Essay on Analysis of F.r Leavis quot;The Great...

Within F.R Leavis The Great Tradition, Leavis presents clear and consistent criticism. Although his points are definitely biased, and I dont agree with all the statements he makes, it is evident in this work that Leavis is indeed great at articulating and embodying the authors that he both envies and adores so much. Within The Great Tradition, Leavis is purposefully evaluative of certain writers. It is clear that he holds individuality, and the appreciation of life, high on his list of criteria for great writers. This is evident when Leavis writes the major novelists who count in the same way as the major poets, in the sense that they not only change the possibilities of the art for practitioners and readers, but that they†¦show more content†¦Although I do agree with Leavis that Jane Austen, George Elliot, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and D.H. Lawrence are truly great writers, it is clear that they are not the only great writers that exist in the world, unlike Leavis tells us we ought to believe. Leavis writes It passes as fact (in spite of the printed evidence) that I pronounced Milton negligible, dismiss the Romantics, and hold that, since Donne, there is no poet we need bother about except Hopkins and Eliot. (601). This statement is possibly made out of pure arrogance and sheer aba ndonment of any sort of common sense. In my opinion, it is important to study and read many authors from many different backgrounds and perspectives. Reading enables us to become more educated on different cultures and social backgrounds as well as different time periods. To provide an example of this importance, it is obvious that there is a great difference in writing style and historical background in Shakespeares Sonnet 29 compared to In Flanders Fields by John McCrae. Arent they both important in different ways? How could someone say that In Flanderss Fields is not an important poem to read when it touched so many lives and still today serves as a reminder of those who died in the First World War? Leavis Im sure would not argue