How to Read Literature Like a Professor Chapter 6 Examples

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English Literature is a complex subject, and many students cease up having to study it at some point. With so many things to keep rails of, it can experience overwhelming to fifty-fifty decide where to get-go. Whether you're studying for a test, an AP examination, or a higher course, you can accept some steps to assistance you accomplish your goals.

1. 1

   First early on. Don't wait to study until the night earlier a big exam! Specially with a subject such as English literature, where you lot volition probably exist asked belittling questions as well as content questions, yous must take time to familiarize yourself with some of the complexities of your textile. Being able to summarize the plot or name some characters is unlikely to be all y'all'll need to practise.

2. 2

   Examine what y'all already know. Write out all the details you can remember from your first reading of the text, as well equally anything you remember from your course lectures. Don't "crook" by looking at your notes or your text -- just write downwardly what you are confident you recollect. This volition be your starting base and volition reveal whatever gaps in your knowledge.

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3. 3

   Consider whether there are literary terms yous're unfamiliar with. Many tests and exams in English literature want you to be familiar with some key terms, such as stanza, irony, alliteration, speaker, and figurative language. While you're not probable to be expected to have comprehensive knowledge of literary terminology, agreement some of these key concepts volition be important to your success. At that place are many guides available that can help you detect definitions for important literary concepts, but hither are a few crucial terms:

   • A stanza is a poetic division of lines and is equivalent to the paragraph in prose writing. Usually, stanzas are at least three lines long; groups of two lines are unremarkably called "couplets."^[i]
   • Irony at its bones level says one affair but ways some other, which is almost always the opposite of what is actually said. For example, a character who meets someone in a raging blizzard might say "Lovely conditions we're having, isn't it?" This is ironic because the reader can see that it is conspicuously not lovely weather. William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens are famous for their use of irony.^[2]
     Do not misfile irony with misfortune, which Alanis Morissette'south song "Ironic" is culpable of: "a black wing in your chardonnay" is definitely unfortunate, but it'south not ironic.
   • Dramatic irony occurs when the reader or audience knows important information that a character does not, such as the fact that Oedipus killed his father and volition marry his mother.^[3]
   • Ingemination is a technique used most often in poetry and plays; it is the repetition of the same initial consonants in multiple words within a short space. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" is an instance of ingemination.
   • A speaker usually refers to the person from whose point of view a verse form is given, although it may also be used to refer to a novel's narrator. Keeping the speaker separate from the author is important, particularly in poetic dramatic monologues such every bit Robert Browning'due south "My Last Duchess," in which a maniacal knuckles admits to having murdered his first wife. Obviously, it is the speaker, not Browning, who is saying these things.
   • Figurative language is discussed in more length in Part 2 of this article, merely it is the opposite of "literal" language. Figurative language uses techniques such as metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole to make a signal more than vividly. For case, in Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra describes Mark Antony this manner: "His legs bestride the ocean. His reared arm / Crested the earth." This is hyperbolic language: patently Antony's legs didn't literally straddle the ocean, but it powerfully conveys Cleopatra's high opinion of him and his ability.

4. 4

   Expect at sample questions, if you tin. If yous were given a report guide or sample questions, see how much of this material you are already familiar with. This will help you lot zone in on what needs more work and make a written report program.

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1. 1

   Re-read your text. You lot should have already read the text for class, but if you're studying for an test, brand sure you get back and re-read information technology to grab things yous missed out on the first time.

2. 2

   Look for figurative language. Many authors utilise techniques such equally metaphors, similes, and personification to emphasize their points. These may be crucial to understanding the literary work you're reading: for example, knowing that the white whale in Moby-Dick represents (amidst other things) Captain Ahab's hubris is essential to being able to understand Melville's novel.

   • Metaphors make direct comparisons betwixt two seemingly dissimilar things. They are stronger than similes. For example, the concluding line of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Slap-up Gatsby is a famous metaphor comparing human lives to boats trying to make progress against a potent current: "And so we beat on, boats against the electric current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."^[4]
   • Similes also make comparisons, but they don't straight state that "x" is "y". For example, Margaret Mitchell uses a simile to describe Scarlett O'Hara's interest in Ashley Wilkes with a simile in her novel Gone With the Wind: "The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door that had neither lock nor central."^[five]
   • Personification occurs when a not-human brute or object is given human characteristics in gild to express an idea more powerfully. For example, Emily Dickinson frequently uses personification in her poems, as in this poem about a snake: "A narrow beau in the grass / occasionally rides; / Y'all may have met him, -- did you not, / His notice sudden is."^[6] Here, the snake is a "narrow swain" who "rides" in the grass, which makes it seem almost like a dashing Victorian gentleman, rather than a reptile.

