Introduction to Literature

1
Introduction to Literature

• Conclusion

2
What have we learned together?

• 1. close analysis of the form and content of a
  literary text (from part to whole from notes to
  organized analysis) one note and two journals as
  examples
• 2. reading and taking notes of a longer text
  one discussion entry as an example
• 3. different literary genres movements (comedy
  of manners, dramatic monologue metaphysical
  poetry, sonnet, medieval ballad, tragedy)
• 4. themes love seen from different perspectives
  the influences of class, human mortality,
  capitalism and American Dream
• 5. final exam

3
From part to whole Annotating Textual Details

• And out of his grave grew a red, red rose/And out
  of hers, a briar.
• It's very interesting, rose stands for the man's
  love, briar stands for the woman's love also.
  Briar is not as beautiful as rose, however, rose
  also has thron. They will not hurt each other. I
  think the interesting combination also reflect
  their love, seems not match, however, a couple
  born to be together.(?)

4
Annotating Textual Details --addition

• And out of his grave grew a red, red rose/And out
  of hers, a briar.
• They grew and grew in the old churchyard, Till
  they couldn't grow no higher, They lapped and
  tied in a true love's knot. The rose ran around
  the briar. 
• It's very interesting that rose stands for the
  man's love, and briar stands for the woman's
  love. Briar has sharp thorn and it is not as
  beautiful as rose however, rose also has thorn.
  They will not hurt each other instead, they form
  a true lovers knot. I think the interesting
  combination also reflect that although their love
  seems not to match each others when they are
  alive, they become a couple after death. Also, in
  death, the man is presented as more beautiful and
  active in possessing his love.

5
Annotating Textual Details --extension

• The different endings of different versions of
  Barbara Allen reveal different attitudes to
  womens independence. In the version 1 and
  version 2 we read, Barbara Allen turns down the
  young man either because she is slighted, or
  because she obeys her parents. At the end of the
  two versions, then, they get transformed
  respectively into a briar and a rose which are
  intertwined to form a true lovers knot.
  Although their love seems not to match when they
  are alive, they become a couple after death.
• When their mismatch is caused by the parents
  intervention, the poem does not specify who is
  the rose, and who, the briar. However, in
  version 1, where Barbara Allen misunderstands the
  man, Barbara is compared to the briar with sharp
  thorn, while the young man, a beautiful rose.
  Also, in death, the man is active in possessing
  his love. The ending thus seems to be a
  compensation more for the man than for Barbara
  Allen.
• In the Childs ballad version 2, Barbara Allen is
  presented as a hard-hearted woman who refuses the
  young man for no reason. The ending, then, just
  shows how she repents and dies, without any sense
  of compensation.

6
Journal (1) on Comparison between Shall I
Compare Thee to a Summers Day To his Coy
Mistress (1)

• In both poems, the speakers revealed their strong
  passion to those who they admired, both in
  physics and in minds(?). For instance, in To His
  Coy Mistress, the speaker revealed his strong
  passion by comparing her with the width of the
  earth and the time(?).
• In another hand, Shall I Compare Thee to a
  Summers Day? is more temperate. (Thou art more
  lovely and more temperate.) Still, the speaker
  compared the woman with the nature.

7
Comparison (2)

• Although the both poems are all about strong
  admiration about beauties, what they believed in
  love is quite different. In the To His Coy
  Mistress, the speaker believes in short but
  passionate love. . . .
• In the Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day?
  the speaker focused more about the eternal beauty
  (preserved by what?). . . .
• Two same passion to woman but expressed in
  different ways, even I could be moved and touched
  by those extreme but firm words nearly
  ridiculous but shocking sentences (of both
  poems?).

8
Journal on Comparison between Shall I Compare
Thee to a Summers Day To his Coy Mistress
rev

• The two poems are different in many ways in
  their use of nature and their attitudes toward
  love. However, they show the same concern with
  human mortality. In both poems, the speakers
  revealed their love for their lovers through
  images of nature of different kinds. For
  instance, in To His Coy Mistress, the speaker
  reveals the strength of his love with hyperbole
  claiming that he will be patient with their
  distance across the continent (between Ganges and
  Humber) and that he will use the time of the
  whole human history to praise her.
• Nature in Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers
  Day? is presented as seasonal changes, or the
  summer which is transient. The speaker claims
  that his lover is more temperate and lovely
  than summer, which . . .

9
Rev (2)

• Although both poems express the speakers
  admiration of beauties, their main point is quite
  different. In To His Coy Mistress, the speaker
  believes in seizing the day with their passionate
  and sensual love. He suggests to the lover that
  they roll their sweetness up into one ball/And
  tear their pleasures with rough strife/Thorough
  the iron gates of life. If the ball here
  suggest physical union, it is used also to fight
  against and experience mortality (the iron gates
  of life). The intensity of life is further
  suggested in the idea that they will make the sun
  (meaning time) run, since they cannot stop it.
• In the Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day?
  the speaker focuses on the eternal beauty
  preserved in the speakers poem..

10
Rev (3)

• Despite their differences in the use of nature
  images and their attitudes toward love, both
  poems share the concern with human mortality, one
  with graphic images of the tomb and the worms,
  while the other, more moderate images of the
  decline of the fair and rough winds.

11
Journal (2) on (1)be text-specific

• She Walks in Beauty To His Coy Mistress the
  courting sonnet
• When studying the three poems, I find that the
  speakers are all males. ? no, Juliet responds
  actively.

