A way with words

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.”

It is impossible not to be stirred by the timeless prose of Emily Brontë, who along with her sister, Charlotte, must surely still rank as the greatest of all Yorkshire writers.

So it is depressing to note that classic English literature has fallen far in the esteem of young people. Of 300,000 children in one recent exam, only 187 chose to write about Wuthering Heights. In a generation obsessed with iPhones and Facebook, there is no doubt teachers face a battle in convincing our children of the enduring relevance of the classics.

But it is one they must win. An appreciation of these treasured works provides an unparalleled understanding of our shared heritage, and shows the remarkable scope of the English language.

More important still, such books can add a richness and a colour to the human experience which YouTube is unlikely to match. For the powerful themes of love and loss in Wuthering Heights are as true today as when they were first penned.