Bye Bye, Adrienne's Super Amazing Honors English Blog.

Looking back at all of my blogs from this year has actually been strange. Despite feeling as though summer is weeks and weeks away and that this school year has hardly begun, some of the assignments that reading this blog has forced me to remember feel like they happened years ago. Quite frankly reminiscing about projects happening that were mentioned throughout the blog was much more amusing than reading the actual blogs themselves. Some were thoughtful, insightful, and reasonably well written (more so toward the beginning of the year when this project was introduced when it was new and exciting). Others, however, made me recall writing them and what I was thinking during said writing process. And generally, I was writing them just to get it over with. More than just a few aren't just lacking depth or substance. They're lacking existence. It appears that my mind has slipped many a time on finishing my blog, regardless of it being one of the easiest things about this class. Pretty much all that is required is for them to be uploaded and to consist of more than mindless, off topic jabbering.

But did this stop me for pushing it to the back of my mind and ignoring them? Oh no it did not.

However, the ones that are written with more in mind than just getting it done are quite good. Although, as mentioned in my very first blog, I do still feel like my writing comes across as arrogant at times. But on the opposite side of the lovely writing spectrum, some of my posts sound more nonchalant and playful (using phrases like "those lovely gentlement" in reference to Jack and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest). My posts also sounded less and less like up tight, purely academic pieces and a literary voice began to peek through.

I must admit, having this year long project was far from my favorite assignment. I actually hated it a lot of the time. But I think it was a great thing to force us to do. The suffering was worth it. It really helped develop a personal style in my work. And you are going to have to do things you don't want to do in life, and lord knows I did NOT want to do this. But I'm better off because of it. If nothing else it was great practice getting out my ideas on topics. And it helped me realize something about myself as a writer: when I'm good, I am excellent. But when I'm bad or not enjoying what I'm doing, that comes across.

The posts relating to The Importance of Being Earnest are some of my favorites. It was my far my favorite thing to read this year, so those blogs were the best just because I liked writing them. I had clever diction, well formed sentences, and all my ideas flowed in a way that made perfect sense. On the other hands blogs regarding Great Expectations were shorter and less fun to read. Because I hated that book. With a passion. With the white hot intensity of a thousand suns (which many, I'm sure, would second).

Although it does not relate directly to what I've said in this particular post, the quote: "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed," (Ernest Hemingway) is the quote I've chosen. Some of my better blogs were written with little thought put into them, I just wrote what I was thinking. And they were good because I liked what I was doing at the times. The ones that I didn't want to do but knew I had to had no heart put into it. It was me, robotically typing for a letter grade. Writing well is all about loving what you're writing. And rereading my entries has completely embossed that into my brain.

Even though this wasn't my favorite thing to be doing with myself at times, this project reminded me why I love writing so much. When I'm really into what I'm doing, I do it better than you can imagine. I'm a little sad this year is almost over. I really loved this class. I loved the writing. And I give it a hard time, but I'm gonna kinda miss this blog.

My Poetry Experience

Poetry is something that, it seems, most people hate. Whenever a teacher mentions the words "poetry unit", there is more often than not a collective groan of irritation and disappointment from the entire classroom. I, however, love poetry. Writing it, analyzing it, or even just reading it has always been something that I've loved doing. Anything from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss tends to entertain and amuse me.

Edgar Allan Poe has probably had the largest influence over me. The excerpt from The Raven titled "Lenore" was one of my favorite things to read when I was around 6 or 7, as strange as that is. As I got older, I began to read more and more of his work. His poem,"Annabel Lee" really made me want to start writing my own poetry. I still have notebooks upon notebooks filled with old poetry that I'd written, almost all of which had a morbid or somber tone very similar to his. Most of it, I have to admit, is a terrible expression of teenage angst and has nothing to do with legitimate problems like Poe's work. But it did help me discover that writing is by far my favorite outlet for emotion.

My attitude toward poetry as of late has changed quite a bit. I've branched out form my narrow genre of depressing, painfully emotional poetry to almost anything I can read (even though "Alone", which as you can probably guess from that title is incredibly depressing, is my favorite poem). The poetry I write has also transitioned from a horrible attempt at being deep to being much more calm and not necessarily all that emotional. And even though most of my classmate hate the idea of doing a poetry unit in class, it is by far my favorite part of the year every year.