Traditional and modern readings

Lit108 Why Do Some Texts Keep Getting Taught?

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This lesson answers a question students already have but are rarely taught to answer:

“Why are we studying this book instead of something else?”

Texts become canonical not because they are naturally superior, but because they are valued, preserved, and repeatedly returned to through cultural dialogue over time.

This lesson:

  • Avoids “because it’s important” circularity
  • Avoids institutions-as-power lectures
  • Frames canon as a derived from social behaviour, not prescribed by authority
  • Makes value discussable without relativism

Today we are learning why some texts are studied again and again.

By the end of the lesson, you will understand that:

  • Some texts become canonical because they are valued over time
  • Canonical texts stay relevant by contributing to a dialogue about culture
  • Being canonical is about how texts are used, not just what they contain

Some texts keep getting taught because they have been valued, preserved, and returned to over time. These texts are called canonical, not because they are perfect or agreed on by everyone, but because different generations have found them useful for thinking about important ideas. Canonical texts stay relevant by contributing to an ongoing cultural conversation about society, values, and human experience. This means the canon is not fixed — it can change as societies change — and texts remain central to education because they continue to matter, challenge readers, and help cultures understand themselves.

Student-friendly anchor:

“Canonical texts are the ones we keep coming back to.”

  • Canonical – widely taught and valued over time
  • Value – what a culture decides matters
  • Preservation – keeping texts in circulation
  • Dialogue of culture – ongoing discussion about ideas and values

These are method stems, not text-specific.

  • “This text is canonical because it contributes to…”
  • “The text has been valued and preserved because…”
  • “It remains relevant as it continues a dialogue about…”

These now sit alongside:

  • historical sign systems
  • encode / decode
  • authorized reading

✅ Acceptable phrasing:

  • “This text is canonical because…”
  • “It contributes to a cultural dialogue about…”

🚫 Do not accept:

  • “It’s old”
  • “It’s famous”
  • “It’s just important”

“Canonical does not mean ‘perfect’ or ‘agreed by everyone’.”

“It means chosen, returned to, and debated.”

🎵 A Song Everyone Still Knows

Ask:

  • Why do people still listen to it years later?
  • Is it because it’s the only good song?

Establish:

  • Lyrics survive because people keep finding meaning in it
  • It continues to be used and referenced
  • like music that samples earlier tracks, new literature samples older canonical texts

Canonical texts survive for the same reason — they still speak to us.

Romeo and Juliet has been part of English culture for 500 years, and exported around the world. But what makes it so powerful?

ROMEO

She speaks:
O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

JULIET

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

ROMEO

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

JULIET

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Consider the following list which demonstrates how has Romeo and Juliet continues to influence our culture:

What does it look like to synthesize the methodologies from this lesson with the material?

Romeo and Juliet has reached canonical status because we continue to reference the text, we turn it into new stories, music and movies regularly. It continues to be performed on the stage. And the signs encoded in Romeo and Juliet are part of our everyday language; we casually drop into speech ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ and ‘Where for art though Romeo’. The words of the play are now common English phrases. We still consult the stars for guidance about our lives and the future – Romeo and Juliet was part of the system that encoded the stars with fate and though we might not be thinking about the play when reading our horoscopes, we wouldn’t have horoscopes if it wasn’t for literature encoding fate into the star systems. We have a dialogue with the play constantly, asking if people really are in control of their lives or whether we are destined to follow certain paths. The way the play is infused into our culture makes it canonical, and we study it because of this influence on culture.

Why it succeeds:

  • Recognises the influence of the text on culture, including our very speech
  • Uses language of encoding / decoding to explore the meaning held by signs
  • Explains in a disciplinary manner why some texts are valuable and become part of the canon

Romeo and Juliet is still studied today and is important because it’s really good. It’s famous and everyone knows the play. We’re made to study it, so we have to know the play. Someone somewhere made a rule in a spec that the play must be studied so that choice maintains the play being well known. If we didn’t study it at school no one would know the play.

Why it fails:

  • It isn’t aware of the way signs are decoded into their meaning
  • It isn’t aware that society chooses to read the text, it is not inflicted upon us by academics
  • It assumes the text would fall into insignificance if it wasn’t for school curriculum

Canon is about willing influence, not inflicted directives.

Task 1: Canonical or Not — do they continue to influence today’s texts?

Give students short claims:

  1. Beowulf defeating Grendal
  2. Arthur and his knights of the Round Table
  3. Chaucer’s A Knight’s Tale
  4. The jingle “Washing machines live longer with Calgon”
  5. Reddit stories
  6. General niche fiction

In the discussion, can we say for certain that these texts continue to be referenced in new texts today? We still write stories about warriors defeating monsters, we still write stories of divine right and quests, we still write tales of tournaments and fortune. But, whilst jingle’s are memorable, they do not become the source material for future texts. General niche fiction and online tales do not really come to influence future texts as their reach is small.

Student Task:

  • Explain why our current text is studied.
  • Your answer must focus on value, not plot.

Provide scaffold:

  • This text can be considered canonical because it contributes to a dialogue about __________.
  • It has been valued and preserved because __________.
  • The text has influenced our society in such ways as ______.

Encourage reference to:

  • themes
  • social values
  • moral questions
  • cultural relevance

Finish the sentence:

“An interpretation is authorized when __________.”

You are listening for:

  • evidence
  • shared understanding
  • methods
  • how literature works

a) Pre-reading of the next lesson – read through the knowledge so you can be ready to discuss in class.

b) Apply the learning of today’s lesson to your own private reading text. Write a paragraph explaining how today’s learning changes how you might conceive your text. Be sure to use the key vocabulary and sentence stems.

c) Write a paragraph about the discipline of Literature, explain how key words from today’s lesson impact the field overall.

d) Add today’s vocabulary and sentence stems to your own glossary. Highlight any that you are unsure about, but you must also research the meanings yourself and develop your glossary to include this differentiated support.

How did you do? Remember, this is the disciplinary knowledge for Literature – it needs combining with the text you are studying now. Can you use this knowledge to write differently about the text you are studying? When you are ready, access the next lesson in this series.