Summary ENG2602 EXAM PREP NOTES.

ENG2602 EXAM PREP NOTES. Genres In Literature And Language. What genre is this text?’ This helps the reader to become aware of appropriate ways of reading it. She should read a poem differently from an advertisement, or a drama, or a study guide, such as this one. 2. ‘What is its purpose?’ No piece of writing is ever neutral: amongst other purposes (such as the writer’s desire to express herself, to explore something in writing) it is always intended to place the reader in a particular position and create a specific response. Think about this for a moment. 3. ‘How is this purpose being achieved?’ What kinds of language features (or linguistic devices) is the writer using to address, influence, entertain, challenge, inform, even manipulate, the reader? OUTCOMES ● Outcome 1: students (in other words, ourselves and yourselves) identify the typical English language attributes of prose, poetry and drama. We should ask ourselves, ‘what are the common features of these kinds of writing?’Also, ‘in what ways do they differ?’ ● Outcome 2: students discuss the use of figurative language in a variety of texts. We need to be sure in our minds what figurative language is, and what it does. Why is it being used? ● Outcome 3: students read literary language as a means of positioning the reader in order to elicit a particular response. One 2 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 could ask: ‘how does the text create a response in me, the reader?’ ● Outcome 4: students discuss the creative choices made in literary texts. We might enquire: ‘why does the writer use this particular word instead of another, or place the words in this specific order, not another?’ UNIT 1 CRITICALLY READING A TEXT AND WRITING ABOUT IT guides us through a practical method of reading and discussing a text, by osing the questions what, why and how POINTS ● a text is an interwoven entity, weaving together many facets of language, and ● that no text is neutral, not even an item of news in a newspaper or on the radio, TV or internet. BASIC FORM OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS WE TAKE NOTE OF: WE ARE DEALING WITH THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW OF A TEXT. ●● pragmatics, roughly who the speaker or writer is and in what context she is speaking ●● the linguistic information which the text holds – for instance, lexis (vocabulary), syntax (sentence structure), and phonology (sounds) ●● the intended and actual audience of the text ●● its purpose, which might be to share something with the audience; to persuade; to convey or create a certain motion/mood/response; to engage intellectually; to amuse; ●● structural cohesion (how the text’s components are linked) 3 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 ●● style ●● tone ●● semantics, or approximately the implications of a text. CRITICAL READING OF A TEXT ● Firstly, discourse can be defined as any stretch of language longer than the sentence. Secondly, it can be defined as a view of language that is embedded in its social context, and thirdly, discourse is also associated with abstract ideas and beliefs that constitute social thinking and formations MODEL OF ANALYSIS IS BASED ON THREE DIMENSIONS OF DISCOURSE. THESE ARE: 1) The object of analysis (including verbal and visual texts). In our case the poems, the short stories and other literary or non-literary texts. 2) The processes by which the object is produced and received (writing/speaking/ designing and reading/listening/viewing) by human subjects. 3) The socio-historical conditions that govern these processes ● Language is not neutral or free of certain beliefs, interests, biases, and positions. READ WITH CLOSE ATTENTION TO DETAIL. ● By all means skim a text on the first occasion, to gain a general impression of its contents, concerns, themes, purpose, attitudes; 4 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 but then return to it at least two more times. You might like to regard yourself as a detective, searching for clues in order to bolster your interpretation of the text. Along the way each reader needs to keep in mind such aspects as: ●● who the writer or speaker is, and the context where she is speaking or writing ●● linguistic information such as vocabulary, sentence structure and sound patterning (glance back at the beginning of this guide to remind yourself of the actual technical terms) the text’s audience, intended and actual ●● how the text’s components are interwoven ●● style – this might range from highly formal to very informal, or may shift within a text, while alterations, combinations or contrasts in style usually indicate that the reader should pay extra attention ●● tone – features of a text that convey emotion ●● the implications