Literature in English

‘True ease in writing comes from art not chance,

As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.’  

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Studying Literature at RI means we spend our time looking lovingly at words and how they work; studying closely the techniques of those whose words seem to come to them so easily, those who are beset - as we are - by what T.S. Eliot called “the intolerable wrestle with words”. From them, we seek to improve our own writing, raise the quality of our own written response both to literature and life. We enjoy exploring different genres and different periods. ‘Why bother?’ some would say. But, you see, we believe all this writing things down really matters. Why? Well, Phyllis Rose summed it up for us in her book Parallel Lives:

‘I believe we need literature which, by allowing us to experience more fully, [and] imagine more fully, enables us to live more freely.’

For us, Literature is the subject, more than any other that makes us aware of what it is to be really and truly human.  The breadth of the course ensures an experience of prose, poetry and drama across different centuries – and yet allows us to see how the past is still present. Since great writing enables the exploration of many of life’s fundamental themes: love, loneliness, prejudice, perseverance, death to name but a few, it arms us with experiences to help us cope with what challenges lie ahead. Through examining the creation of different characters and what makes them tick we learn to be more empathetic. So, if you want to live life more freely, experience life more fully and feel it more intensely, come and learn to “dance” with us.

Besides sharing a desire to communicate our passion for literature in the classroom, through the rigorous formal study of texts, we also look for opportunities to inspire in you a love of Literature by providing opportunities to participate in the wider, more informal, arena. During your time with us you will have the chance, where possible, to live Literature through film screenings, theatre visits, and take part in display work,  write poetry or prose and even get involved in performances and workshops during ‘Lit Week’. 

Publicity Poster for ‘Crossover’ the 2019 Literature Week.

The RI Lit Team comprises all sorts of people—youngish, oldish, long, short, tall, flat, round, grey-, blonde-, black-haired, bold and shy—but we are all one in a shared passionate obsession: books! Reassuringly, we have over a century’s worth of experience in RI’s literature department between us! And we’re all hoping to live up to Roger Rosenblatt’s claim in The Odd Pursuit of Teaching Books that “Two, perhaps three, teachers in a lifetime stick in the mind, and one of them is almost always a teacher of Literature”.