Close Reading of Gerard M. Hopkins poem "Spring and Fall" (1880)

I looked up several versions of this poem. At the top of each one, underneath the title, were the words, "to a young child". This tiny clarification changes the whole meaning of the poem for me. Naturally, it drastically affected my paraphrasing of each line, and certainly altered the answers to my close reading questions. A few things I'd like to touch upon: 1) it doesn't matter if this poem is about the loss of innocence and growing up or about the changing leaves of spring and autumn, both interpretations further develop the human obsession with innocence, 2) I think my attraction and affection towards this poem strengthens when it's intentionally addressed to a young child, 3) my close reading became deeper when it became personal (my likeness for the poem). I think I have a ton more appreciation for poetry and poets after doing this exercise. Poetry is extremely difficult, more carefully thought-out than a staged scene, more critically evaluated than a Shakespeare play. It takes lots of skill, patience, and imagination to write a poem, and even more talent to evaluate it.

How to Analyze Literature

AP Lit in general has taught me how to analyze texts and gain an overall understanding of their meaning. Through learning about the different tools that writers use, I am now able to clearly identify techniques and how they contribute to meaning. I've also learned how to effectively answer questions or evaluate a text. My explanations are more concise and well thought-out. More recently, I've learned that structure contributes greatly to meaning. I never really thought that literary techniques connected to structure, but they'd have to because they are the structure (language, syntax, point of view, etc.)

I need to learn how to apply the literary techniques correctly. I fear that my application when writing my own work doesn't always implement the techniques accurately. I also feel that I often argue with myself over author's intentions vs. what the text says. Shouldn't we take in to consideration the author's ideas about their own work?

Finally, I believe that I'm really good at writing the open-ended essays. I'm good at identifying what the question asks, how to answer it, and how to further develop my own thoughts. I know my classmates struggle with the prose part of AP Lit, so I feel that I could absolutely help my peers out in improving their writing skills. I know they have the ideas, they just may not have the skills to express their ideas. We're all in this together, and I'm here to help.