During the first years at St. Gregory’s, we stress reading good books that delight the soul and provide food for the imagination. Literature offers an indirect experience of the ways of the world and the effects of moral virtue and vice through imaginative representations of life and experience. It also serves to stimulate the initial reflections of a young mind on questions central to the human condition and human nature which is the basis of its role as an educator. Literature seeks truth by means of fiction. It carries with it principles, ideals, and lessons which are timeless and universal. In imitating human action, it is able to express ideas of universal and permanent interest to humanity by means of particular affective, moral, and spiritual struggles and events.
More information regarding our Literature and Humanities Program:
Freshmen Literature Program (Read More)
The Freshman Literature program concentrates on the Romantic mode of the story. The Romantic mode involves stories of adventure, mystery, stock characters, impossible quests, and the inherent wonder of the common and uncommon. Romance typically presents the various facets of human experience from a fanciful, exaggerated, and extravagant point of view, exciting the reader’s curiosity and desire for the good in confronting an uncontrollable reality. The Romance is structured to have universal appeal to the imagination, presenting atmospheres, events, heroes, villains, and conclusions that coincide with man’s yearning for the extraordinary in things which bear the strength of charm, fascination, and satisfaction. The Romance, in portraying the thrilling things of reality, often allows them to exist unencumbered from the necessary obstacles of the everyday. Thus, the Romantic tale bestows upon these realities an impetus and grace and perfection that supersedes the realistic expectations the world applies to such high endeavors, and nurtures the common man in his weariness by allowing his common dreams to come to life.
Sophomore Literature Program (Read More)
The Sophomore Literature course is a study of the myth and various mythologies of the world. Arising out of man’s desire to provide significance to the mysteries of his world, a myth is a purely fictitious narrative usually involving legendary, historical, and spiritual persons, actions, or events, and often embodying some popular conception of natural and supernatural phenomena. In order to provide a context whereby he might judge things beyond his ken, man wove tales that introduced questions and ideas of a cosmic scope, springing from the mystical sensitivity of the human spirit. In almost every culture, myth involves a delineation of the relationship between men and the gods, standards of heroism, and epic feats in their veiled portrayals of truth.
Although the myth may be rationalized with much advantage, its primal human wisdom and philosophic thought must remain sacred and prevalent to those who undertake to study and learn myths. The real idea behind the purpose of mythology is to reveal the thoughts and feelings of a culture at some point in time, when the imagination was not checked by reason in endeavors to teach and portray. A myth is a holistic portrayal of reality in a particular environment and time, the visionary ideals of that people, and the relations between the various elements of existence.
Myth has always been a vehicle and tool for teaching, passing on knowledge and tradition, religious beliefs, art, music, poetry, and the ideals and virtues of a people. Thus myth has carried a deep human significance in its expressions for life with its spiritual force and majestic beauty. The myth also possesses universal significance beneath its poetic beauty, presenting events and characters that portray an ideal type which serve as examples for action and understanding human nature. Inherent in the true myth is the capacity of detecting a basic law, not only for all of mankind but in all things. The ancients called these innate ideas in every thing and every human creature the “form of its being.” Thus myths present ideas, and principles whose truths are applicable to all of mankind. They paint pictures of idealism in endeavors, deeds, and ends, and offer shining models for imitation by stirring hearts with the desire for glory, honor, and virtue. The dual purpose of mythology, therefore, is to preserve the wisdom of the ages and present the thoughts and feelings of a generation with elegance and imagination. At St. Gregory’s a special endeavor is made when studying myth to recognize the effects of Divine Providence in pagan tales and the gradual effect that Christianity had on human folklore.
Upper Form Student Literature Program (Read More)
As the students refine their ability to read with attention, reflection, and confidence, the study of the good books gives way to some of the great, classical works of Western civilization. The Humanities classes, a series of courses for the Junior and Senior students, emphasize classical authors and the study of the three major humanistic disciplines of literature, history, and philosophy. The Junior year is devoted to reading works by ancient Greek and Roman authors; the Senior year turns to a study of the works from the Medieval and Modern periods of the Western literary tradition. Some of the books read over this two-year period of time are Homer’s Odyssey, the Oresteia by Aeschylus, Plato’s “Apology,” Virgil’s Aeneid, the Inferno by Dante, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, several plays by Shakespeare, plus short stories and novels by British and American modern authors.
Though it is universally recognized that the humanities have assumed a central role in education for the transmission of culture throughout the history of Western civilization, and that to be unfamiliar with the poetry of Homer and Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare means largely to remain an uneducated human being, it may come as a surprise to hear that the purpose of the humanities is not to convey knowledge to us about our past, but rather to humanize us. As R.V. Young wrote, “At the center of imaginative literature or poetry, then, is mimesis or imitation: the representation of human life – or more precisely, the representation of humanexperience. We are naturally curious creatures, but not merely in the manner of cats and monkeys; our specifically human curiosity is inspired by our consciousness – our awareness of the world around us and of our selves situated within it. This self-consciousness necessarily entails a recognition of other selves, other souls. The poet is important because, by expressing himself, he opens up to us the mind and heart of another, and the knowledge of our likeness and difference from others is essential to our self-realization…” The knowledge of human nature and the human condition that the humanities yield is the basis, therefore, of its educational role.
