Kaitlyn Greene Porfolio Reflections

[:00] Titlecard: White text on a black screen says:

Creative Study of Poetry: Exploring the Work of Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver.

[:08] A screen capture of a website. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this semester, it’s that there are countless forms of media, and countless numbers of ways to interpret texts Literature can be transformed in a wide variety of ways, and each way involves some creativity.

[:22] Video clip of an interpretive dance.

As researcher Michael Rean puts it [text appears on screen]: everything a person does that results in a product is creating, and the product itself a creation, the person a creator.

[:34] Screen capture of the Poetry Foundation website.

Though creating videos and writing essays about poetry may not seem like such a hugely creative endeavor, it requires the ability to interpret literature and transform it into something that is original and new, and yet retains the important elements of the primary work.

[:45] Close up clip of a person writing with a pen.

Essay writing is a more creative process than it would seem to be. For our poetry essay for this class, we had to select both a poem, and a lens through which to view it. Each of us brought something different to this assignment. 

[1:00] Picture of the poem and Sylvia Plath.

For my essay, I chose to analyze “The Rabbit Catcher” by Sylvia Plath. I thought it would be interesting to look at it alongside Ted Hughes’ own poem, which is also titled “The Rabbit Catcher,” which he wrote in response a few decades later. Putting the poems together like this created a poetic conversation between the two, and enabled me to better understand Plath’s original work.

[1:20] Animation of a disembodied head with gears inside.

Psychologist Mark A. Runko claims that [text appears on-screen] “originality is necessary for creativity, but it is not sufficient. Flexibility is an important part of it.”

[1:31] Screen capture of Kaitlyn’s essay.

I discovered that when choosing an angle from which to write my paper. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and changed my approach several times over the course of my revisions. It was pretty frustrating. I ended up writing about drawing conclusions about real life from confessional poetry, and how that can be harmful to the poets themselves. I felt that this was appropriate to such a personal poem of Plath’s, especially when juxtaposed with the response from her husband, Ted Hughes. Writing the essay was certainly a creative endeavor, and did require me to be flexible, but completing my e-poetry video was a little more freeing. 

[2:00] Screen capture of video editing software.

I elected not to do mine on “The Rabbit Catcher,” but to instead go with something a little more light-hearted. I wanted to choose a poem involving nature so I could use visuals of nature, so I chose the Mary Oliver poem titled, “Where Does the Dance Begin, And Where Does it End?”

[2:15] Clips from the e-poem.

I enjoyed the way this poem compared nature to a dance, and I tried to convey that through the clips I chose.

[2:20] Audio switches to the music of the e-poem.

[2:41] Kaitlyn’s voice comes back in:

As someone who loves creating visual art, making my e-poem was a very rewarding, and even relaxing process. As stressful as writing can be, I find that it is rewarding as well, and involves just as much creativity as visual art. Though it is a different kind of creativity that requires a different approach, it involves the same type of originality, flexibility, and dedication to producing a product.

[3:04] Picture of the graphic novel Watchmen, the movie No Country for Old Men, and the poem “The Rabbit Catcher” appear on-screen.

This class has taught me that creativity can be brought into any project of any sort, no matter what form of media.

[3:10] Montage of illustrations on-screen.

Creativity is something we can channel in almost every aspect of our lives. From singing, to creating art, to how we dress ourselves, there are so many ways to explore our creativity, and everyone has a creative vision that is his or her own.

[3:26] Black background with white text presents the quote “If strides are to be made in the sciences, humanities, and arts, we must arrive at a far more detailed understanding of the creative process” by Psychologist Beth A. Hennessey.