So I know I kind of went off on a tirade about what an English major ought to be; however, I only talked about the genesis of becoming one. A strong foundation needs to be established in order to successfully accomplish anything in the field, whether it be teaching composition or writing poetry. Exploring the point further, though, I believe a strong classical base simply is not enough. Yes - Ovid, Homer, Dante, and all the other old boys are fantastic, and they provide us with so much. Yes - we need to know about them in order to further comprehend the subtleties of the authors we claim to love and adore. But, really, we need to take a step back, tuck Ovid up our sleeve - once we're very familiar with him - and re-examine how we go about understanding literature in today's world.
Being a part of a magazine as well as a fledgling poet, I think I'm beginning to see more clearly what today's literature is about; this is a unique experience, though, and I would say most English majors I know are fossilized in some far-off century. This is not necessarily a bad thing - as those highly specialized scholars are needed in our school systems - but I think we, generally speaking, study the classics for enrichment above anything else. The classics for many are essentially tools for an English major's utility belt. As most, if not all, canonized poets have said time and time again, the tradition is a sort of domino effect of poet learning from preceding poet. So why is it that many people who have no real intentions of becoming university professors dedicate scholarly lives to studying the ins and outs of Whitmanian poetry or Joyceian prose? My answer is simply, "I don't fucking know."
Don't get me wrong, I love my dead poets. Everyone who knows me knows my love for all things Whitman. Leaves of Grass is essentially my religious text, but it isn't the basis for my being (Yep...that sentiment sounds about right....), nor is it, more importantly, the basis of my scholarly endeavors. I mean, I'm going to pursue my masters in 19th Century American Literature, but, really, it's only a stepping stone in my career as an English scholar; and, connecting back to what I was initially saying, my studies in 19th Century American Literature are solely for enrichment purposes. So why is this enrichment important? Simple: by better knowing the tradition, I can better know what it means to read and, more importantly, write today.
So here it is, folks - my call. My barbaric yawp, if you will. We need to embrace the past, but keep it in theory rather than in practice. Literature is alive, people, and it's growing with every day that passes. We cannot come to know it if we first do not come to know its history, but the focus should be to take it head on. Please. Read your Ovid. Your Sturluson. Your Chaucer. Fuck, read the Aneid if you're into that sort of thing, but remember folks - that's foundation for what's going on now. Be active and read what's out there - especially in literary magazines. Today's Hemingway is in American Short Fiction and the new Whitman is out there publishing something in Hayden's Ferry Review, stopping somewhere, of course, waiting for you.
JF
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