I chose to go with a more plain template to give off an aura of professionalism for my site. I also structured the artifacts I chose to reflect some of my strongest skills like critical thinking, problem solving, empathy, analysis, and synthesis. For the traditional paper, I chose the first major paper I wrote at CofC because it reflects my propensity to defend unconventional topics. Because of this, the paper required an extensive amount of research to defend my thesis, which shows my dedication and willingness to confront difficult tasks. For the genre remediation, I chose a video essay I constructed surrounding a research paper I wrote for a film noir class. I felt this project really embodied my ability to work across multiple mediums. For the free artifact option, I chose a paper I wrote for my American Gothic Literature class, but I divided it up into three separate blog posts to make it more online audience friendly. I think these blog posts show my interest in a variety of topics like racism in America, patriarchal values and their impact, and mental health in gothic film. I also added the delights blog post from this class to make my site a bit more personable. And I also chose to include the alum interview I conducted to show my interest in pursuing law. The other posts I included, like a short story and my poetry, show my willingness to be forthcoming in who I am as a person and will aid my audience in feeling like they know me as an individual. I plan to add my study abroad experiences in both Mexico City, where I studied indigenous and Spanish history, and Rome, where I’ll be studying law this July. Heres the link to my blog: juliannabhullar.wordpress.com !
Born and raised in Summerville, South Carolina, Hope Bergquist, a 2005 English alumna of College of Charleston had much to say about her experience at The College when I interviewed her. We covered her experience in the English department, as well as her life before and after, which all paved her path in becoming Senior Commercial Counsel at Zscaler, an IT security company offering enterprise cloud security services.
After attending high school in Summerville, Hope started college at the University of South Carolina. For her at this time, the distance from home was important for her independence. However, she found herself returning to Charleston on many occasions to soak up the coastal environment and downtown Charleston. She said, “I have so many more memories and connections with Charleston” so she decided to transfer to the College of Charleston. At the start of her junior year she began taking classes through the English department and immediately, she knew the change was a positive one.
When asked about how this transition went for her, she said, “I immediately was fully immersed in the English Department. The quality of the professors was phenomenal… [The College] was much closer to a small school atmosphere where I was getting lots of direct connections with students and professors… and I truly learned more.” Her favorite class at College of Charleston covered The Romantic Period, and her professor Bishop Hunt was such a profound influence in her academic studies that she took more of his classes afterward. He was a “larger than life kind of figure but very humble and kind of quiet… he kind of reminded me of an old English man..” she said while smiling.
“He was very thoughtful and did a nice job at challenging you to think about something in a different way… I really respected his opinion.. His classes were so enlightening.”
Hope also took one of Dr Myra Seaman’s first classes at College of Charleston. She said of Dr Seaman, “she was really new and she was great.” Additionally, while Hope thoroughly enjoyed learning about her favorite genres and authors of literature, like the Romantic Period and Chaucer, she was also very interested in “learning about the history surrounding when different pieces were written.. And what was going on outside of the [authors] lives that inspired their writing.” For her, it wasn’t only about analyzing written texts, but also understanding what was happening socially, politically, and culturally at the time of their conceptions.
In addition to being an English major, Hope was also a Historic Preservation minor. In one of the classes she took through this minor, she participated in the efforts of putting a historic downtown building on the historic preservation registry. She also interned with the Art Department for the Antique Symposium hosted each spring where she put together mailers, fielded calls from participants, as well as helped direct people and answer any questions they had at the event.
Then when graduation rolled around, she had already attended many career fairs and participated in interviews but was not exactly sure of what she wanted to pursue next. So, Hope decided to take some time off from academics and step into the working world. For her, “If you would’ve asked me at twenty-two what I wanted to do with my life, it would’ve been something completely different,” therefore looking back on this decision, Hope is grateful. She took odd jobs in stores and companies, one where she was an office manager, but it was her paralegal job in Alabama working for a construction defect litigator which had a most profound influence.
Her experience in court helped her see that life as a litigator was most likely not the path for her, but “the design and architecture element” piqued her interest and had her thinking about law school. Her experience as a paralegal was informed by her English degree as the job consisted of the “natural process of structuring sentences.” Law felt like her niche, and all her experience both academic and professional up to that point in time gave her the knowledge she needed for taking her next steps. Hope decided to return to Charleston and attend the Charleston School of Law with an interest in environmental law.
