Gabriel Lott

Western Lit 2

My history as a student of literature is most definitely not a tragedy. I have always loved

reading, and I have enjoyed reading great pieces of literature. I have had books read to me since before I

was even born, but I didn’t learn to read for myself until I was in 1 st Grade. Since then, I have devoured

literally hundreds of books from a range of genres. By far, my most favorite types of books are fantasy

novels, such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. My favorite stories

as a child were fairy tales, legends of knights, and mythological adventures. I was first exposed to classic

literature through the Great Illustrated Classics series and the Adventures of Wishbone. Later, in middle

school, I actually read many of these great works for the first time in their entirety. I have come to love

the plays of Shakespeare and the futuristic science fiction of the 19 th century. There are still numerous

classics that I have yet to read, but I intend to finally enjoy them someday. I have discovered many great

authors and books written in the last decade or so, such as Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the

Olympians and Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven. I don’t have a favorite book or series because there are

definitely too many to choose from. My dorm room shelves were stuffed with books last year, but are

now full of textbooks (I realized last semester, to my horror, that the shelves in my dorm room were

inadequate to meet the needs of my ever growing library). I see literature as a portal to new and

exciting environments, enhancing my imagination and giving me things to think and contemplate on.

Literature has been used as great tool throughout history to entertain, teach, and share with others in

order to better society. I think literature is essential to education and a healthy mind, even though not

everyone is inclined towards it. One of the greatest gift available to mankind is literacy, and everyone

should have the opportunity to be exposed to the great works of humanity. Ultimately, the greatest

piece of literature in my opinion is the Holy Bible. The Bible contains a diverse range of literature that
appeals to all tastes and is beneficial to everyone. I am an eager student of literature, but I still have a lot

to read and learn from, and I can’t wait to do it! After taking your Western Lit I course last semester, I

have been exposed to even more classic works of literature, and while I might not have enjoyed all of

them, I gained an appreciation for the classics of the pre-modern world. I hope that this semester will

bring even greater experiences and increase my ever growing appreciation of literature!