of a text in its context UNIT 2 PROSE 5 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 Fiction & non fiction PROSE ● A loose definition of prose is writing which takes the form of sentences combine into paragraphs. ● Explores the two dominant modes of prose: fiction and non-fiction. ● The author of prose is trying to achieve something, to communicate some meaning to his or her reader using various linguistic and literary techniques ● You need to study any piece of writing objectively. THESE THREE QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED ●● What is the author communicating? ●● Why is the author communicating in this way – what is the purpose of the text? And ●● How does the author achieve this purpose? The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that the author of non-fiction generally communicates fact, whereas the author of fiction communicates truths drawn from reality in an imaginative way. THE PURPOSE OF FICTION ● Literature enables us to explore what it means to be human, challenging the reader’s assumptions about their world and asking them to re-evaluate their understanding of people and situations. 6 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 PROSE ● Literature may provoke this reaction through humour and satire, through realism, through fantasy or any number of strategies used by the author. ● Literature always asks us to grow as human beings, to open ourselves to experiences outside our own. ● An author is often influenced by his or her historical and cultural context and so, before judging that a book expresses closedminded, out-dated ideologies, you need to understand the situation of the author and consider the world as he or she experienced/experiences it ● Literature forces us to acknowledge that there is no ‘one truth’ FICTIONAL POSE - FORMS OF FICTION ● Novels / novellas: LONG PIECES (600 – 100 PAGES) ● short stories: SHORT PIECES / SIMPLICITY / ONE ACTION / 1 PLACE / 1 PERSON ● flash fiction: SHORT PIECES (100 WORDS) FEATURES PLOT ● Novels and novellas : ● Main plot and sub plots 7 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 PROSE ● Short stories: single action CHARACTERS ● Protagonist (one person who stands out more than the others. Main character) ● Antagonist: in conflict with main character ● Novels and novellas: many characters but 1 protagonist and possibly 2 or more antagonists ● Short stories: 1 protagonist and 1 antagonist SETTINGS (TIME: HISTORICAL ERA AND PLACE) ● Novels and novellas: could use multiple settings ● Short stories: usually one setting or 2 settings THEME ● Any characteristic that helps us understand why people do the things they do. ● Novels and novellas – may explore multiple themes ● Short stories – usually one theme GENRES 8 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 PROSE ● Various forms of text that exist ANALYSING PROSE OR CLOSE READING (FICTIONAL PROSE) WHAT? ● What does the text communicate? WHY? ● Why the author writes what he or she does? ● Is it to entertain / frighten / warn / titillate / persuade / shock / or teach? ● Always be clear that it is your analysis of the text HOW? ● How does the author achieve this? ● Use of literary devices and use of grammar and linguistic devices IDEOLOGY REVIEW GOATLY CHAPTER 2 ● a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture ● a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture ASSIGNMENT AND EXAM QUESTIONS You will be given an unseen passage and have to do a close reading of it. This will require you to answer the what, why and how questions that have been discussed in this section. demonstrate that you can focus on the features of a piece of the text, identify what 9 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 the author is saying in the passage, what effect the passage creates (development of theme, character, plot and/or the response evoked in the reader) and discuss the linguistic and poetic features of the passage that enable the author to communicate his or her meaning and create an effect UNIT 3 PERSUASIVE TEXTS ● Two main types of prose: fictional and persuasive ● An advertisement is always trying to sell you something ‐ a product, a brand or a service. Even if the advertisement does not tell you directly to buy something, it will be trying to sell you something. If you cannot identify whether the text you are being asked to analyse is an advertisement or not, look for the product name, brand name or company name. If you cannot find one, then it is probably safe to assume that you are not dealing with an advertisement ● How to identify an article: If you are analysing a text that discusses why hamburgers are a good source of nutrition, it may seem like an advertisement, but it is actually an article that is trying