Critical Reading and Writing About Literature
(
LSH
9-16, 94-97)
Things We Do:
Explain
Describe
Identify
Compare/Contrast
Provide Examples
Terms to Know:
interpretation
analysis
explication
evaluation
character
protagonist
theme
imagery
persona
(omniscient) narrator
plot
climax
d
énouement
setting
atmosphere
symbol
Homework Questions
:
Reading Strategies:
9:
What, according to the authors, does reading strategically involve?
9-10:
Identify and explain the usefulness of three (3) strategies the authors recommend employing in reading critically.
14:
According to the authors, what six questions can be asked when analyzing an argument?
14-15:
According to the authors, what does
reading a visual text involve?
Literary Analysis:
94-95:
Identify and explain the key elements of a literary analysis, according to the authors.
95:
Define the following:
analyze
compare
interpret
Explain the three methods for analyzing a text introduced by the authors.
96:
What, according to the authors, does a close reading involve?
96:
Explain the "matters of style" the authors present.
97:
Explain the suggested organization of a literary analysis.
Other Discussion Questions (from
The Harbrace Handbook
, Ch. 41)
614:
In what ways, according to the authors, does drama differ from other imaginative literature?
Explain the ways in which, according to the authors, poetry is both similar to and different from drama and fiction.
622:
What does reader-response theory involve?
623:
What does feminist theory involve?
What does gender studies theory involve?
What does critical race theory involve?
624:
What does class-based literary theory involve?
625:
What does text-based literary theory involve?
What does context-based literary theory involve?
What does a cultural studies approach involve?
What does psychoanalytic literary theory involve?
626:
What is an archetype?