Writing about Literature and the Arts CHAPTER 49 Part 10 a-e Copyright © Allyn and Bacon. All rights reserved.

The humanities include... n n the fine arts... u u drawing, u u painting, u u sculpture, u u architecture n n the performing arts... u u music, u u drama, u u dance

n n The study of literature... u u poetry, u u prose fiction, u u the essay n n The disciplines of. u u history, u u philosophy, u u religion.

Why write about the humanities, especially literature and the arts? n First, n First, writing about a literary or other work of art encourages you to attend to it more carefully. n Second, n Second, writing stimulates thinking; it helps you discover what you think and why you think what you do.

n Third, n Third, writing provides occasions to state your views about the ideas and values the work suggests. n Fourth, n Fourth, writing about works of literature and art can deepen your understanding of their significance and enhance your appreciation of their artistry.

Reminder, this topic was covered in Scribner earlier when it was noted how one can... n write to understand a work. n write to interpret a work. n write to evaluate a work.

When one writes about literature or art, it is vital to enter the work’s world of language and images... n A Poem u u identify its speaker and situation. n n A Musical Work u u characterize its dominant sounds and rhythms n n A Sculpture u u consider how the artist is using the medium (e.g.., of wood, metal, stone) to convey an image of a person, an action, or an idea

Writing to Understand a Work If You Don’t Get It How Can You Write about It?

Your first writing about a work, then, should be the writing you do for yourself—to discover what you feel and think, to see how you respond. n n This initial personal writing is preliminary, exploratory, and informal. n n Use the following techniques:

riting to understand a work. W riting to understand a work. n Annotate n List n Question n Free Write n Keep a Double Column Notebook

Annotating n Annotations are the notes or questions you make when reading a work of literature or when reading about or looking at a work of art. n Methods u underlining words, circling phrases, bracketing passages, or using exclamation marks, arrows, question marks, or other forms of shorthand. n Purposes u highlight what strikes you as interesting, important, exciting, or puzzling.

Listing n Listing is the process of recording details from a work in columns or lists. n As you identify a work’s features—a poem’s images, for example, or a painting’s colors— you jot them down as a group, vertically.

An Example: The fatherThe coldThe speaker cracked handshis callblueblackno thanks labor (work)lovefiresindifference fireslonelysplintering angers (fear?) the cold the cold polished shoesaustererooms warm.

Questioning n Asking yourself questions about a work is one way to continue thinking about it and to enrich your understanding of it. n Your questions may concern u the action described in or implied by a work. u The nature of the work’s characters. u the aspects of meaning and technique. n Ask questions about a work’s action, characters, language, and situation.

Free Writing n Freewriting is a technique that helps you explore your thinking. It is more continuous than annotating, listing, and questioning. n You usually freewrite in paragraphs and complete sentences, though without a concern about grammar, style, spelling, and punctuation.

Keeping a double- column notebook n To create a double-column notebook, divide your page in half to make space for two kinds of notes. u On one side take notes, recording what you think a work expresses. On this side you should summarize the work and perhaps quote briefly from it.

u On the other side, react to the work by noting your questions and personal responses. F On this more personal side, record what you think and how you feel about the work. F Here you can question and criticize the work and relate it to your own knowledge and experience

Writing to Interpret a Work How do You Convince Others to Read the Work as You Do?

It is important that you go beyond... n n first impressions. n n simply stating your opinion of the work. n n concentrating only on expressing your feelings about a work. n n offering an interpretation without providing evidence in its support.

The Big question is no longer “What do I Feel about this Work?” Instead we must ask “What is this Work’s Significance?” “What does this Work Mean?”

You need to explain why readers or viewers should understand the work as you do. Your evidence derives from your analysis or close scrutiny of the work’s elements.

Some ways to interpreting a work of Literature n n to relate the work you are interpreting to other works by the same writer or artist, n n to relate the work to similar works by different writers and artists, n n to relate the work to your own knowledge—what you know about the subject being analyzed.

n Another approach is to do some research on the writer or artist.

Steps to Interpreting a Work of Literature or Art 1. Make observations about the work’s details. 2. Establish connections among your observations. 3. Develop inferences based on those connections. 4. Formulate an interpretation based on your inferences.

Observing: n n notice the characters’ lives, their surroundings, experiences, and thoughts. n n observe dialogue and action, noticing not only what characters say and do but their manner of speaking and acting as well. observe the work’s details closely

n n In listening to a song or other musical work, you pay attention to u its melody and harmony, u its instrumentation, u its changes of tempo and dynamics (its degree of loudness). n n In looking at a painting or photograph, you observe u the shape, size, and color of its figures. u their relative positions in the foreground or background. u to shape, line, and color

You look, in short, at the elements or characteristic features of works of literature and art.

Connecting: n n Try to relate the things you see to one another as you look for both similarities and differences. Without connections you have only a series of fragmented observations.

Inferring While particular works may stump you, you need to move beyond making observations and connections to thinking about their significance. If you do not draw inferences, you may wind up saying “I have no idea what this writer or artist is doing.”

Interpretation: n n Your interpretation should convey your understanding of the work. n n The evidence that supports your interpretation should come from the work’s details. n n In accumulating evidence for your interpretation you may use logical thinking and creative thinking n n Your interpretation may also be informed by what you have learned from consulting secondary sources.

Writing to Evaluate a Work Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

When interpreting a work of art or literature, you aim to understand it, not to judge it. In writing to evaluate a work of art or literature, however, you make a judgment about it.

Your judgment may concern the work’s... n n quality, n n persuasiveness n n implied cultural and social values

Writing Papers on Literary Works: Where the Tire Meets the Road

There are various types of papers: n n a personal response (in which you express your feelings about a work) (NO) n an analysis of an element or part of a work u an analysis of a character (YES) u an analysis of a work’s imagery (YES) u an analysis of a work’s structure (YES) n n an interpretation, a review, or an evaluation, to name several (NO)

You also should be clear about whether you need to consult secondary sources. n n Primary sources include original works of writers and artists, original historical documents, data, and observations based on experiments and case studies n n Secondary sources are interpretations and explanations of primary sources, often in the form of books and articles.

Go Thou and Write That’s All Folks