GIÁO VÀ CÔNG TP.HCM V ANH- Biên Thu www.ENG170* Các ý góp tài này, xin e-mail ban biên t tailieuhoctap@hutech.vn CONTENTS I CONTENTS CONTENTS. II UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE. 1 UNIT 2: INTRODUCTION INTO BRITISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE. 12 UNIT 3: ROBERT BURNS (1759-1796).
65 UNIT 5: DORIS LESING (1919-2013). 79 UNIT 7: ROBERT FROST (1874-1963). 93 UNIT 8: LANGSTON HUGHES (1902-1967). 100 UNIT 9: KATE CHOPIN (1850-1904).
104 UNIT 10: ALICE WALKER (1944-). 124 II PREFACE PREFACE The textbook is designed with the hope to provide English majors of Hutech with preliminary theoretical knowledge of literary analysis as well as British and American literature. Due to the limited time for the course, the scope of the textbook is narrowed down to two major genres, namely poetry and short fiction. Consequently, besides the introductory section on English versification, figures of speech and musical devices, the five elements of fiction are also briefly presented with the expectation to help students take a formal approach in analyzing a literary work.
So as to provide students with a glimpse of the development of literature in England and the U.S, major literary periods are highlighted with important historical events, their main characteristics and major authors, which could be read by students at home for further understanding of the works they are going to discuss in class. Four poems and four short stories are selected as representatives for both British and American literature, the selection of which is a tough decision as there is a multitude of masterpieces and impeccable authors. For each literary piece, there are guided discussion questions which include two levels of analysis, the first part dealing with the literal meaning to help break the language barrier and the second part goes deeper into the figurative meaning, eliciting personal response from the students. The purpose of the course is twofold; on the one hand it is to provide the students with knowledge about literature hence culture of English native speakers and to improve language skills, namely reading and writing, and on the other hand to promote critical thinking and to avoid plagiarism in writing analysis essays or personal responses.
For that reason, critical thinking and academic integrity are the two main qualities that are expected to be in full consideration throughout the course. As the first edition is always far from perfection, all comments are welcome and sent to the mail address : ntk. With gratitude from the author! UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE 1 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE After finishing unit 1, students should be able to: - Define the term versification used in English literature. - Explain the literary terms in poetry and fiction.
- Describe the figures of speech and musical devices. - Demonstrate their knowledge of versification in scanning the lines in a poem. - Interpret the figurative meaning in a poem. - Analyze the key elements in a short fiction.
OVERVIEW OF POETRY ENGLISH VERSIFICATION Versification is the art of making verses. The most essential characteristic of verse, as compared with prose, is that it has meter and rhyme. Meter is verse rhythm determined by the prevailing, or predominant foot and the number of feet in a line. The word meter comes from a word meaning To measure something, we must have a unit of measurement.
For measuring verse, we use the foot, the line and sometimes the stanza. THE FOOT: the basic metrical unit consists normally of one accented syllable plus one or two accented syllables. The basic kinds of feet are as follows: a. The Iamb or iambic foot: one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable as in along, delight, today b.
The Anapest or anapestic foot: two unstressed followed by one stressed syllable, as in understand, underneath, intervene, indistinct 2 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE c. The Trochee or trochaic foot: one stressed followed by one unstressed syllable, as in happen, lightly, daily d. The Dactyl or dactylic foot: one stressed followed by two unstressed syllables, as in elephant, yesterday, tenderly Besides, there are other kinds of feet as follows: - The Spondee, or spondaic foot: a two-stressed syllable foot as in lighthouse - The Pyrrhic: a two unstressed-syllable foot - The Hypermetric foot: the extra final unstressed syllable in an iambic line: When I was one-and-twenty - The Catalectic foot: extra final stressed syllable in a trochaic line: Goddess excellently, bright THE LINE: The secondary unit of measurement is measured by naming the number of feet in it. The following names are used: Monometer: one foot Dimeter: two feet Trimeter: three feet Tetrameter: four feet Pentameter: five feet Hexameter: six feet Heptameter: seven feet Octameter: eight feet THE STANZA: Repeated units having the same number of lines, the same metrical pattern, and often an identical rhyme scheme Notes: 1.
Some classes of words, specifically content words, such as verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs are likely more eligible to receive a stress than others, but in scanning, we have to consider also the meaning of what being said and the natural English speech, so as not to distort the natural speech for the sake of meter. Meaning and natural speech sometimes demand that monosyllabic words often classified as function words be stressed. UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE 3 To be or not to be, that is the question. (Shakespeare) => Not, a monosyllabic function word, is stressed whereas the content words be and is are not.
Of the stressed syllables, some are to receive a lighter stress (secondary stress) than others. Goddess éxcelléntly bright. Sometimes there is a difference in scanning, it is only natural because there is legitimate room for personal interpretation and disagreement between qualified readers of poetry. QUIZZ Scan the following lines and identify the type of feet in each line.
