ENG401 Handouts Set 2 by VUBuddy

Table of Contents · Lesson 1…………………………………………………………………………… 3 · Lesson 2…………………………………………………………………………….9

Introduction to Short Story

Lesson 3 ……………………………………………………………………………18

O.Henry

Lesson 4…………………………………………………………………………….31

Lesson 5…………………………………………………………………………….48

Guy de Maupassant

Lesson 6…………………………………………………………………………….65

Edgar Allan Poe

Lesson 7…………………………………………………………………………….77

Mark Twain

Lesson 8…………………………………………………………………………….98

Katherine Mansfield

Lesson 9……………………………………………………………………………120

Introduction to Poetry

Lesson 10…………………………………………………………………………..132

William Blake

Lesson 11…………………………………………………………………………..143

William Wordsworth

Lesson 12…………………………………………………………………………..152

John Keats

Lesson 13…………………………………………………………………………..162

P.B. Shelley

Lesson 14…………………………………………………………………………..172

Robert Browning

Lesson 15…………………………………………………………………………...180

Robert Frost

Lesson 1

Literature is defined as:

‘Written works, e.g. fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism that are recognized as having important or permanent artistic value are referred to as literature.’ Or ‘The body of written works of a culture, language, people, or period of time is called literature.’

Literature perhaps started with man discovering his ability to create. When this happened, he realized that he could not only express his emotions in writing but in the process convey messages of importance to society carefully hidden in beautiful words. He decided that he could play with words to entertain people who would read them. In the olden days, distance was of course a problem and so maintaining a history of world literature was impossible. The flip side is that we have a wide range of literature to read from. People in different parts of the world, using different languages and writing in different periods of time tackled literature differently. This has left us with books and creations that enrich our society, our heritage as a race and us. Even the most voracious reader can never hope to read all the books out there.

Literature and writing, though obviously connected, are not synonymous. Every piece of writing is not literature. The definition of literature is mainly personal and scholars have a disagreement regarding when written record-keeping became more like "literature". Another important fact to consider is that the historical development of literature was not even-paced across the globe. The main hurdle in creating a uniform world history of literature is the disappearance of many texts over the millennia, either intentionally, by accident, or by the total vanishing of the originating culture. The earliest forms of English literature, like the earliest forms of other national literatures, have perished.

Literature includes both written and spoken material. On a broader level, ‘Literature’ includes anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but most commonly the term refers to works of the creative imagination, i.e. poetry, drama, prose and novel.

Literature is almost similar to art, what is true in painting is true in literature. ‘A novel is not an imitation or an exact copy of life as we live it; it is rather a selection of characters and events drawn from reading, observation, and experience, and woven into an entirely new story.’ (p.20, How to Study English Literature by T. Sharper Knowlson)

Ezra Pound says, " Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree." The above statement from Pound tells us that great literature leaves us with some meaning. Meaning to what? To life. Thus literature gives answers to our questions about life. It tells us that in the journey of life, only we are not the fighters. There are millions out there striving like us to carry on with the flow of life; feeling different shades of life; enjoying life in its fullest and suffering the deepest of miseries. Literature helps us identify with others in the globe, strengthens and unites us with the rest of mankind. Reading Literature books gives us maturity and may solve the unsolved mysteries of life.

Literature helps us create an interest in life as we see it. It helps us experience life in all its colors and vastness. In our journey of exploring different literary texts, we meet different interesting characters that teach us many things; alleviate our sorrows; elevate our spirit at different levels. Humanity in all its shades is encompassed in literature: sorrows, happiness, wars, birth, death etc. Literature enriches personal experiences and adds wisdom to even ordinary events. Literary texts can even revolutionize our life by helping us grow through our literary journey and enabling us to see everyday events in a new light.

Literature portrays a culture more elaborately than historical or cultural artifacts do because it deals directly with language and people. The author’s message is interpreted differently by different people. The decoding of the text varies according to use of different literary theories using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or any other approach. Whatever critical standard we use for critical analysis of the literary texts, an artistic quality to the works always remains. Literature is never confined to a single culture or country. It speaks to us regardless of our race, culture or country. English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literary works in English by writers not just from England but also from other countries. The famous writer Joseph Conrad was born in Poland, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and Vladimir Nabokov was Russian. English literature is as diverse as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the world. Despite the variety of authors of English literature, the works of William Shakespeare remain paramount in all literary circles.

Literature has two major aspects, one is of simple enjoyment and aesthetic appeal to the senses, and other is of analysis and exact description of the prevailing condition of society in general and man in particular. So, studying literature with these two aspects provides us an opportunity to experience entirely new worlds. Like when a song appeals to the ear or a noble book to the heart, we discover a new world for the moment, at least, a completely new world which is very different from our own world and it seems that we are in a place of dreams and magic.

Every time we read literature, we gain something from it that we did not have before. Even reading the same text at different stages in our life offers us meanings we missed the first time. Literature is a true and beautiful expression of life; it is the written record of a person’s thoughts, emotions, feelings and experiences which would never fade.