The meaning and the History of English Literature: Part 3

In my previous content I stated about the qualities of Literature. Now as I am writing for more, you should know permanence is the third quality or characteristic of literature. It arises from the other two suggestiveness and artistic. If the beauty is not permanent it is not much worthy sometimes. In this modern era there are thousands of books and hundreds of article, but the days pass and the literature fade away in the flood of millions of literatures books and articles. So if your writings can not be subject of delight in future for the others to come what is this! Is this you called literature? It has been a problem ever since Caxton first brought the printing press from Flanders , four hundred years ago, and in the shadow of Westminister Abbey opened his little shop advertising his wares as “good and ehepe” .

Even thousand years ago before caxton the librarian of Alexandria found it difficult to handle all the number of parchments. Nowadays the number of books,journal, documents published in or within a week is the amount that can not be handled or copied by the Alexandrian librarians or scholars in century time.

In this way no literature can be permanent. But the literature itself is like a river where unworthy writings are drowned and the masterpieces are not. The writings by the common writer may perish in the light of future but the writings of the masters are the things which are not subject to decay. Except the doomsday come! Or some incidental accident happens to that piece of literature. But at the time it comes to light it surpasses its own era . It belongs to all ages.

So it can be called that permanence does not depends on the quantity but on the qualities of literature. It does not matter how much you have written, but it does matter how well you have written. Subject matter does matter but which matters more is the way you told it to others. So do not just write, write to enrich the literature, or just write because in broadest sense any writing is included in Literature. So it is totally up to you what you gonna do!

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Writer:Jonaid Bin Kayes