What do you still need to learn/do for your final project?
I feel like there’s so much that I still need to learn before diving into my final project. I’m planning to write a creative poem that touches on how Moby Dick directly responds to Emerson’s call for the “American Scholar,” incorporating form and direct quotes from both Melville’s novel and Emerson’s lecture to create a complete work that illustrates the call-and-response relationship between the two. I’m sort of ping ponging between what actual form and structure to use for the poem and the specifics of what I want to say, how to say it, and then the actuality of how to present it. I think it’s hard because poetry sometimes clicks into place and feels right in a particular form, so I need to play around with it a little bit more. Additionally, I need to reread Emerson’s work and revisit the several moments in Melville’s novel that I tabbed for their connection.
I love this idea! You might consider looking for a scholarship that also makes the connection between Emerson’s text and Melville’s– you might also return to the reading from the beginning of the semester to help: Hoare and Philbook. But this sounds really great, I can’t wait to read it. Just remember, that, in addition to the poem, you will need to explain your poem in a short essay– close reading it in relation to the novel and explaining what your poem does and shows.