There are a lot of subjects at school which students should study in order to be educated and trained in a proper was with the aim to be able to enter the society with necessary knowledge. All the subjects are paid attention but literature is one of the subjects which is started to be studied at the beginning of the school life and finished only after leaving the school. A lot of attention is paid to literature at college. The question arises, why literature is so important science is mathematics or chemistry people need more in their works. Why all should study literature? The answer is rather simple, literature gives us the information about past times, it trains people’s imagination and increase their brain activity as makes people think.
The more person reads, the more he/she gets to know about the surrounding world and the more she/he becomes educated. Different literature works may comprise different information from the other periods of literature epochs. William Shakespeare in his “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Kennedy and Gioia) takes the part from the Greek mythology, English folklore, and classical literature, and if the person read those pieces of work, it could be easy for him/her to structure these images. People for whom the literature of other times is unfamiliar will not fully understand the play, will not get the satisfaction from it in the whole volume.
Reading the “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell (Kennedy and Gioia) the life of people is seen from the other side. It could never be known for lots of people to know what it means to live with despot and do not have the right to tell about your own feelings and ideas. It seems rather strange for us, and literature gives us the opportunity to get to know about this. The other story about the life of other people is given in the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke (Kennedy and Gioia). It is not dialogue, but he story is told by son in such a way that it is very easy to recollect the father’s image and the relations between father and son.
“Everyday use” by Alice Walker (Kennedy and Gioia) is the other literary work which shows the family relations. The story teaches how to remain the family traditions in the modern world. The story is very educative and it is impossible avoid reading it as the min aim is the family relations and tradition following. Reading the story it is impossible not to think about traditions in your own family and to try to save them.
The poems also educate and show us the life from different sides. Wilfred Owen (Kennedy and Gioia) being on the war and telling about his remembering in “Dulce et Decorum” tried to shown the horrors of the war in order to tell that war is a great disaster and that they should think greatly before the idea to start a new war. All literature pieces about war are aimed to show people the horrible of it and to prevent all desires about the war conflict decisions. The poems about war are aimed to educate and bring up a new society with the thought that war is impossible. People should think about the other, peace life, where dreams are the main problem, the absence of dreams. People should dream, as if people do not dream, they do not hope about something better, what is shown in the poem “Dream” by Langston Hughes (Kennedy and Gioia).
So, it is important to teach literature as it shows the experience of life of other people and informs us how not to behave. Literature gives us the opportunity to read the other pieces of works and understand the symbols in the literature. It educates and make us more well-brought-up and prepared to live in the modern world.
Works Cited
- Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007
- Hughes, Langston. “Dream.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007
- Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce et Decorum.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007
- Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007
- Shakespeare, William. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007
- Walker, Alice. “Everyday use.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Pearson Longman, 2007