Literary Canons: A Literary Analysis

In Francine Prose’s essay “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Sing” Prose tends to evoke her unsureness on why schools use certain books to teach students their moral values. Prose argues that certain books should be taught in English classes, that in fact, teach students their values. Prose uses several literary examples, such as Frankenstein, How To a Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, etc. She also provides several controversial opinions, such as using different books to try and teach students, like The Diary of a Young Girl, Teaching The Novel, and many more that she has personally read in her lifetime. She also claims that teacher should start teaching curriculum that has meaning and that will provide skills that a student would

Throughout the essay, Prose argues that literatures in high schools are dumbing down the English curriculum. She says books that are “chosen for students to read are

In the late sixteenth century, a religious reform arose among the church of England. The puritanism reform brought foundation to the religious, intellectual, and social structure in New England. Puritanism closely relates to the Amish which is a christian church that connects to the protestant reformation also in the sixteenth century Europe. The puritanism and Amish both are hundreds of years old as is the American Literary Canon. This canon consists of american literature from different authors at different times. The Judgement by Beverly Lewis should be a part of the literary canon because it opens deeper perceptions about the lives of the Amish women. It also provides insight for readers to the complex struggles Amish women faced with religion, society, culture and the self.

Teachers can not only choose texts suited to the events that occur in the students’ lives, but they can also choose texts suited to the students’ interests. According

The literary canon is those works considered by scholars, critics, and teachers to be the most important to read and study, which collectively constitute the “masterpieces” of literature. (Meyer 2175) In the past there has been much debate on whether non-fiction should be considered for inclusion in the canon, but non-fiction writers being considered part of the canon is not unheard of, and is already a reality – George Orwell, Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway- all had a significant body of non-fictional work and are well respected, well established members. Sonja Livingston’s work is part of a genre called creative non-fiction. As stated in his article for The Writer, Lee Gutkind states, “Creative nonfiction-also called "new

Whether society desires to recognize it or not, race defines human behavior in America. In a benign world, society would see race as a countenance to culture, and therefore endeavor to exalt one another’s way of life. However, that is not the case. For example, in literature, an African American writer cannot just be great; they are often looked as a great writer— for a Negro. Society is quick to presume African American writers as great for their heritage, rather than great as an all-encompassing ideal. Therefore, this matter is prevalent in Ralph Ellison’s writing. By assuaging the issue, Ralph Ellison pursues the process of an American classic novel; he is then able to be to deliver his message with a broad perspective. With these difficulties

Although I don’t feel I’m qualified to determine what deserves a place on your oh so high and mighty official canon list, I am entitled to my own opinion, and that is what entitles me to make suggestions toward changes in this ever changing, ever evolving canon list of influential works of literature.

There are different forms and examples of exemplary and classic literature which have been deemed as significant works that are highly esteemed worldwide. These examples of literature would awe the world with how much literary skill they entailed when they were composed and written: attention to details as to formation of characters, the most crafty of plots, the most eloquent speeches and lines, the most astounding of twists of scenes, and most of all, the most universal and meaningful of themes. The theme of any literary work is what makes it great as it should be able to encompass the immense diversity of the world and as it would be able to transcend the boundaries of religion, age, race, gender, etc. Two examples of this great and

Throughout the years, we as a society have read through billions of books in our lifetime. We were always told what books or authors were good for us to read, and we see how we have read the same things past generations have read as well. But have you ever wondered, why? In today’s modern canon, a lot of people have a hard time understanding what the criteria is when including literary works into the canon. We need to understand how come certain people can be included in the canon. Also, what other factors dealing with picking what is allowed in the canon, and what effects will they have on it.

There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss

Good morning fellow English enthusiasts. I would firstly like to thank you the opportunity talk to you about the importance and the value of the canon in our school systems. The literary canon is a controversial topic between english scholars and it has been debated as to whether or not it is important to continue teaching the canon to students. The canon is quintessential to the school program and will forever be the what makes Literature special. The canon is the be all end all of english texts, in its most simple form the canon is a list of texts which is considered to be the best works of Literature in human history. However each person's opinion on what constitutes a literary text can differ from one person to another. For me

An increasing demand of high stakes accountability testing at secondary levels, along with the threat of federal levels of accountability for post-secondary programs has prompted many departments to take a critical look at their pedagogical canons. Concern about the lack of diversity represented within the traditional western canon, and its failure to reflect growing numbers of ethnically and culturally diverse students is also a conflict faced by editors of literary anthologies. How is literary merit evaluated and awarded? Which authors must be replaced in order to update the canon to better reflect changing pedagogical needs? This conversation is one of necessity for educators at every level, and is becoming of increasing importance as the implications of the pedagogical canon are weighed against the evolving nature of authorship and audience in increasingly diverse classrooms.

Numerous nations have a concrete national school syllabus. However, some do not, such as the United States. Consequently, students enrolled in an English class, within the United States, read a miscellany of texts, which differentiate from school to school. Due to the fact that some nations have a stipulated national school curriculum, those nations enforce that all students read the same texts. This ultimately poses the question whether all students of high school English should be required to read definite texts or books. There should not be specific texts that all students of high school English must read, due to the fact it hinders cultural insight, and literary canon books are beginning to abate.

today. Most novels that are considered classics, especially during their time of release, seem to have a universal theme of not receiving positive recognition. However, as time went on, people found themselves developing a taste for such heart tugging tales. Classical novels, because of the language in which they were written, contain ideas and build skill sets like no other novel today;due to, the originality and uniqueness of the plot, eternal truths and unrealistic themes, and benefits gained from reading them.

I believe all children can learn to read in a classroom that is integrated with differentiated instruction and has a safe and engaging learning environment which is rich with a variety of literature to light that spark in the children to want to learn. I will make an effort to get to know my children in order to be able to provide a classroom library with nonfiction books to inform the inquiring mind, picture books for the artistic mind, and fiction books to entertain. All books will be chosen based on their curiosity, interest, personal connection, and learning profile, in order to attract and enchant the young readers into going back to the book area again and again.