高中保留学籍申请书

　　Personal Statement

　　Program： 20th Century American Literature

　　“The apparition of these faces in the crowds： /Petals on a wet， black bough.”My first reaction on reading Ezra Pound's 1916 poem In a Station of the Metrowas that of outrage. Is it a poem by any definition? If it is a poem， how is itto be interpreted and understood? And finally， what are the implications thatthis poem has produced for the twentieth- century American literature?

　　My initial bewilderment subsided as I realized that there must a raisond'etre behind this apparently bizarre literary phenomenon. What I should do isto put this poem into the context of the American literary evolution andliterary history. At least， the poem raises an important challenge. It requiresme to understand some of the crucial changes that must be happening around theturn of the last century.

　　My subsequent studies indicate that this poem represents part of the largerliterary movement known as Imagism， which included such theorists andpractitioners as T. E. Hume， Hilda Doolittle， Amy Lowell， Ezra Pound， etc. Themovement was a direct reaction to the late Victorian poetry， which had becomeextremely artificial， emptily “rhetorical” and “ornamental”。 To address suchproblems， it was necessary to loosen the metrical pattern and bring it backcloser to the rhythms of ordinary speech. Consequently， the “imagist” movementhad a great deal to do with promoting experiments with free verse， advocatingamong many creeds the need “to allow absolute freedom in the choice of subject”and “to produce poetry that is hard and clear， never blurred nor indefinite.”When Archibald MacLeish said in his Ars Poetica (1926) that “A poem should notmean / But be”， he had similar concerns in his mind. Imagism， minor as it is asa literary movement， triggered important changes in literary criticism，introducing the notion of internal studies as embodied by New Criticism tosubstitute the conventional critical practices.

　　The foregoing incident is but one instance that happened in my study ofliterature. For a Chinese student like me， it has at least two importantimplications. First， a literary work must not be treated in isolation. Itinteracts with what is written before it and after it and this historicalperspective is one way in which we may add to our interpretation. Second， it isimportant to be acquainted with relevant literary theories when interpreting agiven literary work.

　　A student majoring in English (& International Trade) at the EnglishDepartment of _ University， I grew increasingly interested in literature duringthe second half of my undergraduate program. Of course， I was trained to be astudent of English language in the first place and as such I received thestandard academic training typical of a student of English major. For the firsttwo years， I primarily had intensive trainings in basic English language skillsby attending courses in advanced listening， writing， reading and oralcommunication. My distinguished academic performance is demonstrated by the fourconsecutive first-class and second-class scholarships I won from 1999 to 20__.In 20__， I was awarded the second prize in the campus-wide English compositioncontest and in 20__ the first prize in the translation contest. Anotherindicator of my scholastic achievements is the honor of Outstanding Graduate of_Province that I received by the time I completed my undergraduate program.

　　I started reading English novels as soon as I began my undergraduate program.But I primarily used it as a way to increase my vocabulary and to improve myreading comprehension. Since the second year in my undergraduate program， ourcurriculum included five major courses related to Anglo-American literature andculture： Selected Readings in English Literature， Selected Readings in AmericanLiterature， Introduction to European Culture， The History of English andAmerican Literature， Selected Readings in English & American Fictions. Thosecourses provided me with a cultural and historical framework with which tounderstand Anglo-American literature and to know their interrelationships. Igrew familiar with major authors and works in British and American literatureand gained tentative knowledge of western critical approaches. Books likeLiterary Theory—An Introduction by Terry Eagleton and 20th Literary Criticismedited by David Lodge proved somewhat esoteric to me， but they allowed me torealize that there are important critical approaches very different from thosein Chinese literature and different from conventional ones in western literatureitself.

　　My defining interest in British and American Literature led me to write aboutT. S. Eliot and his poetry in my thesis Dull Roots Stirred by the SpringRain—Meaning Through Imagery in T. S. Eliot's “Waste Land”(available uponrequest)。 In this thesis， I examined different groups of imagery that T. S.Eliot employed to externalize his central ideas and emotions. I also analyzedthe theoretical justifications for his virtually excessive use of imagery bytracing it to his theory of “Objective Correlative” that he proposed in Hamletand His Problems， a critical essay contained in The Sacred Wood (1920)。

　　In an extracurricular event， students in our department put on Shakespeare'sdrama Romeo and Juliet and I was the performer-director. Based on my ownunderstanding of the play， I changed its tragic ending and made it a happy oneby allowing the hero and the heroine to be resurrected and reunited. I believethat a love of such intensity should be fulfilled， otherwise it would be toopathetic.

　　In the last semester of my undergraduate program， I was recruited by myuniversity to teach the course Appreciation of American Literature to studentsof non-English major. By applying my computer skills， I developed a series ofcourseware， covering different periods of American literature and illustrated bygraphics and diagrams to make an otherwise difficult course interesting and easyto understand.

　　Nevertheless I am fully aware that my knowledge of American literature is farfrom sufficient. I need to receive more advanced education for the sake of abetter career development. Therefore I plan to apply for a Graduate program inEnglish at the University of _， concentrating on modern and contemporaryAmerican literature. Your program is nationally recognized (listed as among thetop 10 in _ according to _) and it attacks me for its quality， small size andclose mentorship. I am interested in your well-designed curriculum whoseContemporary American Literature， American Literary History， Special Topics inAmerican Literature， American Literature 1865-1914， 1914-1960. Among your 13professors， I would like to receive instructions from _， _， _. _， and _. Ibelieve I am well-prepared and genuinely motivated for your program， which willteach me the knowledge and expertise nowhere to be sought in my own country.