A Meeting of the English Literature Society

It rained today, as it rains about every other day, and I walked through the rain, in the falling dark, to the West Wing of the quad where I heard the English Literature Society was meeting. The quad is the oldest building on campus, complete with the stone hallways and high Gothic windows we come to expect from old-world buildings, but at the same time my Middle Hall is still older than these structures.

What I found in the West Wing was seven Irish guys and one American from my Chaucer class who sat in a circle and read pop lyrics and stories about giant frogs and discussed the merits and flaws of Seamus Heaney- and then read him too because that’s what they’d come to do.

It was a very interesting two hours during which I learned quickly and eagerly many of the main differences between this massive place and my warm, safe Washington. One of the main point of contention seemed to be the lack of respect the University gave to popular culture- things like rap and contemporary published authors. I was frankly surprised, and intrigued, as I began to realize they were rallying against something that students at Washington really had no reason to rally against.

From Tolkien class, to Hip-Hop Lit, to Shenk’s Contemporary Fiction, to our constant stream of visiting authors (Neil Gaiman comes to mind) Washington seems to have a realization for the merits of popular culture these boys complain that academia lacks. They protest how the professors advocate the merits of dead authors, and how later professor will surely advocated the merit’s of later authors, as soon as they too have died.

I could not help but remember my Shakespeare class, as Moncrief brought in 10 Things I Hate About You, or how Olsen insisted on showing us the YouTube video “They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard.” Not only had we all seen these things before, but they were a wonderful tool in relating past writing to us, today.

Not to say I have any qualms with my classes here- they’re all interesting and thought provoking, and really all I thought a lecture class would be. They tend to lack the small, discussion-type atmosphere of Washington, but that’s to be expected given the school size. I was simply surprised by this attitude, and in turn they seemed surprised that my school did offer these options for learning about contemporary culture.

Not all schools are the same, and being here has made me realize the quality of learning I get at Washington is really, very good.