English Literature needs to be Scrapped

I'm fed up of this dead section of English. I can't stay awake in my English lessons were doing one Shakespeares play about a Black man that is hated, I can barely remember the definition of words that mean something completely different. It's 2015 and we are studying things from over 200 years ago that clearly isn't going to help me in the future. It's nice to look back but not too far back.

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Noooooooooooooooooo.

English literature is wonderful, maybe not your class but classic books are some of the most beautiful things you can stumble upon. :love:

Reply 3

scrotgrot

I must say, I'm not keen on Shakespeare either, it's a load of **** if you ask me. But in general, nothing on earth is more beautiful, compelling or true than literature.

If you're doing Othello I guess you're somewhere in your A-levels? If so have you done Chaucer yet, don't see how anyone could not find him fun and he's about as old as it gets. Also the WW1 stuff. Try reading a few books outside the syllabus, no doubt you'll find one that speaks to you.

Reply 4

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by scrotgrot

Othello isn't just studied at A-level. My Lit teacher taught it to year year 9s!

Shakespeare is amazing though ://

Reply 5

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Zeetingman

English Literature teaches you lots of historical, social and cultural aspects of our world through literary language. It's one of the oldest forms of entertainment and how we managed to know about our past world. It also helps us to understand the world in which we live in today and how we show and create empathy towards things that no other subject can really do. Literature itself, is one of the oldest ways of how we record human history and without it, you wouldn't know diddly squat about this world. Literature isn't just the texts you read in class. Be a little less ignorant and explore it outside the classroom and you might not be so blind-sided about how much you hate Literature :smile:

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Othello may have been written over 200 years ago but the whole point is that a black man "moor" is ahead of his generation and time by leading a white army. But Iago, is one jealous dude and doesn't like the fact that Othello didn't promote him as his general, so he poisons Othello's mind to take revenge. Because of this, Othello - the powerful black man who has faced social prejudice, once this strong man has now fallen to the devil himself which is Iago. For me, when I studied Othello, it taught me that everyone has a weakness, but no matter how deep it is, you must overcome it to become the bigger person. Unfortunately Othello did not and that's where his fall began. That is what Shakespeare taught me. This is what Literature teaches you. The subject English needs to have teachers who know what they are doing. Without that, a lot of students like yourself seem to think English Literature is pointless. But it isn't.

Reply 6

Serine Soul

English Literature is such a great subject though. It teaches you history, politics and how to understand emotion all at the same time. Stumbling upon a certain book and seeing how cleverly the author has portrayed their views on society during the time they were writing can be quite amazing.

Reply 7

Arkasia

Sounds like you're a lazy wasteman who just doesn't give it a chance.

Reply 8

Zeetingman

Original post by Arkasia

Sounds like you're a lazy wasteman who just doesn't give it a chance.

It is boring simple as. I'm not a wasteman but the subject is, how am I going to use it in my life?
How am I possibly going to get good grades in this subject if I can't understand the language. If your going to do literature for 14-15 year olds at least make the language more understandable.
The lessons are just so boring, were sitting there reading the book then writing PEE Paragraphs on the language that I can barely understand.

Reply 9

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Zeetingman

Don't hate the subject, hate your lessons, i.e your teacher for not engaging you. Don't just sit there and tolerate it. Ask the teacher if they can make it more engaging. It seems as though your teacher isn't doing that at all.

Remember Shakespeare wrote poetically and even though not everyone spoke like that in his time, they spoke very similar, so it was easy for them to understand it, like it is for us to understand one another.

If you can't understand it, try and get an interlinear translation where it has both the original language and modern translation on the opposite page. They usually use this for lower sets in English classrooms.

I study English Literature at university so if you want any help, then feel free to PM me. :smile:

Reply 10

username1226161

Original post by The Empire Odyssey

Definitely agree with this :smile:

Good teachers make it so much more interesting/easy to understand.

Reply 11

Zeetingman

Original post by The Empire Odyssey

Any websites you can recommend to me that can translate?

Reply 12

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Zeetingman

Any websites you can recommend to me that can translate?

No Fear (Spark Notes) are OK. But their modern version only interprets each character's part, rather than translating each line.

Reply 13

Bazingaa123

Original post by Zeetingman

Any websites you can recommend to me that can translate?

just saw this thread and found this website http://www.enotes.com/topics/othello/etext/act-i

It seems to be pretty good, also try re-reading the text and don't get too stuck on a word if you don't understand it. I struggled with Shakespeare at first but once you start to understand it it's not too bad and sometimes even witty and enjoyable :smile: