Morgan Scritchfield

May 2019
Final Reflection
The uses for an English Major/Minor are countless. When I brought an English minor
into my degree, the purpose of its presence was to broaden my horizons past the Theatre Major I
have stuck to for my entire college career. However, as the rest of my college experience
progressed, I realized that there are far more uses for the minor than I previously thought. I have
always held a love for poetry and short stories, and in each of my classes including this one, I
have had exposure to both, written by various authors encompassing a variety of subjects. During
my time at Marietta College, I have flourished with writing several different types of my own
poetry.
It has been a lifelong dream of mine to publish at least one book of my own poetry. I am
inspired by other poets such as Theodore Roethke, who published multiple poem books full of
his works during his lifetime. I have been given the opportunity to speak to faculty with
experience with poetry, which has given me a direction to take my writing in after I graduate.
Before I was in college, although my poems held heart and imagination, I lacked knowledge in
terms of structure with my works. Now, at the end of my college career, I can write poetry, and
discern when some lines in it are too much and weigh a work down, while still keeping the spirit
of my works alive.
The main goal that I have is to be a published poet. Making money from my works being
published is ideal, so that I can stick with a part-time job, while still focusing on my writing. I
made a goal involving my poetry, as it is my main form of expression, and what helped me
through college in a healthy manner. Alongside publication, a secondary goal that I would be
happy to fulfill is to eventually write a musical or play that makes it onto a stage. I sometimes
dream about what the reactions of actors and directors would be to a play that I have written. I
have already won an award for a play that I wrote during my time in college, although it was
written in my spare time rather than in a class setting. However, the expertise that I have been
able to absorb from my time in English classes assisted me in writing the piece, and I am
currently considering putting it out for publication, as it is a play that I wrote specifically to
provide a man in his late 20’s to be the protagonist of a story.
Although I am not planning on being a teacher or anything directly pertaining to the
English minor that I have, I am still going to use what I have learned to continue to write my
poetry. The knowledge that I have gained has allowed me to express myself with my works in a
far more fulfilling, all-encompassing and articulate way that I was unable to access before. In
this way, I will use my degree for the rest of my life, and hopefully, I will be able to publish my
works, and reach audiences with my ideas and imagination.