For sometime literature has been considered mainly as a subject which is used to develop the written and spoken skills of an individual. Teachers have not cultivated the art of ensuring that literature imparts much more than just educational knowledge to the students. Contrary to what literature has been taken to be in schools, literature authors had more than just language in their mind. Coming up with a literature work in its sense requires the artist to be inspired. It is something that is deeper than it actually appears. For an artist to come up with a literacy piece that will touch generations even after their death, it has to be a deep inspirational piece. Literature connects a person’s environmental experiences to their souls. This comes from what they have experienced and learned overtime (Lawall, 103). By the time they decide to put such a work on paper or music, it has to pass through internal analysis of their hearts and the souls.
It is rather unfortunate that literature teachers and students do not recognize the deeper inspiration that is in a work of art and mainly use it to improve on their written and spoken language. It should be realized that school and work is more than just having the necessary papers that will enable one to have a better life. School needs to help an individual to grow both intellectually and spiritually. Literature is one of the subjects, if taken keenly in school will impart on a person’s spiritual life. It is a shame that at times people go through school yet come out with little change in their spiritual life (Bonin, 57). They mainly focus on the technical side of education and fail to realize the fact that education without wisdom is all in vain.
I have read a number of literature material and what a gain is much more than I could have ever learned even if I were to live in this world forever. In school, I was taught literature to enable me analyze my language skills. Poetry was a little bit complex not because of the deeper meaning that was derived from it but because of the different styles of language that one was required to identify in the test. This meant that as one learns poetry and other literature work, they should pay more attention to the language styles rather than the message behind the poem and how it imparts on the individual. It is basically this tradition of reading literature that makes people come out of school and still reasoning like young children. This makes them to have the skills and the knowledge but lack the ability to use them practically in their day-to-day life.
I started gaining the literacy importance of literature when I voluntarily started reading books for pleasure. I was not taught to learn from books when I was in school and since I was a way from the confines of the syllabus, I had the ability to choose what I wanted to read. This is when I started realizing how much impart the books had in my spiritual life. I realized that most of the books I loved were based on real life experiences of the author as well as historical stories. I learned that some of the experiences I went through and thought they were personal, they were normal as they also happen to some people (Lawall, 49). This helped me know how to counterattack negativity and even embrace positivity without necessarily having to loose my being.
One of the literature works that has inspired me in school is the Stanley Lombardo’s version of the Illiad. I found this captivating not only on the words and how they have been translated to suit the modern mind but also the tone in which the poem is read. One can almost feel the war environment and actually feel part of the army. This is what I described as an artist way of involving the audience in their literal presentations. There is relationship between what the artist is actually saying and what they choose as their background rhythms. This almost makes a person forget that they are watching a presentation and actually being in the real world of the presentation. The characteristic of a good literacy work is the ability to connect the person’s physical being to their spiritual being. It does not just take the mind of the audience, as school as trained many to, but also captivates their emotions.
Apart from the emotional connection I derived from the Illiad, there was the historical aspect of it which is not only educative but also helps one to appreciate life the way it is and empathize with other people who could be going through other situations. The poem is based on a war setting and how tough it was for the Greeks to live in peace. There’s was a life of war and revenge and hence making their lives uncertain. War was like an economic activity to them, which also defined their status in society (Bonin, 89). Comparing life then and now, one learns to appreciate the fact that they do not necessarily need to live in fear and tension wondering where and when the enemy will attack. The world has given is alternative ways of fighting our enemies and elevating our status in society. This makes us appreciate the fact that in as much as we are living in unpredictable lives, technology has enabled us to avoid some engagements. We learn how much costly revenge can be and motivate us to seek alternative ways of resolving conflict. As we face war in different dimensions, we also realize that it is something that has been there sine time immemorial.
Literature and art has made me learn more about different cultures without necessarily having to experience them. This makes one realize that the world is composed of different cultural believes. This hence implies that what may seem strange to a particular person is very normal to others. This also helps a person to learn and know how to live with other people and hence being able to learn from them. A lack of exposure to different cultures and people make people to miss on what could have been beneficial. This is because each individual has unique qualities, which can be of benefit to other people. Appreciation of different cultures, which has been brought up by art, has enhanced multinational relationships and subsequently led to economic growth. This has also minimized on discrimination and segregation, which was common in the past. As people interact, they realize that they have more than just what their culture and religion defines them.
Works cited
Bonin, Michael Richard. “The Education of the Soul: The Forsaken Ideal of Literary Study.”
Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 53 (1999): 83-89.
Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New
York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
