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The Literary Canon

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By the end of the year, thousands of students are ready to throw their copies of Shakespeare into a bonfire, frustrated from analysing the complicated and often confusing language of classics. Some argue that an excessive amount of classics build an angry rage within them and that they should read modern books instead. I say; let students read both. The canon definitely has a place in the 21st century classroom, the literary canon consists of a wide range of texts denoted as “the most influential in shaping western culture.” Even though classic books afford students the opportunity to understand, analyse and evaluate language quite different from their own, schools should strive to find a greater balance between contemporary and classic books …show more content…

By far the most fascinating aspect of reading classic novels is the life lessons we can grow from just reading a book that is decades old. If we didn’t read and study texts from the past, and only looked to the best seller list, how would we know of our evolution? Understanding a story through the experiences of a character, decades old, enables us to feel what it could have been like and help us consider the impact of events, significant or otherwise, on ordinary people. Gaining a broad view of society, and through the eyes of another, fosters understanding, tolerance and empathy and the value of these capacities cannot be under-estimated in today’s world. For example, the gothic novel “Frankenstein” expresses the theme of humanity through curiosity and mistakes. Curiosity drives the character Victor to create life, which ultimately results in being a huge mistake. This 1800’s novel teaches students that your actions always have consequences, like how victor strives for power and immediately back fires by creating a monster. The Shakespearean novel “Macbeth” also …show more content…

Structures, trends in punctuation and in the way we speak have evolved through the ages and being aware of these developments really helps us to understand better, language in its current context. Reading Shakespearean can challenge students in a good way and expand their vocabulary. Members of ACARA, a big mistake is forcing students to read too many of these different-languaged novels, this results in a Shakespearean bonfire so keep a balanced variety of contemporary and classic books, as contemporary books contain language that is more relevant to student’s daily life. Words and their usage are constantly evolving, and contemporary literature is able to teach students an expansive knowledge of modern

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English class should be a place of imagination and creativity, where great works of fiction are read and not reduced to a moral value. Prose states, “Only rarely do teachers propose writing must be worth reading closely. Instead, students are informed that literature is principally a vehicle for the soporific moral blather that they suffer daily from their parents” (93). Books should be enjoyed and not feel like punishment. Many students today are feeling exactly that, that books are just assignments that need to be completed and not enjoyed.

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The book, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom, is written by Victor Davis Hanson, and John Heath. The book is about why the Classics are dying, if it’s not dead already; what actions would need to be taken in order to take the Classics off of life support, and what would need to be done in order to teach newer generations about Classics. Both Hanson, and Heath are Classicist themselves whom worked as professors teaching Classics to students back in the early 1970’s and 1980’s. These two present an argument to the audience that the reason for the fall of Classical Education in modern day is due to the fact of ignorance of Greek wisdom, the demise of Classical learning is real and quantifiable, and the Classicist themselves are the blame for why there aren’t many people majoring in Classics.

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In addition to that, the author allows the readers to see what it was like to be in the middle of the most tragic history

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the story of a young man named Victor Frankenstein who does the unthinkable, creates life from dead flesh. Victor is a young, educated and wealthy member of society who grows up in a loving home with high standards of ethics and morality. He creates a creature out of impulse with little thought of its future well-being and abandons it carelessly. The creature is left to discover life without teaching or direction. Only when the creature impacts Victor’s life, by taking away his loved ones, is Victor forced to deal with the consequences of his own actions.

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story of passionate scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose devotion to science leads him to become obsessed with creating life, but his good intentions lead to a lifelong conflict with his problematic creation. This creature causes pain and suffering for Victor by killing his friends and family, which causes him to feel responsible for their deaths. Ambition’s dark and addictive side got the best of Victor, who became blinded by dreams of glory. Similarly, Don Quixote fails to identify the risks of ambition while exploring Spain. He wants to be a famous knight so badly that he begins to hallucinate obstacles that he must conquer.

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story of revenge and destruction . Shelly takes the audience through satisfying, yet emotional adventures throughout the book. A confrontation between a creator and a creature. In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life “is a search for justice.” A character within the book that responds in some significant way to injustice is Victor Frankenstein.

