University Cancels Sonnets Because They’re a Product of ‘White Western Culture’ – Opinion

Is it the racism inherent in rhyme that makes you angry? Is it the prejudice of iambic Pentameter that makes you feel uncomfortable? The University of Salford may be right for you.

Recently, the Greater Manchester school in England took inventory of its literary licentiousness and decided to end sonnets.

Per university documents, the public institution nixed “pre-established literary forms” from a creative writing exam, because they’re a product of whiteness.

In order to ax oppression, Salford aims to “decolonize the curriculum.”

Sonnets can be sinister to many people, however one may only take in the definition of sonnets and begin to see their perniciousness.

Merriam-Webster

Sonnet is an Italian fixed verse form consisting 14 lines. It’s typically a 5-foot iambics-rhyming format that follows a predetermined scheme.

Trigger Warning — here’s alleged Italian William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art sweeter and more temperate
Weak winds can shake May’s darling flowers.
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometimes it’s too hot for the eyes of heaven to shine.
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
Every fair is not fair all the time.
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
Yet, the eternal summer of thee will never end.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
Men can still see and breathe as long as they can both see and speak.
It is a life that lasts a lifetime, which gives you the chance to live.

The University of Salford abolished the Caucasian cacophony of coordinated Syllables to cancel it.

From The Telegraph:

According to the slideshow that illustrates best practices in decolonising courses at Salford for students of poetry, they no longer need to submit traditional forms of poetry as part of their assessment. This slideshow was shared with staff.

The slideshow showcasing “inspiration from colleagues” states that courses leaders have “simplified the assessment offering choice to write thematically rather than to fit into pre-established literary forms previously used in the module which tend to the products of white western culture.”

Salford is poetically mocking people who identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME), while robbing them of their whiteness

University documents state that this decolonising — a term used to describe refocusing curricula away from historically dominant Western material and viewpoints — is taking place as part of work to make Salford “more diverse and inclusive place” for students.

Messages from university leadership state in relation to this push for inclusivity that the “award gap that exists for our BAME students is not acceptable”, and offers “decolonising the curriculum” as a measure to address disparities in attainment.

Internal training materials shared with staff make the case that decolonised and “inclusive curricula” better “reflect and cater for a diverse society”, and result in “better outcomes for all students on the programme, than those that are structured along more traditional lines.”

Especially in academia, there’s a lot of decolonization going ’round:

University Orders Professors to ‘Decolonize’ Math, Think Twice Before Citing ‘White or Male’ Mathematicians

University Gives Students Antiracist ‘Tips and Tricks’ so They Can ‘Decolonize’ Campus

Oxford University Will Rebuild Its Music Program To Decolonize Its Curriculum

This Week in Woke History: A World Renowned Museum Collection Gets Removed, AKA ‘DeColonized’

In literature specifically, perhaps we’ll eventually “decōlonize” — particular contemporary punctuation might be traced back to those who are Westernly white — like all those chalky Sicilians.

The University of Salford continues to do its part in promoting inclusion in the classroom.

Prof Scott Thurston says that staying current is a prerequisite for poetry.

The leader of the creative writing course at Salford, Dr Scott Thurston, said the Writing Poetry in the Twenty-first Century module was “often updated to take account of new trends and developments in contemporary writing”.

It seems that if sonnets should be sacked because white people perpetrated them, there is much, much more to be removed from our increasingly-enlightened world.

Indeed — where Williams Shakespeare’s shameless racism’s concerned, maybe BowfingerIt was correct:

-ALEX

 

Get more information from me

Report: CRT Symposium Speaker Calls Diversity of Thought ‘White Supremacist’ Excrement

WATCH: A Congresswoman claims there are two sexes. Her Graduating Class blasts her with Boos

Disney Launches Its ‘Pride Collection’ Product Line

Check out all of my RedState work Here.

Thanks for reading. You are invited to leave comments in the Comment section.

About Post Author

Follow Us