Australian Literature helps me to expand the boundaries of my own experience.

Australian Literature has helped me examine certain aspects of Australia in which I didn’t even think of looking into. Exploring Australia’s past history surprised me as I was never really interested in finding out anything, however, over the span of 12 weeks completing this unit, I was genuinely fascinated with all the different authors that we were introduced to us each and every week, as it allowed me to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for Australian work and the talented authors in which I didn’t really acknowledge or bother to look into.

At first I wasn’t enthusiastic about writing blog entries every week because I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just write an essay on a specific topic and call it a day, but as the weeks went by and I got used to writing all these entries, I realised that by doing this. It allowed me to explore my creative side even more than I would normally be able to whilst writing a simple essay. I’m so glad that both Michael and Elaine made the decision to make us write entries on our own little website. My first creative blog ‘ The Royal National Park’, this entry gave me the opportunity to see the landscape in a different light which was rather fascinating. After doing my first entry, I was excited to do more. I was surprising myself every week. I didn’t realise I was able to write the things I did. For example, my second creative blog ‘Family Is Forever’, I have never written a stanza of a poem before – or an entire poem, I’ve only ever analysed a poem. Now, I know my stanza is nothing compared to Henry Kendall’s poems or Judith Beveridge poems, but I was very pleased and surprised with how it turned out. I guess by doing this, it allowed me to push myself and expand my writing abilities.

All the poems, letters, essays and other texts from all sorts of Australian authors have touched me in various different and unique ways. Even the texts I did not include in my entries all had some sort of an effect on me as it opened my eyes to see life and the world in a different light. My second critical blog for example ‘Samuel Beckett’, helped me see how his perspective on life and the world looks like compared to mine. His experience and living through a rather complex century can make you see things differently compared to an ordinary 18-year-old, studying and working and living a ‘regular’ life. Through his production, it made me realise that just because I see the glass half full, others might see it as half empty. My last two creative entries were the letters to Patrick White and Judith Beveridge expressing my appreciation on their writing for different reasons. White made me realise that we can all be extraordinary, and Beveridge made me realise my fear as a young woman myself, of being looked down at.

Overall, Australian Literature has helped me see the world in a new and different light in which I was never able to explore. Whilst blogging has helped me explore my creative side and push my boundaries in way I thought I never could.