Analytical, Dialectical, And Creative Writing Skills

This semester, in Introduction to English Studies, I took part in various types of assignments that are found within the English major at Eastern. These assignments, while not in-depth, were meant to exercise my analytical, rhetorical, and creative writing skills. I have decided upon three assignments that I believe highlight not only my interests and strengths, but those that also the most relevant to what I will be experiencing during my last year at Eastern. The three assignments I have chosen are a palaeography assignment of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a psychoanalytic analysis of Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, and a short fiction piece that I wrote. The first assignment that I chose was a transcription of different

While this was the most creative assignment, it should be noted that this was the one I had the most difficulty writing. Because I have spent the last three years writing academically and analytically, it was hard to “switch gears” and write something creative. A weakness that I have in creative writing is expanding upon an idea where it creates a coherent narrative for the audience. There is not a foundation, like a literary theory, to build ideas upon or a story arc set in place to follow. Having to create my own foundation proved difficult. Thankfully, I was able to take an idea from my senior capstone project and apply it towards my story. Using actual Celtic mythology gave me a starting point, because the concept already existed and all I had to do was build around the lore. I also recognize that this is a shortcoming, as I had an issue coming up with an original idea myself. I find that for me to succeed in writing, I need to have a somewhat rigid structure, and when given free reign I struggle. We were also given a receipt with specific items listed that we were required to include in our story. Having the receipt also gave me another starting point so to speak – or at least an idea to work towards. Nevertheless, because my story revolved around Celtic folklore, I needed to find a balance between explaining the mythology without making it the centerpiece of the story. I wanted the story to be about a young girl who was curious about her culture’s mythical heritage. Furthermore, with this assignment, I needed to be familiar with the constructs of a fictional narrative. I needed to recognize what was specific to the fiction genre and how it could be applied in various ways. This assignment also made me aware of the needs and wants of my hypothetical audience. If someone is an avid reader of fiction, what elements are they expecting or hoping to avoid? Even though creative writing is