Why Do We Need To Study Literature

Why do we need to study literature?

Quick Answer
Studying literature enables one to better understand social situations, history, one's own emotions, and various cultural
practices. It also makes one more empathetic.

Expert Answers
AMY-LEPORE | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

I am sensing frustration on your part. Perhaps you don't like reading? When my students tell me they don't like to read, my
answer is always, "Keep looking. You haven't found a book yet that speaks directly to you."

To answer your question, literature should be studied for a richer life. Without it, we miss out on so much. Think of all the
places we get to go, people we get to meet, situations we...

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Student Answers
EPOLLOCK | STUDENT

It all depends on the person and their individual circumstances. Most people read literature for enjoyment and study. An
endless supply of mysteries, horrors, comedies, and tragedies, helps people to understand their own situation in life better.
Of course, not everyone benefits from reading. It also is determined by a reader's motivation.

MARIA-VIVANCO | STUDENT

Because it unleashes our imagination and allows us to express ourselves and learn.

IQRATARIQ | STUDENT

by studing literature we come to know about the lifestyle of specific people. we come to know about different cultures, their
customs. their laws etc. we know about the behaviours of people by reading novels and stories. literature is important
because it is the mirror through which we can see the lives of others. their good deeds, their bad points and by compairing
them we can make ourselves better. we can learn alot from the characters placed in novels. so we can groom our personality
and inner self through literature.

HHHHH | STUDENT

Your discourse gave me such motivation to focus my self toward reading .....I enjoyed every single line that i read.Thank
you! :)

SHAMROSE | STUDENT

what is literature ? nobody knows what it is ; you can't smell it ,hear it , eat it ,see it or touch it .

but
authorities now say a sonic boom in large
the only sense of the five senses wich can be applied to literature that you can spotted
fireballs feel it over parts of north

by feeling ,it turned to something you can smell it ,hear it ,eat it ,see it ,touch it ,cry at it and laugh with it.
 Literature is the most invisible with the five senses and the most visible with

Feeling

Literature is always realistic.

It is about life .

It is life when we get involved in it .

Even if it is legendary ,unbelievible ,and whatever it talks about ,

It is life because it is created and produced by people from this life

Human beings

DOMINION | STUDENT

Why do we need to study literature?

Why do we need to study literature?

I don't think we need to study literature. We are given literature as part of our education, so to some degree we don't have a
choice. Though it is up to each individual as to how much one learns from studying it.

BILLYBOBBERKEY | STUDENT

Studying Literature is what lets us get creative with model stories to go off of when you are writing your own .

It also lets you paint your own minds' pictures. How cool lis that?

KC4U | STUDENT

In his Poetics, Aristotle called Poetry superior to History, for History deals with the particular, but Poetrydeals with the
universal. Literature elevates the particular to the universal.

Literature holds a mirror up to nature/life. We can see ourselves on the pages of a novel, or in the enactment of a play.

Literature offers us a lot of pleasure. It pleases by moving.

Literature also functions as a crticism of life.

KRISHNA-AGRAWALA | STUDENT

In the broadest sense literature is any text or arrangement of words that conveys meaning. However, in a narrower sense it
refers to texts such as stories, novels, poetry, and essays. In this sense a biography of a historical personality may also be
classified as literature. In still narrower sense, works which are concerned with totally technical or professional issues may
not be considered as literature. Thus Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith may be considered a book on a technical subject
rather than as literature. Also works that are considered frivolous - from example, comics - may not be considered literature.

Irrespective of how we describe literature, the three most common reasons for studying literature are 1) Pleasure and
enjoyment, 2) Obtaining Information, and 3) Developing our knowledge. authorities now say a sonic boom in large
fireballs spotted over parts of north
In addition to the above reasons for studying literature, we also study literature as a part of our curriculum for two reasons:

1. To develop the ability to understand, appreciate and enjoy literature.

 . o deve op t e ab ty to u de sta d, app ec ate a d e joy te atu e.
2. To develop the ability to express ourselves well, and if we are inclined to do so, create good literature ourselves.

