Closing Reflection- As I Gaze into the Glassy Water- Jordan Zapp 8/14/15

As I Gaze into the Glassy Water

            Hello, reader.  I just wanted to sincerely thank you for reading through my portfolio.  It is really a special thing to experience the journey of growth as a writer, and I am glad that I can share it.  Writing, for me, has always been more about self-reflection, whether one is writing a literary analysis, research paper, or poem. I hope each piece reflects my deep passion for language, love of prose, and admiration for the process of delving deeper into the ocean of hidden meanings and themes in writing.  So thank you for allowing me to do something I love; thank you for giving it your time and attention.  I hope you enjoy this final reflection. 

            My favorite piece in this portfolio is the literary analysis in Two Lorries. I love to analyze poems because I think it is really amazing to find hidden meanings and interpret metaphors; it is like experiencing the soul of the writer.  For example, a theme in the poem Two Lorries, written by Seamus Heaney, is ashes.  The narrator mentions ashes seven times through the course of the piece.  I really liked picking apart the significance of ashes.  Do they symbolize destruction, the paradox of joy and sadness needing each other? Hope? Beauty? The memory of what once was?  This was my favorite piece to write because it is an emotionally riveting poem; it is engaging because it is so curiously vivid and descriptive. 

            This also made it the hardest piece to write. Part of me didn’t want to analyze it.  Firstly, I didn’t think any commentary that I made on it would do it any justice.  Secondly, I felt like analyzing it was like asking a painter to describe his artwork.  It might take away from the sincere, standing beauty of it.  Basically, you just have to read the poem and let it wash over you like profound yet peaceful waves.  When I sat down to write about it, I wasn’t sure where to start.  It took several hours for me to organize my thoughts, trying to make what I was trying to say evident and straightforward.

            In the opening piece, I stated that my goals were as follows: 1) Learn how to use commas correctly.  I think I really did improve upon this.  I began to use semicolons instead and I often caught and corrected myself when revising.  My second goal was becoming more organized.  This was the hardest goal to achieve. I had to force myself to pre write; a step I would gleefully skip over.  I think this reflected in my writing because it became fluidly organized and easier to follow.  My final goal was to become more creative with my writing.  This year, I became more comfotable with writing, to the point where I really wasn’t afraid to be creative.  For example, doing analysis in the form of a letter was really fun.  It allowed me to write from a different perspective and ultimately allowed me to grow as a writer. 

            Although this course was seemingly short, the amount that I have learned about myself exceeds far beyond what I thought possible.  There were times when I was working on assignments late into the night and into the morning.  There is a special kind of self-discovery that comes with experiencing your writing at three-a.m.  This summer, I learned that I love old writers; I love the classics because there is something so timeless about them that you cannot believe a human wrote them.  Writing is a testament to human creativity, understanding, imagination, and ability to analyze the world.  It is an ocean of ideas, swelling and crashing and spraying its essence into the minds of writers, artists, and thinkers. I hope that my skinny river of writing will make its way into that sea of significance someday.