Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism:

Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism: Text + Source + Reader = Meanings ENG 4U

Minds-On Question: • What criteria do you use to analyze something? E.g. a book you’ve read, a film you’ve watched, a song you’ve heard.

Do you tend to focus: • strictly on the thing itself? (the text) • the people, time, and place with which it is associated? (the source) • your own personal feelings about it? (the reader)

Focusing on the Text

TextsTexts are any form of written, visual, or oral work. They are constructions that are carefully crafted by their authors. • A book • A play • A poem • A short story • A magazine • An advertisement • A photo • A work of art • A film • A podcast • A song • A music video • A ballerina or weightlifter’s body

Text first fight then fiddle ply the slipping string with feathery sorcery muzzlethe note with hurting lovethe music that they wrote bewitch bewilder qualify to singthreadwisedevise no saltno hempen thing for the dear instrument to bear devotethe bow to silks and honey be remote a while from malice and from murdering but first to armsto armor carry hatein front of you and harmony behind be deaf to music and to beauty blind win war rise bloody maybe not too late or having first to civilize a spacewherein to play your violin with grace •What is the form of this written text? a story, essay, poem, play? •What clues does it offer about its form?

Activity • In groups of two, organize this text into its original poetic form • Use the chart paper and markers provided Essential Questions: •Is the poem written in verse or prose? •Does the poem have punctuation? •Does the poem have stanzas? •What kind of poem is it? (e.g. haiku, ballad, concrete, sonnet, ode, free verse, blank verse, cento, found, etc.) •Does it follow a metre and rhyme structure? •How might its content relate to its form?

Text •This poem is a sonnet Recall: •Sonnets are poems of 14 lines. •How is this poem like or unlike other sonnets? LIKE: •14 lines in length •Ends in a couplet •Iambic Pentametre UNLIKE: •Unusual rhyme scheme and metre for a traditional sonnet First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string A With feathery sorcery; muzzle the noteB With hurting love; the music that they wroteB Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to singA Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thingA For the dear instrument to bear. DevoteB The bow to silks and honey. Be remoteB A while from malice and from murdering A But first to arms, to armor. Carry hateC In front of you and harmony behind.D Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.D Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too lateC For having first to civilize a spaceE Wherein to play your violin with grace. E

Focusing on the Source

Source •How would learning the poem’s title, the identity of the poet, and the year of publication help you interpret it? •This poem is called “First Fight. Then Fiddle” •It was written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1949 First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string A With feathery sorcery; muzzle the noteB With hurting love; the music that they wroteB Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to singA Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thingA For the dear instrument to bear. DevoteB The bow to silks and honey. Be remoteB A while from malice and from murdering A But first to arms, to armor. Carry hateC In front of you and harmony behind.D Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.D Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too lateC For having first to civilize a spaceE Wherein to play your violin with grace. E

Activity • Watch a film clip about Gwendolyn Brooks • In your groups, consider how the following questions might impact your understanding of the poem: Essential Questions: •What do you know about Gwendolyn Brooks? •What do you know about 1949? •What do you know about African-American poets in the United States at the time? •What do you know about women artists at the time, specifically African-American women, and the work they were producing?

Focusing on the Reader

Reader Two kinds of audiences: 1.The Speaker, Auditor, and Subject •The speaker and auditor are the poem’s internal audience •They make up the audience within the poem •They are addressed as the implicit “I” and the explicit “you” •The subject is explicitly addressed as “they” 2. The Reader(s) •The readers of this poem are its external audience •They are the audience who read the poem when it was first published, and the audience who reads it today •How did/do they respond to it? First fight. Then fiddle. Ply the slipping string A With feathery sorcery; muzzle the noteB With hurting love; the music that they wroteB Bewitch, bewilder. Qualify to singA Threadwise. Devise no salt, no hempen thingA For the dear instrument to bear. DevoteB The bow to silks and honey. Be remoteB A while from malice and from murdering A But first to arms, to armor. Carry hateC In front of you and harmony behind.D Be deaf to music and to beauty blind.D Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too lateC For having first to civilize a spaceE Wherein to play your violin with grace. E

Activity Remaining in your groups: •Half of you will read a critical review of Brooke’s poem written when it was first published. Summarize it in one paragraph. •Half of you will write a personal response to the poem using the following prompts: What do you think this poem is about? What three words identify how you feel about it, and why? Essential Questions: •Would a person reading this poem in the 1940’s and 50’s respond differently than a person today? What anxieties did people have about war then compared to now? •Does it make a difference if the audience is imagined as a group of African American men and women, or as a group of white European American male commanders? •Is it necessary for a reader to identify with any of the particular groups the poem fictitiously addresses, or would a reader from any background respond to it the same way?

Thus… • The meaning of a text is not singular but plural; Texts have many meanings. • A text can be analyzed by looking through a specific lens, or approach, that focuses on the text, the source, or the reader alone, or through a combination of all. • Some approaches work better than others for a particular work. • We all bring biases and assumptions to bear on our interpretation of a text. It is important to examine them if we aim to be critical analysts.

Theories That Emphasize the Text • Formalism (intrinsic qualities of form) • Structuralism (signs & opposites) • Poststructuralism (power imbalances)

Theories That Emphasize the Source • Biographical (the author) • Psychoanalytic (ID, EGO, SUPEREGO) • Archetypal (universal patterns)

Theories That Emphasize the Reader • Reader Response (the reader) • Feminist (concerns of gender) • Marxist (the proletariat & the state) • New Historicism (the past through the present) • Postcolonial (“the other”)

Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism: