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My literary education thus far has been focused on reading prose and interpreting its content in order to write persuasive essays. Through these essays I was taught to look at literature through several different lenses in order to find the most interesting angle on a particular piece. Novels including The Great Gatsby, The Catcher and the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird, have all centered around historical lenses that reveal aspects about the time within which they were written. Essentially these were research papers in which data and statistics were replaced with excerpts from the novels.
Rarely have I closely examined an author’s use of language or stylistic perspective to reveal deeper meaning in the literature. Because of the repetitive nature of previous English assignments, my writing style often transforms into a formal essay structure. That said, I find that my ability to read and interpret text has been fined tuned and I can often find somewhat obscure points that offer insight into symbolism within the novels. However, these points can often be lost in my tendency to write long and technical sentences. The excerpt from “Revising Prose” allowed me to see this pattern
I my writing and I would love to work on sentence structure this semester. Length requirements as well as structure requirements have taken authorship of my essays rather than my own voice, giving me very little experience with writing anything other than argumentative essays. Learning to state my opinions and analysis more simply would give my essays more conviction. Not only would I like to find new and creative ways to create sentences, but also explore the possibilities of Prose writing. While I understand we will be writing three essays this semester, I believe it would be beneficially to explore different kinds of says.
I think developing voice as a writer is something that is very difficult to learn but also very important. In developing a voice, essays become more than Just an organized list of facts and analysis. They can covey emotion and mood that can contribute to the thesis point made in your essay. And as relating specifically to Shakespeare and Elizabethan literature, this is a whole new aspect of literature that I have not had a chance to fully explore. My goal for this class is to discover the importance of his writing and come to understand tooth the historical impact of his works as well as the modern day impact of his works.
I find the relationship between literature and history to be one of great importance. By reading his works alongside biographies and histories, much more is revealed regarding the actual content of his works. While themes in his poetry and plays are classic, they also seem to have this darker side that I think is worth exploring. In looking deeper into the content of his writings, I hope to discover more about the times within which he was living as well as his viewpoint on it. Self Assessment By Hubert