I took various literature courses in high school prior to taking Dr. Canada's Introduction to Literature online course.  These classes included American, World and British Literature, and some of the readings we covered this semester I had previously read for those classes.  The difference between those high school classes and this college course is the way in which I read and analyzed the assigned readings.  In high school, I was basically reading for context so I could answer a few questions about the poems and stories, but in ENG 203 my reading skills became more fully developed.  Not only was I reading for context and literal meanings, but for the symbolism and figurative language in the literature as well.  I no longer just read the material so that I knew what a story was about, but looked for the deeper meaning of the literary work and tried to figure out the author's purpose for writing what they did.  This change in my motives for reading literature has caused me to better understand the whole concept of literature and how writing is such a powerful tool when it comes to expressing your own ideas and feelings.
    Some of the works we read this semester have educated me on certain topics and have helped me formulate views on certain issues.  For example, recognizing the parallel structure and themes in the book of Genesis helped me to better understand the origin of the creation of the world.  From the two different creation stories (God creating the world in seven days and the story of Adam and Eve) I have come to believe that God created both the world and mankind, which is something I believed prior to reading the book but looking at it more closely reassured my views.  Reading two of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories revealed to me how much an author's life-time experiences and background can effect the way they write and what they write about.  Poe, for the most part, had a very gloomy, sad and depressing life, and this is very well reflected in his writings.  Both The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart are quite horrifying and gothic stories, which someone who has lived a very happy and joyful life would probably not write about.  But Poe uses his creative imagination along with his gloomy personality to come up with such bone-chilling stories.  The literary work that probably had the most significant impact on me this semester by far was William Shakespeare's Hamlet. After analyzing and discussing the play I was just left in awe at what an amazing writer Shakespeare really was.  It boggles my mind how every little detail in the play, every bit of figurative language, every scene and every monologue was written for a reason.  Everything in the play had some kind of symbolism and it all tied together.  For example, in the first act of the play Marcellus makes a comment that plays a central part in the whole story, and that statement is, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."  This quotation alerts the reader that something is just not right and foreshadows events of trickery and deception.  As the play continues, one can see why Marcellus was right.  The truth is revealed about Claudius and how he killed Hamlet's father to gain wealth and the throne.  Thus, Claudius is what was "rotten in the state."  It is the small aspects such as this simple quote that make Shakespeare's writings so enormous in literary context and style.  Reading Hamlet opened my eyes to why Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest writers of all time.
    Being that this was an online course and we did not meet regularly to discuss the material we were reading this semester, I found that my research skills were put to use quite often.  Whether it was searching in the library for a book on literature or browsing the Internet for interpretations of literary works, I was always finding myself going to outside resources to help me understand our reading assignments.  Of course, I also had to do a great deal of researching for information on my American author John Steinbeck as well.  This course gave me a great deal of practice with researching and referring to outside sources.
   As far as communication goes, I feel this course has assisted me in developing my writing, speaking and technical skills extremely well this semester.  The assigned essays, annotations and poetry explications not only have forced me to discover the in-depth meaning of some major literary works, but to also express that information online to my fellow classmates.  Also, the oral presentation gave me a chance to express my feelings and knowledge about certain literary works that we have been concentrating on all semester long.  After taking this course, I feel much more confidant in all of my literary skills.  I can take a literary piece, read it, analyze it, and communicate to others my interpretations and feelings on it.  This course has definitely been very beneficial to the improvement of my knowledge in the area of literature.