Holding Pattern

I have posted recently because I haven't really done that much with my thesis in a few weeks. My Masters exam is coming up October 20 and so I am studying like crazy for that. The exam is broken down into two parts--part one is several hundred questions on the reading list and part two is three essays on my specific coursework. The reading list covers American and British literature of roughly 155 works and is multiple choice. For the essay section, each instructor I have had provides an essay question from their course. I have to answer one in American Lit, one in British Lit, and one in Research and Composition.

I have been pretty diligent in my studying and am about 3/4 the way through the reading list. American is done and I am through Shakespeare in British. As for the essays, I know what my choices are for each section: Big Bend or Thoreau (American), Arthurian lit or British novel (British), and Creativing Writing or History of the English language (Research).

I made the call to go ahead and select which one I will answer without seeing the questions so I can really study three subjects rather than sort of study six. I am going to write on Thoreau, British novel, and Creative Writing. In truth, I think I could probably do pretty well with either Arthurian lit or British novel, but I have a pretty good idea of what the question will be with British novel so that makes it a good bet. We also did a sample essay test in Thoreau, so I have a feel for what the question might be like (and my sample passed--a good omen). The one I'm really stressed about it Creative writing. I emailed my professor and asked for adivce, to which she counseled that I should study the text books. Awesome.

One thing that I have loved about studying the reading list is getting to expand my literary knowledge. There are several poems and short stories that I had heard of and never read, so I have been enjoying them. Anyone looking for some fun seasonal reading I recommend "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. It's available online for free.

On to Milton.