Week 2 WebCT Post

From week two, my favorite thing that we discussed was defamiliarization. It actually took me a couple times to understand what I was reading. The third time I read it, I fell in love. I’ve always loved reading poetry and looking some sort of art and trying to figure out what is actually portraying. As Shklovsky says, “The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar,’ to make forms difficult, to increase difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged” (16). The part that actually kind of freaked me out was the part about the dusting and whether or not it was actually done. This has happened so many times to me; where something has become so habitual that I just forgot if I’ve done it. It’s like we are on Cruise Control. Anyway, the quote that interested me most (and literally scared me out of my mind) was “If the whole complex lives of many people go on unconsciously, then such lives are as if they had never been” (16). I just feel like this is so true and really what’s the point of living if I’m not actually living? Does that make sense? Anyway, I wrote a sonnet for another Professor awhile back and it kind of reminded me of this whole idea of art being a form a defamiliarization. So I thought I’d post the sonnet to see if anyone could figure out what it’s about. (Chris, I believe you were in my class so you have an unfair advantage!) So if no one figures it out, I’ll post the answer in a few days, or a week! Have fun.

Inspired by: Dr. Scott Andrews and Sherman Alexie

“Gravity is Overrated” 
 By Gina Spaccia

Oh Roman god of war, you are too far,
Your crimson face has caught my turning eye;
Fate has sent me away from where you are,
An arranged love with Terra set for I.
These open wounds suggest my lasting pain
For a life with someone who comprehends;
But with him these scars are forced to remain,
Until love will allow this rule to bend.
Forever being pulled to his blue side
To provide him with darkness and despair;
Escaping to your blushing red, I’ve tried,
Life without you in sight, I could not bear.
   Though this law cannot be broken in time,
 My love still lives on through distance and rhyme.