The Final Post

Well, everyone, I suppose this is it. The very last blog post. Unlike in The Final Problem, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (whose works I've themed my titles on), I'm not meeting a watery "doom" vanquishing my arch-nemesis. I have, however, battled a few enemies this semester, conquering them— in my own way, of course. 

Presenting in front of people has always been a fear of mine, and it used to be far worse in high school. I would seize in front of a class, legs shaking, hands and voice trembling, as I detailed whatever it was I needed to convey. It was a nightmare. I've made vast improvements since then, and depending on the situation, I may not feel very anxious at all. The Lumen events and the presentation in this class both helped to bring me a little further out of my shell. I'm also normally quite shy in class discussions, which I'm pleased to say was not the case in our English course. I may not have been making accurate points all of the time, but I verbally engaged, and that is a win for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the central focus on discussion for this class, as it allowed me to glean a multitude of perspectives about the works we were engaging with. As was mentioned today, it would be fascinating to consider doing "cold" readings of some poetry, and think it could add a new layer to interpretation, for— most of the time— students come into the class prepared with their personal perspectives and points. Engaging in some on-the-spot poetry analysis could help work the brain in a different way. 

Over the years, I have come to positively adore poetry. Scorned by many high schoolers who were forced into reading it, I've always found the lyrical storytelling poets achieve to be breathtaking. That said, here are some of my favorite poems we read during the course (in no particular order).

• "My Papa's Waltz" by Roethke
• "Because I Could not Stop for Death" by Dickinson
• "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Thomas
• "When I consider how my light is spent" by Milton
• "Design" by Frost
• "The World Is Too Much with Us" by Wordsworth

The short stories were honestly a mixed batch for me. I thoroughly loved some, and absolutely abhorred others (I'm looking at you, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"). Here are some of my favorites from this category.

• "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Gilman
• "The Story of an Hour" by Chopin
• "The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket" by Kawabata

Finally, I enjoyed all of the plays we read, although I prefer Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to Hamlet; in fact, the latter didn't really pick up for me until later on in the piece. The beginning was slow and rather boring, and the play failed to make me feel overly attached to the characters (once again, looking at you, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"). Trifles was my absolute favorite of the batch, with Glaspell excellently portraying the duality of justice, represented in disparities between the men and women of the play. 

This class was an utter delight, and I am looking forward to taking more English courses in the future. Having Intro to Creative Writing concurrently to this course was incredibly stimulating, as I had knowledge to throw back and forth between the classes.