Awais Gopang
Literature causes to have increased the beauty of human life. It is an index of incessant human thoughts. It transpires reality and tries to redress the society. It is also a source of aestheticism and pleasure. As an student of English literature I find pleasure and taste in going through literature. Poetry, drama, and fiction often takes me to the world of ecstasy which makes me forget the material world. The words of any piece of literatureeither poetry or prose are the sparkles of light which twirl before the eyes of a reader. They fill human mind with self-creativity. Whenever man reads multiple authors, he visits the world with different well-developed ideas, either stable or unstable emotions, irrepressiblefeelings and immutable ideologies. One may say that despite being a single soul, a reader lives a hundred lives. These all things are only possible through literature. Therefore, literature converts man into an ever glittering diamond in the heap of stones. Historically, literature has been condemned for tempting human emotions and converting his thoughts from reality to fiction which was counted detrimental for his growth in the society. The Greek philosopher, Plato was the one who condemned poetry and called it a nonsense literature. But later on his student Aristotle and other subsequent philosophers and poets like Sir Philip Sydney, Dryden, and Dr Johnson looked into the issueand considered literature valid and necessary for the development of human thought.Sir Walter Palter said “Poetry is the transcription of poet as he sees the world” Literature has mainly served the purpose of moving man’s heart into joy and delight with indelible expression and unforgettable fiction. But the literati categorized the purposes of literature into three. Firstly, literature serves the purpose of propaganda. Undoubtedly, literature leaves a deep impact on the mind of people. Bydoing so, it not only proselytizes a reader but also createseither soft or hardcorner for a certain group or party. The writers can also prophesize the civil wars or political crisis in their works to make people aware of contemporary socio-political situation. T.S Eliot poem “The Wasteland” may be taken as an example to support the argument. This magnum opus sheds light on the atrocities committed on the innocentsouls after the world war one.Secondly, literature serves the purpose of escape.Fed up of the daily schedule and routine,man searches for something soothing and calm to get rid of his weariness. At this moment, when he reads the supernatural elements used in The Rime of Ancient Mariner or imagines the bewitching beauty of Psyche, he forgets his worries and drives himself in the world of unknown imagination where he is surrounded with fascinating thoughts. Furthermore, when he delves into the genre of drama he is astonished to see pride and wickedness of Dr. Faustus and the mighty expression of Christopher Marlowewhere the beauty and charm of Helenwhich launched the thousand ships is merely nothingness. Sometimes he waits for God through Vladimir and Estragon. Sometimes he feels the urge to be immortal by studying the immortality of the Grecian urn where all it’s characters and landscapes will be alive but one day he has to set off for theeternal cloud behind the sky. Alas!Thirdly, literature serves the purpose of release. For instance, when a person reads genre of fiction in different novels, he is mesmerizingly absorbed in it’s lively and downtrodden characters. Either it be the invaded Tess or any other women compelled to funnel through atrocities andcallous attitude of destiny and people. It fills human experience with sadness that how cruel and unkind are the invasions of destiny which exhaust a creature and finally death confiscates the human souland he leaves the world as if the grass seems to have been weeded out of the soil. In the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, it is shown that how a shameless gift of the bastard nature is baptized as Sorrow – the undesired who knows no social norms and respects no social boundaries. Moreover, literature fills human mind with spirituality and love for God as it is shown in the “Forty rules of love” and “The Prophet.”To cap it up, it is asserted that literature is the cusp of one’s thought to other’s. It can certainly be called as a blessing in disguise for the young and voracious readers aspiring to win the to be the cogent voices of society because readers are the leaders.
