The Journey of A Reading Man: Can You Use Literature to Teach History?

The Journey of A Reading Man

Arrows may have slayed Smaug The Dragon, But his jewel-encrusted belly will always gleam on the bottom of the long lake.

Bard the Man could have saved more of his people, if only he had shot closer to Erebor.

A Hobbit changed the fate of Middle Earth, But it was his Uncle who saved the fate of a Kingly Dwarf. Is one better than the other in the end?

Gandalf the Wise guided the story, But the players were not swayed by a wizard.

Twas adventure that most called to the Robber, A most likely Thief indeed. 

Gully Foyle Jaunted through space, But in the end he took the secret of how he did it to the grave.

While he could cover the marks on His face, Anger reveals always reveals what we all truly feel in the end.

Anger a man who changed his stars, and you'll find a Hero lying inside. 

The Gouffre Martel could not hold Him, And the Love of His life was fittingly evil.

Olivia, Robin, and Jisbella, Three names that really hold the power of Man.

Jaunting through space and time to save them, Saving Himself in the end.

Hemingway was truly a man Who held the Stars as his Destination, But Running Rum was what he chose to express.

He Taught many to be Strong and Courageous, But it's not like Women can often relate to his Words.

Moby Dick is not the only Fish to vex a Man, For a Marlin too stymied an Old Man.

Fighting Franco the Fascist a Man named Jordan fell in Love, But He still had to die a Lonely death worthy of the Man who created Him.

Same goes for Jake and Frederic, Two Men who never really got to Hold the Women they Love.

Ernest's Contemporary more elegantly displayed the hold of a women's mystique, Making them equal or better in His eyes.

Hemingway thought Fitzgerald drank to much, But it was the longer lived who's Liver too ran out of time.

Boats may beat us back against the Current into the past, But in the Present of the story no other could describe so eloquently the intricacies of a relationship.

In the end Fitz and Zelda were Beautiful and Damned, But it is the Hope of a Green Light at the End of a Dock that Holds my Fixation.

All tales Great, All Magical stories, But what is it worth if we only measure life with Gold?

Tolkien, Bester, Hemingway, and F. Scott, Not far apart in the time line of a Man. 

But their stories all different, yet are still the same. 

Be it Space, or Earth, or the Realm in between, The Escape created by these Stories is always Serene.

Give me Life, Give me Pain, Give me Love, Then let me Die,

For the Journey of The Reader is But to Wonder why?

This is just something I jotted down while subbing a well-behaved class. I've been thinking about what shaped me in High School and what continues to do so in my world today. I know literature, especially classics such as the ones exampled above have molded me into who I want to be, interestingly these are all stories that are well steeped in history, even Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination" uses what was his modern time and the figures in it to shape the past of the dystopian future he created.

While this is not necessarily related to teaching, I have come to realize that well-read students tend to be the most well-rounded scholastically. I feel like if I can incorporate literature into my history classes one day that it can only help create better history students. People like Bernard Cornwell write very historically accurate works of fiction. If I can utilize this tool (I know, not a Web 2.0 tool), then maybe students will appreciate and learn from and about history in a more holistic manner.