Are these literature selections still important for students today?

[Kfamily]

Hi! I have been reading some older books regarding literature at Google books and found them very interesting and very helpful. I found one syllabus that had sample essay questions students answered to get into some big name colleges such as Harvard. I found that in most of these books many of the same short stories, poems, books, essays and orations were the focus. I would like to include these with the literature we will read in grades 7-12 (most of them 9-12). What do you think of these selections? I don't see them in modern books so I would definitely keep a balance between these I will list and modern choices. I am curious why they are no longer regarded as good high school choices. What do you think?


Ballads

Rime of the Ancient Mariner-Coleridge
Tales of a Wayside Inn-Longfellow

Lyric Poetry

To a Skylark-Shelley
Thanatopsis-Bryant
Elegy in a Country Churchyard-Gray
Lycidas, L'Allegro and Il Penseroso-Milton
The Deserted Village-Goldsmith? (I forgot the author of this one)

Metrical Tale
Evangeline-Longfellow
Courtship of Miles Standish-Longfellow
Snowbound-Whittier
Cotter's Saturday Night-Burns
Building of the Ship-Longfellow
Vision of Sir Launfal-Lowell

Metrical Romance
Lady of the Lake-Scott
Faerie Queene-Spenser

Epic
Idylls of the King-Tennyson
Iliad and Odyssey-Homer
Aeneid-Virgil

Drama
Merchant of Venice
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
As You Like It
She Stoops to Conquer-Goldsmith

Short Story
Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Irving
Rip Van Winkle-Irving
Great Stone Face-Hawthorne

Novel
The Vicar of Wakefield
Ivanhoe
Silas Marner
Tale of 2 Cities
Kidnapped
The Scarlet Letter
Pride and Prejudice

Essays
Essays in a Sketch Book-Irving
Essay on Johnson-Macaulay
Carlye essay on Burns
Emerson's Essays

Oration
Websters' First Bunker Hill
Speech in Conciliation-Burke
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Washington's Farewell Address

We will be adding to this over the years with Thoreau, Franklin's Autobiography, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Histories, The Prince, Confessions,Bede's Ecc. History of English People, Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Everyman, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Up From Slavery, Plutarch's Lives, Pope's Rape of the Lock, Holmes, more Bryant, Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Anna Karenina, T. Aquinas Shorter Summa, Sophie's World, How Then Should We Live?, Utopia and maybe some I've forgotten but mostly this. This is for grades 7-12 with most of it in grades 9-12. Dd is not much of big reader on her own so I wanted a very specific list of the best and also good coverage. Do you think I've covered it well enough. This is obviously subject to change:D

If you've read through this thank you!!:001_smile:

Have I missed something?

[Ria]

First of all, have you seen the questions on college applicatons? Just look up some colleges and download their applications and you'll see that the colleges are not asking students to write essays about literature. Most essays are geared towards life experiences and goals.

I must admit to avoiding the Romantics. Shudder.

Ria

[Janice in NJ]

Many - if not most - of the titles listed have made it into our 9-12 reading plan. :001_smile:

We're headed into a similar direction for high school. Looks like you are putting together a meaty, but broad and very do-able plan.

Do you have a copy of The Well Trained Mind? Her suggested book lists at the R level are very helpful when it comes to picking and choosing titles to customize each child's education.

Peace,
Janice

Enjoy your little people
Enjoy your journey

[Kfamily]

I will look into the applications for today.

I wasn't really expecting dd to write essays on literature for applications today. I just thought it was interesting. I know these are dated books that is why I want to keep modern selections in mind. I really thought the essay questions were interesting and a possible source for questions to discuss or use as essay questions to go along with many of these selections as we read them.

I am pleased with our writing goals for the high school years so I think we will be well prepared for writing essays.

Do you see some things I might want to reconsider or missed?

Thanks!:001_smile:

[Kfamily]

I have a older edition of the WTM but maybe I could find a newer edition at the library. I would love to look at this section. I appreciate all the advice I can get.

Thank you!

[Kfamily]

:D