GGGGG Grammar

Some things I thought while reading the Grammar article by Hartwell:

1.) People have been arguing that "they're not teaching grammar in
schools!" since the 1950s? Someone needs to tell that to my 10th grade
English teacher, Ms. Chassin. We even diagrammed sentences, for God's sake.

2.) There seems to be an enormous white elephant in the room throughout
Hartwell's article (and Marijel alluded to this as well...). It seems to
me that the article ignores the fact of how schools have evolved (or
devolved) into developing every single student for "college readiness"
vs. career readiness. Of course the literacy levels and grammar levels
will go down, as more and more students are forced into molds for which
they may never fit and/or qualify.

3.) Additionally, I think it's worth noting that Microsoft Word (and
other typing programs) all underline any potential mistakes students
make so that they immediately question themselves and their writing.
That sort of forced metacognition might be more helpful than any
lectures I can give on grammar. Damn it.

4.) Sentence fragments are fragments only if you aren't "hyperliterate"
enough to recognize it as a purposeful fragment.

5.) I just wish my students would read their papers out loud--and I
think that's part of Hartwell's point. We recognize proper grammar in
speech, largely, as Hartwell asserts. It makes me wonder how much my
English learner students actually learn just through talking to me vs.
what I try to teach them.

On the Sublime and Sonic Youth

Longinus, in his “On the Sublime,” sets up basic criteria for examining the sublimity of ancient Greek writings. His criteria includes: confidence in speaking (which is presumed), strong and inspired emotion, certain kinds of figures (which I interpret to mean metaphors), noble diction and, finally, dignified and elevated word arrangement (Longinus, 350). Applied to contemporary studies of the aesthetic merit of popular music, the majority of these criteria hold true. However, this criterion lacks three important notions regarding the sublimity of contemporary music. The first posits that music, as well as any notable artistic pieces, cannot reach the level of the sublime without achieving some form of historical notoriety or import through some form of political motivations behind the music (the music, after all, must be remembered). These political motivations do not need to enter into the governmental realm; social or cultural politics may prove to be more important to the discussion of sublimity in music. Secondly, a musical artist must show some form of mutability or growth from album to album in order to qualify for the contemporary sublime. Lastly, and most importantly, the music considered must challenge either existing notions of what music “is” or challenge inexperienced ears and take them to another realm of understanding of what music can be. As such, this is not a study of one-hit wonders or a single album. It is a discussion of the sustainability of artistry over time. That is not to say that a one-hit wonder or a hipster delight cannot reach sublimity for a single document. That is simply not the ideal, and thereby not wholly sublime.
For this study, I chose the band Sonic Youth to serve as the vanguard of music for a number of reasons. The first emerged as I thought about what band had the most difficult music to access in contrast with their popularity. (In fact, when I first attempted to listen to them, I did not have the musical grammar yet established to understand what they were doing. Their music alienated me because of this.) The second reason I chose Sonic Youth is because of their intimate ties to the visual art world and composers such as Glenn Branca. Thirdly, Sonic Youth essentially has become a historical document, releasing albums consistently from 1982 to the present (16 proper studio albums in total). Lastly, I chose Sonic Youth because they, like their heroes The Beatles before them, transform and mutate with each album—even occasionally dabbling in “noise” compositions versus pop music. As the band does have 16 proper releases, most of them deserving of their own discussion, I’ve chosen to discuss three of the band’s landmark albums as evidence of their sublimity. These albums, "Daydream Nation,"(to be determined)and "Rather Ripped," each represent certain epochs within the Sonic Youth canon, as described not only by me, but by other rock music critics.
For evidence, I’ve chosen a number of texts to aide my discussion, including pieces on poetry by the likes of Matthew Arnold, pieces on the question of “What is Art?,” a historical documentation of Sonic Youth by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad and contemporary critical discussions of Sonic Youth’s music by online journalists. Through these, I hope to prove the following:
• Sonic Youth’s music is a form of art worthy of this discussion.
• Sonic Youth’s music can set out a template for the contemporary sublime vis a vis music.
• A good majority of Longinus’s basic structure for the sublime still holds true.

