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 (attentive to details, forming a
  pattern, analyzing a passage and its context)
  some notes and one paper as examples
• 2. reading and taking notes of a longer text
• 3. different literary genres movements (gothic
  fiction, dramatic monologue metaphysical poetry,
  sonnet, medieval ballad, expressionist tragedy)
• 4. themes boundary-crossing, love seen from
  different perspectives human mortality modern
  city and American South, family relations,
  madness and memory
• 5. Reflection and holding a dialogue with the
  text
• 6. final exam

3
From part to whole 1. Attentive to Textual
Details

• (Porphyrias Love)
• The sullen wind was soon awake, It tore the
  elm-tops down for spite,?
• these two sentences gave the reader a new view of
  the wind, because usually the wind gives people a
  gentle feeling like the breeze, but here it tore
  the elm on purpose it feels like the wind was
  furious and gloomy.
• And did its worst to vex the lake ?
• It feels like the wind becomes a naughty kid

4
From part to whole 2. Recollecting Details to
Form a Pattern

• (Porphyrias Love)
• I am quite sure she felt no pain
• How could he be quite sure that she felt no
  pain? I think it was his hallucination and
  arrogance
• Only, this time my shoulder bore
• Earlier in the poem, she bore him on her
  shoulders to sooth him from his sorrows/ to show
  her love for him. Now that she's dead and on his
  shoulders. Very ironic.
• So glad
• This is also ironic, saying that she finally gets
  the love that she wants from her lover, dead.

5
From part to whole 3. Analyzing Techniques in
Context

• (To His Coy Mistress) (literary techniques
  listed)
• There are several literary techniques used in
  this poem. The first one is simile. For example,
  Andrew Marvell used morning dew to represent
  the crystal-clear skin (transient youth) of the
  mistress and amorous birds of prey to depict
  the delightful groans(?) made by a pair of lovers
  when they are making love with each other.
  Marvell also used the Flood and the conversion
  of the Jews to compare the end of the world.
  Moreover, marble vault is a comparison to the
  womb. There is also an allusion in the poem.
  Marvell used the term, vegetable love, to
  indicate that this kind of love is capable only
  of passive growth, not of consciousness, although
  it grows longer, slower, and vaster. There are
  puns in the poem. For instance, Marvell used the
  word, sun, with the double meaning of son and
  run which carries the meaning of the times
  going fast and the ladys running away. The whole
  poem is full of conceit and hyperbole which are
  showed in the use of large space and time to woo
  slowly.

6
From part to whole 3. Analyzing Techniques in
Context

• (To His Coy Mistress) rev
• After the hyperbolic hypothesis of age-long and
  expansive courtship gets denied by the gruesome
  reality of marble vault mortality, the speaker
  uses simile, conceit and hyperbole make a
  proposal of seizing the day. While the ladys
  youth is compared to transient morning dew, the
  speaker suggests that they become amorous birds
  of prey which devour time rather than being
  consumed(slow chapped ) by it. Opposed to the
  vegetable love the speaker would be willing to
  be engaged in if they had all the time till the
  Flood and the conversion of the Jews, the
  speaker here suggests that they roll themselves
  (strength and sweetness) into one ball to
  face and fully experience the passing of time,
  its pleasures and pains (tear our pleasures with
  rough strife/Thorough the iron gates of life).

7
From part to whole Analyzing Techniques in
Context

• (To His Coy Mistress) rev 2
• After the two surprising conceits--amorous birds
  of prey and ball, the proposal ends with an
  ambiguous and ambitious boast that they will
  make the sun run. To make the sun run, on
  the one hand, the speaker suggests that they
  fully embrace the passage of time so that they
  seem to make time run. On the other hand, the
  sun puns with son, suggesting that they make
  produce a sun through love-making. The whole
  poem, in this way, expresses wittily with
  conceit, pun and hyperbole the meaningfulness of
  loving and seizing the day while they can.

8
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).

