Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf Essay Example

directs the reader to specific emotions of joy and excitement that spark the memory to recall situations of similar feeling. These feelings that are motivated through language can also provide an understanding of the development of culture and the changes that take place in this development. Seamus Heaney establishes this understanding through his poem “Digging. ”

Heaney clearly establishes the historical pattern of manual labor that was part of his culture and past by stating, “The old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man” (15-16). We know from the literature that the process of manual labor, specifically the production of potatoes and peat, was part of the culture beyond the family through the comparison, “My grandfather cut more turf in a day/ Than any other man on Toner’s bog” (17-18). Rather than simply stating what had been done in the past, and how things were changing in the present, Heaney shares a more encompassing understanding that sparks imagination.

He concludes the relation of the progression of culture with the final stanza, “Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests. / I’ll dig with it” (29-31). The effects on imagination and the conveyance of culture are not the only reasons to read literature. There is also the basic purpose of entertainment. William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, can certainly serve this purpose of entertainment. The play involves elements of suspense, and action, with a climactic conclusion.

The different stages of the play bring the level of conflict to a forefront, and finish with a scene of action. The play was written to entertain, as good literature should. There are many reasons

to read literature, far more than have been related here. However, in a core sense, literature serves as a gateway to progression. The imagination is sparked and new ways of seeing the world are adopted through literature. The historical development of culture is shown through literature. Finally, the key reason for reading literature is that it serves as entertainment.