Mining Literature for Deeper Meaning
Before you start reading your summer reading selections, please view this video, and reflect on what you have learned about deeper meaning in literature. Discuss your experiences with thinking and talking about literature - in school, and out of school. I will start the conversation:
Ok. so, I don't remember when it started, this thinking deeper, probably not until college. I took a short story course, a 400 level - grad school level, when I was a sophomore at URI, and it was HARD! But, I loved it! And I remember being asked to analyze the text for deeper meaning. I was clueless. My English teachers in high school were out to lunch - taught like Edgar Allen Poe for four years - and what deeper meaning is there besides his twisted mind? Well, maybe there is, but, anyway - there I was, a reader and I had no clue as to how to delve deeper into a text and then write about it. So what did I do? I looked at how other people did it. I went into the stacks of literary criticism (yes people, stacks of books in the library), and one by one, I took down books that analyzed all different texts, sat on the floor and read. It didn't even matter if I had read the primary texts, I was looking for HOW it was done. I discovered that there were things like patterns, and intertextuality, symbols and motifs, allusions to other texts, and with these things, if I could notice them in a text, I could interpret them myself. I fell in love with the puzzles of a story. It was like problem solving in math, but I got to do it with words, my own preferred genre. I was in love.
Poetry was harder. I didn't get there until I was a grad student, but more about that in September.
-Ms. Feole
I think writing and being able to interpret literature is a good way of showing how we you can understand the world - it shows how you can see something in more than one way and can analyze a situation to see the bigger picture from all the smaller pieces. I think that especially started last year when we read poetry which didn't really have one specific meaning.
ReplyDeleteFreshman year I had little to no interest in finding the deeper meaning in literature, I usually just saw what was blatantly said in the text and never cared to look deeper. However, after our 10th grade class, literature and the deeper meanings in text started to become so intriguing. When we read books like To Kill a Mockingbird, symbolism and deeper meanings became so relevant. While reading TKAM, I was amazed with how much relevance the title had to the rest of the story purely because of the symbolism the death of a mockingbird possesses. Everything that we read in our 10th grade English class was always containing a deeper meaning that was so unclear until we did some digging to find it out. If it wasn't for that class, I would never have been able to read literature and actually try to find symbolism and messages that the author is trying to portray without coming out and saying it. Once you learn to look deeper into text, every novel that you read suddenly contains a much more personal connection to the reader, to the author, and to the world so being able to find these hidden meanings is what makes literature so fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began to search for the deeper meanings and symbolisms that a novel, a poem, or a short story encompass, literature as a whole changed for me. I used to read stories word for word, line for line, not stopping at any moment to discover if the words physically written on the paper had insight to a more profound meaning. I took the words for what they were, putting little thought into any complexity that they may hold. I would say that last year, in 11th grade, is when i truly began to read between the lines and piece together different parts of a specific literature that give way to a much deeper, yet subtle, meaning. One instance that comes to mind that helped me build stronger connections throughout literature is when we had to spend an ample amount of time on Edgar Allan Poe, examining various pieces of his works. Throughout this time, we were always searching for the symbolisms that his words contained. Once you enable yourself to read literature thoroughly and intensely, you are able to take influences from one section of a novel and piece it together with a random statement that was made, and so on and so forth, in order to unearth underlying meanings and symbolisms. Ultimately, reading a text in which you are able to explore deeper and find concealed meanings or connections, allows you to understand more and gives you hindsight to things you may have not known. Personally, this is what makes literature intriguing.
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ReplyDeleteAs I have grown throughout high school I have learned that there is so much more to literature than just the words on the page. When I was younger, even leading up to sophomore year, I had no interest in looking deeper. I knew before I could actually want to read a book that was assigned to me I would have to find a book that I knew I would actually enjoy. Some of my friends who enjoyed reading suggested some to me and I found myself reading all the time. If you don't actually enjoy what you're doing, you will have no desire to look deeper and will simply find yourself staring at the words on the page - unknowing of what lies beneath the surface. As I began to enjoy reading more, I also found myself actually acknowledging the complexity of the text and connecting personally. It's really fascinating to be able to see that there are so many different interpretations and connections that can bring a book to life.
ReplyDeleteEver since I was a child, I was fascinated by books and would read anything that was put in front of me. I did not start interpreting books and looking for deeper meanings in the books I read until sophomore year. During this time, I had major influences with psychology and every action a character did, I analyzed to the umpteenth degree. While practicing on these fictional characters, it helped me to understand why we do the same things in real life and in understanding literature it opened my eyes to the real world.
ReplyDeleteMy sophomore year of high school i really began to enjoy reading. I was in Ms. Delfiore's english class where we read "How to Read Literature like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster. This book taught the readers about a certain "language of reading", a set of conventions and patterns, codes, and rules, that we learn to employ in dealing with a piece of writing. The book states, "Every language has a grammar, a set of rules that govern usage and meaning, and literary language is so no different." (xiii) I learned that memory, symbol, and pattern are three items that separate the professional reader from the rest of the crowd. This book showed the readers like me numerous concepts that can help the reader make connections to other novels, today's world, the past, and etc.
ReplyDeleteLike many others, my deeper understanding of literature did not begin until sophomore year. Ms. DelFiore was on a mission to "Fosterize" her students and boy did it work well. Not only were we able to make connections, discover symbolism, and see how history had effected writing, but we were able to realize how much work went into a piece of writing (and just how tiring analysis can truly be!) Writing is not just about plot, characters, and theme. Literature can be about so much more to the point where a story a person just read can be a parable for addiction ("Misery" by Stephen King) or a comment on how the rich should be nicer and more caring to the poor ("A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens) for example. Without delving deep into this, all readers would know is that one is a story of a crazy woman holding a writer hostage and a story of Scrooge being haunted three times! Now, after two years of analyzing literature and film, I appreciate the finer details of writing and how much work goes into the tiny little instances of a story.
