Literature 1: The Great Works

Literary Genres

• Literary genres are categorized into prose and poetry.

Breakout Rooms

• Room 1 focuses on Prose: Modern Drama, Essay, Prose Fiction.
• Room 2 explores Narrative Poetry.
• Room 3 centers on Lyric Poetry.
• Room 4 delves into Dramatic Poetry.
• Room 5 discusses various Literary Movements.
• Room 6 highlights Other Forms of Poetry (e.g., Haiku, Cinquain).

Poetry Overview

• The earliest literary form, distinguished by rhyme, meter, and figurative language.
• Examples of Narrative Poetry include:
  • Epic: Long narratives like "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" about legendary heroes.
  • Metrical Romance: Long poems from the Middle Ages, e.g., King Arthur tales.
  • Ballad: Songs or verses meant to be sung, including:
    • Folk Ballads: Traditional, e.g., "Get Up and Bar the Door."
    • Literary Ballads: Written by authors, e.g., "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by Keats.
  • Metrical Tales: Similar to short stories, e.g., Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales."

Lyric Poetry

• Derived from the lyre, intended for singing.
• Types include:
  • Ode: Expresses admiration, e.g., "Ode to the West Wind" by Shelley.
  • Elegy: Reflects on loss or death, e.g., "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Keats.
  • Sonnet: Consists of fourteen iambic pentameter lines, with examples from Browning and Shakespeare.

Types of Sonnets

• Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet:

  • Composed of an octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) with varied rhyme schemes.
  • Features a "volta" or turn at line 9.

• English/Shakespearean Sonnet:

  • Contains three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet (a b a b/c d c d/e f e f/g g).
  • The "volta" can be placed flexibly, often at the end.

Dramatic Poetry

• Combines speech and action, creating life and character, includes:
  • Poetic Plays: Comedia, tragedy, and more.
  • Masque: Similar to opera with elaborate settings and music.
  • Dramatic Monologue: Features a single speaker, e.g., Browning’s "My Last Duchess."

Prose Overview

• Utilizes everyday language with sentences and paragraphs, offering intimacy.
• Types include:
  • Modern Drama: E.g., Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House."
  • Essay: Reflects the author's thoughts, e.g., Bacon’s "Of Studies."
  • Prose Fiction: Encompasses allegories, novels, novelettes, short stories, and biographical narratives.

Literary Movements

• Romanticism:

  • Highlights the positive aspects of life, often idealizing historical figures.

• Realism:

  • Portrays life accurately, reflecting both its positive and negative aspects.

• Naturalism:

  • Presents a bleak view of life as inherently meaningless, often portraying characters as victims of their environment.

Elements of Poetry

• Metaphors: Majestic comparisons that clarify meaning.

  • Direct Metaphor: Example "My love is a rose."
  • Indirect Metaphor: Example "My love has a rosy bloom."

• Simile: Direct comparison using 'like' or 'as'.

• Personification: Assigning human qualities to non-human elements.

Poetic Devices

• Hyperbole: Exaggeration for emphasis, e.g., "A hundred years should go to praise..."
• Litotes: Understatement, e.g., "Not a bad writer."
• Idiom: Expressions whose meanings differ from their literal interpretations.

Elements of Short Story

• Story Grammar Components: Setting, characters, plot, climax, theme, resolution, and denouement are crucial for narrative structure.
• Characterization Styles:
  • Direct: Explicitly outlining character traits.
  • Indirect: Revealing character through actions, speech, and responses from others.

Plot Structure

• Essential narrative components: inciting incident, development, climax, denouement, and resolution.
• Techniques include suspense, foreshadowing, flashbacks, and surprise endings.

Conflict

• Represents a struggle between opposing forces, either external (against outside forces) or internal (within a character’s mind).

Theme

• A story’s central message or insight, expressed either directly or implied; interpretations help uncover it.

Setting Functions

• Establishes mood, illustrates life, enhances realism, symbolizes concepts, and sources conflict.