Strategies for Reading Literature

1. a) For a written text: take careful notes as you read, jotting down whatever you might think is important. Mark in the text (if it’s not a library book) or make notes on a separate sheet of paper. After you finish each reading session, take a few moments to think about what you’ve just read, and brainstorm for any possible ideas, significance, etc.

b) For a visual narrative: while watching the movie, briefly jot down scenes and images that strike you as important (but don’t spend much time writing at this point—watch the film!).

2. Immediately after finishing the reading, write for about 15 minutes on everything that comes to your mind. These can be personal reactions, observations, and interpretations of what you’ve just seen or read. Write down questions you have about the narrative or poetry, ones that you may want to bring up in a class discussion.

3. Some things to consider while writing your post-reading/viewing notes:

For Prose:

Ø Narrative structure – What happens in the narrative and how the story is told. Are the “historical” events that occur in the narrative given in the same chronological order in which the events are actually disclosed (in other words, the differences between story and discourse)?

Ø Characterization – What the characters are like, how they are depicted (positively, negatively, mixture), what their importance is in the narrative. Are the main characters three-dimensional (or “rounded”) or two-dimensional (or “flat)? Do they learn things and grow…in other words, are they dynamic characters? Or are they more static and learn nothing?

Ø Setting – The characters’ environments and the symbolic importance they may have. How might the three major elements of setting—physical place, temporal space, and social environment—influence our interpretation of what happens?

Ø Point of view – Who tells the story and from what viewpoint. Is the narration first person? In other words, is the narrator involved in the story itself? If so, how knowledgeable or mature is this narrator? Or is it a third person point of view, where a god-like figure reveals the story? If so, does the third person narrator get into the minds of any of the characters? How many and how deeply? Does he/she/it editorialize?

Ø Symbolism – The various elements in a work that stand for something beyond their own literalness. What might certain things represent? Are the symbols merely conventional, something that we all recognize regardless of the context? Or are they literary symbols that get their meanings only from the context of the story?

Ø Themes, ideas, values – Anything major concerning human and cultural issues expressed in the work; or in other words, what you think the story or poem is about.

Ø Technique – The significance of writing style (the way the author uses words and the particular words used) in written texts or the camera movement and editing in film. Is the author’s style distinctive or important in any way? What might the style tell us about the author’s tone (author’s attitude toward his/her subject matter)?

Ø Irony – Literary discrepancies of some sort. Is what said different from what is meant (verbal irony)? Is what happens different from what you expect to happen (situational irony)? Or do you know something significant that a character does not know (dramatic irony)?

For Poetry:

Ø Word choice and order – The significance of the words that are used. Which word(s) are particularly revealing in the poem? Why do you think the writer chose this/those words?

Ø Images – The mental impressions that you get from reading the poem. Are there any striking images that occur to you as you read the poem? What mental pictures do you come away with, and why might these be significant?

Ø Figures of speech – The way that language is used in order to create additional meanings or effects. Does the poet rely on any similes? Metaphors? What kind of metaphor (implied…extended…controlling?) might it be? Are their any puns, paradoxes, under- or overstatements?

Ø Symbolism – As in prose, the various elements in a work that stand for something beyond their own literalness. What might certain images represent? Are the symbols merely conventional, something that we all recognize regardless of the context? Or are they literary symbols that get their meanings only from the context of the story?

Ø Sounds and rhyming– The way you hear a word, or parts of a word, in a poem. How might the various sounds of a poem influence the way you interpret it? Does the poet use any repetitive sounds, alliteration (repeated consonant sounds) or assonance (repeated vowel sounds)? What kind of rhymes do you see in the poem and how might these be significant?

Ø Patterns of rhythm – The metrical structure of a poem. Does the poet rely on a particular rhythm, such as iambic or trochaic? Is there a pattern to this rhythm, and if so, why might the poet use it?

Ø Poetic form – The overall structure or shape of a poem. Does the poem follow any fixed format—e.g., sonnet (Italian and English), villanelle, sestina, haiku, ode, elegy—or is it more or less open, following no particular fixed format?

For any kind of literature, think in terms of your overall impression…what you thought of the story or poem, and why. Try to go beyond the labels “good” or “bad.” Express why you did or didn’t like it and define what you mean by “good” or “bad.”

Please bring your notes to class so that you may refer to them during our discussions. All of this should help you to sharpen your memory and your ability to be a critical reader.