During her time in law school, Hope knew the experience of study abroad opportunities was invaluable. Therefore, she began searching for such experiences. She found a position to work with a Supreme Court justice in Ireland, but the timing didn’t align. Instead, she chose to study in Greece through Tulane University, during which she studied Maritime Law. Though it was an introductory course, she learned much about how maritime law has many similarities to U.S. law and differing aspects as well in legal proceedings. This knowledge equipped her with the skills to participate in Charleston School of Law’s moot court competition involving Maritime Law.
After graduating from law school, Hope clerked for a judge in Walterboro, South Carolina. During which, she provided legal counsel regarding the Alex Murdaugh case. After taking some time off after this clerkship, she then joined a law firm and gained more experience solidifying her decision to not pursue litigation. After trial and error, she decided she wanted to be a transactional lawyer and began working for Zscaler as she also had an interest in technology. There, she negotiates contracts with mostly high-profile and complex customers. With each customer, she “think[s] through how the contract impacts all parties [to come up with] the correct language on both sides.” In each of her endeavors, Hope has been informed by the priceless skills she learned while at the College of Charleston.
These skills include but are not limited to writing, creativity, reading comprehension, and attention to detail. In her current position at Zscaler, she says she’s “not speed reading.. It’s slow and there’s times where it’s tedious [because] everything is interconnected… [I’m] reading slowly but only to make sure [I’m] being thorough and catching all the details.” Her analytical skills learned through studying literature have aided her in creating contracts in which both sides “have language that works for them and [where] it allocates the responsibilities and risks [effectively] for [everyone].”
Hope currently resides in South Carolina where she’s closer to her family and is raising children with her husband. She works from home for Zscaler, which affords her the flexibility to manage her many responsibilities. Her experience at College of Charleston and the Charleston School of Law gave her many invaluable opportunities and skills which have positioned her well in her current line of work as a transactional lawyer.
I’ve always had a knack for writing. I remember asking my mother for a typewriter when I was in the first grade. Once I got my hands on it, eight-year-old me was disappointed to realize that I didn’t have the vocabulary and sophistication to translate what I felt and thought onto paper in the way I wished to. It was slightly discouraging. However, I grew into this skill with experience and time. In the seventh grade, a poem I wrote about my Marine brother was published in a national student poetry collection. Novels and poems fascinated my young, overactive, and sensitive mind. I found solace in stories, but when it came time to apply to college I took a different route.
Following in the footsteps of my older brother Shawn, who was very influential in my personal growth from the age of sixteen, I joined the Air Force. While serving, I was a C-130J loadmaster in Jacksonville, Arkansas. I was very successful, earning accolades in my profession, and I developed many leadership skills that became essential to my worldview and how I operate. However, I had somewhat neglected my passion for written words. After honorably separating, I was in a sort of dilemma when it came to choosing my bachelor’s major for college. I wanted job security, but I also wanted to explore literature in more depth. After much thought, I decided to follow my heart by choosing English as my major.
Through this major, I learned much about literature, but I also realized that I was fascinated with film. Therein I spent years analyzing, dissecting, and synthesizing literature and film. The first in-depth research paper I wrote was during my Introduction to English Studies class at College of Charleston. I chose to focus on defending the stance that manga should be included in literary study and designated higher categorization. From this research paper, which required in depth critical thinking and problem-solving, a passion for the unconventional was born.
I prioritized the remainder of my classes on literary and film topics which embodied the unconventional. One of these classes was German Cinema in Exile: Film Noir, during which I learned the making of these films focused on displacement and perception. As an Air Force veteran, I was very intrigued by the themes of displacement and reintegration in WWII Veteran Noir films. For my research paper in this class, I analyzed in-depth The Blue Dahlia (1946) and Act of Violence (1948) with mental health as a main concern. This solidified for me even more that I have a niche for defending the unconventional: works, ideas, and opinions that are often overlooked or misunderstood.
Like George Anders states in his 2017 book ‘You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Education,’ I was continually finding myself “ripe for an unusual new challenge” which is a unique disposition all employers seek out in applicants. My character developed as a child engaging with stories, adapting to a new environment as an Air Force loadmaster, and as a student in literary and film studies exemplifies I’m “bound to…leap into the unknown” (83). Moreover, I’ve found immense joy in doing so.
By focusing on the unconventional, I’ve developed a deeper understanding of myself as well as those unlike myself. This reflects my propensity for and development of empathy and improvisation, which are key in any workplace. I also took an American Gothic Literature class, which focused heavily on how gothic works raise essential questions in modern society from racism, patriarchal values, perception, and mental health. Analyzing and writing about the unconventional transitions smoothly into the workforce as many employers are looking for those “wanting to work on the frontier, being able to find insights, choosing the right approach, reading the room, and inspiring others” (179). This natural inclination of mine has been honed through my military background and studies of literature and film at College of Charleston.
Like Christian Madsbjerg states in his 2017 book ‘Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm,’ in a rapidly developing world focused on progressivism, “we need to learn through experience, and what we learn doesn’t have the same precision, rigor, or consistency as algorithms” (xi). Through my studies and focus on the unconventional, I’ve developed a deep understanding of social culture and “unspoken rules,” human behavior in greater cultural context, complexities which exist in our world, observation and theory making, as well as assumptions versus interpretation and strategy.
In any field, it’s paramount to be able “to understand new and unfamiliar contexts– political, technological, cultural– and to interpret their place in our increasingly interdependent world” (22). My studies and skills I’ve developed along the way have positioned me well for conquering such challenges. Additionally, my experience in the Air Force and in executive leadership positions on-campus have honed my capacities for communicating with a wide variety of people from multiple backgrounds. While I was in the Air Force, I was in charge of leading others to ensure safe loading and airdrop procedures of cargo on a multi-million dollar aircraft. I exemplified the skills necessary to complete multiple objectives and work well under pressure. Moreover, on-campus leadership positions further developed my skills to adapt, re-invent, communicate effectively, and accomplish associated goals. As an English major, I’ve been met with many challenges, but I’ve mastered the skills necessary to overcome them. Though I’m not entirely sure what I want to pursue next, my experiences will translate immensely well in the professional sphere and I’ll be a key asset to whichever profession I choose.
I’ve always been fascinated with stories and a combination of both intrigued and perplexed at what makes a poem or novel tick. So I delved into the English major without knowing exactly what I was getting myself into, but I wasn’t afraid and I knew I’d find my way. My knowledge in this discipline has exponentially increased over the past two years at College of Charleston. Originally I was a Creative Writing concentrator, but it was mainly the film component to my current concentration of Literature, Film, and Cultural Studies that encouraged me to switch. Additionally, I’ve learned that to be a truly great writer, you first need to have a solid understanding of literature and culture. All the areas I’ve studied in the classes I’ve taken have given me vital skills necessary for success in the professional sphere. It’s been the best of both worlds: studying topics that genuinely stimulate my brain and gaining invaluable skills in the process. The ability to think critically, digest a plethora of information and come to a meaningful conclusion (with some pressing questions of course as the process for learning is never ending), adapt to challenges, and solve problems creatively are just a handful of these skills. At the start of this capstone class, required of all Literature, Film, and Cultural Studies concentrators, I’m not afraid to admit that I was extremely skeptical about its relevance to my academic and professional development. I heard from previous students that it was a “self-help course” or “focused entirely too much on resume building.” However, I’ve learned that this class is nothing like that at all. It’s about understanding the viability of an English major not only for ourselves, but also for family and friends, people we may meet in the future that are considering studying English or are skeptical of the major, and future academic and employment endeavors. Before this class, I didn’t completely understand how invaluable my major is.
You Can Do Anything, written by George Anders, goes into the many complexities surrounding why English as a major is dying and why its survival is essential in the real-world. The many skills we learn as English majors, like critical thinking, adaptability, creativity, empathy, and problem-solving, position us as having a far greater advantage in succeeding in the professional sphere in a variety of different fields. The “ability to connect with people from other backgrounds,” “ability to improvise,” or “someone ripe for an unusual new challenge” embodies the skills we’ve learned and are essential to any business as all businesses operate within humanity and “much of what happens in the world defies classic economic models.” The focus on STEM in both higher education and the professional sphere detracts from the most real fact that any business cannot operate effectively without people that have an extensive background in the humanities. The skills learned in STEM majors, like data processing, are surely important but cannot act free from the skills learned in a humanities major.