3. iii

   Consider the construction of your text. The style that an writer expresses her or his ideas is often as important as the ideas themselves. In many cases, the form and construction of the text will have some kind of influence on its subject affair.

   • If you lot're reading fiction, think almost the order in which the events are recounted. Are there flashbacks or places in the narrative that wheel back in time? Sandra Cisneros'southward novel Caramelo begins shut to the cease of the actual "story" and switches betwixt various times and places in order to emphasize how complicated family unit histories are.
   • If you're reading poesy, call back nigh the form of the poesy. What type of poem is it? Is it something formally structured, like a sonnet or sestina? Is it free verse, which makes apply of elements such as rhythm and ingemination only doesn't have a set rhyme scheme? The way the poem is written will oftentimes offer clues as to the mood the poet wanted to convey.

4. 4

   Remember about character archetypes. An archetype is usually a character -- although information technology may besides exist an activeness or state of affairs -- that is believed to correspond something universally recognized as part of human nature. The influential psychologist Carl Jung argued that archetypes tap into the "collective unconscious" of humanity, and thus we recognize experiences we've shared with others in archetypes. Several types of of literature analysis accept been influenced past Jung, so being familiar with some archetypes that may appear in your text will probably be useful.^[7]

   • The Hero is a character who embodies good and often fights against evil in a struggle to bring justice or restore lodge. Beowulf and Captain America are perfect examples of the Hero archetype.
   • The Innocent Youth is a character who is usually inexperienced, but whom others similar considering of the faith s/he has in other people. For instance, Pip in Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations is an Innocent Youth, as is Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. Often, these archetypes will feel some sort of "coming of age" in later parts of the story.
   • The Mentor is tasked with caring for or protecting the main character through wise advice and aid. Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien'south Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is an fantabulous example of a Mentor archetype, as is Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars movies.
   • The Doppelganger is a character who doubles for the principal graphic symbol in guild to represent the "dark side" of the hero or heroine. Common examples of doppelgangers include Frankenstein and his Animate being in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Robert Louis Stevenson's' novel of the aforementioned name.
   • The Villain is a graphic symbol with evil plans whom the hero must oppose. The villain will usually exercise anything to defeat the hero and is frequently, though not always, clever. Good examples include Shere Khan from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Smaug the Dragon from The Hobbit, and the Joker from the Batman comics and films.

5. 5

   Think nearly situational archetypes. The other chief type of archetype you'll probably meet is situational, i.due east., a very familiar and expected type of plot and progression. Some mutual situational archetypes include:^[8]

   • The Journeying. This is an incredibly common archetype and is referenced in everything from stories of Male monarch Arthur to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver'southward Travels to Tolkien'southward Lord of the Rings. In this archetype, the master character undertakes a journeying -- physical or emotional, literal or figurative -- to sympathise something most herself/himself or the world around her/him, or to accomplish an of import goal. Oftentimes, the journey is very important to the plot, as with the Fellowship's quest to destroy Sauron'south 1 Ring in the Lord of the Rings.
   • The Initiation. This classic has similarities with the Journey, but the focus is more on the hero/heroine'southward developing maturity through their experiences. This type of story may also be chosen a ''bildungsroman.'' Henry Fielding's Tom Jones is an splendid example of this, equally are the origins of most comic book heroes (for example, Peter Parkers lessons about how to handle "swell power and cracking responsibility" equally he becomes Spiderman).
   • The Fall. This is another very mutual classic. In this archetype, the chief character experiences a fall from grace as the effect of her/his own action. Examples of this classic are all over classic literature, including King Lear from Shakespeare's play Rex Lear, Ahab from Melville's novel Moby-Dick, and Satan from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.

