Poetry

Upon reading Literary Theory, one particular sentence really stood out to me. "Perhaps the organic society lived on after all, though only in the collective unconscious; perhaps there were certain deep symbols and rhythms in the psyche, archetypes immutable throughout history, which poetry might touch and revive." I found this particular passage to be meaningful simply because that's what I believe Literature is for. I believe that we should be able to turn to Literature to escape from the world around us and just spend a moment in a completely different place. In this passage it goes on to say that "the crisis of European society--global war, severe class-conflict, failing capitalist economies--might be resolved by turning one's back on history altogether and putting mythology in its place." This exemplifies the importance of Literature to today's society. I'm not saying that if everyone picked up a book there would be world peace, but having a way to escape from the turmoil surrounding daily life is always a good thing.
Another phrase that caught my eye was "essential Englishness". This is the belief that some kinds of English are more English than others. I found this to be a very profound statement, and also found it quite interesting. I also believe, as stated by the author, that this was " a kind of petty-bourgeois version of the upper-class chauvinism which had helped to bring English to birth in the first place." In a way this mindset could be good, but I feel like putting a label on English and saying that one word or kind of speech is more English than another is absurd. Granted, some ways of speaking may be more distinguished and scholarly than others but I just don't see how one is more English than the other.