun to explore, and I'm very interested in trying my hand in more writing of this kind. You can take a walk through the woods or even sit out on your stoop and watch the birds flit and listen to each unique song. I have been reading Thoreau recently and the virute he sees in nature would make any serious reader into a conservationist. Take for instance this slow day's winter walk:
ReplyDelete"The wonderful purity of nature at this season is a most pleasing fact. Every decayed stump and moss-grown stone and rail, and the dead leaves of autumn, are concealed by a clean napkin of snow. In the bare fields and tinkling woods, see what virtue survives. In the coldest and bleakest places, the warmest charities still maintain a foothold. A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it, accordingly, whatever we meet with in cold and bleak places, as the tops of mountains, we respect for a sort of sturdy innocence, a Puritan toughness. All things beside seem to be called in for shelter, and what stays out must be part of the original frame of the universe, and of such valor as God himself."
He speaks of a purity in nature, and a connection to the "original frame of the universe." Being in the wild, or nature, demands a slow-paced awareness - which I would argue is demanded from a personal essay as well. I think just being in nature can purify one's thoughts and allow for a clear head for writing, even if it's not about nature. While I wouldn't say the Nature and the Human Spirit piece of mine was the best, I find that walking around Radnor Lake, up through the wooded trails, is a very intimate experience with oneself which should germinate many trails of thought.