6. six

   Consider how action develops from conflict. For many texts, particularly plays and fiction, there is an "inciting incident" that sets the main action of the story in movement. This moment disturbs the equilibrium of the state of affairs, poses a problem, and sets off a series of events that volition form the remainder of the story.^[9]

   • For example, in Shakespeare'south Macbeth, Macbeth hears a prophecy from a trio of witches that says he will go King of Scotland. While he has never wanted to exist rex until this moment, the prophecy sets him on a path of ambition and murder that eventually leads in his downfall.
   • Every bit another example, in Arthur Miller'southward play The Crucible, a group of young girls face a disharmonize: they've been caught doing naughty things in the woods and face punishment. To attempt to cover up their deportment, they charge their fellow villagers of witchcraft. This action incites the rest of the play'southward story, which follows these accusations as they spin out of control.

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1. one

   Summarize each chapter or human activity in bullet points after you read through the text for the second fourth dimension. This will make hereafter review easier, as y'all will have a rough summary to work from.

   • Don't get too bogged downwardly in summary. You don't have to summarize every trivial affair that happens in a affiliate or act. Aim to notation the primary action of each i, as well as any important graphic symbol or thematic moments.

2. 2

   Brand out character profiles for each main character. Include anything important that the character says or does, along with links to other characters in the text.

   • For plays, you may want to note any speeches that seem particularly important, such equally Hamlet'southward "To be or not to be" speech or the "attention must be paid" speech from Arthur Miller'due south Death of a Salesman.

3. three

   Outline any problems the characters face. This tin can often exist even more helpful than chapter summaries. What challenges and conflicts practice the main characters face? What are their goals?

   • For example, Shakespeare's Hamlet has several problems he needs to solve: one) Is the ghost of his father urging him to seek revenge trustworthy? 2) How can he take revenge on his uncle in a courtroom total of people who are watching his every motion? 3) How tin he overcome his natural tendency to overthink things to work upwards the backbone to take the revenge he wants?

4. four

   Determine whether these issues are solved. Sometimes, problems are solved adequately neatly at the end of a story: the Death Star is destroyed in Star Wars, the 1 Band is destroyed and Aragorn restored as Male monarch in Lord of the Rings. Sometimes, problems are solved but not in platonic ways: for example, Hamlet does achieve his revenge and fulfill the ghost's request, but he also kills several innocent people forth the way and ends upwardly dead himself. Understanding whether characters achieved their goals, or why they didn't, will be useful in discussing the works in your exam.

5. 5

   Remember some important statements made. While y'all don't necessarily need to memorize important statements or speeches, remembering what they're generally almost tin can be very helpful when you become to brand an argument near a text.

   • For example, if you're studying Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, remembering that Mr. Darcy admits to meddling in Elizabeth's family diplomacy will be useful in explaining why they are and then aroused with each other early on in the book (i.e., he is too proud to acknowledge that meddling really was incorrect, and she is too prejudiced to acknowledge he might accept had motivations that made sense).

6. 6

   Brand more detailed notes, including principal themes in the text and how each character is of import in the text. Don't skimp on detail hither! Noting that "the tone of Mary Shelley'south Frankenstein is very sinister" won't exist much employ in the test if you don't have a way to describe what's making it feel sinister.

   • Write downwardly particularly brilliant moments from the text. Not only can these help you remember what happened in a chapter, they will give you prove to use when yous make claims virtually the text in your exam.
   • For example, consider this quotation from Chapter 41 of Herman Melville'south Moby-Dick, when Ahab has finally caught up with the White Whale: "He [Ahab] piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and detest felt by his whole race from Adam down; then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon information technology."^[10] This is far more evocative than merely saying "Ahab attacked the whale." This passage emphasizes that Ahab is afterwards the whale not just for taking his leg, only considering he'south come to embody every unmarried horrible thing that has happened to humans since time began in this whale, and he is willing to destroy himself -- it'south every bit if his breast is a cannon, remember, with a cannonball exploding from information technology -- to accept the whale downward.

7. 7

   Write downward any symbols in the text and where they appear. Symbolism is a favorite tool of authors. If some element, such as a color or specific item, shows upwards more than once or twice, it'south likely to be a symbol that represents something important.

   • For example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne'south novel The Scarlet Letter, the "A" that Hester Prynne must wear in penalty of her infidelity is an obvious symbol, just her daughter Pearl also serves as a symbol. Like the "A," Pearl is a reminder of her adultery, a "token of her shame." Hester ofttimes dresses Pearl in beautiful gold and red dresses, physically linking her to the letter of the alphabet and to Hester'southward crime.