to persuade you to eat more hamburgers, rather than selling you a specific product. PERSUASIVE TEXT (non fiction PROSE) ● Mainly based on fact ● Text are not neutral or objective ● They represent a particular set of ideas, beliefs and thoughts. PURPOSE 10 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 PERSUASIVE TEXTS ● Influence / inform / manipulate / persuading /convince ● Present certain point of view about certain topic, event or issue ● Capture attention of audience / establish relationship with audience / stimulate desire for product or service TYPES ● Newspaper extracts / headlines / speeches / advertisements / biographies / essays / journal entries / diaries / letters ANALYSING TEXT (PERSUASIVE TEXT) WHAT? ● What type of text is this? WHY? ● Why the author writes what he or she does? ● Is it to entertain / frighten / warn / titillate / persuade / shock / or teach? ● Always be clear that it is your analysis of the text HOW? ● What is the purpose or function of text? What does the text set out to achieve and how does it do that? WHO? ● Who are the audiences for whom the text is intended (don’t stereotype) (example if there is a picture of a mom and family – do not refer to mom rather say parent. WHY? ● Why was the text written? ● Why has the author chosen these specific linguistic features 11 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 PROSE NEWS REPORTS ● coverage may be biased towards certain topics, nations, politics, individuals, sources of information etc. ● Topics may be local / national / international NEWSPAPERS ANALYSIS WHAT? ● What kind of text is this? ● Non friction prose HOW? ● How does the text use language? ● Visual and written techniques ● Headline: found at top / prominent / bold ● Lead: briefly introduces the main event or topic WHO? ● Who is the text aimed at? WHY? ● Why was the text written? ● Tone: feeling or attitude to which writer addresses or discusses (personal / formal / impersonal / bitter / ironic / sarcastic? ● Style: sentence structures (long or short) / vocabulary (simple or complex) / phrases used 12 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 ● Ideology: particular ways of thinking that are often biased to create certain assumptions, ideas, understandings and even stereotypes about a group of people who share a particular race, gender, age or other qualities.. PERSUASIVE TEXTS ADVERTISEMENTS ● includes both visual images and verbal language ● get the attention of the audience by using persuasive or attractive language. ● sell products and services ADVERTISEMENT ANALYSIS HOW? ● Attention-seeking strategy used to sell or promote a company’s products and services. ● Intends to increase the sales of a product or service as well as inform the masses about its features ● Manipulate the emotions of the audience in order to make them buy a certain product ● Utilizes different media, including magazines, radio, internet and fliers to reach the target audience Reasons for advertising: ●● to increase the sales of the product or service ●● to create and maintain a particular brand identity or brand image ●● to introduce a new product or service ●● to create a ‘buzz’ about the product 13 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 WHO? ● Who is the text aimed at? ● Differ according to the product and service that is being advertised WHAT? ● What kind of text is this? ● Non friction prose WHY? ● contain emotive language, that is, language deliberately chosen to evoke ● an emotional response from the target audience ● use this type of persuasive language to move the audience to action ● Advertisements manipulate your emotions ● claiming that buying a certain product will change your lifestyle, change your identity for the better, solve your problems, make you superior and give you power (for example) ● In order to make you buy a product, advertisers deliberately manipulate language by a careful choice of words to create the necessary illusion of superiority or reality PERSUASIVE TEXTS SPEECH ACTS ● Inform/ assert / command / remind / request / sympathise / apologise / suggest / compliment / advice / thank / promise something ● written with a particular audience in mind ● Depending on the audience, the speaker may make a speech in order to persuade people to act, to inform them or to celebrate something 14 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 ● formal or informal depending on the target audience and the speaker’s relationship with that audience ● This will further determine the language and style that the speaker will use in order to deliver his/her message ● language that speaker will use will be appropriate and relevant for the audience that s/he hopes to address ● However, there are situations where speeches could be aimed at both