Literature question: unfamiliar literary terms

[karensk]

My literature background is pretty weak. I'm familiar with a few terms like simile and metaphor, but I recently became aware of other terms that are completely unfamiliar to me.

 

In my women's Bible study class last fall, our teacher taught us a couple of literary terms as we were studying the book of Esther: peripity (peripeteia) and chiastic structure. I had never heard of these words before this class (I'd also never heard of the word "progymnasmata" before last year, to give you an idea of how non-literary I am). I guess these two things are often found in ancient literature, including the book of Esther. Anyway, it was really neat how our teacher explained it all to us and helped us identify them in the story of Esther.

 

But afterwards, I started wondering....Are these things that should be taught in upper-level/high school literature courses via the classical method, or are they considered to be college-level material (which would make it okay for me to not learn them:tongue_smilie:)? How many more terms are out there that I'm unaware of? Are there any resources that teach these things?

 

Thanks!

[cajun.classical]

My literature background is pretty weak. I'm familiar with a few terms like simile and metaphor, but I recently became aware of other terms that are completely unfamiliar to me.

 

In my women's Bible study class last fall, our teacher taught us a couple of literary terms as we were studying the book of Esther: peripity (peripeteia) and chiastic structure. I had never heard of these words before this class (I'd also never heard of the word "progymnasmata" before last year, to give you an idea of how non-literary I am). I guess these two things are often found in ancient literature, including the book of Esther. Anyway, it was really neat how our teacher explained it all to us and helped us identify them in the story of Esther.

 

But afterwards, I started wondering....Are these things that should be taught in upper-level/high school literature courses via the classical method, or are they considered to be college-level material (which would make it okay for me to not learn them:tongue_smilie:)? How many more terms are out there that I'm unaware of? Are there any resources that teach these things?

 

Thanks!

 

We'll...yes and no. Yes, there are lots and lots of literary terms. The standard book is A Handbook to Literature by Holman and Harmon. It's over 600 pages of literary terms. I was required to know all of them for my Master's Degree. So, that's the no part of my answer. I don't think that High School students need to know all of these.

 

I'll cover the basics and whatever more specialized terms come up in particular readings that we cover, but there is no need to feel compelled to learn all the specialized terms in High School.

[Lisawa]

Yes... I can only speak of what I use though... Imight be limiting you, so Ihope others answer here too...

 

I have an use Teaching the Classics dvd and workbook. I love this! I wont say much, because the link I provided will give you a great deal of information of what it is.

 

Here is a link to some literary terms....Glossary of terms

 

HTH~

[karensk]

I saved the Glossary of Terms.

 

The Teaching the Classics set looks like something that would help me learn a lot more about literature (since I have so far to go!). Do you use it for yourself as teacher training or do you have your dc watch it, too?

 

I'm tentatively planning to try TOG-2 next year, so I'm not sure there'll be enough spare time for me to watch a set of DVDs just yet. Do you watch it in small chunks every once in awhile or more frequently/regularly?

[MIch elle]

is a good resource. It's cheap too!

[Lisawa]

I saved the Glossary of Terms.

 

The Teaching the Classics set looks like something that would help me learn a lot more about literature (since I have so far to go!). Do you use it for yourself as teacher training or do you have your dc watch it, too?

 

I'm tentatively planning to try TOG-2 next year, so I'm not sure there'll be enough spare time for me to watch a set of DVDs just yet. Do you watch it in small chunks every once in awhile or more frequently/regularly?

 

 

 

I watched the entire thing once I got the dvds back in June of last year, and now I just watch it on occasion to keep me up on it. I have been using it with my 15 year old and TOG 3(classic). Its working great... I use the Socratic list in the back (not the entire thing) to give her an idea of what I am looking for and for her to answer specific type questions... I then use the "terms" through our discussion.... I really like it and for us its been worth the $$.

[Julie in GA]

I just learned (at age 43) about chiastic structure myself, reading Peter Leithart's book A House for My Name. Fascinating stuff! Don't worry about getting too fancy too early -- focus on developing life-long learners so that your children can still be learning at 43, too. :)

[karensk]

Yes, there are lots and lots of literary terms. The standard book is A Handbook to Literature by Holman and Harmon. It's over 600 pages of literary terms. I was required to know all of them for my Master's Degree. So, that's the no part of my answer. I don't think that High School students need to know all of these.

 

I'll cover the basics and whatever more specialized terms come up in particular readings that we cover, but there is no need to feel compelled to learn all the specialized terms in High School.