To further cement this fact, Christian Madsbjerg’s book Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm is particularly helpful. The process of sensemaking, or methodical “practical wisdom grounded in the humanities” involves the five principles of culture–not individuals, thick data–not just thin data, the savannah–not the zoo, creativity–not manufacturing, and the North Star–not the GPS. All these principles involve thinking in terms of the bigger picture, which is done through the skills we learn as English majors. We’ve cultivated an understanding of different cultures, which informs “our notions of what is appropriate and relevant…through social context.” This can be useful in many different ways, like discerning that human behavior works from collectively learned practices. We can understand thick data, the human behavior that “adds depth to life,” which in turn helps us categorize what’s meaningful and the contexts surrounding. This is especially helpful when confronting a complex problem. We can understand the intricacies of human needs by observing people and experiencing different perspectives through empathy. Facing doubt has become comfortable to us, where creativity comes into play to figure out what problem exists and how to remedy it. And most importantly, we’re prepared to face the unexpected without having an obsession to organize the world into “an assembly of facts,” which positions us in a unique perspective for selecting appropriate contexts and understanding appropriate paths for the future. These principles are informed by our skills, which are vital to any professional sphere.
When I think back on my academic career at College of Charleston, there are quite a few notable projects that exhibit these skills. Firstly, a traditional paper I wrote a year ago about Posttraumatic Stress Disorder representations in veterans of film noir films in the mid-twentieth century. The thesis of this film argues that The Blue Dahlia (1946) focuses too heavily on reintegration into the domestic sphere for postwar veterans and therefore detracts from the harsh realities many of these veterans faced. It also argues that the film Act of Violence (1948) exhibits a substantially better representation because it focuses on trauma and its effects, putting reintegration into the domestic and civilian sphere less on the totem pole of importance. There are many reasons why this is the case, including the need to rewrite the script of The Blue Dahlia to avoid the “criminalization of a serviceman” and Classic Hollywood Style influences. The process of researching and writing this paper involved learning much about WWII, Hollywood practices at the time, and a synthesizing of this information.
Another notable project was the final paper I wrote during my first semester at College of Charleston for my Introduction to English Studies class. This paper focuses on the importance of including manga in the literary canon, which is a highly contested topic. While finding evidence to support my argument, I learned further that there are very few scholarly works which defend this position. Therefore, finding evidence for my argument was very difficult. I had to become creative in my approach, finding scholarly sources that focused on the categorization of “low” and “high” art, technological practices for art creation in manga, and the culture embodied in manga. I used sources that didn’t necessarily defend my argument, but provided essential information for me to do so. I learned much about Japanese culture in the process and how manga represents many of the same elements as canonical literary works such as transcendental values, cultural representation, popular appeal to educate youth, and the power of language. This paper enhanced my empathy for different cultures and gave me a new perspective on how to approach challenging endeavors. I’ve transformed this paper into a poster board to present my questions and arguments to the general public at English Day this semester, which not only transformed my framework of thinking to present the material but will also enhance my public speaking skills.
Lastly, a minor character analysis I completed on Mr. Perlman in the film Call Me By Your Name (2017) for one of my film classes honed my skill for attention to detail. It’s comparatively easier to write about a main character in any story, and so therein lies the challenge of this paper. By focusing on a minor character, I learned how to pay closer attention to the details of the story to defend my stance that Mr. Perlman plays the most crucial role in the film. This paper was devoid of secondary sources to defend my stance, which made supporting my argument that much more challenging. By addressing a minor character’s role, I learned that to have a sound argument it’s imperative to be able to hone in on one niche stance to soundly address an issue.
The English values I address in my first blog post of being culturally aware and not being afraid to venture into the unknown hold true to the viability of being an English major. Cultural awareness expands upon one’s empathy and having a sound worldview, which is essential to grappling with the issues in our society and finding the right solutions to them. Additionally, being comfortable with stepping into the unknown is an important skill to have as our world is ever changing and the need for individuals who can navigate such territory increases exponentially.
Reading Ross Gay’s ‘Book of Delights’ truly changed my perspective on the simple day-to-day occurrences of happiness in my life. Like most recently, it’s been a little challenging adapting to living on campus this semester in a dorm. For the entirety of my college career, I’ve lived off campus with my family. However, this semester I needed to move on campus because my partner separated from the Air Force and moved back where their family is in Texas. So, I’m not only living in an entirely new environment, but I’m also experiencing a familial lack for what feels like the first time in a while. Not an ideal situation for the last semester of my undergraduate studies but I’m making do, and this awesome tea house in North Charleston where I used to live called Gong Cha gives me comfort.
