The Literary Canon

-The more a person reads, the more knowledge they gain and the more a person reads, the more we begin to see those similarities that exist between each piece of literature.

As I read more and more the more I get confused. It is just the way the author writes, that throws me off track. I did realize that there was little stories throughout the passages that I found interesting, but it just skips around so much. There are many different ways people can write. It all depends on what you like to read. I think that if I started to read these kinds of things on a daily basis I would start to learn how to read them better.

Imagine living in a simple world with no color, no imagination with truly no meaning to life, just taking everything day by day. Now relate that to reading, without knowing how to read you would not be able to learn about people, places, past and present events, or even the great unlimited things that go on in this world. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” ― Dr. Seuss. When we read our brains automatically translate the words into pictures. Some may be able to do it better than others but that is something we all do when reading. If you are a person who has reading and writing challenges it is best to tackle that obstacle quickly. Not being able to read or write is a

What goes through your mind when you read? Do you read deliberately, looking for certain aspects, or do you read as a blank slate? When reading, professors expect a deliberateness that will help you to uncover meanings that are not readily apparent. Thomas C. Foster in his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” expands on this concept. He endeavors to instruct his readers in the way he believes they should read, in order to get the most out of each book. He concedes that, “When lay readers encounter a fictive text, they focus, as they should, on the story and the characters” but to truly read like a professor you must also divert a portion of your attention on

Indeed, reading starts with an initial idea spawned by the author, but it is the reader’s responsibility to interpret, ponder, and absorb this idea in a beautiful and meaningful way. For example, a quote from one book could be lackluster to one reader and have little to no effect on them; however that same quote can move another reader to tears.

Prejudice. Stereotypes. Discrimination. Racism. These standards are four of many injustices that fuel the world today. They play a major role in much of America’s history and even more so in its literature. A historically significant event that demonstrates these characteristics is the integration of the Little Rock Nine in 1957 at Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were the first nine African-American students to be integrated into a public school, and were subject to a whole country worth of hatred and cruelty while attending. Aspects of this event in history are similar those in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee for they

For once I have to agree with Edmundson on the matter of truth seeking and interpretation. There are a lot of different interpretations on what truth means. Some people will interpret a pieces of literature one way while someone else will interpret it some why else. For example, when I was in high school there was only one interpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I've always heard that Romeo and Juliet was a serious tragedy. When I got older; I learned that it more of a tragic comedy. Whether you subscribe to one idea or the other, I feel that as long as you are close to what the original idea was you’re fine. Like Edmundson stated, you can never get to the perfect path into the author's mind but you can find a path close

Trying to understand the many components of the canon is already a hard task enough, but we don’t have enough information about the other factors of the canon. For example, one of the factors do include certain literary works from specific set of years, but we as the students, teachers, or any other classification have to always respect what is

Hi all, I’m here today to ask you all one question. Does the Western Literary Canon share significance and relevance to everyone? But before that, one simple question. What is literature? Isn’t it just a bunch of words gathered on paper? One of the unbroken problems focused from this topic is that there has never been a stable predetermined definition of what exactly literature is. Yet it can be argued that the ‘Western Literary Canon’ was the first attempt of literary criteria. The criteria - the ‘Western Literary Canon’-of which we judge or categorize literary works to be considered good, bad or average, may change due to cultural beliefs and or the time period and place of which we are present. The Canon is a contested space made up of many literary works criticized by the decider, who and what gets in changes depending on the eye of the beholder, respectability or knowledge of the decision maker. These aspects of literary criticism emerge from social and economic changes within society. The concept of how and why these deciders assume and select what is classed as ‘worthy’ literature is what I have an issue with, and this will be the point being made clear.

"Reading a text as pure description of an object, and undertaken to mechanically memorize the discrimination, it is neither real reading nor does it result in the knowledge of the object to which the text refers" (Freire 284). When a teacher gives a reading assignment, the students that read to memorize the text likely do not gain the significance of what that literary work contextually attempted to deliver, nor is it necessarily understood by the reader. If a student was really taught the significance and meaning of the text instead of mechanically memorizing it, the student should have better outcomes both with gaining the insight of the assignment and the memorization of key points. Mechanistically

Formalist critics are primarily concerned with the language, structure, and tone of a work, otherwise known, as it’s “formal elements”. Formalists gravitate towards “intrinsic” matters in a piece of literature, in simpler terms, diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, and symbol. In a similar fashion, they emphasize larger elements, for instance, plot, characterization, and narrative technique, in order to derive meaning from a literary work. The work must stand by itself, and any information that goes beyond the text, for example, biography, history, politics, and

This statement really resonates with me. I am fully unable to understand many things if I only read them one time. The first time I read over to get the "gist" of the text. On my second reading, I skim the text a bit more quickly and pull out sentences that don't make much sense to me and I analyze them more in depth. This helps me a whole heck of a lot to better understand what I am reading.

Everyman, by the anonymous writer, is a play that can truly be analyzed under a literary theory lens. Everyman can be analyzed under a performance theory lens, not only because it is a play, but also that the actions of the character fall within the several categories of the theory. The play can be seen as following the structure of the religious ritual while following Everyman through his completion of the sacraments. Secondly, Everyman encounters many sacred characters, including, Death, God, and an Angel. The characters portray performing objects in which throughout the play these characters are personified. The characters are personified as human companies to Everyman, although they are actually a part of him taking on the role of seven deadly sins the characters portray different influences within Everyman’s life. The goal of these morality plays were to entertain the audience, which is an aspect of performance theory, but that these players were also used as a way of teaching the

The literature field is full of works that are nothing short of great. Many popular writers, such as Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, have authored stunning classical plays and novels, which have been read around the word. This makes choosing one’s work over all the others’ even the more difficult when there comes to the time of literature evaluation and comparison. However, in the midst of all those great literature works, there are some great standing out articles due to their strong composition and meaningful life messages that the authors try to convey to the audiences. One of them is the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin in 1957. This story shows us the reality as well as the complexity of life matters, and an overall picture of all the subcategories also really shows us the reason why it should be remained as a part of the literary canon of the 21st Century.

Reading is one of the most beneficial activities a man can do. Out of reading, man can be able to discover new things, concepts, places and people. More so, reading is a way to relax our mind and soul, going deeply through the world of story and improves our thinking and internalization process.