Literature One 1

1. We are going on a journey. A journey that will take us anywhere we wish to go, or an author wishes to take us, without even leaving the room. The journey is a voyage of discovery, revealing new places, new emotions, different ways of seeing the world. Welcome to a new world… Literature One 1

2. …welcome to the world of literature. Literature One 2

3. In this module you will learn about the following: Literature One 3 The Novel Poetry The Short Story Drama

4. I said you would be taken on a journey but, of course, I don’t mean a literal journey. I don’t expect you to pack. Literature One 4 For this journey, all you will need is your imagination…

5. Literature One 5 …and a comfy chair

6. Now, click on one of the following: Literature One Literature One SUBJECT LINKS The Novel Poetry The Short Story Drama

7. The Novel Literature One Novel

8. Basics Forms Sound Imagery Poetry - POETRY. LINKING TO…

9. Poetry - Poetry basics 1 The origins of poetry are in song. Traditional poetry often has rhyme at the end of each line, for example: Stop all the clocks, switch of the telephone Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone These lines from W. H. Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’ follow the ‘phone/bone’ type of rhyme we are all used to in songs and in some poems. This kind of poetry is still common but you will also find poetry that does not rhyme so obviously.

10. Some poetry is looser in form – much as jazz is a loser form in the music world – and so end rhyme like ‘phone/bone’ is used less. This kind of poetry is often called vers libre, or to use the English name ‘free verse’: Cold snap. Five o’ clock. Outside, a heavy frost – dark footprints in the brittle grass; a cat’s. Quick coffee, jacket, watch-cap, keys. - Poetry basics 2

11. This poem by Richard Kenney, called Aubade, reminds me of the loose forms of jazz. The style is snappy, taking its rhythm from the shortness of each image that is expressed, ‘cold snap’ and ‘quick coffee’. The poem is not held up by rhyme. So not all poetry is about rhyming. When someone says: “That’s not a poem. It doesn’t even rhyme!” They are missing the fact that a poem doesn’t always have to rhyme. Sometimes the rhythm, the sounds, the images; all of these things are the poem, not just whether or not ‘telephone’ rhymes with ‘bone’. - Poetry basics 3

12. So what are the basics of poetry? Well, rhyme is one of the basics, though not essential. Let’s take a little time to look at rhyme Notice that the words ‘time/rhyme’ sound alike. They are not identical though, or they would be the same word, but the sound of the words is close. The words fully chime with one another. To learn more about rhyme, click here. - Poetry basics 4

13. The Short Story Literature One Short Story Pic

14. The short story Literature One Short Story There is a lot of debate about how short a short story should be, or if it is a long short story when does it stop being short and turn into a novel. People used to call short novels novellas. In fact, a short story can be as short as you like but if it runs to a hundred pages or so may be called a novella or a short story.

15. Character Setting Plot Imagery Web Links -THE SHORT STORY. LINKING TO… In looking at the short story, we will consider the following: Click on one of the above to learn more…

16. Web Links Character - CHARACTER01 • The characters in a story, just as in films, often have different roles: • Hero or heroine • Villain • ‘Love interest’

17. Click here to go to the story “The Little Foxes” by Gregor Addison. - “The Little Foxes” (word link)

18. One way to get to know a character is to look at what we are directly told about him/her: “Georg looked distanced, troubled, as though he were wrestling with something that could not be overcome.” “He continued knotting his hands.” Explicit descriptions like these can reveal a lot about how a character is feeling, or what he/she is thinking. - Character02

19. Another way to get to know a character is to look at the language used to describe his/her actions or expressions: “Ian noticed that his smile was rigid and mirroring the cold grey tube of the bed frame which his hands gripped.” “Ian’s eyes, red and sore and all too heavy with life, hung on the fat puffy bluffs of his cheeks. “ The way a character is described, the adjectives used, the actions they engage in, sometimes lets us see them from the inside. - Character03

20. Setting Web Links The setting of a story is where it takes place. There may be more than one place in a story. Often, if a story is about a journey, then there will be several places where different types of action happen. This was typical of Robert Louis Stevenson’s stories, such as ‘Kidnapped’ or ‘The Master of Ballantrae’. Click here to find out more. - SETTING01 (word link)

21. Setting - Setting02 (word link) The story, “The Little Foxes”, uses time shifts to leap from one setting to another. There are three separate time frames in the story. The first is Georg’s conversation with the narrator (the “I” of the story). The second time frame is more complicated. The narrative voice here is the grandfather’s who is in a retirement home. Now past and present merge into one and we have access to his memories as well as to what is happening around him in the home.

22. - Setting03 Time shifts like this will take us through a number of settings in a flow of recollections and different images. This is called “stream of consciousness” because the conscious thoughts flow like a stream, meandering, not focused on any goal but just wandering wherever they wish to go. Our thoughts are often like this, of course. We do let our thoughts wander. Some writers like to use this for effect and in our story it shows that the old man, the grandfather, was a different person at different points in his life.

23. Plot Web Links - PLOT

24. Imagery Web Links - IMAGERY01

25. Imagery - Imagery02 Typically, imagery covers similes and metaphors. In this section we will look at these. A simile uses ‘like’ or ‘as’ to make a comparison between things: “As like as two peas in a pod.” “As cold as ice.”

26. Imagery - Imagery03 In his play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare has Romeo remark: “Juliet is the sun.” Notice that this is not a simile. It does not use ‘as’ or ‘like’. Perhaps it would be weakened if it read: “Juliet is like the sun.”

27. Metaphor Metaphor is different to simile because it is more direct. It makes an outright comparison. Instead of saying ‘Juliet is like the sun’, it says: “Juliet is the sun.” The impact is often greater because of the blunt comparison. We are not saying Juliet is like the sun in this way, or because of some other attribute. We are saying Juliet is the sun. - Imagery04

28. To find out more about metaphor, click here. - Imagery05 (word link)

29. Literature One Drama

30. Literature One Novel Character

31. Literature One Novel Setting

32. Literature One Novel Plot

33. Literature One Novel Imagery

34. Useful Links Literature One Click here to access our document containing useful links to a variety of web sites.