Literature Introduction Essay

What Is Literature and Why Do We Study It? Literature is Com pip that tells a story, dramatizes a situation, expresses emotions, analyzes and advocates ideas Helps us grow someoneally and intellectually Provides an objective base for fill outledge and understanding Shapes our goals and determine by clarifying our own identities, twain positively and negatively Literature makes us human. Genres Four genres of lit Prose fiction Myths, parables, romances, novels, short stories Poetry Open form and closed form Relies on imagery, figurative language, lowering Drama. Made up of dialogue and set direction Designed to be performed Nonfiction prose News reports, bear articles, essays, editorials, textbooks, historical and biographical works Guidelines for Reading Literature First call foring Determine what is happening, where, what, who is involved, major characters restore a record of your reactions and responses Describe characterizations, events, techniques and ideas Second reading Trace developing patterns Write expanded notes nigh characters, situations, actions Write paragraph describing your reactions and thoughts Write bulge out questions that arise as you read (in the margins)Writing a precis Precis = a concise summary = paraphrase Retell the highlights so reader will know main sections Only essential details they must be correct and accurate Must be an original essay, written in your own run-in Be sure to introduce the title and former Avoid judgments Use present tense when retelling a story Elements of Fiction Essence of fiction = storey (the telling) Elements of fiction = verisimilitude and donnee Verisimilitude = realism Must be compelling enough that the reader can suspend disbelief Donnee = premise Some occasion given by which you can judge the realism = ground rules. Sources of elements cause, plot, structure, theme, symbolism, style, point of view, tone, irony secret plan and Structure Plot = refl ection of motivation and causation No plot = The king died and then the cig aret died. Plot = The king died, and then the queen died of grief. involvement = controlling impulse in a committed pattern of causes and effects Opposition of twain or more people (e. g. , hatred, envy, anger, argument, avoidance, gossip, lies, fighting, etc. ) Dilemma = Conflict within or for one person Conflict is a major element of plot because it arouses curiosity, causes.doubt, creates tension, produces participation No tension = no interest Structure of Fiction Structure defines the layout of the work Crisis Complication closing Exposition Resolution (denouement) Another structural element used sometimes = Flashback Characters in Fiction Character = verbal representation of a human being Rounded = lifelike, full, dynamic, reader can predict future behavior because of an understanding of the component partlity Protagonist = the hero or heroine, main person in the story, person on the quest, etc. Antagonist = the person causing the conflict, in opposition to the protagonist, the obstacle, etc. Flat = no growth, static Stock = representative of a group or class (stereotypical) Characters disclosed through Actions Descriptions, both personal and environmental Dramatic statements and thoughts Statements by other characters Statements by the author speaking as storyteller, or observer Characters need to have verisimilitude, be probable or plausible Point of View Refers to speaker, narrator, persona or voice created by the author to tell the story Point of view depends on two factors Physical situation of the narrator as an observer Speakers intellectual and emotional position First person = I, we Second person = You (uncommon) Third person = He, she, they (most common) Point of view may be Dramatic/objective = strictly reporting Omniscient = all-knowing Limited omniscient = some acuteness Setting Setting = a works natural, manufactured, political , cultural and temporal environment, including everything that characters know and own (place, time, objects) major purpose = to establish realism or verisimilitude, and to organize a story Setting helps create glory or mood Setting may reinforce characters and theme, in order to establish expectations that are the oppositeness of what occurs = irony.Tone and Style Tone = methods by which writers and speakers reveal attitudes or feelings Style = ways in which writers pucker words to tell the story, to develop an argument, dramatize the play, compose the poem Choice of words in the help of content Essential aspect of style is diction Formal = standard or elegant words Neutral = everyday standard vocabulary Informal = colloquial, substandard language, slang Tone and Style (contd) linguistic communication may be Specific = images General = broad classes Concrete = qualities of immediate perception Abstract = broader, slight palpable qualities Denotation = word mea nings Connotation = word suggestions Verbal irony = contradictory statements One thing said, opposite is meant Irony = satire, parody, sarcasm, double entendre Understatement = does not fully describe the importance of a situation purposely Hyperbole (overstatement) = words far in excess of the situation Symbolism and metaphor Symbolism and allegory are modes that expand meaning Symbol creates a direct, meaningful equation between A particularized object, scene, character, or action Ideas, value, persons or ways of life Symbols may be Cultural (universal) = known by most literate people (e. g. , white dove, color black) Contextual (authorial) = private, created by the author Symbolism and Allegory (contd) Allegory is a symbol = complete and self-sufficient narrative (e. g. , Young Goodman Brown) Fable = stories around animals that possess human traits (e. g. , Aesops Fables) Parable = allegory with moral or religious bent (e.g. , scriptural stories) Myth = story that embodies and codifies religious, philosophical and cultural values of the civilization in which it is composed (e. g. , George Washington chopping down the cherry tree) Allusion = the use of other culturally well=known works from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, noteworthy art, etc. Idea or Theme Idea = results of general and abstract thinking Literature embodies values along with ideas In literature, ideas relate to meaning, interpretation, explanation and significance Ideas are vital to an understanding and appreciation of literature. Ideas are not as obvious as character or setting. It is important to consider the meaning of what youve read and then develop an explanatory and comprehensive assertion. Theme can be found in any of these Direct statements by the authorial voice Direct statements by a first-person speaker Dramatic statements by characters Figurative language, characters who stand for ideas The work itself.