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Literature and its value
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Essay on the Value of Literature and its influence in the world
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The Relevance of Literature. Why is it so important in theworld?
As said in general opinion literature, like all types of art, is a mere aspect of imagination,
pleasing enough, like a new novel, but without any serious or practical relevance. But this
affirmation seems to be far away from truth.
For instance, Literature preserves the ideals of a people; and ideals-love, faith, duty,
friendship, freedom, reverence. These aspects are the part of human life worthiest of
preservation. The Greeks were a marvelous people; yet of all their mighty works we cherish
only a few ideals, ideals of beauty in perishable stone, and ideals of truth in imperishable
prose and poetry.
It was simply the ideals of the Greeks and Hebrews and Romans, preserved in their
literature, which made them what they were, and which determined their value to future
generations.
Our democracy principles establishment, the boast of all English-speaking nations, is a
dream; not the doubtful and sometimes disheartening spectacle presented in our legislative
halls, but the lovely and immortal ideal of a free and equal manhood, preserved as a most
precious heritage in every great literature from the Greeks to the Anglo-Saxons.
And every single work of our arts, our sciences, even our inventions are founded squarely
upon ideals; for under every invention is still the dream of Beowulf, that man may
overcome the forces of nature; and the foundation of all our sciences and discoveries is the
immortal dream that men "shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
To sum up, our whole civilization, our freedom, our progress, our homes, our religion, rest
solidly upon ideals for their foundation. Nothing but an ideal ever endures upon earth. It is
therefore impossible to overestimate the practical importance of literature, which preserves
these ideals from fathers to sons, while men, cities, governments, civilizations, vanish from
the face of the earth.
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