Thursday, May 7, 2009

"Every Road Not Taken"

The Literature of this semester was not only an interesting introduction to English studies, but it was also a personal enlightenment as to which path to take in these studies. Robert Frost mentions in “The Road Not Taken,” any path will really be about the same, worn equally, so I might as well take the most enjoyable one. I, however, did not know the options of the paths until this semester. I knew that I would like to write, but did not understand where to focus my attention until I actually looked at the Minors that Kennesaw State University offers. I enjoy reading and writing literature and poetry, so I am going to focus on a minor in professional writing.

“The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy was my favorite book we read this semester. The narrative voice and internal over-analysis reminds me Quinton Compson in “The Sound and the Fury,” who is one of my favorite narrators of all time. Both his and Binx’s extreme flow of thoughts carry an intensity with them, but I suppose that if you typed anyone’s thought process into Word Processor it would look insane. Not only was the narrative voice interesting, but this novel also offered a small shard of hope – that in the great cycling and recycling of time, there will be good times after bad times, mania after depression.

I felt, this semester, that I could also connect with Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry, the way she evokes such sorrow, yet holds on to her humor and modesty. She is very inspiring, to write such simple lines that evoke so much emotion rather than decorating the lines gaudily, something I may never learn. (Still inspiring nonetheless.) I also enjoyed doing close readings of poetry, both in class and in our own essays. All in all, this semester brought many valuable insights to my future in English studies, most notably that I should simply choose a path and not worry so much about every road not taken.