And when I was that age, I read Shakespeare, too (but more plays than poetry), and a fair amount of theology, including sacred texts from other faith traditions than my own (this is what was lying around the house). In addition, of course, to tons of fiction, heavily slanted toward science-fantasy--which, in retrospect, was probably not all age-appropriate, but without visuals to go with the text, a lot of the sexual content went over my head, and the severity of the violence seems to have been limited by my prior visual vocabulary.
And yes, the views on diversity of all kinds were, um, of their time. But when one reads widely enough, one acquires a larger perspective in which to place different views--a more nuanced perspective, one hopes, which appreciates that people are full of contradictions, combining admirable and despicable qualities in the same (one might even say, every) individual.
