Both spoken and written material are included in literature. It includes imaginative works like poems, fiction, narratives/stories, and nonfiction. The history and culture of the people who lived in a specific historical era can be explained in part through the use of art, which is a component of literature. According to what I've learned in this course, literature has many connections to both history and society. It implies that literature can be used to learn about or comprehend culture and history. The connections between literature, history, and society can also be argued. In this essay, I discuss the value of literature in history and culture and consider the information I have learned in this course.
History and Culture
History is the study of events that occurred in the past. It is a branch of knowledge that entails recording as well as explaining the previous events related to people and things. Culture consists of collective manifestations and arts of human intellect as well as achievements. Commonly, culture is said to be the beliefs, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, values, ways of communication, relations, behavior and possessions held by people in a community.
Importance of Literature in History and Culture
Reflecting on the knowledge I have obtained in this course, I have learned that literature has importance for different reasons and in different areas. In the fields of history and culture, literature has the importance of imparting various experiences and knowledge to readers. For example, a particular story has the capacity of exposing the readers to different time periods and cultures. It is possible for a reader to learn through literature something about history and culture that he would not have learned in ordinary life. Thus, through novels, poems and dramas that I have covered in this course, I have realized that there is no need to travel to every country or city to learn its history and culture. The works of poets and writers like Shakespeare and Dickens have been there for many generations and centuries. If I want to know the culture and history of London, I can use these literary works to learn about the city.
Literature is important for understanding the cultural heritage of communities (Kirk, 2012).
I have learned about the lives of others through history and culture they hold in the society that is different from mine. Literature is necessary for describing the historical and cultural changes in the society, it is a witness of events going on. The change in culture through history for various communities is realized through literature (De Behar et al., 2009). It is a tool for explaining and preserving cultural diversity. The works of Walter Scott, for instance, expose the reader to the French Revolution and the way culture changed through history. In his articles and novellas, Salman Rushdie described Indian history and changes that happened over time.
Literature is also essential in understanding the philosophical movements of the past.
Thus, in this course, I have learned about British philosophy traditions and English people's ancestors through literature, historical information that I may not have known without studying. Not only I've learned about the country, but also the culture held by the ancestors in England through their use of language, grammar, and vocabulary that embodied the cultural environment of their time.
Through the knowledge gained from this course, I have realized that literature by itself is a representation of the culture of people through their language and traditions that they hold or held during a historical period (Kirk, 2012).
One of the works that I can identify in this course to reflect on the importance of literature in learning about history and culture is the writings of Shakespeare due to the way he used language to demonstrate the cultural environment of his time. For example, I now associate the behavior of men during the time of Shakespeare with that of Antony (loving man) in the drama Antony and Cleopatra. Another example is the work of Mary Shelley Frankenstein, a writing that reveals a lot about the philosophical movements and ideas of the British and their attitude towards empiricism.
Conclusion
Literature is seen important in understanding history and culture of people. One can say that culture and history make literature. The reflection makes it clear that literature is important in explaining what happened at a particular time in history and the culture embraced by people who existed during that period. In describing history and culture, literature entails aspects such as language, vocabulary, and grammar used by people. Therefore, the importance of literature in history and culture is multiform. I can say that the course was helpful to me as by addressing various sources of literature I gained valuable knowledge about history and culture of different people and communities. The knowledge one can acquire from literature helps a person understand tendencies in the course of events, cultural peculiarities of nations, and their imminent interconnection thus realizing his own place and meaning in the world.
References
De Behar, L., Mildonian, P., Djian, J., Kadir, D., Knauth, A., Lopez, D., & Silva, M. (Eds.). (2009). Comparative Literature: Sharing Knowledges for Preserving Cultural Diversity. Eolss Publishers Co. Ltd., Oxford, UK.
Kirk, A. (2012). The importance of historicism and context in literature. The Ramblings of a Digital Journalist. Retrieved on February 7, 2017 from http://www.ashley-kirk.com/2012/11/the-importance-of-historicism-and.html
