If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem.
M. H. AbramsRead
We believed that to understand literature, you had to understand its place in history and culture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding literature requires a grasp of its historical and cultural context.
M. H. Abrams emphasizes the importance of situating literature within its historical and cultural frameworks to fully appreciate its meaning and significance. This perspective highlights how literature is not created in a vacuum but rather reflects and responds to the society and era in which it was produced, enriching our understanding of both the text and the world.
Themes
LiteratureHistoryCultureUnderstandingContext
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on literary analysis, I quoted M. H. Abrams to illustrate the importance of historical context.
More from M. H. Abrams
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Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples.
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The studious silence of the library ... Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness.
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Because of reality television and all these celebrities thinking they can be designers, everyone imagines that they can just become a designer, photographer, or model, but that's not the way things work. People have to go to school, learn their craft, and build a brand - that's the right, healthy way to do things.
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History education in schools is so poor that students often enter college ignorant of the past - and leave just as unenlightened.
Max BootRead
...the reader who plucks a book from her shelf only once is as deprived as the listener who, after attending a single performance of a Beethoven symphony, never hears it again.
Anne FadimanRead
History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
Hilary MantelRead