To Nit-Pick Or Not To Nit-pick?

I am a student of the arts. Mainly of, the creative arts such as Media studies and English. However, recently I've been studying for an upcoming English module retake and I got so frustrated with all the silly information I have to learn.

Literature is defined as: "the writings dealing with a particular subject". Nowhere, in that definition does it suggest that literature is where we analyze a play, a poem, or a story in anyway. What good does that do anyone? Literature, literally, is writing that deals with a particular subject. And the writer is likely to identify this subject in the introduction, or notes. Therefore, why do we insist on nit-picking things apart?

Is it just human instinct? Do we need to nit-pick, to find the flaws and the perfections and meanings so that we ourselves can identify with what the writer is trying to say? Can we not just accept things for what they are? And what they were meant to be? Is it really necessary for us to pull things apart to see the bigger picture? And if so, are we really that blind that we can't see it in the first place?

As I am writing these words, are you trying to find a hidden meaning in what I'm trying to say? Are you thinking "Oh shes writing this because she is upset with her life because she cant revise literature and therefore wrote this post as a result"? Well, let me tell you something.

I'm writing this post because I am a writer. I am interested in the particular subject of literature and therefore am dealing with it in the way that literature defines me to do so. I am not using smilies, or rhetorical questions so that you can sit here and pick apart every word I've just written in order to find a hidden meaning.

There is no hidden meaning. This is what I'm saying. This is not what literature is about. We should be being taught how to put into effect the things which we are told to look for. That way, we can identify on how to do them ourselves and then we won't need to nit-pick things apart, because we'll know what to look for and will understand things as the bigger picture.

So now I'm off to be the good literature student that I am [not..] and nit-pick apart some Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and William Shakespeare. And I bet, in the time that these writers existed, not one of the audience was thinking of the hidden meaning while watching the play or reading the poem.