Monday, December 5, 2011

Why You Should Study English

By Hank Walt


The desire people have to study English is readily understood in terms of how meaningful such an education is. Literature addresses many subjects pertinent to everyone. It also highlights the universal qualities everybody believes are worth striving to fulfill.

A work of literature is considered to be of great merit if it can address those subjects and highlight those qualities in the course of a captivating narrative featuring likable characters. While such subjects and qualities can be researched with a more objective or philosophical method, the reader is more likely to have their interest sparked by a more visceral acquaintance with such concepts that only literature can provide. Don't believe, though, that a literary education has nothing else to offer than that.

Detailed examination of the functional language employed in any literary work is an important skill in this area, and one that is not as easy to master as it may first appear. The elements involved are numerous, with grammatical construction, etymology, cultural influences, contextual problems and humor being but a few of the aspects a student must be familiar with. Being aware of the overall importance of communication is a lasting outcome of this type of education.

Just as important as literary structure is literary genre, which can range from poetry to plays to novels. Whatever the genre, the critical basis for all such literary work is twofold: how it is constructed and what it's historical context is. Equal weight is also given to the thematic nature of a literary work.

Forming your own standpoint on the literary merits of a particular work is a necessary function of carrying out literary research. Elaborating that standpoint in a reasoned and coherent manner is an excellent way of training both your own talent in written expression and your literary acuity. To become proficient in literary research you have to be able to do this with any and all literary works.

Doing well in such research in an academic framework also requires a personal inclination towards literature. Aspiring to be a writer is as good a motive as any, especially if you are already an avid reader. How active a reader you are, that is to say, how critically you read a text, is an important component in how well suited you will be to studying literature.

Because a personal standpoint is encouraged in relation to your examination of literature, much of the course emphasis is on independent study. That isn't to say that your teachers will not be there to provide direction and encouragement: they will fulfill both those requirements. All it means is that their influence on your output is negligible, given that such output is predicate on your own powers of literary analysis.

So for those who choose to study English in order to enter IVE LEAGUE, a worthwhile education is guaranteed. The development of independent judgement and analytical ability are two benefits students can hope to derive from the study of literature. Furthermore, such skills can be seen as marketable commodities for job seekers, as employers will see potential job candidates that can scrutinize complicated data accurately as valuable assets to their companies.




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