From Shakespeare to John Green, literature has changed drastically. Most people would think, “They’re old and dead, why should I care?” As a result, they dismiss the importance of such brilliant authors and cast them into the shadows. However, it’s authors like Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift and Charles Dickens that have set the stage for so many aspiring writers through the ages and allowed them to reach their full potential. According to Ginni Chen, writer of the Barnes & Noble book blog, by reading classic literature you can start to discern the influences of classic authors in the writing and styles of some of your favorite writers.

The origins of literature can be traced all the way back to the Greeks, Romans and the Egyptians. In a sense, they became the “Founding Fathers of Literature” since they were the first to create such legendary stories with their newborn languages and writings. Since then, people have picked up where they’ve left off and followed the path set for writers.

Literature has evolved to a much simpler version in this day and age. We’ve drifted away from the Elizabethan language and the endless flowery descriptions within stories, which like a double-edged sword, can strike both ways. According to Alison Flood, writer of “Influence of classic literature on writers declining,” modern writers have begun to deviate away from their predecessors’ writing style and choose other modernist authors as inspiration.

Even though some modernized stories can easily lose their essence, others can also be as compelling and noteworthy as the classics. Currently, most of the top best sellers are dystopian novels or love stories with a twist, and they can easily become overrated. When we read books nowadays, we look for new ideas and stories that have never been done before. Most of the time, however, we can be sorely disappointed when we read books with the same plot over and over again.

In the case of The Hunger Games, dystopian novels soon skyrocketed in the market but we started to see the same idea repeated constantly with a heroine fighting against her government in controlled system (Divergent series, Matched series). Though these books are great reads, their storyline has been repeated to a tedious degree.

Now, if a book receives immense publicity and acclaim, it soon dies out a few months later and becomes a past trend. Classic books, however, stay significant for decades. Schools still issue books like Frankenstein, The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby because there’s so much to learn from them once you dissect them. We’re first exposed to these great literary works in class and whether it is to our great dismay or to our joy, they tend to stick with us.

Every book is another life you live and classic authors plunge us headfirst into their time period, their woes, their triumphs and even their lives. Every author, whether intentionally or not, writes with the intention of making the words last for ages. Classic authors have achieved such a goal, but it’s still up to us to keep those stories and tales going as long as possible.