Are the works of Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth relevant in the modern age?

One may laugh at the question such is the institution of respect Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth command from the literary quarters.  Where would society be without them?  This is not questioned often by the educated.  Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth are assumed to be a good thing precisely because it has been taught for so long and therefore tradition would state that it is in fact a good thing.  Perhaps one may look at this question more seriously and point the critical eye at whether they really have anything to say to us anymore?

  The case for Shakespeare may be easier to argue as it seems to be almost universally acknowledged that he is indeed the world’s Greatest Writer, and his truths and poetry are unswayable, (though a few perversely claim Christopher Marlow to be the greater writer but that is for another essay).  But who still reads ‘Maud’ or ‘The Prelude’?

  This is a question about the importance of old literature that generates a more general question about the value of literature.  Though English Literature departments across the country may be shrinking let’s assume that modern literature is relevant and people do read it gaining pleasure and knowledge.  How far back do we then have to go before it becomes obsolete?  Let’s say for the premise of this essay it stops being relevant in the late Romantic period with Byron and the Shelley’s.  Now try to imagine a society that has never read ‘Frankenstein’, in what ways would that manifest itself?  Would it have a visible impact on our culture and on the way we see ourselves?

  Well no Mary Shelley no Boris Karloff and wouldn’t the world be a poorer place without old square head?  That may be flippant but think of the stories that would never get told if people decided that old stories were not relevant anymore.  All very well for successful novelists but what about their poet husbands?  Are they needed?  Perhaps the question is more directed at poetry specifically, ah! Now the chase is on.

  What good is old poetry?  Shakespeare puts actors into work; the RSC couldn’t exist without that playwright, but is it necessary to read the other two?  What do we think of when we think of Tennyson?  ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ ‘Cannons to the left of them, cannons to the right’.  Wordsworth?  ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’.  Beyond that what is there to them?

  I would like to argue that these poets offer us a chance to reflect and ponder our existence while admiring the beauty of the language.  Aristophanes says that boys have teachers while men have poets and he was an ancient Greek.  True the fashion of their language has changed and may not be to our taste anymore but sometimes art requires us to work and think for ourselves to overcome the distance of years and I think that it is not so much the relevance that is in question but our ability of challenging ourselves with difficult texts so that we may be able to enlarge our experience and apply it’s wisdom to our own lives.    

  That is the main point of this essay that I would like to convey, the wisdom of old poets.  Literature is a culmination of wisdom gathered from age to age, built on and formed anew.  Old literature is a way into how people of a different era thought and felt.  It is a way into history that is not primarily based on facts.  Thanks to New Historicism history is being fed back into literature as we try to get an accurate view on how people lived.  Some questions are old and others have tried to express how they have dealt with the troubles and frailties of life.  But it can also be an expression of celebration of joy in life.  Reading these poets can offer us wisdom when we are lost and words when words fail us.

  Reading poetry is a refined thing to do and takes time to learn what we like.  For instance my tutor loves Keats but I don’t understand what there is to rave about the old boy.  Just because someone says a poet is great that does not necessarily mean you have to like him or her.  If there is a claim of greatness then you should check it out for yourself and come up with an opinion based on what you have read.  Personally I like Francis Thompson and Edwin Muir but it took me years to find them.  There is nothing instant in finding poets you like but it is lasting when you do.

  Poets can become your companions who you can turn to when you need consoling.  They won’t leave you.  Think of Rumpole of the Bailey quoting Wordsworth before he goes into court.  Why does he do this?  Because Wordsworth is worth quoting, at least it is for him because for him Wordsworth means something to him and it enriches his life.

  Then there is the language at its most resourcefulness; at it’s most exciting, dazzling bravado portraying visions of love and loss, temptation and distrust.  It is inspirational and, yes, life changing.

  So a short checklist as to why Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth are relevant to the modern world.  They provide consolation.  They give us an insight into history.  They provide wisdom proven by tradition.  They enrich mortal life and they do all of this in beauty and drama.  I’d be happy to put on ‘Measure For Measure’ or give a reading of either poets in some village hall because to me they mean something and I would like to think they mean something to you too.