How can reading English Classics improve our cognition?

English Classics Books - Original Cover

If you have ever wondered about the above question, and did not find the answer, we are hoping that this blog post will shed light on things for you.

In our modern day,  when distractions are not short at hand, with mobile phones and apps being more and more competitive for our attention spans, reading might seem as a daunting activity all in all, let alone English Classics with their odd and outdated language, and complex twists in the plot narrative. But how can those complex books help us boost our brain capacity and change the way we see life?

Understanding Human Behaviour

For a start, English Classics are the building blocks that form the foundation of all literary works that succeeded them. Needless to say the way that they are constructed, with their complex story plots and vast character descriptions, English classics capture the essence of human behaviour and are also timeless, even though they have backdated story lines, mainly due to the fact that the author’s detailed account of events, the plot twists and the figures involved deem to be rather nuanced and refined to the very last detail. Once more, English classics prove to be the go to place for understanding complex human behaviour and emotions. 

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Recent studies have shown that English Classics could prove to be better than self-help books as they are exciting, empowering and enlightening. Their complex narratives, with slow introductions into the plots and with loads of spins in the story lines proved to be the most beneficial nourishment that we can feed our brain if we want to change our modus operandi and develop new abilities. 

Sparking New Connections

Remember that daunting vocabulary we mentioned earlier? Apparently, this is served best to our brain with a dose of complexity. When we research new words, and when we understand them, the brain sparks new connections between existing neurones and thus activates more zones into cognition.The ability to read in a different language from your mother tongue, also increases the natural thought process and expands it towards a better and more empowering one. This has proved a wondrous technique, even for mental health patients, and has helped improve their overall well being. Besides, learning new words can help us nuance our own emotions and feelings, shedding the proper light upon things we might have not had a descriptive word for. 

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When our reading mode is enabled, automatically, we get to improve our English natural abilities. By this I mean: syntax, grammar and idioms. This will translate into improved writing skills as reading English Classics gets us acclimated with multiple forms of expressing various sentences within the language’s parameters. What’s more, if we get to read and write, our speaking will suffer improvements. Pretty cool stuff, just from picking up English Classics! 

Modelling Creative Thinking

Another benefit of reading English classics is the fact that we can generate new ideas from old situations. Especially if reading them at an early age, this could help us navigate the complex life situations by benefiting from comportamental models from our beloved characters within the classic oeuvres. What’s more, reading English Classics at an old age can bring substantial improvement in the quality of life, as it tends to make the eldery feel “more alive” as professor Phillip Davis mentioned in his research. Other benefits of reading classics could be alienating illness symptoms, modeling creative thinking about human existence and freeing imagination and emotions according to the emeritus fellow of Liverpool university. 

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In a world where technology might possess a real threat to the way we communicate, reading Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens and William Blake might seem a cool thing to do, both in terms of improving cognitive process, but also from an emotional healing standpoint.