After going through my english notebook and filing through old papers and handouts, I came across the poem “Reapers” that we read on the first day of this class. We talked about how important a symbol this poem was for the process and art of repetition. As an English major, sometimes the act of repetition can be daunting, and I often find myself putting it off or neglecting the task all together. Throughout this class I have slowly started to understand just how important going back and looking over something again is. One of the harder things for me to do is proofread my essays, which is an essential part of essay writing, but one I used to to very little. It has been a pleasure to reread sections of our assigned books in class and unpacking certain paragraphs or lines. One of the most rewarding examples of this for me was going back through the Zulus chapter headings and researching what they actually meant. Doing this was so rewarding because it unlocked so much detailed information that fit into the story in such interesting ways. When I read Zulus on my own outside the class I usually skipped the title headings completely because their ambiguity confused and annoyed me. I have also enjoyed re-reading Meridian for the process of writing my second essay. My second time going through and reading I marked and took down notes of all the examples of archives that came up when I was reading. While doing this, I noticed just how many instances of child abuse or deaths there were in Meridian. There were more than one story that I would have completely forgotten had I not reread the book. This became the narrowed down and final topic of my essay , and it made it much easier to formulate my thesis statement. Taking this class has definitely opened my eyes and motivated me to start future essays earlier and make sure to take the time to rework them as many times as necessary until I am completely satisfied with the result.
English Majors Practising Criticism