End of the Term

Yesterday in class our literary research essays were due and we had "poetry day".  The literary research essay went as well as any essay could go and I was greatly relieved to finally just turn it in.  What I was not expecting was how poetry day went.  For poetry day we had to bring in a piece of poetry.  It could have been something that we wrote ourselves or something that we enjoyed that was written by someone else.  I chose to bring in "If" by Rudyard Kipling.  This is a poem that has always had a special place for me because it was one that my mother always read to me while I was growing up.  I have a copy of this poem framed and hanging on the wall in my bedroom at home.   I chose this poem because it was special to me growing up and it continues to have a special spot within me.  What I did not expect was to be completely blown away by some of the poetry that was written by my classmates.  I know that as a strictly English majors and minors class everyone in the class has some literary abilities, but I was not expecting there to be actual great poetry being written by these kids that I sit next to every other day of the week.  Some of these people are really talented and I did not have the slightest idea.  Reflecting on the class as a whole, even though I do not think I will pursue an English major, I believe that this was one of the most beneficial classes I have taken this year.  I not only learned a lot, but I greatly enjoyed the experience and the way that the class worked.  There is nothing I love more, especially in literature classes, that class discussion heavy courses. My favorite way to learn is through class discussions and this class was almost purely that.

"Snow Country" Part 2

Today we had to complete our reading of "Snow Country".  Much to my dismay, but falling right into my expectations, the second half of this piece was just as boring if not more so than the first half.  It dragged on for what felt like forever and it was very much the same content as the first half.  The back and forth between the man and the geisha.  The constant mood swings and drunken tendencies of the geisha.  There were random other events that took place throughout this half but none of them were really relevant, they just kind of happened.  The man took a day trip. The geisha got obsessed and possessive and increasingly more annoying.  It took everything in me just to finish the second half.  Fortunately, some excitement was thrown in at the very, very end of the story.  The movie theater burned down and the woman that the man was crushing on died falling from the building.  How that fits into the story is completely beyond me, but it was there and added a few seconds of interesting reading right at the end.  Overall, this piece was borderline interesting with a whole lot of boring.