I think that the paper 2 assignment was probably the most difficult one i have done yet. I am still not sure about what a closed reading should be like and I wish I had a sample of one, so I could have understood and written better.
The most difficult part of the writing process was when i was trying to develop my thesis and argument, which i could not come up with for a while. Finally, whatever made sense to me from the text, I just formed a supposed argument and thesis out of that. I guess the main reason as to why I could not come up with a thesis or an argument was that I did not really understand the language of the poem that i had chosen. The “New York Poem” by Terrance Hayes gives a lot of references to music and culture of that 1970s and 1980s era, which took some time for me to understand after looking a few words up and reading about their background and the context in which they were used.
I am not at all satisfied with my paper as of now, and I think I would want to do it all over again, even if that means choosing another poem.