Can I major in English if my writing is not very good?

I really wouldn't.

English has a reputation as a la-di-da easy-mode major, but it's a lot of writing and, especially if you are doing literary analysis, it can be hard writing.

Generally the English major has two tracks:

Literary Analysis

Creative Writing

Creative Writing usually means that everyone will write their own prose/poetry, and then every class you will “workshop" (critique) a classmate's work or your work.

I find that students in a workshop are quick to praise good work, and never hold any praise back. Unless you get That Guy/Girl in your class, most people in a workshop are friendly people who want to pump others up, not bring them down. So if you have something good, they'll let you know.

The bad part of this as regards being a bad writer, is that if you bring in absolute trash to the workshop, you'll have to sit there and watch a room full of people struggle to find anything good to say about your work. For several minutes.

Um. I really liked how… your name is so clear on this paper. Really excellent penmanship. Oh it's typed? Right, right…

It's even worse if you're following other writers who got heaps of praise. You don't want to see a room go from festive critiquing to dead silence.

This is an incredibly awkward experience for everyone, and I would not want to be the cause of it.

And Literary Analysis? Forget it.

Literary analysis is probably the hardest writing I've ever done in college -- and I minored in History. You have to read the text with as fine toothed a comb as possible, construct a novel way of understanding the text, and then prove that understanding with evidence in the text.

(This is a “New Critical” method, which was popular at my school. Other places might favor other methods)

This sounds easy, but once you do it you realize how frequently we use cultural or historical context when we analyze contemporary works for fun. This is NOT ALLOWED in Literary Analysis, and trying it will sink your grade. The text itself, and only the text, is to be analyzed.

In one of my classses we had to analyze this Emily Dickenson poem:

This task kicked everyone's ass. Everyone's. And this wasn't a mandatory freshmen course -- we were all declared English majors.

How do you write an entire essay on this poem? Maybe you see the line “when the King / Be witnessed” and you think “HA! Clearly this is a reference to God. My essay will be about religion in this poem.”

Well let me tell you:

Can you prove that that is a reference to religion?

“Well King obviously means Christ, that's how Christians talk-"

(Buzzer sound) Nope! Outside context. Prove it based on the poem itself, and nothing else.

“Um… uh… well.”

Uh huh. Right.

At least with Creative Writing the workshoppers might take pity on you. English professors will tell you your paper is shit (in so many words) and give you a C if they are merciful.

Artistic rendering of my English professor grading my class' “Waiting For The Barbarians" essays. True story: we had to do three rewrites. That was her being kind.

I spoke a lot about analyzing well so far, but even if you have the best analytical take ever, if you don't have the writing skills to explain your analysis well, then its still a waste of time and you'll regret taking the major.

Case in point: I took a class on different methods of Literary Analysis. The way the grades worked was that we would study a method, write two papers on it, and the grades we got on those papers would equal the grades we got on that method.

(Or something like that)

One of methods we studied was Deconstruction, pioneered by the Frenchest man who ever lived and ever will live: Jacques Derrida.

I don't know if I love or hate this man.

I wrote two essays on Deconstruction. The first explaining it and the second using its method of analysis to analyze a Phillis Wheatley poem.

The poem analyzed

My professor said this in front of the class on discussion day:

Ke'Aun wrote one of the best Deconstruction analyses I've ever read. His explanation of it? Meh, pretty mediocre.

Lol.

Got a 6/6 on the analysis… and a 2/6 on the explanation.

Don't do English if you can't write. You will regret it.