English B1B

1. English B1B Intro to Literature and Poetry

2. What is “Literature”? • “…one of this book’s primary goals is to get you to think for yourself as well as communicate with others, about what ‘imaginative writing’ and ‘artistic value’ are or what might be and thus about what counts as literature” (2).

3. Literature as Verb • “An essay, a song lyric, a screenplay, a supermarket romance, a novel by Toni Morrison or William Faulkner, and a poem by Walt Whitman or Emily Dickenson—each may be read and interpreted in literary ways that yield insight and pleasure” (3).

4. Literary Criticism • “Despite the usual connotations of the word criticism, literary criticism is called criticism not because it is negative or corrective but rather because those who write criticism ask searching, analytical, ‘critical’ questions about the works they read” (5).

5. What is Genre? • We focus on works by genre, or “a particular style or category of works of art; esp. a type of literary work characterized by a particular form, style, or purpose” (6). • We study fiction, poetry, and drama.

6. Why Read Literature? • Literature makes us more empathetic. • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-potter-benefits_us_5936b4b7e4b0099e7faf3223 • Literature enhances our “intellectual flexibility, adaptability, and ingenuity, making ever more essential the human knowledge, general skills, and habits of mind” (9). • Literature “awakens us to the richness and complexity of language—our primary tool for engaging with, understanding, and shaping the world around us” (9).

7. Literature as Conversation • “A clear understanding of the aims and designs of a story, poem, or play, never falls like a bolt from the blue. Instead, it emerges from a process that involves trying to put into words how and why this work had such an effect on you and, just as important, responding to what others say or write about it. Literature itself is a vast, ongoing, ever-evolving conversation in which we most fully participate when we enter into actual conversation with others” (10).

8. Literature as Creating Meaning • “After the intricate and interactive process of interpretation, you will find that the work has changed when you read it again. What we do with literature alters what it does to us” (10). • There is no text—it is a floating signifier, and it’s meaning is made only in the act of reading.

9. Intro to Poetry • Poetry itself isn’t all one thing. • A good poem is not a secret message one needs a special decoder ring or an advanced degree to decipher. • Poetry is, in certain vital ways, distinct from other forms of writing. • Yet the questions we ask of a poem and the techniques we use to understand it are simply variations of the same ones we use in reading fiction or drama. • Poems aren’t nearly as fragile as we take them to be.

10. Poetry Defined • Poetry contains • The patterned arrangement of language • To generate rhythm • To express and evoke specific feelings or emotions • In a concentrated way or with intensity

11. Discussion Question • Look at “Head, Heart” on page 478. • In groups of 3 or 4, decide whether this text can be classified as a poem. Be prepared to defend your answer to the rest of the class.

12. “Head, Heart” Poem Not a Poem Emotion Figurative language (metonymy, personification) Length Is it “sufficiently aural”? Rhythm?

13. The Narrative Poem • Narrative • It has a plot related by a narrator • Epics, romances, and ballads are all examples of narrative poems. • In groups of 3 or 4, look at “Richard Cory” on page 482 and answer the two questions at the bottom of the poem. Be prepared to share your answers with the rest of the class.

14. The Dramatic Poem • Any poem that consists wholly of dialogue among characters, unmediated by a narrator, counts as a dramatic poem. • These poems focus on character and conflict as well as setting, tone, language, symbol, and theme.

15. The Lyric Poem • Lyrical poems are probably what you think of when you think of a poem. • They were designed to be sung, accompanied by a lyre (a stringed instrument). • Lyrical poems focus primarily on feelings, impressions, and thoughts—that is, on the subjective, inward experience—of a single first-person speaker.

16. Descriptive or Observational Lyrics • These poems “describe something or someone to us without bringing much attention to the speaker’s personal state of mind or feelings” (487) • Poetry “strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare [its] naked and sleeping beauty and wonder” and a poet is “someone who notices and is enormously taken by things that somebody else would walk by” (487).

17. The Dramatic Monologue • Somewhere in between lyric and dramatic poetry, the dramatic monologue focuses on characterization: an obviously fictional or historical speaker’s often uninentional revelation of his or her personality, outlook, and values. • Often, dramatic monolgues invite us to see their speakers and situations differently than they do, akin to unreliable narrators in fiction.

18. “Nebraska” • Listen to “Nebraska” and follow along in your book (page 489-90) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iir_xAbt-ak • In groups of 3 or 4, answer the question at the bottom of the song (page 490). Be prepared to share your answer with the rest of the class.

19. Responding to Poetry“We Wear the Mask” (pg 704) • 1. Listen first • Read it, preferably aloud • You might also find audio recordings online • At this point, don’t worry too much about what it means.

20. Responding to Poetry • 2. Articulate expectations based on title • How does the poem fulfill or frustrate those expectations?

21. Responding to Poetry • 3. Read the syntax literally • Idenify sentences • Reorder sentences • Replace pronouns with antecedents • Translate sentences into modern prose • Note ambiguities in the original language—these allow for multiple interpretations

22. Responding to Poetry • 4. Consult reference works • Look for allusions to places, people, myths, legends, quotations, etc.

23. Responding to Poetry • 5. Ask who, what, were, and when • Who is speaking? Listening (auditor)? Other characters? • What is the setting? • What is the situation? What action or plot takes place?

24. Responding to Poetry • 6. Why does it matter? • What problems, issues, questions, or conflicts does the poem explore that might be relevant to people other than the speaker(s) or the poet?

25. Responding to Poetry • 7. Consider how the poem’s form contributes to its effect and meaning. • How is it orgainzed on the page, into lines or stanzas? • Is there rhyme? Alliteration? What is its rhythm? • What gets lost when you translate the poem into modern prose?

26. Responding to Poetry • 8. Investigate the ways the poem both uses and departs from poetic conventions, especially those related to form and subgenre.

27. Responding to Poetry • 9. Discuss the poem with others, both aloud and in writing.