Annotated Bibliography

Arnold, Matthew. “The Study of Poetry.” Criticism: Major Statements. 4th ed. Ed. Charles
Kaplan and William Davis Anderson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 333-353. Print. In this essay, Arnold writes a defense of poetry. It responds to previous works by Shelley and Sidney, and as such gives a closer to contemporary look at the import of poetry relevant to my discussion. Most important to my study is his argument that poetry has taken the place of religion in his society. I plan to use his argument to bolster my discussion of the sublimity of Sonic Youth’s music—in essence arguing that their music can function as a “religious” experience.
Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground
1981-1991. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2001. Print. This book tells the story of 13 bands from the 1980s, including Sonic Youth. The book details the band’s respective histories while tying them into cultural and artistic movements of the eras in which they first started making music. The author, Michael Azerrad, is a noted music journalist as well as a music critic. I chose this book because it not only discusses Sonic Youth, the band I’m writing about, but also because it discusses them critically. The book presents the band as an artifact, which can be proven as a sublime entity.
Longinus. “On the Sublime.” Criticism: Major Statements. 4th ed. Ed. Charles Kaplan and
William Davis Anderson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 47-83. Print. In this writing, Longinus sets up criteria for what can be considered sublime. This will probably be the integral text to my discussion as I will use his criteria as a basis for my own discussion of the sublime.
Pitchfork. Ryan Schrieber, 1995. Web. 24 October 2009. This music Web site functions as a
tastemaker site for many contemporary music fans, otherwise known as hipsters. They update daily with highly academic and controversial album reviews and interviews. I plan to use the Web site and their opinions of Sonic Youth’s music to show what contemporary music critics think of their music and their place in history. Additionally, I plan on engaging in some form of dialogue with these critics.
Tolstoy, Leo. “What is art?” Criticism: Major Statements. 4th ed. Ed. Charles Kaplan and
William Davis Anderson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 382-393. Print. In this article, Tolstoy firmly asserts that good art must be an instrument of progress and change. I’m using this text to help set up a criteria for which to judge the progressiveness and change agency presented to the world by Sonic Youth’s music. Further, I hope incorporate the ideas of progressiveness and change into my own definition of the Sublime, building on Longinus’s definition.

on the sublime

I'm considering writing my seminar paper on the contemporary Sublime, basing my assertions about the Sublime on Longinus's writings. A few days ago I posted some songs that I feel fit my contemporary notions of the Sublime.

Unfortunately, what I really wanted to post--a video by Sonic Youth--was blocked from embedding. To me, they embody the contemporary Sublime, which I plan on arguing encompasses the Longinus "rules," but also incorporate political implications as well as aesthetic.

Sublime: Arcade Fire

Sublime: Busdriver

Sublime: Mr. Lif

Sublime: Rage Against the Machine

The Contemporary Sublime

After reading Longinus, I thought it'd be fun to dig around two current
popular "arts" and decide whether or not they are sublime, employing
Longinus' criteria as much as possible:

1.) The power to conceive great thoughts
2.) Strong and inspired emotion
3.) Figures of thought and figures of speech
4.) Noble diction (metaphorical and artificial language)
5.) Dignified and elevated word arrangement

I tried to pick one major “artistic” statement in music and another in
film that has sold well, as Longinus discusses that the sublime should
resonate cross-culturally among all people.

Pop Music: Paramore

Fact:
Their album, Brand New Eyes debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts this
week, one notch below Barbara Streisand, who I couldn’t bring myself to
discuss.

On with the analysis:
1.) Paramore does not seem to have the power to conceive great thoughts,
as they too strongly mimic their pop punk predecessors. There is nothing
original about their music, from the instrumentation on down to their
lyrics.
2.) Strong and inspired emotion: as the band is frequently labeled
"emo," I’ll have to give this one a thumbs up.
3.) Is there thought in these lyrics:

“We still live in the same town, well, don't we?
But I don't see you around anymore.
I go to all the same places, not even a trace of you...
Your days are numbered at 24.
And I'm getting bored waiting round for you,
We're not getting any younger, and I
Won't look back 'cause there's no use
It's time to move forward!”

