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Literature and form. Why do we value literature?. Literature is about human experiences Memories Emotions and feelings Experiences that make us who we are. Why do we value literature?. Literature is about form The shape of a speech The opening of a plot The rhythm of a poem.
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Why do we value literature? • Literature is about human experiences • Memories • Emotions and feelings • Experiences that make us who we are
Why do we value literature? • Literature is about form • The shape of a speech • The opening of a plot • The rhythm of a poem
1,000 years ago, Lady Murasaki described why we value literature: “Again and again, writers find something in their experience, or see something in the life around them, that seems so important they cannot bear to let it pass into oblivion. There must never come a time, the writer feels, when people do not know about this.” - Lady Murasaki in The Tale of Genji (often described as the first novel)
Human Experience • How do we see the human experience? • The Dance by Tony Arata (performed by Garth Brooks • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETGJRvnkfHU • Road Not Taken by Robert Frost http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/life/roadnottaken/roadnottaken.htm
Form delivers power • Gettysburg Address from President Abraham Lincoln • http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/gettyb.htm • “Bye Bye Miss American Pie” by Don McLean • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsZFiMo8TIc • “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Explication of Literature • “to give a detailed explanation” • Like a line-by-line or episode-by-episode commentary • Slow down! Read slowly and notice the words • What is happening? • Watch words for their meanings and uses • Notice images with words • Ask why the writer organized in this way • Seek to understand • Notice subtle changes as when talking with a friend (expression)
Remember, form delivers power. Literature can make, “thoughts that breathe, and words that burn”
Assignment • Read Chapter 4 • Read these poems • “Harlem” by Langston Hughes • “Sonnet 73” by Shakespeare • “Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne • “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell Prepare for each poem • What is it about? • How do you know? • Use your skills of analysis and persuasion!!!