For the Love of a Language

"Writing, or, at least, good writing, is an outgrowth of that urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people." - John Green

 As part of an age bracket that grew up wanting more, it's hardly unrealistic to say that books, as a form of communication, were thrown to the wayside. Gone are the prose and the sonnets; here are the rap lyrics and text messages. But, I still have hope in my generation - my millennials - for we are not lost yet.

Today, I sat posting away on the board for my online British literature class. Me, the darling disaster, taking an online English class. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. But as I wrote about how much I enjoyed my british literature, my Austen, my Mr. Darcy, my Mariner, something began to happen; others started responding how they loved Brit Lit too.

"There are actually people who don't like me? How preposterous!"

There were those, however, who did not share my enthusiasm. I surfed through others' introduction posts, and many of them stated that they would like to read more British literature, but they didn't understand what in the Sam Heck (yes, we actually do say that down here in the South) the characters, or the authors, for that matter, were saying. Or, for some, they couldn't put the situations into context with modern times, mostly because, well, the average 17 year old girl has never dressed up and gone to a ball with courting men and string quartets. Unless you count prom. Which, I would like to say, I definitely do not.

At least, the last time I checked.

One problem, I think, that most of the people in my generation are having, or possibly in any generation born after the mid 19th century (that's the 1800's, for my Millennials), is that there is very little to relate the beautiful text of most British literature back to. For many of us, our days are spent with our noses close to a computer screen, not examining a field of wild flowers or sailing across the ocean being haunted by our dead shipmates. 

The other issue I see is that British literate is often dismissed as irrelevant because it's not American. In case anyone forgot their basic 8th grade US history, we all, for the most part, came from Britain. We learn the history of our people - the battles, the leaders, the documents, the paintings - so why not learn the writing? 

The solution for me is simple: find ways to make British literature relatable. Even I, the most avid Austen fan, sometimes find British literature boring as hell. But then I think about it - I put myself in the character's shoes, imagine I'm in some gorgeous Edwardian gown, complete with a corset, struggling for breath and watching Darcy and Elizabeth meet for the first time. Or, I see myself as the Lady of Shalott, working away on my loom, watching the world go by as I'm forced to sit by as a merely a bystander. 

This is what we have to do. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to spend the next semester blogging my way through British literature in the hopes that one person, just one, comes to understand and love it as much as I do. 

Now, who's with me?

Ps. The video I included is from the VlogBrothers' CrashCourse. If you aren't utilizing CrashCourse in your studies, START TODAY. For reals, my friends. This series got me through US history at the recommendation of my history teacher himself. John Green is one of my favorite authors, but better than that he makes history, and every other subject, HILARIOUS. That is all.