I think not.
4.) As for noble uses of diction:

“Can't make my own decisions or make any with precision
Well maybe you should tie me up so I don't go where you don't want me
You say that I been changing, that I'm not just simply aging
Yeah how could that be logical?
Just keep on cramming ideas down my throat
Oh oh oh ohhhh”

The rhyme scheme here is rather silly and forced. Thumbs down.

5.) Do I really need to check out the “elevated word arrangement?” I’ll
return instead to the band’s simplistic chord progressions, drumming and
vocal stylings (all of which are ARRANGED) and simply say: it’s been
done before. So, thumbs up for imitation. (Not.)

VERDICT: 1/5 = NOT SUBLIME

Film:

Since I just saw Zombieland this weekend and it’s the number 1 movie in
the nation this week, I might as well analyze this one as well:

1.) Although this film lacks the social consciousness of George A.
Romero’s zombie films, it does achieve a high level of comedy and a
serviceably unique love story. It also continues pushing forward the
film’s genre, picking up where “Diary of the Dead” and “Shaun of the
Dead” leave off—thereby achieving more actuality in imitation than Paramore.
2.) Well, the woman next to me jumped three times. Additionally, the
film does a great job of creating fun, albeit unrealistic character
types who draw the viewer into their world. This creates a high level of
attachment, or emotion for each character.
3.) Figures of thought: eh. Not so much. Figures of speech: There are
more than a few catchy one-liners, typified by the main character’s list
of rules, such as “Double-tap” and “Don’t be a hero.”
4.) Noble Diction: Rated “R” for language.
5.) Any writing constructed to make people laugh in a world surrounded
by blood and death that succeeds in making people laugh has achieved
elevated word arrangement.

VERDICT: 4/5 = PRETTY DAMN SUBLIME

Aristotle...

Aristotle:

I found the Aristotle reading to be incredibly intriguing, if for the
simple fact that his arguments seemed so common-sensical, from his
separation of artistic proofs and nonartistic proofs to his
differentiation between political, forensic and ceremonial speech.
Aristotle, it turns out, seems to be the father, primarily, of forensic
rhetoric, which he employs here to explain rhetoric (much like how Plato
uses rhetoric to decry rhetoric.)

In particular, I enjoyed the following quote from page 181: "Rhetoric is
not bound up with a single definite class of subjects, but is as
universal as the dialectics. ...its function is not simply to succeed in
persuading, but rather to discover the means of coming as near such
success as the circumstances of each particular case allow." Here
Aristotle lays the groundwork for contemporary defense-attorneying (for
better or for worse.) Artful rhetoric, then, is not simply winning
through logic, it's winning through logic in the logic's context.

Lunsford and Ede:

I appreciated this article more than last week's from the same text, if
only because this text offered a self-reflective approach to Composition
theory. Coming from a high school system that breeds self-centered
teachers who have little desire to grow and develop--it's refreshing to
read an article by two people as they critique a previous article they
wrote. The critique possesses the eye of writers ten years in the
future, who now see what flaws existed in their original text.

On page 819, the two discuss the "place of struggle" within rhetorical
theory and how divergent voices and theories have place within
composition studies despite ivory tower voices. I have a hard time
agreeing with theorists who always talk complete deconstruction and
"building new ways of speaking." The idea of building from within seems
much more realistic.

Casablanca and Aristotle

In Casablanca, Rick employs an enthymeme based on premises from probability. He argues the logical stance that if the two lovers stay in Casablanca, nine out of ten times the two will end up in a concentration camp. While this could be an exaggeration of the danger, the two certainly exist in difficult times in the movie. additionally, Rick employs ethos, arguing that he, "has a job to do," as why he can't go with Elsy, and why she can't stay. Lastly, he employs pathos, reminding Elsy that they'll, "always have Paris," reminding her of their special times--which taken as a snapshot proves their love. But that love may have run its course due to circumstances out of their control. The use of these appeals all prove that Rick employed an artistic proof, under the realm of enthymeme, from the Aristotelian structure argued for in "Rhetoric."