My Thoughts About Reading New Book

I love the anticipation of starting a new book. It is like entering a new world. Will it educate or entertain me, or will it make me laugh or cry? Literature can inform, inspire and motivate us. Novels like Brave New World and 1984 stimulate the imagination, as do Lord of the Rings and Animal Farm. Some literature has considerable social impact. After the publicity received by Nabokov's Lolita, this girl's name has dramatically declined in use. This book helped to fuel a debate about child abuse. I do believe that literature can influence the way we think and authors can make us look at things from different perspectives. Literature also raises issues which society finds hard to discuss openly. In the earlier part of the twentieth century, D H Lawrence's work was perceived as unacceptable and lewd and yet by the latter part of the century, he was hailed as a literary master. I enjoy the critical analysis that is involved in studying literature. Animal Farm is a good example of a book that can be read as an entertaining children's book or a political critique on Russian communism. Good historical novels allow us to relive major events that affected our forefathers and in turn affect us and the way we live today. Bird Song vividly brings to life the trauma of warfare in the trenches. Having visited the trenches in Belgium, the experience has had a major impact on the way I view wars. Some of Nikos Kazantzakis novels, like Freedom and Death recount the bitter struggle for Greek independence.

Kazantzakis weaves stories of bloodshed, hardship and struggle for freedom but within the overall picture he has sub-plots of friendship and love between Ottomans and Greeks. I am fascinated with the way Beckett explores the relationship between language and thought. It is interesting how he allows us to glean the workings of an individual's mind. Waiting for Godot also highlights his ability to use humour. Having read the book, I enjoyed seen it staged in the West End. The production did well at accentuating the comical aspects of Beckett's work. Trips to the theatre are always a special treat and something I try to do as much as possible. My developing fascination with Beckett, has led me to write my EPQ dissertation on the major influences on his writing. I am particularly interested in the way he borrows from canonical writers like Dante to create new forms. A level English allows opportunities to discuss and analyse the points raised in the books that we have read. This is something I particularly enjoy; verbalising my ideas often helps me to clarify my understanding of a text. I am also part of the school debating society and I relish opportunities to challenge and be challenged. I also enjoy writing, both creative work, where I have to use the language in an imaginative way, whilst spinning a story that is intriguing and original, but also more factual writing, where I have to be analytical and be able to argue in a balanced way and draw pertinent conclusions. These are useful skills when I write for the school magazine and edit others writing. As House Captain, I have to be organised and also help to organise others. Playing netball for the school helps me to exercise and play an important role within a team. I am also an avid film watcher and regularly go to the cinema with friends. I use some of my free time to assist in junior English classes. It is rewarding to be able to assist children who find this subject difficult. After graduating, I am hoping to work in some context which involves maintaining my interest in literature. Ideally, I would like to be a literary agent and have the opportunity to both discover and also bring to the public interesting literature.

The relationship between the exterior and the interior is a theme that fascinates me. I thoroughly enjoyed delving into this topic in my study of Shakespeare and exploring the ways that beautiful, flawed women are depicted through characters such as Chaucer's May in The Merchant's Tale and Thackeray's Becky Sharp. I find Catherine Earnshaw an interesting character for the way that her beauty seems, paradoxically, to both empower and entrap her. Another aspect of poetry that interests me is the way that sound can be charged with meaning, which is what makes Louis MacNeice, with his haunting rhymes and metaphysical images, one of my favourite twentieth-century poets. Attending a philosophy debating club and volunteering weekly as a teaching assistant for a GCSE English class have improved my ability to formulate and express ideas clearly. It helped to develop my skills in teaching and, more significantly, opened my eyes to the importance of learning from others. I hope to take the rewarding experience of teaching and learning further by continuing my studies at a postgraduate level and possibly pursuing a career in academia. Most of all, however, I want to study English for the incomparable sense of excitement I feel at opening a book, and it is this passion that I believe will help me to grow as a critic and a writer.

Everyday life as a subject and ordinary people as protagonists are integral to the nature of literature. Wordsworth stepped away from the gaudiness and inane phraseology of modern writers towards situations from common life- allying accessible poetry with a moral centre. This is a progression from the works of Shakespeare (plays for common men), despite heroes like King Lear fitting Aristotle's tragic archetype of an imitation of persons above the common level Becoming no better than 'Tom O'Bedlam', Lear's fall from the bias of nature evokes the intended tragic effect through his loss of position and sanity. However, I agree that the common man and ordinary life may be as appropriate subjects for both tragedy and literature. McCrum's notion that motifs drawn from ordinary life (enthral) echoes Arthur Miller's 'Tragedy and the Common Man'. Feste's declaration in 'Twelfth Night' that A sentence is/ but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the/ wrong side may be turned outward.

Epitomizes major themes through an everyday object; both glove and world are turned inside out, as though the traditional Lord of Misrule is present within the plot. My EPQ has further explored the ambitions of Wordsworth and Shelley in their poetry, relative to what poetry should achieve and the poet's role. 'To A Skylark' exemplifies Shelley's desire to enable the observer to experience beauty, with illustrations of clear celestial images of the bodied joy, a parallel to his desire as a poet; to provide delight, yet remain aloof. In contrast, Wordsworth's didactic purpose is evident in 'Simon Lee', in his subject choice of common humanity, instructing the reader to consider such acts of compassion as unremarkable. A similar 'exemplum' of moral ideals is achieved in Chaucer's 'Franklin's Tale', scrutinising the existence of providence and the necessity of 'trouthe' through both his 'Breton lai' fairytale itself, and the narrator not of noble birth. The Prologue uses the idiosyncrasies of the main character to generate concerns of 'gentillesse', striving to render himself 'gentil' through imparting his knowledge of classical poetry to the more socially elevated of his company.

Thus the text stands as a component in illustrating, through 'The Canterbury Tales', a cross-section of characters from medieval England, and their desires in relation to their places in society. Virginia Woolf's exploration of the reflections of her characters in her 'Mrs Dalloway' achieves a multi-faceted examination of a patriarchal and pious section of English society and the oppression it inflicts upon each character. An echo of Joyce's use of the internal monologue, 'Mrs Dalloway' serves as a successful integration of several individuals' musings on one day. The disparity between the often mundane thoughts of the protagonists and the singular, outstanding event of Septimus' suicide appears to mirror Clarissa's own struggle to balance her internal perspective with the external world. Work experience with a Channel 4 drama provided me with an insight into the problems of adapting text to screen, while emphasising the importance of collaboration and time management. These skills translate naturally into continual participation in school drama and my role as Chair of the Yearbook Committee, while demonstrating my creative passion that also surfaces through artwork and Grade 8 piano. My early years in Botswana and a charity trip to Romania have made me aware not only of another culture, but the nature of life in developing societies. T S Eliot states that a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence is imperative for a full comprehension of a text, relative to the simultaneous order of other literature. I aim to develop this awareness of intertextuality both in close and comparative reading, as well as the element of my own interpretation that is essential for not only University but a lifelong appreciation of literature.

Growing up in a house where books have replaced wallpaper, acquiring a love of literature was inevitable. I love the way in which writers explore, question, and critique aspects of human nature through the presentation of their worlds and characters. My favourite pieces of writing are ones such as Levi's Order on the Cheap, Gogol’s The Overcoat or Hartley's The Go Between, where a particular human tendency is both beautifully presented and meticulously analysed. In his I believe I have the right attitude to study English at university as I am passionate about reading and always challenge myself in my work. My determination would also assist me in my studies, while helping me overcome any difficulties faced. Above all, the chance to read great literature, under professional guidance, presents itself as an experience I am eager to approach with commitment and enthusiasm.