jhschool Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hi I want to sign my son up for a British Literature Survey at our local co-op. It says "Students must be comfortable with five paragraph essay format and basic literary analysis." I know how to teach the five paragraph essay format but have NO CLUE how to teach "basic literary analysis." I have googled and read up on it but all it seems to be is, 1. Picking a thought you have on the piece of literature 2. Backing it up using the five paragraph essay or expand it in a term paper. Am I missing something? What is literary analysis? How do I learn it? How do I teach it? I can't find anything in WTM that guides me through this. It skips right to rhetoric. Is literary analysis rhetoric for literary works? Help...titles of books with guidance would be very welcome...or anything would be welcome, actually... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 TWTM teaches about context, that is part of learning literary analysis. It also suggests the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor. That helps, IMO. I think there are other suggestions in that vein? I am not at home right now to double check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Check the left hand column to browse the devices taxonomy. http://literary-devices.com/ Devices of course, are not analysis, but are a part of the overall understanding. Edited January 2, 2012 by one*mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Hmmm, I am totally *not* an expert, but I think of Literary Analysis as a lot more than that. I consider Lit Analysis to be about Plot, characters (protagonist/antagonist), conflict, theme, etc., as well as about all kinds of literary figures and devices like personification, imagery, metaphor, etc. Teaching the Classics is *awesome* for helping you learn how to do literary analysis with your child. I cannot say enough good things about them! DH and I are watching the videos together and learning so much, and we are excited to start doing it with DS (he is only 5). It might seem like a lot at first, but it actually starts by using picture books rather than large novels (even for older kids), so it really is a nice way to get the basics under your belt. For instance, the session on Conflict is taught using Peter Rabbit. If your child is in later middle school or high school, he could enjoy watching the DVDs with you (the DVDs are intended to be for the parent to watch, but an older child could surely learn a lot from them). I believe there are a couple of free audio lectures on their site to give you some idea about what their program is. For a more inexpensive option, Deconstructing Penguins is a helpful introductory read to the concepts of literary analysis. I also enjoyed a couple of cheap "workbook" type things like Figuratively Speaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I have googled and read up on it but all it seems to be is, 1. Picking a thought you have on the piece of literature 2. Backing it up using the five paragraph essay or expand it in a term paper. Also, to clarify. I don't consider these activities as Literary Analysis. The Lit Analysis part is the work that is done BEFORE these activities. It is the wrestling with the literature - with the story itself, the characters and how they change (or don't change), with the conflict and its resolution (or lack thereof), with how the author put together words to create certain moods, images, experiences, etc. Literary Analysis MAY culminate in an essay. Or it may just result in a discussion. Or even just an internal pondering of the reader. Or even changed attitudes or actions! But all of these things are *results* of the Literary Analysis, not the analysis itself. At least that is my understanding :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Dd and I have learned a ton from Windows to the World. I am grateful for it because I knew nothing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Dd and I have learned a ton from Windows to the World. I am grateful for it because I knew nothing... Ooooh, that looks interesting! Pinned it to my board for later perusal :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I would ask/e-mail the instructor and ask her what she meant by literary analysis. To me, it means being able to discuss plot development: inciting event, rising action, climax, etc.; characterization: round, flat, static, dynamic, foil, etc.; setting: time, physical, cultural; conflict: man vs. man, man vs. fate, man vs himself, etc; symbolism; point of view: 1st person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient; theme; and tone. A student should also be able to discuss irony, imagery, personification, allusions, similes, metaphors and other figures of speech. Sometimes what people mean by literary analysis is the ability to write an essay about a symbol in the story or the plot development or another element that I listed above. If this sounds like a foreign language, then get Windows to the World. It can be done at home in a semester. I am doing it as a year long class at the co-op, but they read To Kill a Mockingbird and another novel last semester in addition to our Windows work. This semester we will add Cyrano and more poetry. I hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphispeg Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 That Perrine book that we all talk about has a great sequence built-in on lit. analysis. We liked "How to Read a Book Like a Professor". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I would ask/e-mail the instructor and ask her what she meant by literary analysis. To me, it means being able to discuss plot development: inciting event, rising action, climax, etc.; characterization: round, flat, static, dynamic, foil, etc.; setting: time, physical, cultural; conflict: man vs. man, man vs. fate, man vs himself, etc; symbolism; point of view: 1st person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient; theme; and tone. A student should also be able to discuss irony, imagery, personification, allusions, similes, metaphors and other figures of speech. Sometimes what people mean by literary analysis is the ability to write an essay about a symbol in the story or the plot development or another element that I listed above. These are tools used in literary analysis (just like context issues), but that is not what literary analysis is. Literary analysis is trying to figure out what an author is trying to tell you. Robert Frost is a great example because his poems are often telling you the exact opposite of what they seem to be saying on the surface. Figuring out what an author is saying is instrumental in deciding whether you agree and how you feel about a story. Many people can tell you that they dislike this book or that book made them uncomfortable, but cannot tell you why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 There are two books I would recommend on this topic, depending on how overall strong academically your student is, and how interested in this topic. The first one is Eco's Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, which pretty much explains how fiction works and what are the mechanisms behind it: he discusses the instance of the author, the problems of time in a work of fiction, what is fictional in a fictional text, etc. HIGHLY recommended, it is a short book of about 150 pages, very accessible to the general reader (in spite of it being a result of a series of college lectures), conceptually clear, and fairly a comfortable read, thus making it good for high school students too. The second one is Lotman's The Structure of the Artistic Text. This is a LOT more difficult work, about double the size the former and triple the difficulty and I doubt that many high school students could read it as an easy informative read. However, it is REALLY good to understand, conceptually, what artistic writing exactly is, what kind of "communication" happens there, what is the "status" of literature amongst other arts, and so forth. Really, really good on so many levels, but unfortunately perhaps too "specialist" for high school. It is typically read in universities, in literature classes which have more of a formalist bent (approaching literary text through its artistic form, not through its context). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Once again, contact the teacher. As you can see there is disagreement about what it actually means. I explained what it would mean if "I" were teaching it. (I am teaching a literary analysis class at our co-op using Window to the World right now.) It seems like that is what you want to know. If you are interested in self-education then what Mr.s Mungo and Ester Maria may be good. However, I had a mom in my co-op who wanted to know what her children should be doing for literary analysis. I suggested Windows to the World and she thought it was really hard. To me it is very self-explanatory and has basic explanations. It is a good place to start. Ester Maria and Mrs. Mungo's explanations REALLY would have lost her. It depends on what you want. So contact the teacher and ask what she expects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhschool Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Thank you, everyone who contributed answers! I feel like I have a place to start! I appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hikin' Mama Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 SWB has a podcast on this very subject over at the Peace Hill Press site. Best 4 bucks I've spent in a long time. She breaks lit analysis down into a very do-able task. I highly recommend it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhschool Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 SWB has a podcast on this very subject over at the Peace Hill Press site. Best 4 bucks I've spent in a long time. She breaks lit analysis down into a very do-able task. I highly recommend it! Thanks! I'll check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbr Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Dd and I have learned a ton from Windows to the World. I am grateful for it because I knew nothing... :iagree: This worked well for us also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaAkins Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Dd and I have learned a ton from Windows to the World. I am grateful for it because I knew nothing... :iagree: My daughter is finishing up a semester long class using Windows to the World and she has learned so much! It has definitely taught her some of the art of literary analysis and a lot of writing skills too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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