8. eight

   Wait up contemporary connections. It is often very helpful to exist able to reference in your exam or essay some important cultural or social issues that were relevant at the time a text was outset written. Use any course material you have, along with introductions to critical editions of the text and reliable resource such equally those found through a library database to do a bit of enquiry. Practice not rely on websites such as wikipedia or your own noesis of a flow, as both of these may be incomplete or inaccurate.

   • For example, if you lot are studying Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," it'southward important to be able to speak about the status of women in the belatedly 19th century. Gilman was a very important feminist author who wrote against the traditional social structure of her time, which insisted that a adult female'due south only identify was every bit a wife and female parent. Importantly, her arguments usually insisted that this structure harmed men equally well equally women -- something that is very useful to bring upwardly in a word of her fiction, and something you might not know if you were only acting on "common knowledge" of the era.

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1. i

   Annotation what type of poem you're dealing with. Sometimes, knowing the blazon of poem you're studying, such as whether information technology's a sonnet or sestina or haiku, can exist very important to beingness able to discuss its meaning. You can often decide what type of poetry you're dealing with by examining the rhyme scheme (the pattern of rhymes at the cease of each line) and the meter (the number of poetic "feet" each line has).

   • For example, Edna St. Vincent Millay tackles how difficult information technology is to write poetry in her poem "I Volition Put Chaos into Fourteen Lines." Knowing that this poem is a sonnet about writing sonnets helps explain part of what the verse form's goal is: putting a little mod "chaos" into a very old and established poetic form. Recognizing that Millay uses a classic Petrarchan rhyme scheme and that many of the lines are in iambic pentameter (meaning they audio similar "ta-TUM ta-Tummy ta-Breadbasket ta-Tummy ta-TUM") will help you lot place the poem every bit a sonnet.
   • Many modern poets write in free verse, but this doesn't mean they aren't also paying shut attending to the class of their verse. Look for elements such every bit alliteration, assonance, repetition, enjambment (the breaking of poetic lines), and rhythm in free poesy poetry just as you would in more than formally structured verse.

2. ii

   Identify the speaker and the audience of the verse form, when possible. This is particularly important for poems such as dramatic monologues, where the speaker is definitely ''not'' supposed to be the poet. Felicia Hemans, Robert Browning, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson all wrote dramatic monologues from the points of view of characters very different than themselves.

   • Identifying the speaker tin can exist trickier in lyric poetry, such as the type written by poets like Wordsworth or John Keats, because these poems are often written in starting time-person just don't make a clear distinction between the speaker and the poet. Nevertheless, even in poems that are written using first-person pronouns like "I", always refer to the speaker as the speaker, non the poet.

3. 3

   Write down any symbols in the poem and where they appear. Just every bit with prose writing, symbolism shows up all the time in poesy. Exist on the lookout for repeated elements, especially things like colors or natural imagery.

   • For instance, in William Wordsworth'southward poem "Tintern Abbey," the eye is an of import symbol that represents many things, including the poet's imagination. Wordsworth will ofttimes play on the similarity of sound between I and middle, further relating the two concepts.
   • Symbolism is all over the place in the Anglo-Saxon epic verse form Beowulf. One central symbol is the hall of Heorot, Male monarch Hrothgar's great golden mead-hall. Heorot symbolizes community, bravery, warmth, prophylactic, wealth, and civilisation, so when Grendel invades Heorot and murders warriors in their sleep in that location, he's violating everything most the Scyldings' lives.

4. iv

   Remember that you don't have to memorize poems you lot're studying. Just make certain you know the basics such as structure of the poem, themes, and overarching idea or story.

   • It can sometimes be helpful to memorize a key line or two from a verse form so that you can use it as evidence. For example, if you're studying Walt Whitman's huge verse form Leaves of Grass, you might want to memorize the short phrase "dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a dandy verse form." This brusk quotation encapsulates much of the meaning from the larger text, and beingness able to drop information technology into an exam will help you support your claims.

5. 5

   Look upwardly context for your poems. Context is just as of import for poetry as it is for fiction or drama. Knowing what types of issues the poet may take been addressing can help you lot understand the goal of the poetry.

   • Contextual information can besides be useful in keeping you lot from making incorrect statements about poems. For example, information technology'southward important to know that Shakespeare's sonnets are not all written to female lovers, even though that was the standard for sonnets of the era. In fact, virtually of them are written to a "fair youth," a wealthy young man to whom the poet has some sort of deep, possibly romantic, attraction.