9
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 organized argument.
• 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 the characters with flaws but still
  noble or humane features (The Glass Menagerie not
  a greek tragedy)
• Expressionism presentation (thru symbol or
  some other formal device) of subjective feelings
  but not/more than objective reality.

10
Theme(1) Boundary-Crossing

• Boundary-Crossing can be breaking constraints to
  be involved in interaction between the self and
  the other exploration and entering the terrain
  of the unknown it can also be violation and
  invasion.
• A general movement since the 19th century
  (modernity), more prevalent nowadays (the
  postmodern age).
• Between life and death differently by men (the
  insane, the possessive and the heroic and
  idealistic), or by women (for self-preservation
  or to break the constraint)
• In the self, and between self and Other the
  conscious and the unconscious, double, racial
  others
• geographical boundaries, between self and Nature
• Between different disciplines such as art and
  science math and music, etc.

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Theme(2) love seen from different perspectives

• ExtremesLove and Death Porphyrias Lover My
  Last Duchess A Rose for Emily Barbara Allen
  Edward
• Physical vs. Spiritual Valediction Flea,
  RJs the courting sonnet, "The Sick Rose"
• The ritual of lovecourtship and persuasion

• More realistic views
• Pygmalion,
• Romance frustrated by environment A Rose for
  Emily Araby AP
• The Glass Menagerie

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Theme (3) human mortality

• Love vs. Human Mortality the transience of life
  presented through seasonal changes (summer,
  autumn), twilight, fire/ember. (sonnet 18 73)
  note the ambiguous endings.
• Love Death to possess by killing is futile,
  just as union in death is only a myth of the past.

13
Theme (3) Modern City and American South

• American South Aristocratic manners
  (civilization), music, flowers, porch, and
  courtship of gentleman callers? degradation
  (departure of the father) and displacement
• Signs of Modern City fire escape, dark alleys,
  paradise dance hall, radio, TV, electricity and
  the wars

14
Theme (4) family relations, madness and memory

• Memory expressed emotionally through screen
  devices and music filmic juxtaposition of the
  past and the present
• Madness the lines unclear
• Family Constraints and Connections (Two Kinds,
  A Rose for Emily My Mother and the Bed, I
  Asked My Mother to Sing Those Winter Sundays
  Cat in the Rain ) Care-taking and
  encouragement, understanding and imposition
• Under family constraints, one still has to assert
  oneselfwithout hurting the family members too
  much. Catherine does.

15
Reflection and Dialogue (1)

•  Andre If the monster were good-looking, would
  the story be different???
• Echo Yes. I think the look of the monster is a
  key, an important setup to unfold the later
  events.

16
Reflection and Dialogue

• Kate Frankenstein does not create the monster
  for any selfish purposes.         However, in
  the later sci-fi films, such as Blade Runner,
  Artificial Intelligence and the recent "Island,"
  cyborgs or clones are created to serve human
  beings, so they have to be killed after their
  functions are fulfilled even though they are
  beautiful.

17
Reflection and Dialogue (2)

• Would Laura be more confident after being
  encouraged by Jim? Would she blow off the
  candle to welcome modern life?
• To re-write the story, you would need to
• Show how the first step is taken e.g. Laura
  starts to acquire some skills to survive
• Make Jim less impulsive
• Shift the context maybe to todays world of
  Internet. ?

18
Final Exam

• Altogether you should answer 5 questions.
• Close Analysis-- Choose 2 (40 )
• Essay Questions I Choose 2 (40 , 20 each)
• Essay Question II (20)no choice
• How does Tom in The Glass Menagerie narrate the
  story? What is the function(s) of his narrative
  frame? Please compare it with the narrative
  frame (of Waltons letters) in Frankenstein.
• Things to consider
• Toms ways of setting the context Tom the
  narrator vs. Tom the character (Note Tom
  ?Tennessee Williams.)
• The functions of beginning and ending
  introduction resolution of the conflicts and
  distancing the extraordinary/traumatic.
• Enjoy learning and good luck!