the young and adults because the issues or topics that are addressed will be meaningful to ● everyone regardless of age, gender or race, celebratory speeches SPEECH ACT ANALYSIS WHO? ● Who is the text aimed at? ● Differ according to the presentation of people (general / nation / specialists / etc) WHAT? ● What kind of text is this? ● Non friction prose / formal or informal How and why? ● linguistic devices that are used impact not only on the message but help to establish a relationship between the speaker and his/her audience ● Depending on how and for what purpose these devices are used, the speaker’s message will be able to build a rapport or not with the listeners PERSUASIVE TEXTS GO CAREFULLY THROUGH ●● plot, character, setting, theme; 15 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 ●● narrative devices (who narrates the events? from what perspective?) ●● tense, tempo, punctuation, sound effects, syntax, vocabulary ●● ideology. Persuasive prose is designed to do exactly this: to influence its audience in some or other way. ●● We posed the questions ‘what?’, ‘how?’ ‘who? and ‘why?’ again, applying them to news items, headlines, advertisements and speeches. ●● In particular we drew attention to issues of power, and the results of different choices in regard to style and diction READING AND WRITING POSITIONS REVIEW GOATLY CHAPTER 5 (ACTIVITY 39 & 42) GENRE & THE ORGANISATION OF TEXT CHAPTER 1 ADVERTISING AND CONSUMERISM CHAPTER 7 NEWS AND INSTITUTIONAL POWER CHAPTER 9 UNIT 4 POETRY ● Person who wrote the poem is the poet ● The voice in the poem belongs to the speaker ● When you discuss poetry, always write: ‘The speaker says’ instead of ‘The poet says’. ● It follows that our understanding of the way language is employed in a single line will be shaped by our understanding of the poem as a whole (line must be read in context to the whole poem) ● While you analyse each section of the poem in turn, remember that each section forms part of the poem as a whole. So make 16 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 POETRY sure you take note of how the different sections of the poem relate to each other ● Always be able to reference or quote from the poem if you say or interpret something from the poem. An example is: You can not say the speaker is sad and not substantiate with words or sentences from the poem that lead you to that conclusion. SECTION 1: WHAT IS POETRY? ● Reader’s desire to express her/himself ● Address / challenge ● a very condensed form of literary expression, which conveys a great deal in a few words. SECTION 2: THE POETIC SUBJECT - (the basic idea or ideas it addresses) ● WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SUBJECT: The subject is the topic of the poem: the person, idea or object it explores or comments on. ● Be careful not to confuse • the poetic subject, which is the topic of the poem with the grammatical subject, which is the agent of the action performed by a verb ● (the man walks; the dog barks; the sky is blue). Step 1: Explore the title Does it match the poem? ● Is it straightforward? ● Is it ambiguous? ● Is it misleading? Step 2: Read through the poem, more than once 17 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 POETRY ● You will realize that poems are frequently dense, compact and ambiguous and therefore, require close reading. ● You will need to read a poem several times, possibly approaching it from several different perspectives, in order to begin to get a sense of what it is about Step 3: Read sentence by sentence It makes sense, therefore, to read the poem sentence by sentence in order to shape some basic meaning Step 4: Examine Form and Argument ● Poems frequently arrange their sentences – and their ideas – in special ways. ● These arrangements are meaningful, as they form part of the way in which language is shaped to express a poem’s meaning. ● The way a poem is laid out on the page and arranged into stanzas, patterns of rhythm and rhyme, is usually significant. ● For example, one aspect of a concept or argument might be developed in one stanza, and a different aspect in another. ● Or certain ideas might be linked together by rhyme in order to be compared or contrasted. ● Your analysis of the form and argument of a poem should form part of an integrated overall analysis, and not stand on its own FORMAL ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYED BY POETS ●● Stanza: a group of lines in a poem forming a basic division, equivalent to a paragraph in prose. ●● Couplet: a pair of verse lines coupled together, usually by metre and/or rhyme. ●● Tercet: a stanza of three lines; usually all three lines have the same rhyme. 