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1. ane

   Re-read passages you don't understand. Particularly in poetry, authors may use linguistic communication unconventionally in club to brand a more powerful affect on the reader. This tin exist disruptive at get-go, only re-reading the passage slowly and carefully will reward your attention.^[11]

   • Wait for footnotes and other aids. Ofttimes in books edited for a student audition, the editors will include explanatory footnotes, word definitions, and other aids that can help you grasp what'southward going on. Don't ignore these! They tin actually help clear up confusing passages.

2. two

   Avert skimming material. Especially if yous're reading poetry or plays, reading everything is very important. Skipping things such as stage directions in a Shakespeare play can mean you miss out on crucial data. Language in poems is precisely called and structured to have a particular issue, then missing even a give-and-take or ii could impairment your agreement of the whole text.

3. 3

   Read passages aloud. This technique works specially well with poetry and plays, but information technology can besides work for long, dumbo passages of prose in a novel, particularly if it's something like a Charles Dickens novel where sentences can run to a full paragraph. Reading the language aloud volition assist point out elements such equally rhythm, alliteration, and repetition, which are all things that your exam may ask you lot to speak about.

4. 4

   Make flash cards. If you're having problem remembering things, make yourself some wink cards. Sometimes, the transfer of material from 1 medium to some other (e.g., from written notes to flash cards) will help y'all learn it more effectively.

   • Flash cards are especially helpful for memorizing things such as literary terms and grapheme names. They may be less helpful for remembering more than circuitous information.

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Shakespeare Terms Guide

Add together New Question

• Question

  I want to make literature notes? What are the important steps which should be taken?

  

  Taking adept notes is the same with all subjects. Sympathize the passage, and write down important information, like the relationship betwixt characters, key events and themes.

• Question

  How do I sympathize a literary question?

  

  Break the question up into the object and the verb interim on the object. Then, use text from the book to support your claim.

• Question

  What jobs can I practise if I study English language literature?

  

  You can exist an English instructor or professor, or you can exist a writer (of books, of reviews, of critical theory, etc.).

• Question

  How tin I ameliorate my vocabulary if I don't take time to read?

  

  Practice yous take fourth dimension to talk? Get into conversations with adults.

• Question

  How practise I improve my vocabulary?

  

  Read widely.

• Question

  What is mean by metaphysical verse?

  

  Metaphysical means across the concrete or spiritual. And so in metaphysical verse, some of the imagery and metaphors used are not scientific or concrete.

• Question

  How I do I analyze a verse form?

  

• Question

  How can I remember a novel?

  

  Read the novel many times. This will help you remember better the plot and characters. If you don't have a lot of time, read in your spare time.

• Question

  How do I learn and remember answers to long questions?

  

  Kickoff of all, yous'll demand to understand the question and the answer to that question. You will non have to "memorize the answer." As long every bit you understand the question and understand the answer, you lot'll exist able to answer it.

• Question

  How can I acquire give-and-take meanings?

  

  Ask others or check a dictionary. You may as well be able to figure information technology out from the context.

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• Use a highlighter to highlight key parts so they stand out when yous read them.

• Read the text as many times every bit you maybe can.

• Put your notes in the form of spider diagrams or listen maps, every bit these can help you remember essential notes much easier.

• Yous tin can use guides such equally SparkNotes, York Notes, Shmoop, etc., but don't rely on them to be your only source of analysis. Teachers are often very familiar with these guides themselves, and will likely not be impressed if your analysis does not extend across them.

• Use evidences when answering questions. It will make the answers more credible and realistic.

Thank you for submitting a tip for review!

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• Do not simply read a summary of the book or the blurb. Read the whole text.

• Practice non simply learn the storyline off by middle. You need to exist able to analyze the storyline.

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Article Summary 10

To written report English literature, always take notes every bit yous read, which will make information technology easier to recognize themes and connect the dots in the text. Also, highlight of import passages that you tin utilize as evidence when yous make claims almost the story. It's besides helpful to make profiles for each main character as you lot read so yous tin clarify their grapheme arc after you finish the story. If you retrieve something a character says is important, add together it to their contour. For more tips, like how to look for figurative language in English literature, go on reading!

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