Contextualize the text from a historical and cultural point of view.

15 – 20 lines

The Renaissance

Shakespeare lived and wrote during a remarkable period of English history, a time of
relative political stability and great development, 1485 - 1649. Science made it possible to
navigate, explorers set out to find a new world. The ideas of the Renaissance are strongly
influenced by the concept of humanism. The aim was to restore human values from antiquity by
reintroducing the philosophies, language and literature of the ancient Greece and Rome. One of
the major developments in English literature at this time is in drama. Some of Shakespeare’s
plays reflect historical and political tensions, others deal with common life experiences which are
described in comedy as well as tragedy. During this period poetry was another important literary
genre.

Enlightenment 1650 - 1800

The novel was written during the Enlightenment era, a period of scientific awakening, a
time of unprecedented optimism in the potential of knowledge and reason to understand and
change the world. It was believed that the use of reason and science could improve the human
condition. This period saw the rise of the political pamphlet and essay but the leading genre of
the Enlightenment became the novel. The hero of the novel was the average man, the middle-
class man, with a pragmatic common sense, and literature became very instructive; writers aimed
to educate readers through their stories, criticizing the flaws of society and individuals. Most of
the writers of this time wrote political pamphlets, but the best came from the pens of Defoe and
Swift. The novel writing was influences by travel literature, biographies, memoirs, diaries.

Romanticism (1789-1832)
(S. Coleridge , J. Austen, J. Keats, W. Whitman, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Melville)

The author belongs to Romanticism, the literary period between 1789 – 1832,
approximately. It was an age greatly marked by the industrial development with serious
consequences on people’s lives, and the French Revolution of 1789, the focus of which was to
create political and social freedom, equality, brotherhood and democracy. As a result,
Romantics were enthusiastic about nature and especially appreciated areas in nature which had
not been touched by human intervention. Simple rural life, which had not been influenced or
ruined by the Industrial Revolution and in which man still lived in harmony with nature, was
seen as ideal. Romanticism saw a shift from faith in reason to faith in senses, feelings,
imagination. Poetry and novels are the most common genres. All these reflected in the works of
the most prominent romantic writers, including………………………….

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Victorian Age (1837-1901)
(Dickens, L. Carroll, Hardy)

The author belongs to Victorian age, a period starting before the middle of the 19 th
century, when the reign of Queen Victoria began, a time characterized by changes in the
political life, expansion of the British Empire, continuation of the industrialization. Religious
ideas were challenged by Darwin’s theory of evolutionism. It was a time of great energy and the
poets and novelists of the period were very productive as they sought to chronicle their exciting
age and provide it with a high moral tone and a refined taste in literature and arts.
The Victorian era was the great age of the English novel—realistic, thickly plotted,
crowded with characters, and long. It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to
entertain the middle class. They describe life as people experienced it giving an impression of
the life of the poor in industrialized cities in England in the middle of the 19th century

Realism (1861 – 1914 , 65 – 90 pt Am.)

(H. James 1881 – father of British modernism ; M. Twain)

Born at the end of the Civil war, the literary period in which …………… wrote, aimed to
recreate reality in literature. The years following the war symbolized a time of healing and
rebuilding. In literature this was a time of upheaval. As the United States grew rapidly after the
Civil War, the increasing rates of democracy and literacy, the rapid growth in industrialism and
urbanization, an expanding population base due to immigration, and a relative rise in middle-
class affluence provided a fertile literary environment for readers interested in understanding
these rapid shifts in culture.
Realists are concerned with the effect of the work on their reader and the reader's life, a
pragmatic view. Pragmatism requires the reading of a work to have some verifiable outcome for
the reader that will lead to a better life for the reader. This lends an ethical tendency to realism
while focusing on common actions and minor catastrophes of middle class society.

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Modernism (1914 – 1950)
(J. Conrad, J. Joyce, G.B. Shaw, V. Woolf, F.S. Fitzgerald am, E. Hemingway am, E. O’Neill am, W. Faulkner
am, T.S. Elliot am)

Modernism was a literary movement that lasted approximately from 1914-1950.

Modernism began the breaking of traditional writing styles that we know today. During this
period, artists began to develop their own individual styles
New technology and the horrifying events of both World Wars (but specifically World
War I) made many people question the future of humanity: What was becoming of the world?
Writers reacted to this question by turning toward Modernist sentiments. Gone was the
Romantic period that focused on nature and being. Modernist fiction spoke of the inner self and
consciousness. Instead of progress, the Modernist writer saw a decline of civilization. Instead of
new technology, the Modernist writer saw cold machinery and increased capitalism, which
alienated the individual and led to loneliness. To achieve the emotions described above, most
Modernist fiction was cast in first person. Whereas earlier, most literature had a clear beginning,
middle, and end (or introduction, conflict, and resolution), the Modernist story was often more
of a stream of consciousness, creating the feeling that the story is going nowhere. Irony, satire,
and comparisons were often employed to point out society's ills.

