Weekly Blog #1

The two readings assigned for this week, while a little difficult to understand if not fully engaged, were both very in depth and interesting pieces that played off of each other nicely.  The general question arising from these works and trying to be answered all somehow fell around defining certain aspects of literature, English, and English theory.  We come to learn that there is much more to the practice of studying English than simply reading the words on the page before you.  Over time English as a study has developed and blossomed into a whole array of different studies if you will.  We learn in the first reading, “The Study of English” by Terry Engelton, that literature has evolved in so many ways through the years.  Not only has literature made its way through all classes and types of people it has created a way of life much more rich than the dull structured English that was only available in the beginning.  Another point that is brought up in this article is the idea of ideology.  Ideology as I have come to understand it when pertaining to the study of English and literature is how one understands the study of English and the philosophy you have come to possess which helps you mold your opinions around.  It is your general knowledge about an idea and is often a shared or common understanding with other people or groups.  Ideology is interesting to study because you can see where all of these ideas and understandings came from.  Each writer, each reader, giving and taking a bit of the next persons thoughts and creating their own set of ideas.  These assumptions circulate within our culture through more literature and discourse and this is how new ideologies are formed; it is a never-ending trade circle.  The second article focuses primarily on the idea of theory.  This is a common word we hear in our everyday life but when it pertains to the study of literature it has a much more in depth and vast meaning.  Yes, theory can simply mean a speculation but within the study of English most theories must have a certain complexity to them to be truly significant.  People argue that Literature has taken on too much theory that deals with non-literary matters but the truth of the matter is, this is why English has become such a rich area of study.  Careful analyzing and in depth discourse revolves around literature theory these days.  All in all theory is difficult to describe because it is such a large body of thinking.  The limits of literary theory are ever expanding but it seems that a fairly simple definition is about as close as we will come to truly defining theory.  All in all, the article describes theory as works whose effects expand beyond their original field.  Theory introduces us to all different kinds of thinking and all different kinds of genres.  It is a complex topic, but without it the study of literature would be non-existent.