This semester has greatly contributed to my English skills, especially in the analysis of poetry and learning to write based on ideas instead of devices. Before this year, my experience in poetry has been greatly limited as in AP Comp we focused on novel and play excerpts. No matter what experience I was with poetry I always enjoyed it and the presentation projects that we have had this semester has allowed to research and understand how the special formats of poetry contribute to the meaning and complexity. Unfortunately, while I learned a great deal about certain types of poetry such as the ballad and free verse poems, I did not retain very much from some other presentations besides the general formatting. To make sure I am capable of understanding any poem I come across I need to further research myself other types of poems and know how their special nuances contribute to meaning. The presentation projects have also helped me with the way I write essays in general. Previously, when during timed essays and not having enough time to through think through what I need to say, I would automatically slip into the general three body paragraph structure. I now know that this type of writing limits the depth of my analysis as I could not easily relate the devices I spoke about in each paragraph. By organizing my thoughts into idea categories instead, I can now show how all literary devices contribute to the many ideas that an author is trying to convey. Something I still need to work on, however, is the conciseness of my papers. Although I am able to better organize my thoughts and find complexities through connections of ideas I am still finding it hard to put my thoughts into the right words. My group's thesis statements over the semester have been very long, almost paragraph length and although sometimes it is necessary to utilize that many words I should still be able to condense the points I wish to make and then elaborate on them later.
One thing I have enjoyed this semester is the connection between the poems we studied and different fairy tales and myths. When we analyze such poems it is easy to see where the author inspiration has come from and the common themes that run through certain eras. The hero's archetypal journey is another thing I have enjoyed learning about. It seems like a very specific concept with the different steps that all hero's go through but it is extremely applicable to many, many different situations.
Although I have gotten though the surface of many different components of the analysis and understanding of literature I still have a lot to work. I need to work on being more independent with analyzing, coming up with more ideas before consulting my group, I need to work on looking for the details and underlying themes that make up complexity, and especially the fluidity of my writing.
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