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Throughout this year, I have read many different works of early English literature. From reading these works and following the rules of Vladimir Nabokov, I have grown tremendously as a reader since the beginning of this year. From reading Alice in Wonderland to now, I have grown to appreciate literature much more. I have developed a better sense of the English language through the use of a dictionary and the difficult sentence structure of works such as the Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, Le Morte D’Arthur, and the Fairie Queene. Because of the difficult sentence structures, the different word usages, and the deeper meanings wrapped in each of these works, I have learned to reread to better my understanding of the text and to see if I missed anything the first or second time through. I have also learned to not only read a novel or poem just for its story but to look deeper into it while considering its context and purpose. By following Nabokov’s simple rules, I have become a better reader and re-reader.
From reading Alice in Wonderland to now, I have grown to appreciate literature much more. At the beginning of the year, I read purely because it was assigned for me to read, and I only read for important events and story plots. When reading Alice in Wonderland for the first time, I missed everything that Lewis Carroll was trying to convey to the reader. I had no idea that he had written Alice in Wonderland with the intention of preparing children for the real world. I thought it was just a story full of random events and nonsense, but after my realization of a deeper meaning, I grew to appreciate his efforts. From then on from Beowulf to the Fairie Queene, I have learned to see literary works as more than just stories but a...
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...y literary work looking for hidden or masked messages. I did not approach Alice in Wonderland like this, and I missed almost all of the masked messages. As I went through Beowulf, I began to look for these as I read and reread, and as I kept doing the same for the rest of the works I read this semester, the purposes and hidden messages became much more apparent. As with the Fairie Queene, I was able to find the allegorical messages in my first read through.
As the year has progressed, I have grown as a reader in leaps and bounds and hope to grow even more. I need to grow accustomed to using my dictionary everytime I read, and I need to reread every chance I get. I also need to obtain an optomistic attitude about each work I read instead of criticizing it before I even read it. Compared to the beginning of the year, I am a totally different reader.
English in its entirety can be simply described as author, biologist and physician, Lewis Thomas had once said, “We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature; we play the music; we change our minds; we reach an understanding. Society evolves this way, not by shouting each other down, but by the unique capacity of unique, individual human beings to comprehend each other” (Thomas 120). The impact literature can bring onto others is simply amazing and is a gift that should be shared with everyone. This spring semester has quickly broadened my perspective. Being that this is my freshman year in college I prodded around ideas of what majors I had interests in. I toyed around with political science, but I found that I spent more time on arguing with what the political figures stood for than actually studying. I was almost certain I wanted to be an interior designer but I became overly fixated on how to properly draw three dimensional boxes to further myself any farther. Truth be told, I am the type of person who rather create something encrusted with detail than something cut in dry like politics or basic shapes. I have always have had a love for literature and especially poetry. At age eight I became a published poet in a children’s book. Even at a young age I knew with words I can create something to quench my need to express how I feel about a certain topic or issue. Therefore I have recently declared myself as a literature major. Through the structured English 1B's course and power of words from authors; Boisseau, Bishop, Glaspell and Ibsen I have gained valuable life lessons .
Literature is an outlet for imagination without restrictions, a platform for expression, and a form of art that outlives its author. Most importantly, it can be a way to help one truly discover themselves. As audiences are exposed to more literature throughout their lives, they not only learn about their true potential, but are also made aware of their flaws and faults in character. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton are both remarkable characters, but from various events that reveal their shortcomings, the audience receives the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. By appreciating literature, one not only receives a wonderful story, but is also given the chance to grow with the characters and learn lessons from the character’s experiences.
My development as a writer has flourished throughout this semester. The first week of this fall semester started out with writing responses from our readings in the textbook. Looking back through and analyzing my reading responses at the semester to now; I noticed a substantial improvement in not only my grammar skills, but also my summarizing, and in-depth studying of writing adeptness. Another way I have progressed this semester is the vocabulary of my writing has significantly improved and become more scholarly. Another advancement I noticed was that the content of my work has matured, along with my organizational adeptness.