How small a part of time they share. My love is like a red, red, rose. Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. It was many and many a year ago.
Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair 6. You that make a day of night, Goddess excellently bright 7. When breezes are soft and skies are fair, I steal an hour from study and care. She let her sewing fall, began to stare Out of the window, at the trees, now bare At a cold thrush, too cold and sad to fly.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Figurative language language using figures of speech- is language that cannot be taken literally. 4 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE Figurative language is any way of saying something other than the ordinary way. FIGURES OF SPEECH a. METAPHOR & SIMILE Metaphor and Simile are both used as means of comparing things that are essentially unlike.
- METAPHOR: The comparison is implied. The petals of the day have closed (Katherine Mansfield) - SIMILE: The comparison is expressed by the use of words, phrases such as like, similar to, resemble, seem, O my love is like a red, red rose. PERSONIFICATION: The representation of inanimate objects or abstract ideas as living beings The startled little waves (Sylvia Plath) c. APOSTROPHE: A device by which a writer turns away from the readers to address a person who usually is either absent or deceased, or an object or an abstract idea My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone.
SYNECDOCHE & METONYMY: They are both alike in that both substitute some significant detail or aspect of an experience for the experience itself. - SYNECDOCHE: The use of the part for the whole O word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear (Shakespeare) - METONYMY: the use of something closely related for the thing actually meant. The hostess kept a good table. Note: They are so much alike that it is hardly worthwhile to distinguish between them, and the latter term is increasingly coming to be used for both.
UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE 5 e. SYMBOL: A word, a phrase or an object which is used to evoke a concrete reality, suggesting a range of meaning beyond itself. It is something that means more than what it is. The dove is a symbol of peace.
A red rose stands for love. PARADOX & OXYMORON - PARADOX: An apparently absurd or contradictory statement which when it is explained, proves to be logically sound and meaningful. It is used to attract attention or to emphasize. Men work together whether they work together or apart.
(Robert Frost) I must be cruel to be kind. (Shakespeare) - OXYMORON: a compact paradox in which 2 successive words seemingly contradict each other True lies, pleasing plague, provoking charm, sweet sorrow g. OVERSTATEMENT & UNDERSTATEMENT - OVERSTATEMENT (or Hyperbole): an exaggeration in the service of truth And I will love thee still, my dear, Till the seas gang dry. (Robert Burns) - UNDERSTATEMENT (or Litotes): saying less than one means.
IRONY - VERBAL IRONY: saying the opposite of what one means. The discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. - DRAMATIC IRONY: the discrepancy between what the speaker says and what the author means - IRONY OF SITUATION: the discrepancy between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what one anticipates and what actually comes to happen. 6 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE Ancient Mariner finds himself in the middle of the ocean with Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink - ROMANTIC IRONY: The author builds up the illusion of representing reality only to shatter it later.
It is the discrepancy between what seems real and what actually is. IMAGERY may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. The word perhaps most often suggests a mental picture, something seen in the eyes, and visual imagery is the most frequently occurring in poetry. But an image may also represent a sound, smell, taste, a tactile experience, such as hardness, wetness or cold, an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst or nausea; a movement or tension in the muscles or joints.
Notes: - Denotations: the dictionary meaning of a word. Home: a place where one lives - Connotations: what the word suggests beyond its dictionary meaning. Home suggests the idea of security, love, comfort, family, MUSICAL DEVICES a. RHYME: The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds.
The rhyme is found in two positions - End - rhyme: at the end of the line At daybreak on the hill they stood a That overlooked the moor, b And then they saw the bridge of wood a A furlong from their door. b UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE 7 - Internal rhyme: within the same line For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams, (Edgar Allan Poe) Note: The rhyme should be determined with the ears (the sound), not with the eyes (spelling). Bead and tread, blood and food are only eye rhymes, eyes and rise, quay and sea make perfect rhymes while not spelled alike. ALLITERATION: The repetition of initial consonant sounds or the stressed ones of nearby words Looking and loving our behavior pass The stones, the steels and the polished glass The civic slander and the spite The love and belief c.
ASSONANCE: The repetition of vowel sounds in a line or a series of lines so all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling- my darling - my life and my bride. CONSONANCE: The repetition of final consonant sounds - Odds and ends - but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. ONOMATOPOEIA: The use of sounds that could supposedly echo or suggest the meaning, like buzz, crash, twitter, hum, The moan of doves in immemorial elms. OVERVIEW OF FICTION Fiction has five characteristics.
It is fiction in the broad literary sense. It is something invented by the writer. It is non-dramatic. It is narrative.
8 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION INTO LITERATURE d. It is descriptive e. It is prose.