wide idea of literature supported order It helped spread upper-class moral ideas Literature Reflected Class Taste Only upper-class writing was called literary Popular songs ballads or plays were ignored Street culture was not taken seriously Literature supported elite class values only This made literature a class-based idea Eagleton explains that taste was ideological He says Literature in the meaning of the word we have inherited is an ideology So literature was not innocent or neutral It carried class views and social control It promoted politeness manners and obedience Thus literature silently helped the ruling class Literature Taught Manners and Order After the Civil War society needed unity The ruling class feared division and protest So literature was used to calm people It taught rules taste and good behavior Moral writings guided how to live a proper life Periodicals spread the values of the elite Coffee houses and journals trained people morally Eagleton writes English was literally the poor man's Classics The poor could not read Latin or Greek English was their only moral guide It helped to build national identity slowly So literature was more than personal enjoyment Literature and the Idea of Unity The goal was to achieve social peace and unity Art was used to spread this idea Reason harmony and nature were key words Writers praised rules and order in life They did not challenge class or power They showed ideal life not real life Poetry and essays taught control and calm Eagleton notes The rise of English is more or less concomitant with an historic shift in the very meaning of the term' moral Morality became about feelings not just rules Literature trained emotions through soft lessons It shaped the moral sense of readers Literature as a Social Training Tool Literature served a larger social purpose It was not only for beauty It was a tool for shaping society People learned loyalty patience and values from texts Even workers read to gain respectability Writers helped people accept their roles This made society more stable and united Eagleton says Like religion literature works primarily by emotion and experience So literature became a kind of religion It touched hearts and formed behavior Thus th-century literature trained minds and morals It worked silently to support the system To sum up Terry Eagleton shows that literature shaped th-century life It supported class power and moral training It taught order unity and calmness It was not neutral or innocent Eagleton's study reveals literature's deep social role It helped build values for the ruling class