2007 BM1 Introduction to Literature, Part 2
The second part of our Basismodule focuses on techniques of textual analysis in the context of discussing literature. We are offering seven parallel courses (supported by tutorials). Please make sure that you are registered in Stud.IP both for the main page of the module and for your individual course. All parallel courses have a common structure, but each course may differ in emphasis. You will find information relating to all the courses on this page, and the pages for the individual courses for information on your course:
- 2007 BM1-A Olaf Simons, Mo 14-16
- 2007 BM1-B Anton Kirchhofer, Tu 14-16
- 2007 BM1-C Olaf Simons, Tu 14-16
- 2007 BM1-D Anna Auguscik, Tu 14-16
- 2007 BM1-E Olaf Simons, We 16-18
- 2007 BM1-F Katharina Schneider, AK, OS, Fr 8-10
- 2007 BM1-G Annika McPherson, Tu 12-14
- Tutorials:
The texts for our courses will come from a common pool, though each course may have a different choice. You should make sure to read at least those texts that are dealt with in your course.
The "analytical tools" will be presented by the lectures (on a handout) in each meeting. The additional reading from which these 'tools' are taken is not obligatory, and it can be done either before or after.
Both the texts and the other materials will be made accessible to you electronically (cf. the links below) and as a master copy at Wersig. In addition you will need to purchase the Shakespeare play read in your course in an Arden Edition (ca. 14 EUR at the CvO bookshop).
Course work: You will be asked to hand in three assignments (in week 4, 7 and 10 respectively) and produce a Research Paper Outline (due August 15 2007). The assignments are limited to a max. of 2-3 pages of text, formatted according to the style sheet, and will require you to analyse poetry, drama and fiction respectively. For the Research Paper Outline you will need to find your own topic to work on and document the preliminary work (this includes finding an appropriate title, writing a paragraph that describes your problem and your goal, and presenting a tentative table of contents and a short bibliography).
Tutorials will help you to practise your analysis skills and support you in doing your assignments and Research Paper Outline.
Contents
- 1 A Poem
- 2 Poetry and Poetics
- 3 Poetry and Poetics: Speaking about Beautiful/Artful Language
- 4 Rhetoric
- 5 Dramatic Structures, Dramatic Communication
- 6 Drama: Characters and Genre Aspects
- 7 Drama and Fiction
- 8 Fiction 1
- 9 Fiction 2
- 10 Film
- 11 Beyond the Canon 1
- 12 Beyond the Canon 2
- 13 Term Paper Projects
A Poem
Texts
Skills and Activities
Group work with presentations:
- What is poetic about this poem?
- What are the Themes of the poem?
- What historical contexts?
- What is its cultural significance (then and later/now)?
Seminar discussion: What discourses did you employ? What traditions do they belong to? How does this relate back to the lecture of the Winter Term? Survey of the coming Term.
Poetry and Poetics
Analytical Tools
- Handout Analysing Poetry 1
- Sources: Culler 161-178; Ludwig, 31-33; Cambridge Companion to Literatures in English
Texts
- Sir Philip Sidney, "Not at first sight" from Astrophil and Stella
- Sir Philip Sidney, "Loving in Truth" from Astrophil and Stella
- W. Percy, "Sonnet II" from Sonnets to the Fairest Coelia
- William Shakespeare, "Sonnet CXXX" from The Sonnets
- William Wordsworth, "Scorn Not the Sonnet"
- Walt Whitman, "One's Self I Sing"
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "The Sonnet" from The House of Life
- Christina Rossetti, "I wish I could remember" from A Pageant and Other Poems
- Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
- Langston Hughes, "I, Too"
- Emily Dickinson, "This was a Poet"
- e.e. cummings, "pity this busy monster, manunkind"
Skills and Activities
Structural approach to poetry: Communicative situation, themes, metrics and language. Acquire a basic checklist of what to look (first) for in a poem. Recapitulate the basics of metrics and rhyme patterns. Recognise the features of a particular genre and genre conventions: the Sonnet
Poetry and Poetics: Speaking about Beautiful/Artful Language
Analytical Tools
Texts
- George Herbert. "The Deniall" The Temple. Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations. University of Cambridge, T. Buck and R. Daniel, 1633.
- Emily Dickinson
Skills and Activities
Figurative language, interplay. Spot metaphors, similes, etc. the metric pattern and valorise the points where it is broken. Reinforce basic checklist of previous week. Analyse particular features of poetic language (figures of speech, metrical effects). [assignment 1 given]
Rhetoric
Analytical Tools
Plett 3-22, 102-105 Excerpt from Plett
Texts
One of the three Shakespeare plays
Skills and Activities
A speech from the Shakespeare play of the next four sessions [assignment 1 due]
Dramatic Structures, Dramatic Communication
Analytical Tools
Pfister 49 - 57, 86 - 94, 126 - 147 Excerpt from Pfister
Handout: Analysing Dramatic Communication
Texts
One of the three Shakespeare plays
Skills and Activities
Exposition
Drama: Characters and Genre Aspects
Analytical Tools
Pfister 183 - 195 Excerpt from Pfister
Texts
One of the three Shakespeare plays
Skills and Activities
Distinguish modes of characterisation [assignment 2 given]
Drama and Fiction
Analytical Tools
- Aristotle, Poetics
- Huet, Pierre Daniel, Treatise of Romances [1670] (1672)
- Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, Art of Poetry (1687)
Texts
- Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Young Goodman Brown [1835]." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. B. Fifth Edition. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 2258-2267.
- Coover, Magic Poker
Skills and Activities
An understanding of genres in the context of traditional poetics, and of the transition from poetic genres to literary genres. [assignment 2 due]
Fiction 1
Analytical Tools
Handout: Focalisation and Narration
Texts
- Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Young Goodman Brown (1835)." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. B. Fifth Edition. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 2258-2267.
- Katherine Mansfield. "The Voyage." The Garden Party and Other Stories. London: Constable and Company Ltd, 1922. 184-198.
- Ambrose Bierce. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." (first published??) -- Gutenberg.org Etext
- Robert Coover, "Magic Poker"
Skills and Activities
Narration, Focalisation. [assignment 2 returned]
Fiction 2
Analytical Tools
Handout: Characterisation
Texts
- Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Young Goodman Brown [1835]." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. B. Fifth Edition. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 2258-2267.
- Katherine Mansfield. "The Voyage." The Garden Party and Other Stories. London: Constable and Company Ltd, 1922. 184-198.
- Coover, Magic Poker
Skills and Activities
Plot and Characters. [assignment 3 given]
Film
Analytical Tools
- Handout: Film Analysis
- David Bordwell et al.; Korte, Einführung in die Systematische Filmanalyse (2000)
Texts
Pulp Fiction
Skills and Activities
Spectacle, Narratives and Fiction. Film Analysis. [assignment 3 due]
Beyond the Canon 1
Analytical Tools
Texts
John Mandeville, Voyages [c. 1360] (1705)
Skills and Activities
Literary Analysis and non-literary materials, [assignment 3 returned]
Beyond the Canon 2
Analytical Tools
Texts
Orientalist GEO, Time Life, Palestine, India etc.
Skills and Activities
Literary Analysis and non-literary materials
Term Paper Projects
Skills and Activities
Brief Report on 'Work in Progress': Your Term Paper Projects
