Literature: A Student's Guide

Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition

by Louis A. Markos, David S. Dockery (Series Editor)

Enjoying poetry and novels can seem irrelevant and out of touch in a world of texting, tweeting, and blogging. But even in this technological age literature matters . Seasoned professor Louis Markos invites us into the great literary conversation that has been taking place throughout the ages and illuminates the wisdom to be found therein. He offers both a guide to studying and understanding literature, especially poetry, and an inspiring look at what it means to think like poets and view the world through literary eyes. This book holds out a truth for all: that the understanding and appreciation of literature draws us closer to God, his Word, and his work in the world.

Genres: Literature, Nonfiction, Education, Criticism, Religion

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2012

About the author

Dr. Markos earned his B.A. in English and History from Colgate University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan, he specialized in British Romantic Poetry, Literary Theory, and the Classics.

He has taught at Houston Baptist University since 1991, where he is Professor in English and holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities.

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume endorsed by Joseph Pearce and Louise Cowan. Series endorsed by Robert Sloan, Thomas Kidd, and Carl Zylstra. Series editor: David Dockery. Series editors: Hunter Baker, Timothy George, Niel Nielson, Philip Ryken, Michael Wilkins, John Woodbridge. This volume could have easily gotten 5 stars, but I would have liked to have seen it be a little friendlier towards the Reformation.

2024: Read with students for an Honors mentorship.

Series Preface
2: withstand dismissive attitude toward biblical thinking

Introduction (read)
15: older STEM folks know why literature is important; literature invites you in
17: truth lasts
18: tradition/roots
19: Wordsworth and Shelley
20: humanizing synthesis
20-21: focus on poetry
21: think like a poet; overview of chapters
22: Christian audience; truth-giving potential

Ch. 1: Rhythm and Rhyme (skim in 2301?)
23: 20c saw decline of rhythm; traditionally more about stress than syllables
24-25: poetic feet
26: scansion
30: masculine and feminine rhyme
34-35: sonnets
40-41: free verse and cosmic order

Ch. 2: Words and Images (read)
43: precision
44: allusions as shorthand
48: objective correlative
49-50: Wordsworth's sonnet about sonnets
50-51: Christian students' advantage
52: "graceful but deadly" isn't as good
54: magical quality of metaphor; defamiliarization (see p. 56)
55: love is a star, and we are ships
58-59: Lord's Supper and symbolism
59-60: world full of meaning

Ch. 3: Ages, Authors, and Genres (definitely read, in parts)
61: influence and endurance; Great Books don't evolve; humility
63: seven epochs of expansion
64/67: epics and virtue
65: Christian humanism
67: major players in classical Greece
68: tragedy and comedy
71-73: Horace, Virgil, Ovid
74: romance
75: Song of Solomon—cf. N.D. Wilson (bunnies and hawks)
75-76: Dante/Aquinas
79: blaming Luther; unity of medieval Christendom (ha!)
80: Spenser's anti-Catholicism; Sidney's Defence
83-84: Cavaliers and metaphysical poets
85: Milton
88: Romantic emphasis on the self
90: American unorthodoxy
92: crisis of faith
97-101: Christian writers

Ch. 4: Theory and Criticism (don't need to read all of it)
103: how, who, when, where, what, why; Westminster Shorter Catechism
104-05: Plato
105-06: Aristotle
107-08: Horace and Longinus
109-10: suspicion regarding pagan classics; four-fold method of interpretation
110-11: Sidney's Defence
111-13: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley
114: Arnold and Eliot
115-17: New Critics; Keats's "negative capability" (p. 116)
117-19: historicism
118: hyper-Calvinism [R.C. Sproul says that often a hyper-Calvinist is a Calvinist being described by an Arminian]
119-20: feminism
120-21: deconstruction
121-22: Scripture and meaning

125-26: questions for reflection

127: timeline

128-34: glossary

135-38: resources for further study

139-43: index

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would make a good reference book for English majors. The beginning was a very deep dive into poetic meter. I enjoyed his comparing the structure of poetry to the beauty and structure of God’s created world.

The critical theories section was a nice overview. The Medieval Theories section was with the price of the book.
I wish he had come down harder on the New Critics and Post Modern theories.

[Saphraneet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the title says this is a literature guide, the author states that his goal was to provide a foundation for understanding and appreciating poetry. I think he did a very good job and accomplished his goal in me.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and concise.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of poetry, not prose. Markos is certainly a "classicist" who believes in the objective superiority of the great works of literature of the past 3,000 years. But, like I said, this volume focuses on poetry. The first two chapters deal with mechanics: meter, rhyme, imagery, diction. The third chapter is a broad sweep of the history of great literature, beginning in the 5th century BC and ending in the present day. The last chapter addresses (and refutes) some recent critical schools, such as deconstructionism, feminism, etc. Deep lovers of literature will find most or all of this book to be review. However, if there are any holes in your knowledge of who the "greats" are, this book will fill you in. The glossary is invaluable as well.

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

For being a short book, this book goes through a lot of really good stuff while taking the best of both worlds--of being fully Christian while also being fully intellectual and not watering either quality down for the sake of the other. It focuses more on poetry than on prose, but its chapter on poetry was really helpful for me, since I struggle a good bit with understanding poetry. The overview of literary criticism was also excellently done. Great introductory book packed with rigorous analysis and Christian truths.

Rating: 4.5 Stars. (Excellent)

[Mark A Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

What value does literature have to the Christian? Markos examines that question here (though a more apt title is “Poetry” as other forms of literature are barely discussed.) The burden should have been placed on how Christians are to interact with and learn from literature, but Markos gave the lion’s share to discussion of poetic meter and literary history. Worthy concepts, but off the mark for the aim of this series and length of this volume.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, especially as an overview to a broad variety of literary topics — poetic language, genre, history, and criticism. Not as good as the man who wrote the blurb comparing Markos' use of language to C.S. Lewis' thinks. Would have benefited from tighter editing. Still glad to have it on my shelf, especially for the first two chapters on poetry.

[Chris Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takes a bird's eye view of literature from 20,000 feet - historically and critically. Although short, this is a very, very helpful book for someone like me who rarely listened to his high school English teacher...but should have. Encapsulates all the good stuff I missed back then. This is one of those spring-board sort of books that makes me interested in reading the classics. Just terrific.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, clear, and helpful addition to a good series

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louis Markos is one of my favorite authors for a reason. Very great summary of literature and it's movements.