/lit/ - Literature

>taking a third year Milton class
>go to class first day
>class is about 70% female
>go to class next day
>before class overhear girls talking
>"I was really surprised that there are so many guys taking Milton." "Yeah that's so weird, there are a lot of guys in the class this year."

Why do so many women take poetry? Not trying to be sexist, but I don't get it. It's not like they tend to enjoy Milton. From all quarters of the class I'd hear these girls offering their opinion on how Milton is sexist, or how Eve is the real hero, etc etc. Other girls would talk before class about how they found a great audiobook of the poem, or how Paradise Lost kind of reminded them of a TV show they watched the other day. My hearing might be selective, but I'm not making this up.

The few male students were juvenile in their own way, but they seemed to like it. One clearly enjoyed every reference to Greek myth (though he had too much fun telling them in their crudest form). One was sure he loved the character of Satan. Another, whom I'd known from other classes, was remarkably well-read for his age on the classics and the renaissance, as well as some of the relevant scholarship.

My point is not that boys rule girls drool, just that I don't know why so many women take english lit courses when it seems like they're less into it. With a couple of exceptions, when I've talked to them about the course material, they tend to recount their reading experience as if their eyes were rolling the whole time they read. It seems like they're just trudging through the nasty business of learning all the stuffy old shit.

So why are they all taking poetry courses? Have I just been unfair to them, are they a lot more into it than I thought?