VISHAL234 | STUDENT

Literature is part of our cultural heritage which is freely available to everyone, and which can enrich our lives in all kinds of
ways. Once we have broken the barriers that make studying literature seem daunting, we find that literary works can be
entertaining, beautiful, funny, or tragic. They can convey profundity of thought, richness of emotion, and insight into
character. They take us beyond our limited experience of life to show us the lives of other people at other times. They stir us
intellectually and emotionally, and deepen our understanding of our history, our society, and our own individual lives.

In great writing from the past we find the England of our ancestors, and we not only see the country and the people as they
were, but we also soak up the climate of the times through the language itself, its vocabulary, grammar, and tone. We would
only have to consider the writing of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Boswell, Dickens, and Samuel Beckett side by side to see how
the way writers use language embodies the cultural atmosphere of their time.

Literature can also give us glimpses of much earlier ages. Glimpses of Celtic Ireland in the poetry of W. B. Yeats, or of the
Romans in Shakespeare’s plays, for example, can take us in our imaginations back to the roots of our culture, and the sense
of continuity and change we get from surveying our history enhances our understanding of our modern world.

Literature can enrich our experience in other ways too. London, for example, is all the more interesting a city when behind
what we see today we see the London known to Dickens, Boswell and Johnson, or Shakespeare. And our feeling for nature
can be deepened when a landscape calls to mind images from, say, Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy, or Ted Hughes.

The world of English literature consists, apart from anything else, of an astonishing array of characters, from the noble to
the despicable - representations of people from all walks of life engaged in all kinds of activities. Through their characters
great authors convey their insights into human nature, and we might find that we can better understand people we know if
we recognise in them characteristics we have encountered in literature. Perhaps we see that a certain man's behaviour
resembles that of Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, or a certain woman is rather like The Wife of Bath in Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales. Seeing such similarities can help us to understand and accept other people.

Good works of literature are not museum pieces, preserved and studied only for historical interest. They last because they
remain fresh, transcending as well as embodying the era in which they were written. Each reader reading each work is a
new and unique event and the works speak to us now, telling us truths about human life which are relevant to all times.

Whether we choose to study it or read it for pleasure, when we look back over our literature we are looking back over
incredible richness. Not just museum pieces, but living works which we can buy in bookshops, borrow from the library, or
download from the internet and read today, right now.

AMIOLIVER1 | STUDENT

I am glad your literature teacher has asked you such an important question; there are many answers:

Literature, in its virtually endless supply in our day and age, supplies us with an infinite instruction book on how to
understand and respond to the happenings in our lives; whether it be tragedy, euphoria, love, loss, identity crises, you name
it. When we are able to identify with an author who is experiencing the same thing we are going through, we are able to
more fully accept this thing as a universal experience, and develop our own appropriate responses.

With either positive feelings of euphoria or heavy feelings of grief: when we read a poem or story which expresses feelings
similar to those we, personally, have felt or are feeling, we are able to identify those feelings inside of ourselves and better
understand that this is, indeed, how we are feeling. In addition, the feeling of relating to another individual who has
experienced similar emotions or situations is a refreshing reminder that we are likely not alone in these experiences.

Another positively necessary element of literature which has persistent throughout the thousands of years that people have
been drawn to entertainment is the concept of distraction. Getting lost in a book, a parallel universe, an alternate timeline in
authorities now say a sonic boom in large
which your own problems are not of your main concern but instead, someone else's
fireballs are, isover
spotted quite refreshing
parts of north in itself.

But most importantly, literature teaches us. It teaches us consciously and subconsciously how to act and function in our
world; what we do and do not want to be Literature shapes our very persons whether we know it or not The more we read
world; what we do and do not want to be. Literature shapes our very persons whether we know it or not. The more we read,
the more we are aware of ourselves and the world around us.

