ENGLISH – LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

“Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see you.”  Ben Johnson.

The English language was born as the native language of one nation, but has grown to become a universal language - a window to the world at large.  It is a powerful tool for communication, persuasion, information, discussion etc., in the fields of Education, Mass Media, Politics and various other areas. 

We at St. Mary’s, train our students to develop into young men and women with character and vision.  To achieve our aims we use various writings from English Literature to help the students get a wider picture, of the canvas of life.

 Just as Shakespeare pens in his play ‘The Merchant of Venice’:
“How far a little candle throws its beam, so shines a good deed in this naughty world of ours…”  so also is Literature ‘a candle of light’, spreading the light of knowledge. 

Literature is an amalgamation of all the subjects.  If you look at it from a Mathematician’s point of view ‘Reading adds to the mystery of life and subtracts the hours of boredom.  It multipliesour knowledge of the world and teaches us how division of society   should be decreased’.

In Scientific terms ‘it inspires us ‘to respond to stimulus’.  We learn to act and react to various situations and feel the related emotions; we respond and empathise with our fellow beings’.

Literature and History go hand in hand.  If History is the story of man, Literature gives it shape through novels, drama and poetry.  Students learn through various writings, in these different forms, that mankind should move away from all evils of society. For example - through study of war-poetry, ‘history should not repeat itself’.

Literature underlines the uniqueness of mankind and teaches us we should not allow the physical boundaries and the political borders that exist in Geographical maps to demarcate us.  It inculcates the virtues of tolerance and acceptance.

This is what we aim to achieve for our students.  We strive to empower them, helping them to become confident, responsible, dependable individuals able to cope with the world at large, and better prepared for the challenges they will face once they step out of the portals of St. Mary’s.
 
To quote Joseph Conrad, a novelist:
“My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see.  That – and no more, and it is everything”.