Cultural Construction of reading in Anglo-Saxon England

I found it interesting how Howe begin his article by citing Wallace Stevens poem, "The House was Quiet and the World was Calm". This poem is a great introduction to his article and sets the foundation for the underlying purpose of the article. Howe examines how reading was constructed in Anglo-Saxon England. He begins to interpret lines from the poem and from what he believes the author's meanings to be in those lines. Howe states: "Under these conditions, the poet's claim that the reader became the book expresses a sense of causation that turns on the double meaning of become: the reader takes on the form of the book by suiting or completing it." I concur this belief. Many times I find myself relating to the characters so that I could better comprehend their demise. the cliche, "Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.", certain applies here. The reader is able to have empathy for the characters when they are able to relate to the character and acknowledge the author's purpose. Howe goes further to examine how cultures interpret how individuals read. Howe states: "The House was Quiet and the World was Calm asserts our shared belief that we read best alone, at night, becoming our book, desiring to be the perfect reader we honor as the scholar." Howe asserts that readers perform better when they are able to sit alone and read the literature. He further establishes this theory when he discusses how Ambrose reads. Howe states: "What surprises us, however, is that Augustine does not identify the works read by Ambrose but rather describes the silent and self-contained manner of his reading. In those moments when Ambrose was not fulfilling a public role, he would refresh his body by eating and his mind by reading. But, the full force of Augustine's "sed" must be registered, Ambrose reading silently, but when he reads, his eyes followed the pages and his heart pondered the meaning though his voice and tongue were still. Augustine is careful to specify that Ambrose would read silently to himself even when others were present and might have approached him in conversation." By using Augustine's example of Ambrose, Howe is able to assert his theory about solitary reading. Solitary reading is great when the reader is trying to initially get a grasps on the reading material, however this is the perfect opportunity for the reader to draw questions from the text. When the opportunity arises for the reader to share their questions and insight with others, they are able to gain more insight into the text. Group discussions is definitely a crucial benefit to reading. I was somewhat baffled to that Howe did not go in depth with this aspect in his article.