They do not have time to waste on ‘insignificant whatnots’ 💜

When your Students Make a Mark!

The MPJ Hall of Fame | I MA English 

#celebratingstudents

It’s taken me almost two full hours to write this post. 😊 But I thought it worth the time and the effort, to acknowledge, to appreciate and to celebrate the latent ‘literariness’ in our students that’s manifest in their answer sheets. 

Well, today during class, I had distributed the MPJ [III CIA] answer sheets to students of the I MA English class.

[On an aside, even well ahead of their Internal Tests, I had exhorted them on the things they ought to do and the things they ought not to do, while writing down their answers in their tests and exams].

And to my sweet surprise and delight, I could see a perceptible change in the way the students had written down their answers, taking care to dot their i’s and cross their t’s in the process.

This blogpost wishes to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate a few of our students for obliging their teacher, and displaying high originality in their thinking—conveying their ideas in such clear, concise and coherent ways!

Yes, at places, overwriting becomes unavoidable, especially if you’re wanting in time.

Still, most of them had managed to do the striking-off quite elegantly, taking care not to mar the neatness of their answer sheets.

Here goes –

The student here, has expressed her ideas clearly, in a neat and legible handwriting as well. Good work, Jessica Riona.

Here again, the student has got a coherent way of expressing her ideas, in a neat and graceful style of writing. Good work, Jeeva Minu.

Articulacy is good. Coherent articulacy is better. The student here has expressed her ideas in a coherently articulate manner. Good work, Kathy David.

The student here has articulated his ideas in a unique and inimitable style, that proves endearing to the reader. Good work, Aaron Leo!

Yet another well-written paper, presented in a neat manner. Good work, Nehemiah Deborah!

Insignificant whatnots!

Some of the ideas expressed by this student, display a high sense of originality, beyond compare!

Sample this: They do not have time to waste on ‘insignificant whatnots’. Good work, Malsawmdawn! 

Yet another answer, presented in a clear and neat manner. Good work, Renuka Devi.

The urgency of the Golden Hour!

This is something we eagerly look forward to, in the answers written by our students. Vadhana Sivakumar has displayed a high degree of creativity and originality by coming out with such new and highly engaging expressions. 

Yet another highly resourceful and perceptive answer, presented in a highly engaging manner. Awesome, Lakshmi Ramaswami.

Sample this - 

The poet’s frustration and an almost tantrum-like emotion is so evidently expressed in the very first line. 

The reason, I think, Samuel Johnson berates the metaphysical poets for this, is because…

Yet another paper that turned out some highly original ideas in such creative lines. 

Sample this: He claims that his love is true, virtuous and slow, and that it will take years to grow fully. However he is conflicted by the limitation put before him by the chariot of time. He is forced to live a romantic relationship within the mortal life of a man, which is why he now wants a rushed relationship. Good work, Alan Savio Jijo.

This answer is highly creative because the student has beautifully rehashed the concepts given by the great writers [say Samuel Johnson] and recast them in her own, creative style, in a neat and coherent manner as well. Good work, Jennifer Sandra.

Shock Tactics! 

Loved this creative way of expressing the salient features of Metaphysical poetry. 

Sample this: Another feature of Metaphysical poetry is the use of shock tactics, which means an abrupt or unexpected opening. 

John Donne was an expert in this technique and he was always impassioned in his writings. He opens his poem, ‘Canonization’, with ‘For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love’, which was shocking not only as a tactic, but to the refined sensibility of those times. Good work, Imchaaien.

Neat presentation, with coherent ideas. Good work, Harshina. 

Coherent presentation, with creative use of words, in a neat handwriting - clear and legible. 

Sample this: So he says, ‘admit yourself to me soon…’ Good work, Sherlin Mary.

Well, this answer was interesting, and contained some highly unique, original and inimitable ideas, presented in an equally engaging style. Only that, textual citations were missing.

Literature students would do well to remember the fact that –

As are formulas to the student of the sciences, so are textual citations to the student of literature!

But for that aspect, Alan’s answer made highly engaging reading.

So I am prompted and tempted to give y’all a bigger slice of his answer - 😊

Sample this –

Samuel Johnson speaks out against the metaphysical poets in his criticism, talking of how the poets are ransacking nature to find ideas and allusions and yoking them together by violence.

This is true. The submissive student would not think too much of this and perhaps accept without question the violence of yoking.

It would be confirmed even further when the same submissive student reads that these metaphysical poets are so bent on trying to write what has not been said in poetry before, that they end up not conveying their ideas with unity; and the nature of metaphysical conceits makes it a distraction.

They are so far-fetched that the reader sometimes does not feel or enjoy what emotion the poet tries to invoke!

My talk of a submissive student is simply because that was me. I found metaphysical poetry corny and not too enjoyable.

However, in its study, I gained an appreciation for it. I unlocked one of the truths of language. The truth of meaning being something fluidly assigned.

I thought of the warm sound of old vinyl records, the wet sound of empty cathedrals, Pipe organs being described by C. M. Widor as ‘Thunder boxes’. 

These may not be far-fetched enough to be metaphysical, but to me, it showed how fluid meaning is, and how much freedom there is in interpretation, like the way the hippo’s mouth unhinges wide enough to swallow a man whole.

Well, this piece of writing by Alan, brings to memory, an interesting event that happened on 7th July 2023, in their I MA English Class.

We had had our first ever debate of the Semester, on the topic, “Are written exams alone the best way to assess a student’s worth?”

To my sweet surprise, almost the entire class made a hasty beeline to their left - to champion the cause of the non-written mode to assess a student’s capabilities 😊

I was left wondering if the topic would ‘serve any useful purpose’ now, with everyone championing ‘non-written modes’ to assess a student’s capabilities.

But wait… there was one student who was busy manoeuvering his way from the left to the right!

Alan!

So it was… Alan vs the rest!

No wonder, Alan was quite excited and fixated about ‘writing’ out his exams. 😊

Alan, then, has really walked the talk on his convictions!

You may want to read more on that Great Debate in the I MA Class, on our past post HERE.