Assignment 0

Namasté, I’m Carrie McAuliffe. I’m a junior here at St. Lawrence, and I’m studying to be an English major. No, I don’t really enjoy reading books. I’m actually into teaching both grammar and the linguistics of English as a language. I hope to one day become an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language) and teach students in other countries outside of the United States.
Originally I am from the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut, in (what I didn’t know was so well known, but I guess is) Fairfield County. What’s it like there? Well, I can’t really put it into words so I suggest if you really want to know you should probably Wikipedia it. The definition is dead on with what it’s like there (an affluent “Suburbia”). Of course that’s in my opinion, some of my fellow townspeople could boast and brag about it for days, but if I do someday raise a family it will probably be somewhere else. Aside from living in Fairfield, and wanting to teach English I love mostly to travel, as well as paint or draw, play lacrosse, swim, read, play videogames, and go running. I also love being in my sorority on campus, being an active member has been one the highlights of my time here at St. Larry’s.
As a whole I’ve had some pretty good constructive criticism on my writing, however all the writing I have done up to this point has been (for the most part) ALL research essays. I’ve never been able to free write like I am today on this blog, except in my Global News Media Analysis class I took last semester (and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!). Therefore, most of the feedback I’ve been given has been about grammatical structure, remembering to keep the same tense constant in a written work, citing my sources correctly and making sure to revise my writing before submitting the final draft.
I wouldn’t say that I am a fan of poetry because at this moment, I’m not. The only real poetry I have read, explored, and admired are Shakespeare’s sonnets. This being the case, I have no real way to judge who is my favorite poet because, as I said, Shakespeare is really the only person I’ve read. Nonetheless, I’ve always been in awe of Shakespeare’s brilliance portrayed in his play on words, and lyrical rhyming.
I think the best part about good poetry is when the reader finishes a poem and his/her eyes leave the page feeling what the author intends him/her to feel. It could be any kind of emotion, the poem just has to evoke something from the reader. That is, in my opinion, a precious gift that I think good poetry and in general good writing offers it's readers.
To be completely honest, I really only took this poetry class to broaden my knowledge in the English field, and to have a basic understanding of poets and the format and structure of poetry. I hope to learn a few things about poets (especially the important names I should already know), the do's and don'ts on writing poems, and the history behind writing poems. I hope to get some questions answers to my never-ending series of questions like, “when was the first poem written and who wrote it?” I don't know if after this class I'll be a poetry fanatic, or appreciate poetry more than other things, however I'm not one to judge what the future holds and I am always open to change!