English was never really interesting for me until I reached high school. In high school, I had teachers who were driven and passionate about the literature that we read — this was the turning point. In elementary and middle school, the focus of English class was to ensure students had achieved a basic competency of the English language. High school English takes a different turn, as it becomes not so much a course to teach writing mechanics or grammatical rules, but instead functions as a forum of discussion and exploration, and a workshop to shape students into effective communicators, how to read and interpret other authors’ ideas and to eloquently express their own. As such, we are presented with the greatest literary works of the ages to mull over and discuss, which apparently causes many people exasperation and anger.
These students feel like the works are antiquated, obsolete, and outdated. But I believe that is because they are not putting the requisite amount of effort to immerse themselves into the literature, to see the world as the characters in the novels see theirs. The great works of literature are “great” precisely because of this: they prod and poke and debate over intrinsic human virtues and common experiences, ones that we all can relate to. William Deresiewicz puts it thusly:
“‘That’s me!’: the essential experience of art. We see ourselves in the other and the other in ourselves … We read of Hamlet or Jane Eyre, and across the differences of time and place, with a pang of guilt and bliss we see our nature mirrored up to us, but seen as if anew.”
Once you realize why your English teachers are “forcing” you to read Shakespeare’s plays, Steinbeck’s books, or Ginsberg’s epic free verse, you will be able to understand that this is exploration of the human experience is the true joy of English class.
READ THE BOOK
Reading is not difficult. If you have to read a book, just sit down and read it.
Do not read summaries (Sparknotes, Shmoop, etc.). Summaries reinforce a forced perspective upon you. The joy of reading is in following the journey of the story, and synthesizing your own perspective of the book, and discussing and debating your views with your peers. Reading summaries robs you of this formative experience.
For whatever reason, if you find yourself not understanding what you’re reading, an awesome trick is to read the book while listening to its audiobook (this works wonders for comprehension of Shakespeare’s works). Following along in the text while a series of actors recite the lines of a play is mightily entertaining and gives you a better grasp on the nuances of Shakespearean prose. You can find audiobooks online or at your local library.
START EARLY
I can’t emphasize this more: start writing early. If you hear people complaining about how “difficult” writing their paper was, most of the time it’s because they started at the last minute, and had to pull an all-nighter to finish it. Don’t fall into that same trap.
When you start writing papers early, you can work at a sustainable pace, and you will end up with a much better product, through a much less painful experience. If you’re one of those people who starts a research paper the day before it’s due and still manages to pull an A, kudos to you — now imagine how much better your paper would have been had you started earlier. If you insist that you absolutely can not start writing papers earlier than the day they’re due — you need the pressure, you claim — then your main problem isn’t paper-writing; your main problem is motivation, and unfortunately this module won’t help you in that department.
GET INPUT ON YOUR ESSAYS
The goal of writing is to communicate an idea to an audience; if an audience does not understand your message, you’re sunk. An idea that might be perfectly clear in your head doesn’t always manifest itself in your written work. This seems to hold more and more true for advanced topic discussion and high level papers; the most talented writers can communicate the most complex of ideas in the simplest language, without having to resort to flowery prose and technical vocabulary.
The only way to know if your ideas are clear is to let people critique your essays. Peer review is the single greatest asset in your toolbox. If you’re stuck and have spent the last few days mired in essay-writing oblivion, get a second opinion. If you aren’t sure that your convoluted idea is explained clearly enough — you guessed it — get a second opinion. Having a fresh pair of eyes to “test-run” your paper is invaluable. I generally try and get at least three peer reviews before submitting my work.