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Abdullah Alhamli

English Literature Experience

Introduction:

English has always been a favorite subject for me throughout my academic career. Even though I

have always liked English, I was pretty uncertain of how well I would do in a course that was

strictly related to literature. Literature has always been of interest to me but I felt like it was

complicated because of the depth that was usually the main idea behind everything thats written

in pure literature. I was also aware that the act of interpretation based on ones personal

experiences is also a part of understanding literature which is why I was excited and nervous

about studying and working with literature so closely. It was challenging but also very rewarding

at the end.

Body:

There were different projects and assignments that I had to work on in order to understand the

different aspects of English literature. Almost all of the assignments had the element of analysis

and comprehension so in order to help the students better understand the style and the purpose

behind a certain author or a story that is being told in the form of a poem or a short story.

Short Story:

Our first assignment required us to analyze a short story by identifying different literary elements

that the author had chosen to put across her message. The story that I decided to write about for

my assignment was Thank you mam. The story was short and sweet as the message that the

author conveyed through it was very nice. This is the reason that I chose it but when I properly

analyzed the story for the assignment, I came across different aspects of the story that helped
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Abdullah Alhamli

convey the nice message but I still hadnt noticed them before. I realized how things like

character description and dialogues themselves help build a character and thus properly build a

story line. Its very important to make sure that all important parts of the story are well explained

so the reader can imagine just the write picture.

Poetry:

The assignment where I had to analyze a poem was very challenging for me because the poems

that I chose were very difficult to decipher. It was especially very difficult to decode and

understand the underlying message that the poet was trying to convey. There were literary

devises that are completely different than what are normally used and the way they are used

when it comes to short stories. The personal feelings of the poet are also a very important part of

why he is writing about something and this is why it is important to understand the poet himself

and then relate his experience and ideology with what he is writing about. Poems are usually also

a way of conveying a persons opinion about something and often there is just more than one

way to interpret a poem which is why analyzing a poem can be tough and a different experience

for everyone.

Theatre:

Theatre is the most interesting and dynamic part of English Literature. I had the most fun while

writing and studying about theater. It is often very dramatic, intense and sentimental because of

the topics that it conveys and the way that the characters are built and the story develops is also

very interesting. Since the story isnt short and is conveyed from often third person or first

person point of view and at times with the help of a narrator, there is a better chance of

understanding the context of the story and the way that it is being presented. I found it very fun
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but it was also very challenging because there are multiple elements that are involved in a theatre

play.

Conclusion:

Overall the experience has made me more aware of the small details and ways in which English

language can be creatively used to convey messages and emotions. I think its a very artistic way

of expressing one self and now that I have done these assignments, I think I am in a better

position to understand and appreciate literature more.