Lately, I’ve found myself making a fun little trip over there to get a large black milk tea (hold the boba; yeah I know that’s weird, the texture just doesn’t agree with me, don’t judge me) whenever I have a bit of free time. It’s not only the drink itself that’s a delight for me. It’s the entire process. I just recently bought a new car (my first “big girl” purchase) and get this… IT HAS A SUNROOF. I cannot tell you how much this delights me. So, I let the Charleston breeze waft through my car while I’m blasting my favorite tunes (using Apple CarPlay, which is a first for me) on my way to Gong Cha. Sometimes I’ll take a detour over the Ravenel Bridge because there’s something about that gigantic bridge overlooking Cooper River that makes me feel a little giddy. The drink tops off the whole experience. The blend of creamy, earthy goodness pleases me and I often find myself gulping slowly to let each taste bud in my mouth capture the flavor. Occasionally I’ll head across the street to Books-a-Million to peruse through the aisles, each book cover reminding me why I chose to be an English major in the first place. The stories. Anywhere there’s a plethora of books feels like home. I gently run my fingers across the covers, once in a while picking a book off its shelf to flip through the pages and inhale that fresh paper scent while peeking at its contents. On the ride back downtown to my dorm, I peacefully sit with my thoughts. Each time, the entire experience offers me a unique sense of calm and quiet that’s much needed in my busy day-to-day as an undergraduate senior.
Part 2: Podcast Narrative
For the first fourteen years of my life I lived in Southeast Michigan with my mom and older brother. I frequented local parks while growing up there since my childhood was before the explosion of technology we know today, and also because my older brother Shawn played baseball throughout his childhood. My mom would sit in her camping chair on the sidelines during his games while I’d playfully stomp through the playground and surrounding grassy fields with my best friend at the time named Katie, whose older brother also played baseball. Back then, I didn’t embody the profound realization that death was looming over all of us. I instead had a childlike wonder towards the tickling feeling of grass beneath my bare feet, the breeze of the wild tangling my long, brown hair. As I’ve experienced life however, and after reading Ross Gay’s poem ‘Thank You’ for the first time, I recognize there have been many times I’ve walked through a grassy area with my bare feet and felt an enduring sense of melancholy that comes with the realization of death which Gay criticizes in this poem.
I’m a new consumer of Ross Gay’s work. I first read his 2019 collection of essays titled ‘Book of Delights,’ and this poem gives me the same sense of delight he highlights in that work, specifically gathering delight in things which remind us of our mortality. His personification of the earth using “sonorous moan” is an interesting tool and I think it connects the reader to mother earth in a profound way. The feeling of grass beneath one’s feet and wind, ground the reader in a sort of spectacular moment of realization that all things are one and impermanent. Gay suggests, however, to not allow our human emotion to ruin a moment in nature like this. Instead of feeling sorrowful or angry with mother earth, we should embrace her. Revel in the feeling of the grass tickling our bare feet, find consolation in observing the wind, the clouds, and the overall landscape. To be alive is to experience, and as such we must be grateful for this chance.
I think it’s interesting that this poem is fourteen lines, making it a sonnet, but it doesn’t adhere to an end-rhyme or iambic pentameter. This sort of narrative-like, lyrical quality to the poem, in my opinion, allows the reader to ruminate with what each word and line represents. There’s a wisdom Gay wants us to take away from the poem and apply to our everyday lives. When I think back on my childhood and other times when I’ve wandered through nature barefoot, there’s a strong contrast between the experiences. In childhood, there was a playful approach, yet in adulthood, I’ve been more inclined to associate nature with death. However, I think what Gay is trying to convey is that nature is playful and each time we experience it we should keep that experience as just that. We shouldn’t associate negative connotations with such an experience because to do so takes away from the present. We have no control over the inevitable future of loved ones passing away, of everything before us disappearing eventually. To savor the present is to be grateful for the now. And we’re the lucky ones.
Like many other individuals, my journey toward committing to the study of literature was contested by most of my family. My father and his family have always held the belief that unless you’re majoring in STEM during undergraduate studies, you’re wasting your time. This is not uncommon among South Asian households, and while I was never very close to my father or that side of my family, this belief was heavily ingrained in me during childhood.
