Lit class notes - Ash

Literature

is a body of written works, especially those of outstanding artists/aesthetic merit.

Primary source (artistic object)

Original works like novels, epics, romances.

Secondary source (critical text)

Analytical works discussing primary sources.

Novel

Emerged in the 18th century, replaced traditional epics, portrays individualism and realism.

Epic

Focuses on hero fulfilling tasks of national or cosmic significance, reflects history, religion, and myth.

Romance

Action/plot focuses on a goal, detailed protagonist with individual traits and point of view.

Literary Criticism

Analysis of literary works, including historical context and poetics.

Picaresque Novel

Hero vs societal norms.

Bildungsroman

Development from child to adult.

Epistolary Novel

First-person narration through letters.

Historical Novel

Set in realistic historical context.

Gothic Novel

Aesthetic of fear and haunting.

Plot

Logical interaction of thematic elements leading to change.

Setting

Identifies location, historical period, and social surroundings.

Narrative Perspective

Point of view shaping events, settings, and characters.

Poetry

Ancient genre connected to music and emotions.

Sonnet

Classical form of poetry.

Imagery

Visual components of a poem, including symbols and metaphors.

Meter and Rhyme

Syllabic patterns and sound repetitions in poetry.

Drama

Originated from Ancient Greece, includes tragedy, comedy, and history.

Aside

Character breaks away to talk to the audience.

Film

Performing art using actors, essential elements include; space, sound, and time.

Montage

Film editing technique akin to metaphor/simile in literature.

Old literature genres

• Epic

• Drama

• Poetry

New literature genres

• Fiction

• Drama

• Poetry

3 classical elements of poetry

• Verse

• Meter

• Rhyme

2 major subcategories of poems

• Narrative

• Lyrical

2 functions for symbols

• private

• conventional

2 rhetorical figures of speech

• metaphor (my love is a red rose)

• simile (my love is red like a rose)

3 independent levels of a play

• Text

• Transformation

• Performance

3 connections to the plot

• Space

• Time

• Action

Reasons for rise of the literature

• mass production

• education of middle class

• personal

• realistic

• economic bases, accessible

Types of novels

Picaresque novel - hero vs norm of the society 

Bildungsroman - development from a child to adult 

Epistolary novel - letters for first-person narration 

Historical novel - realistic historical context 

Satirical Novel 

Utopian Novel 

Gothic Novel - aesthetic of fear and haunting 

Detective Novel

Novella/Novelette

not really a novel but neither a short story. Too short for a novel but too long for a short story 

Plot

Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution

Important terms in prose fiction

• Plot

• Characters

• Time

• Setting

• Narrative Perspective

• Style

Onomatopoeia

word formed to mimic a sound  

Classical forms of poetry

• Ode

• Sonnet

• Elegy

Four most important types of feet

• Iambic

• Anapestic

• Trochaic

• Dactylic

Types of rhymes

• Alliteration

• Assonance

• End rhyme

• Eye rhyme

To analyse a poem

• Divide the line in syllables

• Identify stressed and unstressed

• Find pattern

• Find the number of feet

Types of dramas

• History

• Comedy

• Tragedy

3 independent levels of play

• Text

• Transformation

• Performance

3 unities connected to the plot

• Action

• Place

• Time

Different types of stages

• Elizabethan

• Greek amphitheatre

• Modern theatre

Methods of acting

• external

• internal

Chorus

centerpiece of classical drama

Choir

(Elizabethan theater) filling time gasps and informing the audience