THE MESSAGE:
The most important benefits to be derived from reading and studying literature are those affecting our imagination. Our culture, goals, marital status, occupation, beliefs or troubles can be common or unique. Joy, satisfaction, relief, pleasure and wisdom are there to be discovered in a study of the arts. Reading history, a novel or a poem or experiencing a piece of art or a play can always open the heart and mind if we do not take ourselves too seriously all of the time.
School curricula tend to place more value on the study of mathematics and science. Young people are guided towards the study of these disciplines and directed away from those disciplines that, seemingly, do not connect directly with a chosen career.
It is not mandatory to stick to careers directly related to a high school certificate and a university degree. One might have to do further study to get into other sectors, but many jobs in retail, law, business, social work and politics also need exactly the sort of skills English Literature graduates have. Remember that creativity, initiative, communication and interpersonal skills are some of the most important things English Literature will teach you. These characteristics are a big help when it comes to finding any job and thinking about how to apply what you’ve studied at university to the world of work. |
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Academia’s apparent toning down of Western classics such as Shakespeare and its hostility to anything white, male, or old, seems to come from a plan to be more politically correct and less irrelevant and ethnocentric.
Sadly only four of the top colleges and universities in the USA today require a Shakespeare course as part of their undergraduate English courses, even for those majoring in English. This is surely a step in the wrong direction.
Fortunately, the English departments at Canadian Universities do not suffer from such a cowardly stance. Some do however, concentrate on the silly controversy surrounding the 'Earl of Oxford'.
A SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF LITERATURE STUDIES.
1) The study of Literature can provide students with a fresh and creative angle with which to approach their studies in particular and their lives in general.
A SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF LITERATURE STUDIES.
1) The study of Literature can provide students with a fresh and creative angle with which to approach their studies in particular and their lives in general.
2) The study of literature allows people to develop new ideas and ethical standpoints, and can help individuals to present themselves as educated members of society. Studying literature can be an enriching, eye-opening experience.
3) English literature allows us to understand the philosophical movements and ideas that permeated a particular culture at a particular time.
4) Literature is a form of art; it is capable of bringing about differing emotions and a general sense of "spiritual" well-being.
5) Literature preserves the ideals of a people; love, faith, duty, friendship, freedom, respect and reverence are the part of human life most worthy of preservation.
6) By studying the histories presented throughout English literature, it is possible to understand how contemporary Western culture has developed into what it is today. It helps us to better understand the past and teaches important life lessons.
7) It provides students with an alternative to the pervasiveness of “television culture” with its commercialism, its immediacy, and at times, its shallowness.
In “The Odyssey,” the beautiful nymph Calypso offers immortality to Odysseus if he will stay on her island. After a fling with her, Odysseus ultimately rejects the offer because he misses his wife, Penelope. He turns down godlike immortality to embrace suffering and death that are essential to the human condition.
Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, illustrates that science depends upon the humanities to shape judgments about ethics, limits and values.
THE QUESTIONS:
DOES A WIDE MOUTH ALWAYS ACCOMPANY A NARROW MIND?
THE QUOTE:
John Adams had it right when he wrote, in letter to his wife, Abigail, in 1780:
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| TWEET TWEET |
“I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History and Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.”-John Adams
THE LAUREL:
CONGRATULATIONS TO MY GRANDAUGHTER ANNA KATHLEEN MacDONALD!
Anna was awarded the Canadian Irish Language Scholarship at the National University of Ireland, Galway campus. Her studies will commence this summer.
THE CLIP:
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