Language and literature : revisiting some defining moments in the history of English

In the early papers which framed the National Curriculum for English in Australia, the organising structural components were three "elements": (i) Language: knowledge about the English language; (ii) Literature: informed appreciation of literature; and (iii) Literacy: growing repertoires of English usage. This formulation is not new. At the Anglo-American conference at Dartmouth in 1966, Kitzhaber in a paper entitled What is English? found a subject whose history was chaotic, but could at least be said to be characterised by "a body of knowledge called grammar, and a body of knowledge called literature, with the skills of communication as a unifying element". Yet, despite what might appear to be come historical consensus around these components of the subject, and despite their linkage in giving English its curriculum status, it is worth reminding ourselves just what odd bedfellows there "elements" are and therefore the chaotic, mostly adversarial relationship that literature in particular has historically held in relation to the others.