Midterm Essay

I chose this sample because it shows the way I think of literature. Throughout my English 206 class, we read multiple poems and other versions of literature. This essay captures what I have learned to define my version of literature. 

I go through this essay talking about my earliest memory of literature, because my 7-year-old definition of literature is different than the 18-year-old version and the growth of that is drastically different. My essay starts with the series Harry Potter, a childhood fantasy series that just about captured every child’s attention, and to them, that is what literature is. It is about a boy who becomes a wizard. Ending my essay I discussed poems by Edgar Allen Poe and Langston Hughes whose work I was never familiar with before the class. But reading their work showed me the real meaning of the power of words on paper. I learned about different versions of writing throughout writing this essay. I compared both Poe’s and Hughes’s writing as they are from different periods and I learned that no matter what period writers’ work is from they have the power to give you the true definition of literature.

I learned a lot from this essay, and I believe it showed growth; not just from the beginning of the semester to the end but from last year to this year. The critical thinking in my writing and being able to read and take things from pieces of work and look into the writing and find meaning in it showed growth in my writing.