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Written during the ninteenth century, the gothic Frankensteinnovel by Marry Shelly, tells the story of a young educated student Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but fantastic creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment, which leads to different tragic events. Shelly writes about the creation of the creature and how he is first introduce to his livelihood and this world. In this novel Shelly uses different types of literary techniques to convey the expression of the creature as a baby just learning about life and the world, and by employing innovative literary techniques such as imagery, setting, theme, and characterization, she creates a feeling of sympathy on the readers. This feeling is created through Shelly establishment of pity on the readers by reavealing the creature’s loathsome creation, habitat, or even existence.

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The monster is a novel that tries to provide answers to questions that have been able to confuse the author and readers. Published in 1818, the novel is famous for the rich ideas that challenges the mankind’s knowledge and its probability to be used for the good and evil motives, how the uneducated people in the society have been able to be treated over time in the society and in understanding the influence of the advancement in technology have been able to affect mankind. The novel is about Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant scientist who tries to work out the meaning of life. He works in the laboratory and tries to create a creature out of organs of a dead man and manages to create a monster.

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Most parents put their daughters in cheerleading because of the uniform and they think it will be a “cute” memory; however, that was not the case for me. I instantly fell in love with the sport, and at six it became my goal to make the varsity team my first year of high school. After telling my mom the goal I had set for myself, she enrolled in tumbling classes and signed me up for rec league cheer every season to help me learn the skills I would need when I tried out. I had waited months to try out for the high school cheer program since the original date had been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. I remember walking out of tryouts confident in how I performed in front of the judges.

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Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, is one of the most important and popular novels in the Romantic genre to this day. The novel was originally controversial because it touched on many fragile subjects such as the human anatomy and the development of science. The structure of Frankenstein begins as an epistolary, narrative story told by Robert Walton to his sister in England. Walton’s letters tell us that he is exploring, searching for what lies beyond the North Pole, and he eventually connects with Frankenstein. Shelley creates the protagonist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who has a fascination with life and death.

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Frankenstein We all have the assignment books we get in school. The Odyssey, The Iliad, and last but not least Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein’s recognized by the vast majority of the world due to its use for education. The story of how a doctor, Victor Frankenstein, creates life but in return creates a monster as well.

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In the narrative, Mary Shelley carefully introduces various aspects of the tradition of Romantic literature and thus, the novel can also be understood as a mirror to the society of that era. Few of the Romantic thoughts evident in Frankenstein are, the idea of individualism, yearning for a utopic state, nostalgic remembrance, the symbolic use of nature and most evidently, the presence of gothic elements that showcase intense emotions and horror. Furthermore, Shelley uses the voice of three different narrators-Walton, Victor and The Monster, to engage the audience and make them understand all the three viewpoints. Through the epistolary and framed narrative, she also continues to establish new themes as the novel proceeds. The skilful use of literary devices such as allusions, monologues, imagery and metaphors helps to dramatize the text and create an impact on the readers’ mind.

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Shakespeare was a famous author and poet that wrote extremely well-known texts, such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet.” Shakespeare lived during the Renaissance when art and science advanced and he was one of the major contributors to this historical period. “Shakespeare Influences the way we speak now” by Hephzibah Anderson, “William Shakespeare’s Impact on Theatre” by Octane, and “How Outrage Built Over a Shakespearean Depiction of Trump” by Sara Krulwich suggest that Shakespeare had a great influence on many aspects of society, such as the phrases we use, style of theater, and is a figure of inspiration to many people. Shakespeare has contributed to many well-known phrases that are still used to this day, showing his significance in history.

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In the twenty-first century, the plays of William Shakespeare may at first appear dated and irrelevant: they use archaic language, are set in the age of Kings and Queens, and the Kingdom of England. However, it would be plainly mistaken to construe that Shakespeare’s works do not still remain integral to a twenty-first century society. Shakespeare’s plays gave the words and expressions one uses every day, revolutionized the art of theater as it was known, and forewarned about issues that would unknowingly still apply centuries later. Therefore, Shakespeare has had a profound effect on our lives by enriching our language and culture, as well as providing ideas that would still apply five centuries later, and it would thus behoove us to learn from his works and life.

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Despite being written a long time ago, readers in this day and age can still relate to the themes and characters. Each reader can find something that appeals to them. Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s works are evidence that there is no one definition of great literature. Even though they didn’t have the same approach or use the same techniques, they are both perfect and their works are jewels that need to be cherished in years to

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