Need Advice on Literature Personal Statement

In my PS I write about a breadth of texts and bring up really insightful points about them, but almost all of my paragraphs result in some kind of philosophical question and I feel like this might be way too overkill.. it's really interesting to read and demonstrates my skills really well, but I'm not sure of where to draw the line :,) In how much detail should I be discussing the texts I find interesting? What aspects of the texts should I focus on?

Reply 1

savnuh

I'm just trying to demonstrate my passion for literature and the fact that I can think extremely critically about texts, but I really don't want to scare the admission tutors off with so many deep philosophical statements -- it literally sounds like I'm applying for a combined Philosophy course. The reality is that I just love exploring the motives of authors and characters. It's just that I also like to derive a deeper meaning from it and it oftentimes ends up being quite philosophical... I feel like maybe I have approached writing my PS in the wrong way

Reply 2

notagna_tsr

Original post by savnuh

I feel like you’re probs right about it being overkill? I mean fair warning my PS is history of art so this comes from my english a-level and friends who are applying english. but yeah i mean maybe it’s different for english but I basically tried to keep text interpretation to one or two sentences. you should bring in critical interpretations as well though, which might help? but yeah i would avoid it getting too philosophical – again maybe it’s different for english but i just feel like its better to say stuff like ‘i was fascinated by []’s interpretation of how [] presents [] in []’ or ‘I thought/concluded that []’s presentation of [] linked back to [] which is supported by []’. but basically just get good at summarising it in one or two sentences – i feel like you want to show you can engage deeply with texts, but you also want to show you have real opinions and aren’t just taking literature and turning into philosophy, yk? like you don’t want to just be like ‘Shakespeare’s othello both made me questions the importance of trust in a marital relationship’ or ‘paradise lost made me wonder if all humans are naturally inclined to sin’.

but i would def steer away from motives of authors and characters!! obvs biographical context is interesting but i feel like literature teachers and profs invariably hate when texts are reduced to interpretations based solely on authorial context bc it prevents the ambiguity?? but definitely don’t psychoanalyse characters bc that’s not literary (as characters don’t actually have thoughts/feelings – it’s about what the author is using them to tell us). Im sure you know all that but yeah the most i would do on characters is like ‘I was interested by the way [author] used [character] to deconstruct the notion of/analyse the role of [], which led me to read []’ or ‘the way [author] explored the figure of the [writer/judge/mother/performer/etc] in []’ because at least then you’re placing your interpretation within a discussion about what the author is actually doing. but yeah idk if that makes sense and feel free to take this w a pinch of salt bc as i said im applying art history and not english

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Articles for you

Artificial intelligence and robotics degree personal statement example (1a) with review and advice

What A-levels do you need to become a nurse?

Writing a history personal statement: expert advice from universities

Clearing 2024: how to call universities