Literature, Yes? No?

Sonnet 18, The Road Less Taken, Life's Brief Candle, MacBeth, Romeo & Juliet. Yes, these are all Classics which we nowadays call - Literature. I reckon many teens would find these boring as they had to learn them all through high school. I know I definitely did! As soon as the bell rang and it's English lesson for Literature, you can practically hear the whole class moaning in discontent. Looking back, it made me laugh. The funny thing is, now, I learnt how to appreciate the beauty of Classics and Literatures!




I've read the whole Little Women series, MacBeth (it is AWESOME. The late W.Shakespeare is a total genius!) and of course Sonnet poems collection. My favourite one though, was one I learnt during my high school years. It's The Lotus Eater by William Somerset Maugham, who, like me, is an avid traveller and evangelizes.





The Lotus Eater is a tale of a man named Thomas Wilson who fell in love with the Bay of Naples in the Island of Capri, Italy while visiting a friend. He has enough money to live until sixty, and wishes to live amidst the beauty in the Island of Capri. As soon as he hit sixty, he plans to kill himself. However, his suicide attempt failed, and he becomes mentally ill. His life becomes meaningless, and he lives like a wild animal. One day, he died under the moonlight on the hill side, overlooking the Bay of Naples that he loved so much.





This story has touched me a great deal. Thomas Wilson was having a good life before he moved to the Island of Capri. He was a well established banker. Yet he chosed to live it all behind and embarked on a journey of passion and love. Love for the Island. People often missed the crux of this literature. Thomas Wilson followed his heart. He died a happy man, because he was in his "Magic" place - on the hill top overlooking the moonlight at Bay of Naples.

The view of Moonlight overlooking tha Bay of Naples, Island of Capri, Italy.

I shall leave you pondering - Are you following your heart? The mind may say something, but you know the heart won't follow. I hope you are. Cos I am, and that makes me a very happy person. Ü

♥