The Age of Reason

Two of my three classes this semester deal with Medieval and Renaissance literature, which is very exciting since the Early Modern Period is this English department's specialty. They even sponsor a Medieval/Renaissance symposium every year with other departments, and the professors are constantly turning out new and interesting work on writing from the period.

While I recognize how fortunate I am to be in the hub of such specialized scholarly activity, I can't shake the fact that I hate reading this stuff. What's giving me trouble right now are the great essayists from the Age of Reason, Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas Brown, Michel de Montaigne. I toil over these blasted writings, reading and re-reading them, then reading scholarly criticisms on the works, then sometimes (unfortunately) resorting to Sparknotes for some help on getting an idea about what argument they are making. I just don't get the language, or even the reason. When we talked about Bacon in class, none of the murk was cleared up for me. I still don't get why he uses lots of aphorisms and speaks so authoritatively (and often contradictorily) about Unity of Religion, Studying, or Marriage and Single Life.

Maybe I can solace myself with this: education, at least to some degree, has to be a labor of love. One has to love what she is studying to really learn. So, though I hate the 15th century, perhaps later in the semester I'll find something I really love and want to read and become engaged with and write critically about. But I do hope that after this semester, I never have to go back to the Early Modern Period ever again.