Passage Discussion

[demetri.blaisdell]

This was a quirky passage. I was sorta guessing on the other side of the scale. If anybody disagrees with what I've done, feel free to post. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Demetri

[WaltGrace1983]

I think the scale is super interesting, for sure. However, I am very interested in the "theory" behind it. It doesn't seem like there is any support for the non-author side coming from other people. It is like the passage is COMPLETELY on one side, almost like an informational passage with an opinionated twist. So my question is, why did you make a two-sided scale to begin with?

[ohthatpatrick]

Demetri doesn’t write forum posts at the moment, so I’ll have to pretend to know what he would say.

Here’s my guess:
"Yeah, I know there’s not a scale, but since we teach that idea, I created one by defining an oppositional opinion based on the author’s main sentiment."

I think early on when we were using The Scale to help students organize passages, there was an impetus to try to put a scale EVERYWHERE. Since then, we’ve relaxed our desire to find a scale in every passage. But, of course, the scale is just a reading tool, meant to help us organize the passage info. So there’s not necessarily one correct scale. It may have helped Demetri, as he read the passage, to envision an imaginary opponent that the author was arguing against.

I would think of this passage mainly as you did, although I don’t know that I would call it an opinionated 'twist'. I would just say it’s a discussion/evaluation of PW (which is both informative and opinionated). It just seems like the author is discussing PW’s work/legacy and the author’s overall opinion is a nuanced one ... perhaps PW could have contributed more to the beginning of a unique African American literary style, but it’s understandable why she felt constrained by the tradition she was working in, and she was still really good writing poetry within that tradition.