12
Journal (2) on (2) free association vs. careful
analysis

• I see an interesting idea from the Internet that
  the lady in this poem makes me think she is not
  a real person. Instead, she is more like a
  beautiful ghost in Chinese mythology, which
  makes me think of ???? since its in the dark
  and the girls beauty is so unbelievable. ?Why
  is it unbelievable?
• SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY, like the night             
  Of cloudless climes and starry skies  
             And all that's best of dark and
  bright        Meet in her aspect and her eyes 
• Thus mellow'd to that tender light        Which
  heaven to gaudy day denies. 
• (mind, cheek, brow, smile, goodness inside, mind
  at peace and heart with innocent love.)  

13
Journal (2) on (1)avoid sweeping
generalization

• Love, the greatest pursuit for everyone in the
  world, is sometimes hard to achieve. Thought the
  speakers in the chosen three materials use
  different ways to shoe their affection, the
  intensity of their love is of no doubt. The
  courage (like To his coy mistress) to be after
  love, or the passion to use the greatest way (?
  In terms of perfection? With sophistry?? ? ) to
  praise ones lover, is to be remembered forever.
  (personal response vs. analysis)

14
Reading a Longer Text

• Like reading your own life, you need to
• (1) experience it yourself, instead of depending
  on plot summary, study guides or Chinese
  translation
• (2) take notes and re-read the text with the help
  of the notes (and study guides).

15
Q 1

• Pay attention to the things the stage directions
  mention to make the transition (e.g. the womans
  laughter, Bernards words, the flute, etc.) Why?
  If we see the whole play as dominated by Willys
  stream of consciousness (the original title of
  the play is Inside his Head), what importance do
  these words and gestures and object have in his
  mind?

16
A

• In this play, the music of a flute can be heard
  many times, and actually it serves a very
  important function in this playit's a symbol of
  Willy's dreamhis dream of being a successful
  traveling merchant like his father, who made
  flute by himself and sold them across the
  country. end of this par The author used the
  sound of the flute to begin and end this play,
  suggesting that Willy's dream composed the whole
  play and continued after his death. At the end of
  the play, on page 1265, Linda said that she was
  still expecting him, and she made the last
  payment on their housethey were free eventually.
  (relevance?) But Willy had died, being too late
  to see his dream of being free realized.
  (contradictory?)
• another par As to the woman's laughter,
• end The voices of the woman and Bernard can be
  seen as reminders of Willy's pain past, some
  reality that he didn't want to face that had
  ruined the future and life of himself and his son
  Biff.

17
A rev. Be more organizedgive introd and
conclusion

• In this play, the music of the flute, the womans
  laughter and Bernards words can be heard many
  times, suggesting Willys dream and sense of
  guilty respectively.
• Flute at the beginning (small and fine,
  telling of grass and trees and the horizon) ?
  occurs when Willy thinks of his father and talks
  to Ben.
• another par As to the woman's laughter,
• the third Bernards
• conclusion One way or another, reality is not
  escapable while dream, to be remembered. The
  Womans and Bernards sound also drive Willy to
  face the past reality, while the flute is a
  permanent reminder of Willys dream. . . . At
  the end, the music of the flute signals Willys
  feeble influence after his death, lingering in
  the darkened small house set against background
  of the large apartment buildings.

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Genre Definitions and Analysis

• dramatic monologue where, when, how and why ?
  the monologists mentality and purpose, and the
  dramatic ironies implied.
• metaphysical poetry metaphysical conceit
  concept of love an argument presented.
• Sonnet also an argument (in three quatrains and
  a couplet or in octave and sestet)
• medieval ballad language, use of symbol and
  repetition, structure (start with climax, etc),
  versions,
• Tragedy Millers concept of Modern Tragedy
• Expressionism rending (thru symbol or some
  other formal device) of subjective feelings but
  not/more than objective reality.

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Theme(1) love seen from different perspectives

• More realistic views
• Pride and Prejudice Pygmalion Yellow Sky
  AP ? impossibility of romance
• Romance made possible by money 1,000,000
• Romance frustrated by environment A Rose for
  Emily Araby

• ExtremesLove and Death Porphyrias Lover My
  Last Duchess A Rose for Emily
• Barbara Allen Edward
• The ritual of lovecourtship and persuasion

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Theme (2) human mortality

• Love vs. Human Mortality the transience of life
  presented through seasonal changes, twilight,
  fire/ember.
• Spiritual Love vs. Physical Separation
  (Valediction Forbidding Mourning)
• Love Death to possess by killing is futile,
  just as union in death is only a myth of the
  past.

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Theme (3) class, capitalism and American Dream

• Class distinction more subtle, not by land, but
  by (1) ones cultivation (2) abstract signs
  (recorder, car, etc.)
• Money relative values, in the form of banknote,
  credit card or mortgage.
• Commodities endless desire for them
• Appearance vs. Realityof ones abilities, of
  the ugly fights or of how little freedom we have.
  

22
Final Exam

• Altogether you should answer 6 questions.
• Close Analysis-- Choose 2 (24 )
• Essay Questions Choose 3 (60 , 20 each)
• Essay Question (2) (16) Show what you have
  learned more creatively!!!
• Write up a different ending to a story/novel or
  poem (which involves a story) we have read, and
  explain why you want to change the ending.
• What is literary analysis? How is form related
  to content? Use one text we have read in this
  semester to illustrate your points.
• Except for Death of a Salesman, do not repeat in
  your use of examples.
• Enjoy learning and good luck!