literature essay in english

literature essay in english

The Power of Literature: Exploring its Impact and Influence in English

1. Introduction to the World of English Literature

The Power of Literature Revered ancient literary works were the foundation stones of the intellectual and philosophic achievements which separate man from the ape. Education would be poor and shabby if the beauties of our language and the parallel beauty of the ideas expressed in it found no place. The family of living western languages, so rich and varied in powers of expression, is the direct descendant of literary tradition. Today, and in the past, the presence of literary experience in its many forms gives power and momentum to the process of self-realization of maturity in students. The study of literature is valuable because it is literature because it is human experience. Today’s students, seeking and discovering self, coworkers and an ever-changing world, can discover previous attempts to do these – some through the imaginative, sympathetic, empathetic writings of committed souls.

It is literature that satisfies the needs of human beings. The main ingredient of literature is man. The reader is man. The author is man. The subject matter of literature deals with the wants, needs, problems, quandaries, philosophies, tragedies, anxieties, dreams, perceptions, consolations, excursions and motivations of man.

The “capital” E will be used throughout to signify the English that is composed of literature, dealing specifically with people, character, society and human events from time to time. In the context of the English teacher, literature is read, analyzed, discussed, interpreted, questioned, memorized, written about, translated and delivered in many, many ways. In honor of the many English teachers in the State of New South Wales who struggle to give some permanence to the “High verse over days and nights”. These teachers make substantial contributions to the quality of life in this State – and elsewhere.

Introduction

2. Analyzing Key Themes and Motifs in English Literary Works

Symbols, motifs, and patterns are literary orienteering devices because they signal for the reader an encoded representation of what is really going on without announcing the narrative to the story. It can be a word, a figure of speech, a form of plot structure, a character personality, a situation, an idea, or anything that points to a meaning other than what it is. It possesses, simply, itself and as well something that it suggests. These objects sip some quality from the writer’s mind and material and often is enough if the reader can just notice the symbol, retrieve it, and resolve the suggested meaning.

For the attentive reader and essayist, literature becomes the primary source for all layers of meaning. This includes what is read from the presence of allusions and the patterns of imagery. It means working with a wide open awareness, recognizing the power of the rhetoric of metaphor and simile. It also means recognizing the formation of patterns, the result of motifs and symbols, the resistance to symbols, and the many contrapuntal interactions which introduce theme and layers of meaning to the reader’s pleasure and understanding of the text.

3. The Evolution of English Literature Through Different Time Periods

Periods are rarely concise in dates as one literary period may start before another one ends. Anglo-Saxon former epic, drama, lyric Anglo-Saxon poetry share their dense, tough strength. Since the Saxons played crucial battles known as the Battle of Hastings (1066), a Norman invasion of England dramatic change in both the vocabulary and the grammatical forms of the language also occurred. Middle English embodies lyrical, chivalric romance, allegorical, and didactic verse, political treatises, letters, and memorials. Canonical writers range from G. Chaucer to W. Langland. In the modern English language and literature, the Middle English literature marks the transition from Old English.

It is always helpful to consider the historical context of a life and a society. The English literary tradition can be divided into periods, each of which is broken down into genres, forms, and styles. It is possible to view each period in its historical context: to examine one’s literature, art, and music, and consider each era’s relevant social, philosophical, and political backgrounds. Such an examination can be insightful and helpful in identifying what one would like to explore and read. The English language and literary form and style have changed and developed throughout the various times and social changes. By knowing about the different time periods and their literature, one may better understand the themes which have always captivated people, the things that have inspired human actions, and how form and style have changed as well.

4. The Influence of English Literature on Society and Culture

To the foreboding educators who staunchly resist teaching the contemporary books that students enjoy because it will not help them in the “long run,” Robert Hass retorts that “we read for a daily need, for the daily aliveness that it brings, and that it must not be consigned to the realm of the extra-curricular.” In examining the origins of history, The Bible, which has been the most prestigious and influential of books since the beginning of time, is intrinsically literature. Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth, from Shakespeare’s and Tolstoy’s works, have influenced our conception of female power, strength, and villainy in profound ways. Though they are fictions, they have transcended the realms of the merely narrative to insidiously infiltrate human consciousness and create a collective archetype.

Instead of asking why study literature, Joseph North writes of the power of literature to expand our realm of importance. Literature broadens our realm—beyond the realm of the everyday or parochial—prompting us to behold more about the world, to consider the experiences of other people, and to reflect on the larger significance of happenings in the world. As C.S. Lewis writes, “In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself.” By multiplying consciousness, as well as strengthening fellow-feelings, being drawn out of itself and joining the experience of others, literature plays an integral role in building a civil society, vital to the promotion and preservation of democratic government.

5. Conclusion: Reflecting on the Enduring Significance of English Literature

In conclusion, I would like to stress the enduring significance of a subject about which so many students, parents, and education administrators worry. While no one can deny the vital importance of literacy and the teaching of reading and writing in secondary English, we all ought to remember that some things are in fact more important still. The power to imagine the lives of countless others granted by literature itself has the power also to transform and change those lives. Literature has the power to liberate the readers, learners, and teachers of all subjects from the chains of ignorance, prejudice, or hatred which imprisons so many of us through the promotion of greater understanding of our fellow human beings. The process and wisdom of understanding and revelation undertaken by the readers of literary works offer us greater depth and dimensions of significance than any amount of factual knowledge or information. Our ever-increasing participation in the mass-mediated universe and cult of information technology, some of whose many potential and actual uses are indeed fundamentally neutral or indeed beneficial. The breadth of curriculum on offer in secondary English classrooms and our ability, as English teachers, to promote an understanding of literature’s great potential social utility should not be underestimated. The English classroom must continue to function as a facilitator of pain-free, imaginative exercises for our students. Last but not least, students and teachers get to have fun. Enjoyment constitutes its own particular mode of learning as well.