Post modernism (1950 - )

(Golding 1954)

The text belongs to postmodernism, a postwar cultural movement, started around 1950,
that reacted against tendencies in modernism, and was typically marked by revival of historical
elements and techniques. Postmodernist society is characterized by changes to institutions and
creations and with social and political results and innovations, globally but especially in the
West.
Postmodern authors tend to depict the world as having already undergone countless
disasters and being beyond redemption or understanding. Postmodern literature reflects late
modern society by showing the individual’s inability to establish a personal identity based on a
historical or social background, let alone family and work. Postmodern literature is, to a great
extent, a play on words which reflects the meaninglessness of the late modern world, which is
seen as fragmented, disoriented, chaotic, but this leads neither to despair nor to any wish to re-
establish order. The binary contrasts of good/evil, true/false, real/unreal and order/chaos have
been abolished. The world is pure surface, it is what it appears to be. Hence each individual
creates his or her own world and identity through the pictures which he or she sees in literature
and other art forms or in the so-called world. The Great Narratives, which began to be
questioned in Modernism, are rejected in Postmodernism. There is no acknowledgment of a
universal truth.

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 Literary Analysis: Using Elements of
Literature
Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of
assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short
story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll
need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular
reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to
explain their significance.
Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of
literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the
author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single
term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the
original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader.
Allegory - narrative form in which the characters are representative of
some larger humanistic trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt
to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was
originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to
parallel story and theme.
• William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South

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 • Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-
man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts
• District 9- South African Apartheid
• X Men- the evils of prejudice
• Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking “racial purity”
Character - representation of a person, place, or thing performing
traditionally human activities or functions in a work of fiction
• Protagonist - The character the story revolves around.
• Antagonist - A character or force that opposes the protagonist.
• Minor character - Often provides support and illuminates the
protagonist.
• Static character - A character that remains the same.
• Dynamic character - A character that changes in some important
way.
• Characterization - The choices an author makes to reveal a
character’s personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and
motivations.
Look for: Connections, links, and clues between and about
characters. Ask yourself what the function and significance of
each character is. Make this determination based upon the
character's history, what the reader is told (and not told), and
what other characters say about themselves and others.

Connotation - implied meaning of word. BEWARE! Connotations can

change over time.
• confidence/ arrogance
• mouse/ rat
• cautious/ scared
• curious/ nosey
• frugal/ cheap
Denotation - dictionary definition of a word
Diction - word choice that both conveys and emphasizes the meaning or
theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable,
letters, and definition
Figurative language - the use of words to express meaning beyond the
literal meaning of the words themselves

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 • Metaphor - contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the
meaning of a situation or theme without using likeor as
• You are the sunshine of my life.
• Simile - contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the
meaning of a situation or theme using like or as
• What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a
raisin in the sun
• Hyperbole - exaggeration
• I have a million things to do today.
• Personification - giving non-human objects human characteristics
• America has thrown her hat into the ring, and will be joining
forces with the British.
Foot - grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem
• Iamb - unstressed syllable followed by stressed
• Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the
natural rhythm of human speech
• How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
• Spondee - stressed stressed
• Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm
• Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved
• Trochee - stressed unstressed
• Often used in children’s rhymes and to help with
memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling
• While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a
tapping,
• Anapest - unstressed unstressed stressed
• Often used in longer poems or “rhymed stories”
• Twas the night before Christmas and all through
the house
• Dactyls - stressed unstressed unstressed
• Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by
the Romantics, then again by the Beatles, often thought to
create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem
• Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

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 The iamb stumbles through my books; trochees rush and
tumble; while anapest runs like a hurrying brook; dactyls are
stately and classical.

Imagery - the author’s attempt to create a mental picture (or reference

point) in the mind of the reader. Remember, though the most immediate
forms of imagery are visual, strong and effective imagery can be used to
invoke an emotional, sensational (taste, touch, smell etc) or even physical
response.
Meter - measure or structuring of rhythm in a poem
Plot - the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story
• Foreshadowing - When the writer clues the reader in to something
that will eventually occur in the story; it may be explicit (obvious)
or implied (disguised).
• Suspense - The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of
discomfort about the unknown
• Conflict - Struggle between opposing forces.
• Exposition - Background information regarding the setting,
characters, plot.
• Rising Action - The process the story follows as it builds to its main
conflict
• Crisis - A significant turning point in the story that determines how
it must end
• Resolution/Denouement - The way the story turns out.
Point of View - pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point
of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author's
intentions.
• Narrator - The person telling the story who may or may not be a
character in the story.
• First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has
limited knowledge/vision.
• Second person - Narrator addresses the reader directly as though
she is part of the story. (i.e. “You walk into your bedroom. You see
clutter everywhere and…”)
• Third Person (Objective) - Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a
detached observer). Does not assume character's perspective and
is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and
lets the reader supply the meaning.

