English Literature Personal Statement Example 4

In the words of William Makepeace Thackeray: "There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write." For me, this quote epitomises the inspirational value of literature. I believe that English literature possesses an overwhelming power: it has the ability not only to entertain but to challenge its readers to ascertain a deeper understanding of the world. The most recent novel to stimulate my senses in this manner has been Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'. The complex web of themes and motifs inspired me to question the nature of human relations and to truly exercise my analytical techniques.

The language element of the course I have been studying has allowed me to develop an appreciation of the technical side of writing, which has consequently encouraged my enthusiasm towards literature to blossom. The subject touches me on a personal level; often there are no right or wrong answers or firm boundaries of 'black and white' and this leaves me with a burning desire to fully submerge myself into an author's work.

In the past year, I have had the pleasure of participating in a French exchange, which allowed me to stay with a host family in Angers for a week. To stay with a foreign family and to be dependant upon my linguistic skills was nerve-wracking, however I embraced the challenge and became good friends with not only my host student but also with the rest of her family. Shortly after this exchange, I visited Berlin with my fellow German students, which was an equally wonderful and fulfilling experience. Studying two languages has benefitted both my English language and literature work immensely. Currently I am studying 'The Pardoner's Tale' by Geoffrey Chaucer and I am able to identify words which are derived from the French and German languages. This has aided my understanding of the text.

Japanese language has been an integral part of my life for the last year. Through being taught extra-curricular lessons I have learnt both 'Hiragana' (the syllabic form of Japanese) and 'Kanji' (Japanese symbols). Learning about Japanese culture has been absolutely fascinating: not only has it broadened my horizons, but it has also fuelled my yearning to travel and to meet new people.

I am a keen pianist and recently I passed the grade 7 exam. I adore playing both solo and as an accompaniment to fellow musicians. I am currently studying hard for the grade 8 exam. Although it is extremely challenging, it is at the same time incredibly rewarding because I like to push myself and to explore my abilities. I also play the clarinet and I have taken part in a number of concerts in the past as part of a concert band. One major event was when I played at the Royal Norfolk Show; to play in front of a large audience was an exhilarating experience.

Through working in a retail outlet every weekend I have come across a wide range of people, which has articulated my customer service skills: something I am relieved to have on the odd occasion when a customer is slightly difficult to please! Often my co-workers and I are working under immense pressure, which enables me to fully appreciate the importance of teamwork and to experience a sense of solidarity which is vital under certain circumstances.

In today's society, I strongly believe that is of the utmost importance that we, as a global community, can imbibe the opinions and ideas of each other; regardless of whatever walk of life we may be from. I consider English literature to be a valuable tool in acquiring this skill and I would love to take my adoration of the subject to the next level.

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I like it.

I like it.
I've been finding it very difficult to write a personal statement and this has helped me understand what on earth has to go into them. Pretentious was used so many times in these comments it lost all meaning. How nasty of people.

The difficulty with personal

The difficulty with personal statements written by potential english students is that they will judge you on your ability to use a wider range of impressive vocabulary, this does mean that a lot of personal statements come out like this one, there is no personal voice, there are opinions which are important, but it reads like a thousand other applicants' statements.

This personal statement isn't

This personal statement isn't pretentious at all! To an extent, admission tutors expect an embellished piece of work because they want to see your enthusiasm for the subject. The main objective of this is to sell yourself - which is exactly what Alice has done!

I love it from beginning to end and was advised by my teachers to have an interesting opening-sentence, so I took a leaf out of your book and began in a similar style. This is an outstanding statement and I hope you're enjoying university :)

the taste of pretentious

the taste of pretentious arrogance is a bitter one.

its fantasic, he used good

its fantasic, he used good voc to support his statment.

regads, middel east

My literature teacher gave

My literature teacher gave this to my class as an example how not to write a personal statement! Perhaps its because if the immodest appraoch and cliche quotations, which appears as though the writer hasnt actually read any novels of personal interest. The boring formulaic structure and terrible grammar prompts questions of the applicants desire or lack of.

I hope that whoever wrote

I hope that whoever wrote this got into a great uni because this is a really brilliant statement! It definetely demonstrates a passion for the subject! Nice work! :)

Oh Dear.

This is so fake it is unreal. You use all these massive words which are simply unnecessary, but cannot spell dependent and talk about submerging yourself INTO something instead of IN it. Also, wherever you go to find advice on writing a personal statement one of the first points is "do not use quotes from famous people", as it makes the statement impersonal. Please, readers, I advise you not to use this example as a guide for writing your own personal statement, but only as an illustration of how to annoy anyone who may read it. I know I wouldn't like to admit anyone so pretentious into my university.

This is an absolutely

This is an absolutely wonderful personal statement. And I can't thankyou enough for sharing it, it has helped me so much. It has given me ideas to work with, I would have been stuffed without you. Thankyou again, and take no notice of people being horrible clearly have nothing better to do :)

Derek

How much does salmon cost in Asda?

aaaaaaaaaaah yeees

This isn't geography!?

sorry, not feeling it.

i love english, and i love to read. however, i'm sorry, this bored me. it's one thing to show your passion of literature, but another to throw up words that sound like you're b-sing your way into your preferred university choice. are we not supposed to write something a little more... down to earth? these people want to get to know US, not how many long, interesting, phrases we can squeeze into a passage.

hi! i'm currently writing my

hi! i'm currently writing my personal statement for english lit as well, and yours was brilliant and a huge help! you're an excellent writer and I sincerely hope you got into the course you wanted c:

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