 

Re. The Handbook to Literature: I'll have to see if I can find it in our library. It definitely looks thorough, but I wonder if it'll be over my head? Would I need someone else to guide me through the book or could I use it to self-teach? One of the problems I'm having is that I'm so unfamiliar with many literary terms that I'm unable to recognize when those things occur in a book we're reading. I guess I need more than just a couple of examples to really understand a particular term and to really get it into my brain.

 

I like that it provides historical background to the terms, too. That looks really interesting.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Angelina!

[SparrowsNest]

I was required to know all of them for my Master's Degree.

 

Were you tested on them? That's so interesting. Nothing like that in my (English Lit) Master's program.

 

Anyway, I don't think knowing the term 'chiastic structure' is essential for high school level literature studies, but recognizing poetic structure when you see it is. Does that make sense? I.e., I would expect my high schooler to notice "the ideas are repeated here and here, and other ideas are repeated here and here." Knowing the exact terminology would get bonus points, even in an intro level college course, I suspect. My 12th grade AP English class did require us to learn, oh, the 50 most common literary terms -- allusion and assonance and personification and meter and such -- but I don't think even this much was the norm. We had a pretest in first year college literature (private, liberal arts school), and my teacher confided to me that I had scored better than anyone else due to my familiarity with those terms, so that leads me to believe that in-depth knowledge of literary terms isn't standard fare in high school, even ritzy prep schools like most of my university classmates hailed from.

 

Of course if you're interested, go for it!

[karensk]

I just learned (at age 43) about chiastic structure myself, reading Peter Leithart's book A House for My Name. Fascinating stuff! Don't worry about getting too fancy too early -- focus on developing life-long learners so that your children can still be learning at 43, too. :)

 

The funny thing was that dd8 attended some of Bible study classes with me and afterwards talked about chiastic structure several times. I guess she thought it was pretty neat stuff, though I doubt she completely understands it. Anyway, it made me laugh!

[karensk]

Painless Poetry

 

I'll have to check it out!

[karensk]

I watched the entire thing once I got the dvds back in June of last year, and now I just watch it on occasion to keep me up on it. I have been using it with my 15 year old and TOG 3(classic). Its working great... I use the Socratic list in the back (not the entire thing) to give her an idea of what I am looking for and for her to answer specific type questions... I then use the "terms" through our discussion.... I really like it and for us its been worth the $$.

 

I'm hoping there'll be a Teaching the Classics booth at one of the homeschool conferences this summer. It really does look like something that would help get me to the next level in my literature skills, esp. since it's good enough for you to go through a second time.

 

Thanks, Lisa!

[Beth in Central TX]

I watched the entire thing once I got the dvds back in June of last year, and now I just watch it on occasion to keep me up on it. I have been using it with my 15 year old and TOG 3(classic). Its working great... I use the Socratic list in the back (not the entire thing) to give her an idea of what I am looking for and for her to answer specific type questions... I then use the "terms" through our discussion.... I really like it and for us its been worth the $$.

 

If you have no literary background, TtC is worth the money. The appendix with the socratic dialogue questions has been worth its weight in gold for me; I constantly use it as we discuss the books my boys are reading.

[karensk]

Were you tested on them? That's so interesting. Nothing like that in my (English Lit) Master's program.

 

Anyway, I don't think knowing the term 'chiastic structure' is essential for high school level literature studies, but recognizing poetic structure when you see it is. Does that make sense? I.e., I would expect my high schooler to notice "the ideas are repeated here and here, and other ideas are repeated here and here." Knowing the exact terminology would get bonus points, even in an intro level college course, I suspect. My 12th grade AP English class did require us to learn, oh, the 50 most common literary terms -- allusion and assonance and personification and meter and such -- but I don't think even this much was the norm. We had a pretest in first year college literature (private, liberal arts school), and my teacher confided to me that I had scored better than anyone else due to my familiarity with those terms, so that leads me to believe that in-depth knowledge of literary terms isn't standard fare in high school, even ritzy prep schools like most of my university classmates hailed from.

 

Of course if you're interested, go for it!

 

I am very interested in learning more about the various literary terms, but I'm also limited in the time I can spend doing it. I'll have to keep it simple, so it's good to know what level those things are generally considered. But that stuff, when explained to me, is really so fun!

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective, JuJuBee!

[karensk]

If you have no literary background, TtC is worth the money. The appendix with the socratic dialogue questions has been worth its weight in gold for me; I constantly use it as we discuss the books my boys are reading.

 

...no literary background, that is (my degree was in accounting, too).

 

I'm going to fit it into the budget now!