literature

ho hum...
have finished with my exams at last.literature was the last paper.
thought i would try posting everyday- but first i must catch up on my sleep!
you know what i don't understand? why people don't like literature. i mean, you can learn soooo much, and there are lines in some poems that just send shivers down your spine, like these lines from rudyard kipling's if:
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

granted mr. kipling was an imperialist and a chauvinist, but i think he should get his due credit for such inspiring lines.
there's nothing in the world quite like poetry. sure, it can be convoluted and absurd and fantastic- but isn't life just like that?
literature is the most beautiful thing in the world. but i'd much rather appreciate it then analyse it!
bte, can anyone tell me what literati means?