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 • Omniscient - All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The
narrator knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just
what they are doing throughout the story. This type of narrator
usually jumps around within the text, following one character for a
few pages or chapters, and then switching to another character for
a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes
step out of a particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in
some meaningful way.
Rhythm - often thought of as a poem’s timing. Rhythm is the
juxtaposition of stressed and unstressed beats in a poem, and is often
used to give the reader a lens through which to move through the work.
(See meter and foot)
Setting - the place or location of the action. The setting provides the
historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the
emotional state of characters. Example – In Poe’s The Fall of the House of
Usher, the crumbling old mansion reflects the decaying state of both the
family and the narrator’s mind. We also see this type of emphasis on
setting in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.
Speaker - the person delivering the poem. Remember, a poem does not
have to have a speaker, and the speaker and the poet are not necessarily
one in the same.
Structure (fiction) - The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story.
Look for: Repeated elements in action, gesture, dialogue,
description, as well as shifts in direction, focus, time, place, etc.

Structure (poetry) - The pattern of organization of a poem. For example,

a Shakespearean sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter.
Because the sonnet is strictly constrained, it is considered a closed or
fixed form. An open or free form poem has looser form, or perhaps one of
the author’s invention, but it is important to remember that these poems
are not necessarily formless.
Symbolism - when an object is meant to be representative of something
or an idea greater than the object itself.
• Cross - representative of Christ or Christianity
• Bald Eagle - America or Patriotism
• Owl - wisdom or knowledge
• Yellow - implies cowardice or rot
Tone - the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful,
pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the
elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader.
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 Useful phrases for analysing texts

In general: “bedient sich adäquater Mittel der LESERLEITUNG”

= Vor-, Quer- und Rückverweise, e.g.:
- In the following, I’m going to … [= tell your readers what you are about
to do]
- As I said before / in the beginning … (etc.)
- I will enlarge upon this later / in the next paragraph … (etc.)
- Concluding one can say / In brief / To put it in a nutshell / From all this
follows that … (etc.)
 Make it easy for readers of your text to follow your argumentation!

Task 1:
 The text at hand / the given text is [an extract/excerpt from] … [a
short story/speech/newspaper article/novel/poem a.s.o.] written by […]
[and published in (the New York Times etc.) on [date] / in [year]. It is
about / deals with / treats of / describes / is concerned with / presents
… [topic = general topic, no details!].
 The general/essential/main idea expressed is …
 The [author/writer/speaker/poet] starts off by [+ gerund, e.g. stating
that …].

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  He/She goes on by [+ gerund]…
 He/She speaks about / discusses / gives his (her) opinion on … /
expresses his (her) view concerning … / holds the view that … /
comments on … / presents the thesis that … / draws (come) to the
conclusion that …

 Use the present tense; don’t quote; use neutral language, i.e. don’t
evaluate; use your own words / paraphrase.

Task 2:
 In the following, I’m going to … [say what you are about to do, e.g. …
characterise Molly while putting special emphasis on the reasons for
her behaviour in this excerpt… cf. task!]
When analysing the structure of a text:
 The text/story/speech can be divided into / is divided into / falls into / is
composed of / contains / consists of […] parts / paragraphs / chapters /
sections.
 The first / […] / last part / paragraph / sentence constitutes / gives us /
comprises the introduction / central problem / principal part / solution.
 In the first / […] / last part the author varies the theme / changes the
topic / goes into detail / passes from … to …

When characterising:
 The author describes the characteristics / outer appearance /
intellectual qualities / mood / activities / social and psychological
condition / character traits of …
 The author gives a realistic / detailed description of / only gives a
rough description of ..
 The character is described / presented / characterised as …
 The basic traits of A’s character are …
 One of A’s striking characteristics is …
When analysing rhetorical / stylistic devices:
 The author makes use of / employs …
 This is done in order to stress / put emphasis on / emphasise / draw
attention to / highlight …
 The author wants to involve the readers/listeners by [+ gerund] /
convince them of …
 He/She wants to appeal to (e.g. the readers’ conscience) …
 He/She wants to imply / implies that …
 He/She wants to arouse interest / simplify / illustrate …
 He/She refers to an example
 He7She makes use of / employs / uses formal / informal / colloquial
words / expression / language.
 This word / phrase / expression refers to / underlines / emphasises /
means / stands for …
When referring to the text:
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  As it is written in l./ll.: …
 As one can read in l./ll.
 This is indicated by l./ll. where it is said that …
 This can be proven with l./ll.
 L./ll. (…) suggest(s) that … as it is said that …
 …

 Don’t forget to sum up your main results.

 Use the present tense in your analysis only; use your own words;
always PROVE what you’re claiming by REFERRING to the respective
lines.
 Don’t just list rhetorical or stylistic devices, but always explain their
function and their effect on the reader/listener.
 Try not to repeat what you’ve already written in task 1.
 ANALYSE doesn’t mean SUMMARISE, i.e. read between the lines.

Task 3:
 Task 3 can either be an EVALUATION (i.e. pro- and counter-arguments +
own opinion) or a RE-CREATION OF TEXT (e.g. a diary entry).
 You usually DON’T quote in task 3, but for a re-creation of text task it
might be necessary to refer to the text again (e.g. in case you’re asked
to refute an argument etc.)

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