Nilson, Allen Pace & Kenneth L. Donelson. “Stages of Literary Appreciation” in Literature for Today’s Young Adults. Longman, 2001: pp. 35-42. [PDF in Blackboard]
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
Though more than one century has passed, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland still new generations of young and older readers alike. Among many other reasons, Carroll’s tale may be explained by its particular work on language and the mass effects it produces in the mind of children and adults, therefore creating a remarkable literary work.
People read literature an abundance of times, but yet many don’t actually undergo the appreciation of the novel. Some overlook pieces of the novel and consider it insignificant to the whole story because those readers are inexperienced. The book, How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, allows readers and students to fully comprehend the meaning behind the book, making them assured to read “like a professor”. Letting the reader to go further in depth surely helps their analytical thinking to flourish. Having no boundaries when analyzing, Foster sure provided plenty of creative imagination discussing about archetypes and how we should consider the character’s perspective.
In many ways, human beings possess a strong desire to understand each other. This understanding is used to form friendships, to solve personal problems, and, at times, to prevent the world from making the same mistakes it has in the past. Nowhere is the desire for human understanding more evident than in the study of literature. To expand knowledge beyond the people of today, literature empowers people to paint a picture of what history was like by analyzing the works of writers from the past. Many students understand the Victorian Era through the works of Dickens, but perhaps a more complete vision of the Victorian Era can be formed through Lewis Carroll. The symbolism in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland reflects the struggles
The earth matures and changes every day; therefore, the life which lives upon its surface develops with it. Because communication and story telling has always had an immense importance, literature has had a vital impact on everyday life all throughout history. Each day as the earth changes, so does literature, thus explaining why personality traits of characters and the setting in which novels take place are modified every day and shift with every time period. However, even when written in different eras, two stories can display similarities even in their most obvious differences. In just a quick glance, two pieces of literature written decades apart and with entirely opposite subjects do not seem to have much in common, but the backbone of each story contains aspects in which the other includes as well. The comparisons and contrasting ideas between Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are explicitly delivered through the authors’ portrayals of characters, as well as the settings and worlds in which each story takes place.
22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
The inventive world of Wonderland and Alice’s journey in to her own imagination is more then merely a children s story. Looking deep at the symbols and structure of the story one can see that it becomes more complex and abstract as Alice gets deeper and deeper in her journey in Wonderland. Lewis Carol wrote the book in 1876 and Disney produced its own animated version of Alice in Wonderland no more then twenty years ago. The Disney production aimed at a younger audience, shows Wonderland as a very colorful and vibrant place, full of flowers, trees and a majestic garden of wonder and glory. Although Disney is successful at doing that, it fails in showing the hidden aspects of the story, the aspects of the novel that need to be dug into to comprehend. This is most likely because it was made a younger audience.
When one thinks of children’s storybooks, one robotically assumes a simple fairy tale with no particular purpose. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, is very successful in means of portraying a deeper message with usage of symbolism and satire. Just about all the characters found in the story function as a symbol, leaving the rest for the reader’s imagination. Even though Alice in Wonderland does not fulfill the “classic fairy tale,” it does not leave one, particularly children, questioning the story. Because Alice in Wonderland is a dream-like tale, it enables Lewis Carroll to criticize and make fun of the Victorian Age. Like many other known authors, they use satire to point out faults of society and the people in a humorous manner. The core idea behind Alice in Wonderland is the chaos that comes with puberty and growing up. More importantly, the use of the rabbit hole, growing and shrinking, having to identify herself to characters, and Alice herself help to construct the main theme of the story.
My parents read to me every day when I came home from school. Two of my favorite books were the Baranstein Bears and Clifford. Television shows such as Sesame Street were a valuable supplement to my reading material. I had a tendency to pay more attention to Sesame Street than to my parents, but they did not discourage television; they were satisfied to see that I was learning.
Once I noticed that there was a project that I have to do, there were ten selected topics to do about, but one of those topics attracted me to choose it, which is “Reading”. I always wanted to know what people think about reading, and are they really recognize the importance of it in their life. So, I did a survey asking them different questions about reading. Also, a research was done about two different questions. The purpose of the research is to find out the benefits of reading, and the ways that people can follow to improve their reading skill. Although the benefits of reading I found from the research are countless, I found from the survey that people do not read enough. Which is helpless for their knowledge.
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.