English Final: How to read literature

What does it mean when literary characters fly?

It could mean being different from the human race, freedom, and counter freedom

What can rain represent in literature?

Rain can represent new growth, bring back to life, and restorative

Know Foster's points of parting advice for further reading.

Read things you like to read, great literature/good writings, reading should be fun and the author doesn't have to be dead

What does Foster mean "If it's square, it's sonnet"?

14 lines has about 10 syllables and it looks like a square

What are the five characteristics of the quest?

A quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go, challenegs and trials en route, and a real reason to go there

"Breaking bread together is an act of......"

An act of sharing and peace, if you're breaking bread then you're not breaking heads

What is "Intertextuality"?

An ongoing interaction between poems or stories. Other poems or stories can speak to each other

What things can "heart trouble" signify?

Center of emotion, love, loneliness, loyalty, cruelty,bad love, pederasty, lack of determination, difficulties of the heart, short hand for character

What irony chiefly involves, then is........

Deflection from expectation

What does eating represent in literature?

Eating can represent a sexual experience, bad sign, sharing a communion with each other

Explain what Foster means by "irony trumps everything"

Every chapter in books goes out the window when irony comes in the door

What is a Petrarchan Sonnet?

Has an octave with a rhyme scheme that ties the first eight lines together. Then has another rhyme scheme that ties the last six

Explain what Foster means by "Don't read with your eyes"

He means to look in the characters thoughts and perspective rather than your own

What is the difference between symbolism and allegory?

If a general symbol stands for only one thing, then it is allegory. An allegory conveys a specific message

What are the implications of violence in literature?

It can be symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, and transcendent

What can Fog represent in literature?

It can represent mental and physical confusion

Foster says he loves "political" writing. What is his definition of it in that context?

It engages the realities of its world; it thinks about human problems including those in the social and political realm

Know the principles governing the use of disease in literature

Not all diseases are equal, it should be mysterious in origin,it should have a strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities

What can drowning mean in literature?

Rebirth, begin new life, revolution, thematic development, failure, or guilt

Why do so many writers use and quote Shakespeare?

Shakespeare has wide variety of plays and characters to provide a figure against whom writers can struggle and text where other texts can bring ideas

To get the most out of your reading of European and American literature knowing what is essential?

Something about the Old and New Testaments

What are the symbolic meanings of the seasons?

Spring: Childhood and youth Summer:adulthood, Romance, passion Autumn:decline of the Middle Ages,tiredness,harvest Winter:old age, resentment death

What is the "big secret" Foster reveals in this chapter?

That there is only one story. Every story ends up referencing another story or line

What does Foster suggest are the four reasons that writers allude to fairy tales?

They add greater weight, depth, and makes a story resonate with richness of things that actually happened before with power of myth

What is the list of what a character may be because they're flying?

They are a superhero, ski jumper, crazy, fictional, a circus act, departing a canon, suspended on wines, an angel, or heavily symbolic

What do Biblical allusions do for a piece of literature?

They provide a mythic context that many people can connect or at least have an idea

For what reasons do authors give characters deformities, scars, or other physical markings?

They want to signify some psychological or thematic point

Why do authors choose to make characters blind?

To add depth, to see a different perspective, the character doesn't know what they are doing

What does it mean when an author sends a character south?

To cause the characters to look at their deepest fears

About what does Foster warn readers?

Too much acceptance of the authors view point can lead to difficulties

What is a Shakespearean Sonnet?

Usually divides up by four the pattern. First three parts are four lines long, known as quatrains. The fourth part is a couplet

What are the three types of irony in literature?

Verbal, Dramatic, Situational Irony

What does Foster mean from "What irony chiefly involves, then is deflection from expectation."

What we expect isn't what happens

What does snow represent is literature?

cleanliness, stark, severe, warm, inhospitable, playful, suffocating, and filty

According to Foster sex can mean literally sex or it can mean something else Finally he says it can mean pleasure, sacrifice.....

failure of liberation; religious, political, artistic subversion, rebellion.

What are some of the roles geography plays in literature?

setting, psychology, attitude, finance, industry, theme, symbol, plot, and to develop characters

What are some reasons that authors kill of characters?

to make action happen, cause plot complications, end plot complications, and put other characters under stress