Photo by: Brenna Byington
As an English Major, I read a lot of books. Reading books has always been a favorite hobby of mine. I found they were my escape from the world outside and a rich way to broaden my imagination.
I came to school with the dream of being a nurse, but that quickly changed into a dream of working with books. I decided to get my degree in English and all you do as an English major is read books… and write a lot of papers. I have read so many fantastic poems and stories in my years at Stephen F. Austin. For some reason, when I started my time as an English Major, I thought I was going to read stories that I already knew, but I was blind going into my first literature class. I read things like Morte D’arthur by Thomas Malory, Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, the classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and the list goes on and on with the amount of literature I have the privilege to learn about.
I will say that literature is not for everyone. There’s a reason why other majors only require two basic English classes when they come to college. When I tell my friends and family how much I read over the course of a semester, I get looks of disbelief. I read about 15-20 books a semester for my classes. I have people who laugh at me and tell me that these books aren’t textbooks, and they’re correct – but with a textbook, students never read them word for word. With the books that English majors read, we have to read them as closely as possible to have in-depth discussions and to write detailed essays. Many times, they’re also works of fiction and poetry, both old and new, so as an English major the limits of literature are endless.
I enjoy my time as an English major. Keeping up with the readings can be difficult when you’re reading 4 different novels for 4 different classes at the same time, but I wouldn’t change my love of literature for the world.