130 likes | 400 Views
Character and Setting. Erin Mo Ferber, Sammy Nettling, Ellery Page. Characters are characterized by . What they say What they do How they react What other people say about them. The Speaker,Persona, or Narrator. Who is telling this poem?
E N D
Character and Setting Erin Mo Ferber, Sammy Nettling, Ellery Page
Characters are characterized by • What they say • What they do • How they react • What other people say about them
The Speaker,Persona, or Narrator • Who is telling this poem? • Do they have the same or separate identity as the writer • Are they inside or outside the poem?
Setting in relation to Character Development • Possessions • Places they inhabit • Social & Economic Conditions • Time Period (‘Alive Together’p.714)-time period referenced example • Religion • Leisure • Chance • Natural World Conditions
Speaker-Listener Relationship -creates drama and tension. -listener (imagined) usually ‘inside’ the poem. -poems in the form of dialogue. (Both being speakers/listeners) -if listener is passive, no response is expected. -Use of “I” or “my” indicates the speaker is ‘inside’ the poem. -Details in the poem indicate the speaker's, emotional state, knowledge, self-esteem, habits, hobbies, and much more
To the Reader “Pray thee, take care, that tak’st my book in hand, To read it well: that is, to understand.”( Ben Jonson ) -The Speaker can address the reader directly (Although rare) -Intent can also be uncovered by examination of the speaker-listener relationship
Major and Minor Participants -Roles of 3rd parties and the like ( skeletons, in ‘Channel Firing’)
‘On the Amtrack from Boston to New York City’ -Sherman Alexie The white woman across the aisle from me says “Look, look at all the history, that house on the hill there is over two hundred years old,” as she points out the window past me into what she has been taught. I have learned little more about American history during my few days back East than what I expected and far less of what we should all know of the tribal stories whose architecture is 15,000 years older than the corners of the house that sits
museumed on the hill. “Walden Pond,” the woman on the train asks, “Did you see Walden Pond?” and I don’t have a cruel enough heart to break her own by telling her there are five Walden Ponds on my little reservation out West and at least a hundred more surrounding Spokane, the city I pretended to call my home. “Listen,” I could have told her. “I don’t give a shit about Walden. I know the indians were living stories around that pond before Walden’s grandparents were born and before his grandparents’ grandparents were born. I’m tired of hearing about Don-fucking-Henley saving it, too, becuase that’s redundant. If Don Henley’s brothers and sisters
and mothers and father hadn’t come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved.” But I didn’t say a word to the woman about Walden Pond because she smiled so much and seemed delighted that I thought to bring her an orange juice back from the food car. I respect elders of every color. All I really did was eat my tasteless sandwich, drink y Diet Pepsi and nod my head whenever the woman pointed out another little piece of her country’s history while I, as all indians have done since this war began, made plans for what I would do and say next time somebody from the enemy thought I was one of their own.
Prose vs. Poetry -How you find out about the characters is different -->In prose you learn character details by action, words, thoughts, appearances, and opinions. ( poetry is less likely to be as explicit) -Types of characters is different -->In prose there is an antagonist, protagonist, ect. in poetry there are more limitations (speaker and listener)
‘London’-William Blake I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear. • Setting: established in the title, the city is illustrated throughout the poem. • Character:first person narration (observation), roaming the city streets, connecting with the general population, recognizing the common struggles in the “every man”
‘London’ (cont.) How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldier's sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls. But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear, And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. • Setting: The city “midnight” streets-chimney, Palace walls, Church appalls • Character:hearing the cries of the prostitutes -> “youthful Harlot’s curse” • Speaker could definitely have the same identity as the writer, Blake exploring the streets of London