I am giving myself a quick mental break from the chaos of essay-writing to celebrate that I am ten pages in and 60% complete! I have two last poems to explicate: a sonnet and a sweet little quatrain I saved for last as a personal treat to myself.
There is Facebook group of everyone in my English class and most people are freaking out:
- How many pages do we need!?
- I haven’t started! :(
- HELP! I’m confused!!!!
And so on.
I find that, while an essay is always a headache, I did myself a favor by starting a few days ago (on Friday) and doing a bit (literally I would do a paragraph every three hours) at a time. I’m almost done and it feels less like work.
My approach to this assignment from the beginning was one of excitement. I knew who I was using a week after the project was announced and I love Cummings’ poetry so much that that it was no trouble selecting five of his pieces. Analyzing the essays took me a quick four hours and I’m one of the few people (I think) who at least understands the poems they’re using. I like digging for nuggets of meaning in every little line.
This whole analysis is actually a LOT of fun for me. I feel like I chose the best poet and the best selections, hands down. I don’t know how many people would agree in regards to themselves, but hey! And I’m going to feel SO proud of myself when I hand this in on Wednesday, completed and excellent. I’ve been doing terribly lately, handing in papers late and getting low grades for essays damn near worth 100 points. I would really like to start off on the right foot with—I promised myself a 90+ in English!—and this paper is the best way to start.
Not to mention, I am beginning to appreciate poetry in a way I never did. I used to hate it and now I can not help myself from spitting out verses everywhere.
I am happy. This is great.
(3 weeks ago)