18 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 POETRY ●● Quatrain: A stanza of four lines ●● Sonnet: Sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines, usually grouped together in one stanza, with a complex rhyme scheme. This stanza is usually divided into sections in one of two ways: The first eight lines are grouped together (a grouping of eight lines is called an octave) – this octave has the rhyme scheme abbaabba; the last six lines are grouped together (a grouping of six lines is called a sestet) – this sestet has the rhyme scheme cdecde, or some similar variant. This type of sonnet is called an Italian or Petrarchan sonnet The first twelve lines are grouped into three quatrains – these quatrains usually rhyme abab cdcd efef; the last two lines are grouped into a rhyming couplet. This type of sonnet is called an English or Shakespearean sonnet. Step 5: Exploring Diction (An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect) and Mood ● It is important to consider what type of words, phrases and images are used in a poem, and in its various sections. DICTION: is more about specific word choices. For example, if the author uses diction such as “black” or “cacophonous,” it creates a harsh image and an agitated, disturbing feeling in the mind, due to the negative connotations of those words. In the previous activity we learned that: ●● poems may be divided into sections, with each section unified and held together by, for example, rhyme (as is the case with each quatrain and couplet), or layout on the page (the stanzas) ●● the division into sections often reflects divisions in the argument and treatment of the subject ●● in short, the layout of the poem and rhyme-marked divisions form an important part of the meaning-making process of the poem, because they signify shifts in thought. ● Patterns of words and phrases clearly are employed to create shifts in mood, setting the emotional tone of the poem 19 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 POETRY ● A careful examination of the patterning of the ideas in a poem can also help you to identify tensions and parallels This section, devoted to the poetic subject, offered much food for thought. Let us see what we have achieved so far: we have looked carefully at some of the ways in which poems can be organized around their subject and we have gradually obtained a clearer idea of what the poem expresses, by: ● reading the poem sentence by sentence, ● identifying and examining patterns of form (stanzas, units of rhyme), ● following the argument (what observations, insights, claims are being made; how the poem progresses from idea to idea), and ● understanding better the diction and mood of the poem, through a careful inspection of patterns of words and phrases SECTION 3: POETIC LANGUAGE – TROPES AND SCHEMES ● Poetic language is frequently described as language that has been highly manipulated. ● It deviates from normal usage, either semantically or syntactically, and it plays with the ‘normal’ meaning of words or their customary arrangement. ● Poetic language employs, namely tropes and schemes. You have learnt also that poetic language frequently shifts the sense in which we understand ideas or things from ordinary to unusual, or changes the predictable patterns in which we arrange words and phrases in a sentence. ● This is done to challenge us into thinking afresh, or further, and to open our minds to that extraordinary richness of meaning, which is the primary characteristic of poetry. TROPES (Plays with the meaning of words) 20 ENG2602 PERSONAL NOTES – JULES KHOMO STUDY GUIDE SUMMARY 2017 POETRY A word or a thought might be used in a way that shifts its meaning from our ordinary understanding of it to some other sense Figures of speech (e.g) Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Metonymy, Hyperbole, Irony, Oxymoron, Understatement (SEE TERMINOLOGY FOR EXPLANATIONS) SCHEME: A change in standard word order or pattern. (e.g) repetition, anaphora, alliteration, parallelism, antithesis, ellipsis, parenthesis Often, a scheme will repeat a word or phrase several times for emphasis (SEE TERMINOLOGY FOR EXPLANATIONS) SECTION 4: SOUND AND RHYTHM SOUND DEVICES ARE: Resources used by poets to convey and reinforce the meaning or experience of poetry through the skillful use of sound. After all, poets are trying to use a concentrated blend of sound and imagery to create an emotional response. The words and their order should evoke images, and the words themselves have sounds, which can reinforce or otherwise clarify those images. All in all, the poet is trying to get you, the reader, to sense a particular thing, and the use of sound devices are some of the poet’s tools. Examples of sound: alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rhyme, meter, onomatopoeia , rhyme and rhythm (SEE TERMINOLOGY FOR EXPLANATIONS) or visit.K