Unforgettable quotes from the literature - Amherst essay

I'm not done with my essay, but I want to know if my essay answers the prompt (if it is appropriate)

Please respond to one of the following quotations in an essay of not more than 300 words. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

Prompt 2: "Literature is the best way to overcome death. My father, as I said, is an actor. He's the happiest man on earth when he's performing, but when the show is over, he's sad and troubled. I wish he could live in the eternal present, because in the theater everything remains in memories and photographs. Literature, on the other hand, allows you to live in the present and to remain in the pantheon of the future. Literature is a way to say, I was here, this is what I thought, this is what I perceived. This is my signature, this is my name."

Many authors are remembered for their books. But literature serves more than that. It reminds me of a book that enlightened me with the power and beauty of poetry.

Carpe Diem. Nobody would easily forget this phrase after reading the book 'Dead Poets Society'. I used to consider literature, especially poetry, as an unnecessary part of my life. My perception changed as I experienced vicarious pleasure of being a dead poets society member; I could picture myself sitting in a cave with Professor Keating and students, reading Shakespeare Sonnet 18 and exchanging fruitful ideas. I realised that the key to happiness is literature.

When people are asked, 'why do you live?', the most common answer is 'to be happy'. Since happiness is a subjective term, there are so many opinions about what it means to be happy. For me, happiness is an ability to enjoy what I do or what I have at the moment. By reading and writing poetry, we let ourselves enjoy human nature such as love or passion. The feeling that we get is not something we can memorise or learn from a textbook. The feeling that we get is everlasting and endures as long as we are absorbed in that exciting moment.

Seoyoung, while I admire your essay for being quite insightful, I believe that the essay requires a more personal touch. If you notice, the essay speaks of a moment in time when a person lived and found himself the happiest. The prompt spoke of how happy that person was and how saw he was away from the field that made him happy. I think that you should respond to the essay along the same lines. Don't be literal and talk about literature and how you feel about it. Talk instead about something that you feel makes you happiest and how you feel away from it. In a way, speak of yourself as looking back on the past and reflecting on your life.

What could that moment be? Think of a very special time in your life when you felt happiest. No, I am not talking about when you were reading a book and thinking about its meaning. Rather, reflect upon your life during that time. Did you feel alive before you had that experience? For example, you are a person who is not really adventurous. Yet, one day, you decided to go white water rafting. You were afraid for your life as you hit the rapids and you fell out of the boat. As you struggled to avoid drowning, you felt a rush of adrenaline, a shot of life. Talk about your life before then. Then talk about your life after that incident. It made you a white water rafting aficionado because you feel alive every time you feel yourself almost falling out of the boat. That to me is the best way to overcome death.

The best way to approach this essay, in my opinion, is to write about it in relation to your own near death experience.Real or imagined, the response needs to show that you have "lived" and have been "sad"before then. That you found what makes you happy to be alive and has completed you as a person. The response to the essay does not have to be about literature. Rather, it should be about the celebration of your life during a time when you felt disconnected from it.

Writing about literature is most likely the expected response to this essay. It is most likely going to be the most common answer that the reviewer will come across. So try to be unique and memorable. Talk about the prompt in a different manner. Read the prompt again and try to find the deeper meaning to it. Respond accordingly. I believe it is about the celebration of life in the face of death. Maybe you will find another meaning to it :-)

Well, @schang, I believe you delivered what is asked of the prompt.
The points are met to be able to justify what was needed, I love the fact that you were able to blend your personal insights and experience to the essay and in doing so, you were still able to be objective to your essay.

What I did not appreciate as much is the fact that there is a word restriction or that you were restricted to have the maximum number of words that you can write.

It's a very good topic and you can definitely write some more. Literature is a broad topic, a lot of complex ideas can be rolled into a great piece of writing, however, it takes a lot of writing skills.

Nevertheless, you still have a long way to go, practice writing more, hone your talent everyday and be sure to refresh your language rules as it may hit you hard in your writing if you get left out or you make a mistake without the intention of doing so.