Classical books are significant because it opens up a point of view to various universes and authentic viewpoints. They are ageless because the topics that go through these books are essential for eternity. Reading classical books will improve how well you communicate. It will likewise upgrade your reasoning and improve your essential reasoning capacities. They express complex human feelings in words and expressions, which can add to our jargon and strengthen our ability to talk. In my opinion, reading classical books will upgrade how well you communicate. It will likewise boost your reasoning and improve your essential reasoning capacities because of the poetic and well use of language. (1): https://highschool.latimes.com/beacon-park-school/opinion-why-we-should-read-classical-literature/#:~:text=Classic%20literature%20is%20important%20because,they%20have%20read%20its%20literature.&text=I%20also%20gain%20more%20knowledge,stories%20are%20based%20on%20history.

**TL;DR- I definitely agree that they're essential, as they can open up new points of view (e.g. how people wrote and viewed the world in the social/political context of different times). Although, the importance of classic literature is often overrated, and put above contemporary literature, which can just as inspiring and educational as classics novels if not more.** As Maja Mazur states in *The Courier*, the fact that classics 'were written a long time ago and managed to remain in public awareness through all these years doesn’t automatically make them good and certainly doesn’t mean that they’re better than modern books'. Some people are outraged when a piece of contemporary literature is compared to a classic and put on the same level- how could a modern novel be compared to a timeless work of genius? It's true that the classic author may have been brave and ahead of their time in their writing and ideas, hence creating a lasting and timeless 'classic'. But this doesn't mean that we can't write brave and important books nowadays. Classics are also (over)praised in schools, dominating the reading list, whereas contemporary literature is overlooked, and very rarely even on the curriculum. However, contemporary literature should be studied in equal measure; they can be picked apart, analysed, and learned from just as effectively as a classic novel. Why should we put Charlotte Bronte's *Jane Eyre* above Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's *Purple Hibiscus*, just because it's considered a 'classic'? They are both compelling and essential stories, breaking conventions, despite them being centuries apart. It may even help students to study a mix of contemporary and modern literature, as the two can be compared and contrasted (in addition to being generally easier to read). [1] Maja Mazur in *The Courier*, November 30, 2020 [https://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/is-classic-literature-overrated/]

**TL;DR** — **No longer reading classical texts would mean that some of the oldest extant works are relegated to irrelevancy.** Studying and reading classical texts is an activity that has both literary and historical value. Texts such as the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ are still studied because they contain details that continue to fascinate scholars and readers alike. For example, the expression ‘wine-dark sea’ remains a riddle that scholars have been trying to unlock for generations. It is not just the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ that remain relevant today. Many of us will have come across the Greek myths such as the stories of Narcissus, Theseus and the Minotaur, the Trojan horse and Oedipus. All of these originate in classical literature, with different versions found in different texts. Not only are these stories enjoyable to read, but they can also be studied with the help of literary theory. Disciplines such as feminist theory, queer theory, intertextuality and structuralism (to name a few) allow the stories to be understood in a different way. It also helps to marry aspects of the modern world with the ancient world. Classical texts have not lost their value. They offer insight into different cultures (Plutarch’s _On Sparta_), are the origins of several schools of philosophical thought (Epicureanism in Lucretius's _De Rerum Natura_) and are the seminal works for certain genres (e.g. didactic poetry with Hesiod’s _Works and Days_). Literary history is incomplete without them and so we should neglect them.

**TL;DR: What makes a classic a classic? Many exceptional books have been excluded from the Literary Canon for societal reasons - we must reinvent the Canon to include books by previously underappreciated writers of merit.** Indisputably, many people enjoy reading classical books and consider doing so a form of [self-improvement]( https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rSGIGOfSkOgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) – classical literature not only can improve our vocabulary, but can teach us new things and broaden our world-view. However, in assessing whether classical literature is essential reading, it is important to assess what makes a classic a classic. A classical book is one that has been widely and historically agreed to be of merit. It takes a while for something to reach 'classic' status, so the majority of books considered classics were written a long time ago. In literary studies, we often term classical books canonical - referring to the concept of the Canon, or [Western Canon]( https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bLDqDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT2&dq=the+western+canon&ots=4H6BgV7_yv&sig=ageD9Eld9B_aCQvnarI_U4VhGyk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20western%20canon&f=false), the group of books considered in the Western world to be the 'best' literature, from Homer's _The Odyssey_ to F Scott Fitzgerald's _The Great Gatsby_. The concept of the Canon places literature in a hierarchy – canonical texts are by proxy considered as superior to non-canonical texts. This is why people can get a lot of kudos for reading classical books; whether or not we have read them, we deem them to be more intellectually challenging and important than the average recent publication, simply because they have achieved classical status. This is problematic when we assess who decides which books are classics. Historically, this has been [predominantly white, Western, middle to upper class men]( https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Oaf3AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=rewriting+the+canon&ots=5wKW7TRu3Y&sig=oe0bt-Pb0BT9wUX3TUoLECWepBQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rewriting%20the%20canon&f=false) who chose to read books by predominantly white, Western, middle to upper class male writers, writing in English. Because of social stigma, many exceptional books by women, people of colour, queer writers, and writers not writing in English, were excluded from the canon for purely societal reasons. It is essential that we work to rediscover such waylaid texts and expand our notions of the canon. By fleshing out the canon, including previously ignored authors, we can more accurately represent the extent of past and present literature. The benefits of reading classical books are even greater when read alongside less acknowledged books. To attain self-improvement through reading, it is essential to read fully and widely from a great diversity of texts and writers.