Literary Lens Reflection

Being able to look at things from a different perspective may help a student have a broader view of what they are reading. Conversation incites thought that goes beyond the text, encouraging a social environment that is educational. As Graff says on page 45, “The moral I draw from this experience is that our ability to read well depends more than we think on our ability to talk well about what we read. “ One thing to keep in mind is that these discussions should also not be led by any sort of literary formula; this would also confine the reader’s

As I was reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I was thinking about how much I have missed in the books I have read due to not knowing how to look for certain literary devices. Something as simple as not knowing how to read between the lines caused me to miss out on points the author was trying to make. Over the course of reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I have learned many ways to analyze literature that I did not know before.

After reviewing the coding I completed for each book, I tallied up the results to see which lenses I most frequently and infrequently used. The results were that I analyzed the text through the literary lens in nineteen different books out of the twenty-five total (Petersen, 2016). In retrospect, I intermittently used the intertextual lens while reading. To be specific, I analyzed only five books out of the total twenty-five through this perspective (Petersen, 2016).

Everyman, by the anonymous writer, is a play that can truly be analyzed under a literary theory lens. Everyman can be analyzed under a performance theory lens, not only because it is a play, but also that the actions of the character fall within the several categories of the theory. The play can be seen as following the structure of the religious ritual while following Everyman through his completion of the sacraments. Secondly, Everyman encounters many sacred characters, including, Death, God, and an Angel. The characters portray performing objects in which throughout the play these characters are personified. The characters are personified as human companies to Everyman, although they are actually a part of him taking on the role of seven deadly sins the characters portray different influences within Everyman’s life. The goal of these morality plays were to entertain the audience, which is an aspect of performance theory, but that these players were also used as a way of teaching the

Coming from CP World Voices to Honors English II pushed me to work hard as a result of my fear of falling behind. However, the jump made me grow as a writer; my strength in analyzing literary texts grew and so did my love for the literary works we read. Because this class pushed me to become a more focused and serious writer I have experienced many pivotal moments that caused me to become more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Looking back on the work we have covered this year I have concluded that my pivotal moments were a series of realizations that came in intervals. Close to the beginning of the year, I discovered that I enjoyed understanding and analyzing literary works to the smallest detail. To successfully do so I focused on my

Throughout the semester of TE 348, I was able to read many books of various genres, themes, messages and characters. Due to the variety of text I read, I used a range of lenses when engaging with the text in my responses. This has shown me how I tend to react to a text, and what lenses I don’t use as often. Also, I am able to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages that come with engaging with the text with certain lenses. All of this has led to my development of engaging with literature.

When you read books and you read often, you obtain the ability to imagine what you are reading. You can picture any scene and hear what you think their voices sound like. You can smells and hear the things they describe. When you read a book it is like you are there with the characters in the story. When you are reading you become attached to the main character. When they cry, you cry. When they are angry, so are you. The character´s story becomes like another life.

Academic reading is one of the most essential tools in college. It shows us (as students) that we can read for pleasure, but at the same time read to gain knowledge in subjects we did not know before. On page 41 in the book Curious Writer it shows a diagram of purpose and examples of questions that readers’ may have when reading I have used it before and it works because it lets the reader think in a more broader perspective, generate more questions, and find the answers to those questions (aside from the examples’ the book provides). Even when you read (pg. 43, topic Beliefs About Reading) sometimes the text it can make you question or rethink your original beliefs that the reader may have before.

Before English 1103, I was able to read passages and comprehend the general message. Oftentimes during seminars, I would realize that I missed important details that altered the meaning of the text and the perception of a character. Overall I was not an in-depth reader and lacked the skills to do so. The introduction to Notice and Focus and So what/And so required me to find a quote that caught my attention then voice my opinion. In addition to ranking them of importance and why I selected them. These strategies gave me the steps towards thinking about the passage sentence by sentence and then holistically. By doing so I began to develop a foundation to enhance my perception of the passage. The Rhetorical Triangle is another strategy that heighten

Formalist critics are primarily concerned with the language, structure, and tone of a work, otherwise known, as it’s “formal elements”. Formalists gravitate towards “intrinsic” matters in a piece of literature, in simpler terms, diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, and symbol. In a similar fashion, they emphasize larger elements, for instance, plot, characterization, and narrative technique, in order to derive meaning from a literary work. The work must stand by itself, and any information that goes beyond the text, for example, biography, history, politics, and

The method by which I was taught to read literature effectively and discerningly similar to the formulaic pattern played out in the introduction to chapter five in the Brown and Yarborough text. The steps were to identify the setting, primary theme, characters, common motifs, and illusions to outside works. From there I was left to identify the authors intent. I was told that each work of literature was a puzzle with a simple solution, and it was the readers duty to find it. I was fortunate enough to take AP Lit my junior year and, in doing so, learned how to properly read and interpret text. Often enough, I would find myself identifying subtextual themes before noting the truth of the text itself. My largest downfall as a reader was falling

Every piece of literature really helps capture what the human experience is. When a person is lost they may turn to a piece of literature in order to find some guidance. A piece of literature can be very powerful because it may be able to point out something a person would never notice on their own. For example a reader can learn from a character’s mistake so they don’t make the same mistake them self.

Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell, eds. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 6th ed. Thompson Wadsworth, 2007.

Reading is a trip to the fantasy worlds, which, in reality, trains us as good writers. Anything that compels an individual to read more exposes him or her to a variety of key elements that is useful for writing. Reading something of interest not only brings pleasure, but it usually allows the reader to learn something from what he or she has read. A good writer reads with an eye for the writing, whether that is directly or indirectly, but most of what we grasp from the texts are what we use in our writing. Perhaps it is not as coherent as planned, however, it takes practice, and the more we practice using what we have read and apply it to our writing, the better we get at it. I realized that I did not have to read the most challenging pieces in order to be able to write, but the more I exposed myself to knowledge consisted within a novel, the more likely I could reproduce that knowledge and skill set in my writing.

There is one teacher who told me:” Books are mystery, you don’t know what is inside them so we must read to be able to find out”. It is true that we have to read the inside of a book to see what it talks about but does not mean that they are a mystery. So why he told me so i think what he means is the Mythology lens in “Critical Literature” will allow me and the readers to reach the puzzle events and understand them thoroughly and using this technique, we can figure out all of the mystery events in all 4 books Through the looking glass, Brave new world,...