Does one has to master literature to become an author or a poet? Why?

Answer 1

No. Studying literature will teach you how to take apart and analyse someone else's work, but it won't teach you how to create your own. (This was advice once heard from a literature teacher, BTW.) You're better off 'studying' be reading as much literature as you can of the kind you'd like to be writing. If you want to become a poet, read a lot of poetry...

Answer 2

The answer to your question, strictly speaking, is no, it's not necessary.

There are some people who are so talented that they require absolutely nothing to be added for their genius to be realized. Some musicians can sit down at a new instrument and play it like a virtuoso a few days later. Some athletes can be taught a new game and be the best at it before the game is over. There are mathematicians who have derived hundreds of years of theorems on their own with only an initial nudge in the right direction.

BUT there are many more people who CAN be really, really good, but need a bit more to get going. It can help a writer to know what makes a good story - to look at how other authors are doing their work and learn the lessons of how it could have been better or worse through them. To draw an analogy, some people can drive from New York to Seattle and just 'figure out' the right way to go... most of us would want at least a good set of maps, if not an outright list of directions!

Likewise, there is nothing wrong with having your own style and breaking the 'rules' when you write. But before you do so can be of great utility to know what, exactly, the rules are BEFORE you break them. It is the difference between a shortcut through the woods and a blind, headlong thrashing through the thickets.

And the very least a familiarity with literature will do for you is tell you what YOU like. Which is no small datum - who would want to write their way to page 200 of an epic poem only to discover that they hated epic poems? Or, to continue my analogy, it can help you plan a mountain route for the view instead of a winding forest route that will make you road-sick, and assure that you don't go to Phoenix for the beaches.

Answer 3

Young people can be authors/poets and it has nothing to do with matering literature. Literature just opens a person up to items wrote by numerous authors/poets. The thing which helps every author/poet is the proper spelling of words and how to structure a sentence/paragraph.
If a person wishes to master literature - then they probably wish to be a literature teacher/professor.

Answer 4

I'm with homersdohnut here.

For some reason, writing is one of the crafts that people think you can just flail about and do.

If that's true, yes, you can play baseball without knowing the rules and never practising--you can sail a boat with no instruction--you can paint without seeing a painting.

And I guess it really doesn't matter, because if you can write without reading, why would anybody read you before they wrote?

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

No, you don't have to "master literature." I'm not quite sure I know what that means, but the realm of poetry and prose is so huge that nobody can "master" more than a tiny piece of it. You can read broadly or you can concentrate on a few works. You can study something a line at a time or read a book a day. You can read for enjoyment; you can read for study; you can read for deep understanding; you can read cold-bloodedly just to see how the engine works.

And nobody can master literature, for, like, 20 years, and then write the next 20 years. It's a dynamic. That would make no more sense than saying, I'm going to live life for 20 years and write about it the next 20.

So, no, you don't have to master literature. Trying to do that would scare the **** out of me.

But I think you need to engage with literature--play with it, let it move you, let it make you laugh, let it talk to you until you are prepared to talk back.

And you might do that better by pulling books at random from the bookstore shelves and starting in the middle than by having somebody with a PhD stand in a classroom and tell you, "this is how we are going to study this Great Piece of Art."

Because, you know, it's fun. And the more you work on your writing, the more you will understand what other people wrote and how they did it.

And you'll realize that there's been a whole long conversation that's gone on for centuries and you can join in it, and you will be part of that conversation for years, and maybe centuries.

And you'll learn what you may already know--that people have been telling stories and singing songs and writing **** down because that is part of our very nature--we are humans because we want to communicate and because we want to say more than "Ughh, mastedon coming."

And when you think of literature as folks talking, why wouldn't you want to listen and learn.

Good luck.

Answer 5

I truley dont think so. Being an author or poet never has people mastering literature. There is no such thing. Literature is what flows from the brain and authors and poets should not care about what MASTER defines. If it is dear to you, than it becomes art.

Answer 6

I think it depends on your goal.

Some people are simply great story-tellers, but the technical aspects of their writing leave something to be desired. They may be popular in the here and now, but will likely be forgotten by the time the next century rolls around. Others write well, but lack some indefinable magic. I believe they will fade into the past fairly quickly, too.

It is really rare, in my opinion, to get both in one package. When you do, though, those are the ones who will still be read 100 years from now ... the future masters.

No matter your goal, the end result will likely be improved by reading and studying authors you admire. I don't think it is necessary for worldly success, but I do think your end product will improve by it.

The loftier your literary goals, the more important it becomes to study the best literature has to offer. While it may be possible to step out of nowhere and write unforgettable words, I strongly believe that knowing the craft (mastering literature) gives the tools you need to improve the odds.

Answer 7

A very good question. In many ways, yes. Writing is the act of creating literature. The more we know literature, the more we observe that act happening over and over again. We learn how other writers have done it before us. We listen to their experience. But truly great literature can never be this mechanical alone. Writers are not technicians. They are poets, dreamers, inventors. Literature is the journey of humanity. It is the record of our search for ourselves. To be a great writer, you must give up the notion that you will "master" this visionary art. You can not control it anymore than you can control tomorrow. So let yourself go. Spread your wings. And fly on your imagination.

Answer 8

Let me start with the arrogant statement that almost everyone in this thread is wrong.

YES. Of course you do. If you don't read, how can you possibly write?

That is like trying to compose a symphony without ever having listened to music.

Writing, good writing, is an art. An art is a technique. A technique has to be acquired and learned. Now, you have the best writers in the world available to you at your local library for free. Who could ask for better teachers? So yes, you need to read, and read, and read. Find authors you like, techniques, voices, characterizations you like... and steal em! That is what good writers do.

I mean, how many famous painters never studied art? Maybe they ultimately rejected what they studied, but they knew what they were rejecting.

The 2 things a writer needs to do, in order of importance, is read and write.

Anyone who thinks you don't need to read in order to become a good writer has absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

Answer 9

No, but obviously it helps.
They say authors are born, not made, and this is mostly true. You have to have a talent for writing and story-telling.
Most authors KNOW they have this talent, and just work on it over time.
Bear in mind too, that you can be the `best` writer in the world, but if people do not want to read your stuff, you will never be a famous writer!

Answer 10

You don't have to master it, but most gerat authors to work off of an earlier one; in other words, they emulate--even though this is not always obvious. I think what you need is a good awareness of your surroundings in terms of the culture, society, environment, etc. But not necessarily a mastery of any specific literature.