crevlthe's stuff.: English Literature... ftw!

Tuesday, 25 May 2010

For a rather arrogant person like myself, I have never really had much appreciation for English Literature, or rather any respect for the rat trap crap that I had read, simply because I couldn't make any relation to any prior use for it in my life.

The opinions I had of the teachers were poor, and although they made the regular attempt to get the class to understand what on earth they were talking about, I felt as motivated as an elephant's backside (no kiding). It was simply dull. Who would want to know about how the bloody hell "Julius Caesar" died, and why he died? Similarly, who would want to know the relation between "Balzac" and "the Little Seamstress"?

I often doodled in my English classes, often not paying attention to the boring stuff she would rant on about each lesson, and stuffing the notes she would hand out (I still don't approve of people printing 30 print-outs for their class, effectively killing a tree) reluctantly into my English folder and generally dumping them out after-wards.

Then came the exam rush. And I still had no idea why on earth we were learning English Literature! It was miserable and so demotivating that I had to self-study, simply because our English teacher was not getting into our heads what we were supposed to have known for the exams. I spent the majority of the year having to gather the materials required that we had to know, as well as having to resort to the non-assistant syllabus the examining board had provided.

I did several pass-papers, and learnt the subject basically by reciting the particular quotes and paragraph content that I had done like-wise for the said pass-papers. I'm sure I got through the exam alright, because I wrote at least four pages for both of the questions. That's not the point of this post though.

It was only up to this very day as I was about to begin my once and for all final English Literature exam, that same question I had asked the very first day flickered weakly in my mind: what on earth was the purpose of English Literature?

Then came the great motivator. No, it wasn't my terrible English teacher, it was the head of English himself. Having taught in the school for over five years(?), he knew precisely the problems (i.e. a walking FAQ for the English Literature exam :P) students faced as they drearily walked into the examination hall. Having seen the face of fear me and my friends were displaying, he helpfully pointed out the right approach towards tackling the literature exam fearlessly and properly.

Talking to the head of English himself really does magic. From my experience with the English department, only a few are worth listening to. The rest simply come to school, go on Facebook, then go home again without teaching anything. Listening to the head however was (for me) a rather sensational feeling that all the years I had spent warbling in English lessons were summed up into a understandable way.

Gathered around like a social group, I began to see a sense of interest in my classmates as they actually took in what the teacher was actually saying. It turned out that for all this time, my English teacher simply was teaching the subject using the wrong approach; hence nobody wanted to learn it! It was inspirational listening to a teacher who actually wanted to teach us the art of learning, as opposed to listening to a teacher who hated her job and work.

The problem with English Literature isn't the fact you don't remember things; its the fact that everyone feels the subject seems rather too complex for their little nodges in their head to comprehend. It's not! The purpose of English Literature is so that youngsters can reprehend and relate to their society, as well as the modern issues we have seen in our time. IT IS NOT because youngsters want to admire Shakespeare's work. In fact, youngsters I'm sure would prefer to read Chris Ryan or etc etc. They do it to understand the greater idea of how our world works and reacts towards each other, as well as to explore why people do things.

Think of it as history. The only difference is that in history, its more about statistical data, and you don't get to understand in depth why people do certain things.

If it hadn't been for him, I would have been stuffed for English. I'm sure I would have been.

Walking into the examination hall with the refreshed knowledge, I had high hopes during the entirety of the exam. English Literature is a puzzle: its not like mathematics or science. There isn't any "correct" or definite answer, but rather a vague yet complex interpretation of how the scenes work together.

And that, really should be the way people should tackle an English exam. Don't think of it as a complex science; think of it as an art, and let your mind unleash at all the meanings.

Back to my point though. Picking the questions that I wanted to do as well as doing them was a breeze throughout, and really got my mind thinking of the different meanings of the overall text.

There was one thing that I felt was worth mentioning that the head of English taught me: "Think of the text as a forest, and in that forest each tree has a unique meaning. Dig deeper, and you'll find each tree has a branch. Each branch is a deeper interpretation which relates to the overall meaning of that section. Dig even deeper and you'll find leaves. These are the quotations which relate back to the interpretations. Dig further than that and you'll find each leaf has details. The more you dig, the better you get at it."

Powered with his words, the reasoning as well as the contexts of both texts started to come alive (literally). Its not something I can describe at all with simple words, but I suppose that's where you should start exploring.

I'll give you a hint though - relate it back to the power of literature.

Listening to (for inspiration): Piece by Piece by Feeder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8urVsvhIebM

crevlther out.

P.s. Let's just hope the examiner can read my writing on my paper though.

Labels: arrogant, balzac, better, dig, english, examinations, exams, ftw, julius caesar, literature, school, teachers, trees, waste

4 Comment(s)

This sounds like one of those from rags-to-riches stories ^^
If you DO become the next Bill Gates, Crev, don't hesitate to send me $$$ :D

By boisson', at May 25, 2010 6:12 pm

Aw cmon, English Literature is fun! Shakespeare makes quite good plays, and Chris Ryan is a horrible writer! Anyways, everyone doodles in class, everyone recites crap, don't worry; you're normal. I on the otherhand, am not. The tree of English is cut down, and sown into some nice furniture. heh heh heh. XD

By Teh GrizzlyBear, at May 25, 2010 6:25 pm

are you talking about mr Jabal,or mr Mcintyre? and i think lit is quite interesting Crev. (use that name here). at least, Power and Conspiracy in JC was. not in balzac. btw, theyr planning an auto-da-fei or that novel which is trash. finally some use is coming out of it by burning it.

By SC you know me Crev guess who, at May 27, 2010 7:51 pm

Good to hear that you've been inspired by this English teacher about the worthiness and wealth of knowledge that can be gained from analyzing English literature. Your sarcasm is shown towards the end via the pie chart, and demonstrates a sense of humour towards the whole subject. Lovely rant.

By Anonymous, at June 23, 2010 8:14 pm

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