My mother and her family were mostly indifferent. However, many of them, including my mother, dedicated their lives to the medical field. I subsequently believed that a nursing career would best suit me both financially and emotionally, but after briefly treading down this path I realized I was putting forth the effort solely seeking validation and support from my family. When I graduated high school I was unsure of what I wanted to study in college, so instead I decided to join the United States Air Force, during which I was a C-130J Loadmaster. This aircrew job provided me an environment rich with freedom as a young adult to explore what was most important to me.
an early USAF photo of myself, 2017
During childhood, I grew up in a chaotic household where having the quiet and comfortability to read literature was generally impossible. But in my down time while I was serving, I began to collect novels and immerse myself in them. It became clear that literature had a special place in my heart, and that I just didn’t quite have the necessary conditions in childhood to explore this passion fully. After honorably separating, I had many conversations with my partner about what discipline I would pursue in college. I once again grappled with the notion that nursing would be best, but after trial and error I finally settled on taking classes focused on literature, creative writing, history, and cultural and film studies.
During my first academic year of taking these classes, I experienced an identity crisis. I knew these disciplines made me feel alive and excited me in ways I hadn’t been before, but I couldn’t help feeling that perhaps my father was right: I’m wasting my time. A quote from Jasmine Guillory’s article titled ‘Reading Anti-Racist Nonfiction Is a Start. But Don’t Underestimate the Power of Black Fiction’ really resonates with me when I think back on this period in my life, which was only a year ago:
“I’ve read so many books about people who are nothing like me—often by necessity, since I can think of only one book I was assigned to read in my entire K-12 education that was about a Black girl or woman—and I’ve learned something from many of them. As characters confront events and situations we’ve never experienced, fiction helps us imagine how we would deal with them.”
Aside from being half South Asian, and knowing all too well how it feels for individuals like me to be underrepresented in literature studies in the classroom, this quote makes me think about why literature is a passion of mine and why my pursuit of it as a discipline is integral to my emotional and mental well-being.
Part of my experience in childhood of growing up in a mostly chaotic household was being stripped of social development with my peers. My mother, a single parent, uprooted our lives by moving nearly every single year. I eventually, at some point, grew exhausted at making friends in a new city because I knew our stay there would be short lived. I became distant from my peers, keeping to myself as a coping mechanism, and this largely impacted my ability to relate to those around me and form close connections.
Literature, however, has helped me glean information that I largely missed out on in childhood. Reading about The Great Perhaps in John Green’s ‘Looking for Alaska,’ for example, gave me insight on the nuances of being a teenager and interacting with one’s peers. Literature gives me a chance to put myself into experiences I missed out on, or like in Gabrielle Zevin’s ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,’ ones I will not experience at any point in my life.
My study of literature has drastically developed my ability to feel empathy for others and has shaped how I approach many relationships as a young adult, especially with those journeying through life at differing ages and in differing paths than myself. Guillory’s words remind me of why I chose to study literature when coming to college, and how with each class I take, the breadth of my knowledge in people and experiences expands, further cementing my choice.
But that doubt I’ve had within myself throughout my young adult years has not solely been because of my family’s influences. I’ve also found literature to be quite intimidating at times. While my childhood largely impacted my ability to immerse myself in literature, it was not as if I could never attempt enjoying a novel or a poem.
I can recall many times throughout grade school when I was assigned a certain text in one of my language arts classes and became overwhelmingly discouraged by the complex diction used or ideas being expressed. Or perhaps it was a piece I picked up in a thrift store which I had convinced my mother to buy for me. Many times, I felt discouraged away from literature because I could not fully understand it. This was not a lack of intelligence on my part, but more so a lack of patience.
As a young adult, I’ve slowly yet surely been cultivating this sense of patience that’s integral to studying literature. Which is why Traci Smith’s article titled ‘Wipe that Smirk Off Your Poem’ resonates with me. When I first read, “Poems infatuated with their own smarts and detached from any emotional grounding can leave the reader feeling lonely, empty and ashamed for having expected more,” I felt a brief sense of relief like finallysomeone recognizes my own frustration. Poetry, for me, was mostly off putting during my childhood because of its, what I thought at the time, mostly flowery and overcomplicated diction and syntax. Even as a young adult, I still do feel this way at times. It’s not beside me to admit that the novel is much more alluring to me than the poem.
However, with the study of literature comes that necessary discomfort at times to venture into the unknown and peculiar, to further my understanding of the world as I do and do not know it. The benefits continually prove to be immense and my love for the discipline steadily increases with time.
