Reflection

The Reflection Essay (The last essay of my high school career!)

My first impression of AP literature is that is wouldn’t be that much different than AP language. In some ways I was correct, we still analyze how the author uses literary (rhetorical) techniques to create an argument through their work. But for the most part, I had to readjust my writing style to fit more literary analysis rather than rhetoric. I remember the first essay I wrote in that class, the characterization one, where I referred to the story as an essay (and the red pen marks that severely underlined whenever I did so) as well as a good portion of my talking about rhetorical techniques rather than literary one; I thought I actually thought that I was going to get a decent grade.
I feel that my growth as a writer lies in my ever-growing pool of adjectives and verbs. While my personal style of syntax and diction stayed the same for the most part, over the course of the year I began to incorporate more and more adjectives and verbs to make my sentences juicier. I’ve notice that, especially in the beginning of the year, I go through verb phases (emphasizes, shows) where I obsessively use a verb over and over again. With my increasing range of dispensable verbs, I don’t have to worry or do that as much (hurrah verb sheet!). And with the spectrum of colorful verbs that I utilize, the variety and sophistication of my writing has sky rocketed, and is the biggest achievement I made throughout this year.
I feel like my biggest weakness is still in poetry. Even though I have definitely improved in the area, the structure of any poems and the constant and blatant use of literary techniques always hinders me from fully understanding them. This is the case with the in class essay with the poem about the author writing to her works. I find that I have to take much more time to understand a poem than I do with prose, but I definitely improved in the area as shown by my most lasted in class essay poem grade. It is probably my need to become accustomed to the genre in order to understand fully, and throughout this year, I definitely have become more use to it.
This year’s English class has also taught the necessity of time management. While having time management is a “smack your forehead, duh!” statement, it wasn’t exactly apparent to me in the beginning of the year, and as a result, I had many night where I writhed in pain wondering why I didn’t start my work sooner. It only took me two quarters to realize that it was actually quite satisfying to pass in work on time and instead of sneaking it into the bin while the teacher wasn’t looking. And on a related note, I’ve finally noticed that my work is much more thorough and lucid when I’m writing my work at 6 pm instead of 4 am.
This year’s class has given me a whole new appreciation of English. I begin to question everything the author does: why does he mention this twice, and in the format? Why is this character a certain way and the other character another? I find myself constantly believing that everything has a purpose in the novel or story. In some ways, this good. I can decipher the author’s meaning and purpose and make the work my own, but in other ways, I view that this English class has stripped me of child-like innocence in reading. Never again will I be able to think that the red room in Jane Eyre is just a fashionably decorated room, that any mention of a garden in a story is just a garden and not a biblical allusion, or that constant mentioning of an object, person, or act is just pure coincidence.