LITPROF2 | STUDENT

Reading and studying literature--whether prose, poetry, or drama--helps us to understand the world around us and gives us
insights into the human condition. Studying literature also helps us to see how human behaviors, drives, struggles,
ambitions and the like remain the same, regardless of when a work of literature was written. As in Romeo and Juliet, young
people still fall in love and struggle with overwhelming problems, whether their families are feuding or their peers
discourage the relationship. Shakespeare's Othello illustrates how destructive jealousy can be, while Macbeth shows us the
ruin brought about by overweening ambition. Literature can be powerful enough to enact societal change. For example,
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was the catalyst that brought about much-needed laws to improve working conditions in the
meat-packing industry (the federal Food and Drug Administration was created). Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
depicted the inhuman, brutal nature of slavery and has been credited as one of the main variables that brought about the
American Civil War. At the very least, studying literature provides us the aesthetic pleasure that comes from enjoying a
well-written story or novel. But make no mistake--literature can be powerful enough to change the world, whether for better
or worse.

THEWANDERLUST878 | STUDENT

Technically speaking, one doesn't need to study literature. However, it is something that, in my opinion as well as many
others, needs to be studied and understood. Literature is something that has been in society since writing languages were
created, and will be here until the human race dies out. In order to fully understand not only the world around you today, but
also that of the past, and possibly the future, one should study literature.

Hope this helps!

NISHU2766 | STUDENT

The word can mean somebody who does something for a living: a professional baker, a professional golfer. It can mean
anyone who does an especially good job: “You're a real pro.” More formally, it means a member of an occupation with
recognized professional status.

Educators have yearned to be recognized as professionals for generations, but the current drive for professionalization
originated in the mid-1980s, when it became apparent to policymakers that mandates by themselves were not going to bring
substantially higher achievement. Minimum competency tests and stiffer graduation requirements may have affected the
quantity of students' education, but its quality depended on the quality of their instruction, and that depended on their
teachers.

UDONBUTTERFLY | STUDENT

Literature, in my opinion, really opens the mind to learning new things such as vocabulary to being able to articulate
yourself well. Literature has always been my escape from reality as well. It opens a new door inside a world that becomes
yours to explore and make assumptions and the best thing about is that there is never a wrong answer when it comes to
literature. It is what you make it.

ACOMPANIONINTHETARDIS | STUDENT

studying literature allows us to express ourselves by viewing how other people were able to express themselves and made
their own techniques to get creative and unleash their imagination

WIGGIN42 | STUDENT
authorities now say a sonic boom in large
fireballs spotted over parts of north
Literature is what makes us human. There is an immense satisfaction from reading a novel that speaks to you; whose very
words touch your soul. Its an amazing relief to know that you and your doubts, dreams, and concerns are not alone in this
world; that there were people before you who struggled just as you do now It alleviates the feeling of being alone in life
world; that there were people before you who struggled just as you do now. It alleviates the feeling of being alone in life.
Studying literature exposes us to new ideas, cultures, and people which can broaden your mind.

ANNDINNI | STUDENT

Reading is the only activity where we see words then draw pictures in our mind of what the words are saying. Literature
allows personal interpretation that reading a newspaper or most magazines do not allow. In literature, there are aspects like
metaphors, weaving narratives, character points of view and irony that we have to actively sort through in order to truly
understand the text. This is a specific brain activity that is exclusive to novels, short stories and essays. In essence,
literature makes us smarter. Not only do we learn about the subjects that an author is writing about, but we make our minds
stronger by putting the puzzle of words into coherent images in our mind.

It also expands our vocabulary. Media communication is traditionally written at no higher than a 6th grade reading level so
the masses can understand. In addition, outside of academics, normal conversation is not traditionally filled with SAT type
words. To put it simply, the English language is beautiful. The way that skilled authors can weave words together to make
stories is like a prodigal trumpet player riffing on stage in a dark jazz club. We need literature to learn these great notes of
the English language. These are words that draw the best pictures.

AHMAD1989 | STUDENT

nice way to learn habits.

authorities now say a sonic boom in large

fireballs spotted over parts of north