Amanda Fernandez Dr.

Mason English 1101H September 10, 2013 Peter Elbows Argument Peter Elbows Opinion: The Cultures of Literature and Composition: What Could Each Learn from the Other? essay is about the conflict between literature and composition and the differences between them. Elbow believes that composition is viewed as the weaker of the two and that literature is trying to stomp out what composition is. He argues that they can coexist and that they can improve each other. Literature focuses on the richer aspects of reading and writing while composition focuses on relating to the student. The history of relations between composition and literature has involved a vexed tangle of misunderstanding and hurt (Elbow 533). Elbow is saying that the two fields are wrongly struggling against each other. They should collaborate or at least learn from one another. The struggle is that literature professors think poorly of student writing and teaching and that composition professors do not acknowledge metaphorical and imaginative uses of language that are so often seen in literary texts. If composition could integrate the teaching of imaginative writing it would get the most out of students. Literature should teach students how to actually use imaginative writing. Teachers of composition usually relate to students well. They can plan more lively activities that help bring students deeper into a text. Although literature employs such tactics to help students experience the text, there literature teachers do not connect as well with students. Those teachers may see students work as a waste of time and may defer teaching for research.

To help students become interested in a text, teachers from both sides need to help students enter new mentalities and experience different points of view. Literature professors see themselves as higher and more sophisticated. Elbow believes you have to be a slightly different kind of person to be good in this field. Composition employs similar methods, but you do not feel the pressure to be different or abandon yourself. Literature puts value on being different. Elbow wants composition to become less simplistic. He believes composition places too much respect on student writing and do not give enough respect for historical pieces. People are starting to build respect for the differences in the two fields. Collaboration between the two fields could enrich them. Though there are distinct differences between the fields each has values the other could benefit from. Literature teachers should give more respect to student writing, and composition should help students with imaginative writing. Composition is on a rise, and literature will not be able to suppress student writing.

Works Cited Elbow, Peter. "Opinion: The cultures of Literature and Composition: What Could Each Learn from the Other?." College English. 64. (2002): 533-46. Web. 19 Sep. 2013. <http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=peter_elbow >.