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      I was very interested in how my own personal experiences influenced my interpretation of the 'Captain' poem that we read together in class on Thursday; I have for many summers sailed competitively in boats, so the imagery, the vocabulary, and the maritime nature of the poem brought me into my own reality. I had never read this poem before, so when someone said it was about Lincoln, I started to doubt my interpreting ability...did I selfishly root myself in my own world at the expense of the poet and his intentions? I realized, after we talked about puns, that this was not the case, and that perhaps this is what is to be expected when the Lincoln context is unknown.

With this said (and in the context of our discussion of the differences between scientific and non-scientific writing) I decided to perform an experiment: I randomly selected a paragraph from a page in Ch.2 of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species,' I read it to myself, asked myself to interpret what I had just read. I actually struggled with this a bit because phrases such as 'greater than the average' and 'less than usual' and 'generally' led me to believe that there is, indeed, a 'wrong' way to interpret this excerpt...so I should really just believe what Darwin tells me so I don't get too lost or uninterested! Even specific vocabulary or conclusive words like 'indefinite' and 'unknown' or '...and thus' led me to believe that those who choose not to rely on the greater collective of stories to which Darwin refers (some people must have written a 'story' about the average values of something at some point) will have incorrectly interpreted the material (at the author's expense indeed). I think in this way, scientific writing is more noticeably authoritative or regimented...but I'm still pondering all of this. Lastly, to finish off my experiment, I read the text surrounding my random passage for the context. Since my interpretative process involved being directed to a definitive greater context, there was no 'shock factor' at all. But this experience was different than my 'Captain' experience. It seemed impossible to ignore the greater context...even if I don't fully understand it or haven't been exposed to it. But if I had ignored Darwin and his references and the context...I think that would have been less satisfying of an experience...