ReplyDeleteEver since I can remember I have always enjoyed reading, however, I never liked reading books that were assigned to me in my English class. I guess I never really found any point in reading them because I found them all to be really boring and pointless but this changed during my sophomore year much like everyone else has already stated. In Ms. Feole’s 10th grade class one of the first novels that were read together was “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. At first I did not completely understand this book and just thought that it was a really weird story however once we got to class each day we had great discussions about the different symbols represented in the story. This was when I began to realize that I couldn't take a novel for face value and that there was always more to learn beyond what I thought that the text was initially saying. Throughout the year we read many pieces of literature which we talked about and were able to discover together what the author was trying to say. Up until this point I never realized how many symbols could actually be put into one book and I really began to develop an appreciation for all kinds of literature. I think that it is so intriguing to read a book and then along the way discover what the real message the author is trying to portray. The stories seem so much more relevant when you are able to take a deeper look at the meaning of the story.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my entire life I have always been placed in the higher reading groups, however it was not until I reached my high school career where I realized that reading books did not mean that I truly read the piece of literature. I read lines for what they were, never focusing on literary devices or searching for the symbolic meaning that brought about deeper meaning and a stronger insight to the novel. Rather instead of focusing on the smaller details, I made the mistake of looking at the novel as simply one picture. However, it was not until Ms. DelFiore’s 10th grade English class that I began to see literature in a new and profound perspective. While reading The Book Thief together as a class, Ms. DelFiore utilized How to Read Literature Like a Professor in order to expand and introduce how we as students should be reading literature. When first reading the book I did not understand the impact of words and images, however after that 10 th grade English class, I began to see that authors choose their words for a reason; nothing is ever without meaning. Today, I no longer see simply one picture, but rather a network of smaller and intricate images that had built up to make that larger and more profound image. Without her class, I fear that I would have always read word after word, line after line, paragraph after paragraph, and pages after pages without gaining any profound meaning or a deeper understanding of the novel.
ReplyDeleteEver since I can remember I have always had a book in my hand. I love to read, I love the way a few simple words can create a feeling, or the way books can transport you to another time, another place. In literature you can experience things through characters you may never get to actually experience in your day to day life or, you can relate to it on some level. With this in mind, I have always tried to reader deeper than just the text. There are so many ways one can interpret literature, it makes it easy to connect to ourselves or the world. The concepts we see in literature we can also see play out in our daily lives if we choose to pay close enough attention. I like to fully immerse myself into literature. I enjoy trying to figure out the motives of each character, or why things happen a certain way and what causes all of it and what does it really mean. I have always been intrigued by just how complex a text can be, analyzing it is half the fun. There is no better feeling to me than when you find the deeper meaning in a text and everything just clicks together . All the symbols, motifs, predictions made, all the time spent analyzing just comes together for you.
ReplyDeleteAs a child I was always determined to get the very best grades and make my parents proud. When it came to school, I put everything into my work and strived for that A+, however I never really focused on the deeper meaning of what I was learning and studying. Throughout my early school years, as many children/teens did, I read each word and from that, took the literal meaning. Focused on stories as they were, it wasn't until I entered high school that I took on a more in-depth way of looking at entire bodies of writing. Mrs. Lucas' class, in the ninth grade, opened my eyes to a brand new world of intense discussion. Mrs. Lucas' class is what introduced me to critical thinking and thoughtfully writing. Her class allowed me to look at English as a whole, in a way I NEVER had before, and gave me much insight as to what was soon to come in high school.
ReplyDeleteThroughout sophomore and junior year, my way of looking at the meaning "between the lines" progressed as the complexity of each text I read increased. Research in Mr. D'Amico's class provided much opportunity for a look at the twisted mind Poe is known to have. With all the information my classmates and I gathered, along with all the reading and discussion, I was able to really dive into the meaning behind everything he wrote. Poe's words proved to me that words in a story can hold much more meaning than you may think at first read. Analyzing how death, substance abuse, and revenge are portrayed through Poe's writing is what really advanced the way I now look at both fictional and nonfictional compositions.
As a child, my primary languages were Armenian and Russian and often these were the languages spoken in my house. I didn't start talking English until I was about four or five years of age. Being trilingual often caused confusions, mixing up words and languages. However, no matter what language it was I had always admired reading and perceiving the world in ways I didn’t know existed. Dissecting literature was often a challenge, and I didn’t master the idea of symbolism or themes until freshman year of high school. Sophomore year, and especially junior year were impeccable years for me and I could feel my literary analysis skills getting stronger, often getting compliments on my essays from the teachers. The book How to Read Literature like a Professor was a tool that really opened the doors, and helped me explore different ways of thinking. I often cite this book in most essays and class works, loving the way I draw connections to it from other pieces of literature. English was a class that I have always admired, especially when we disperse and read eccentric minds of legendary authors. Hemingway, Poe, Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters… writers like these make analyzing exciting. It makes me want to uncover the truth about the time periods and their perceptions of society. Finding meanings from these types of authors is what intrigues me about literature; the depth one can reach by just reading one sentence.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, reading was my favorite thing to do. It came before everything. My mom would have to take my books away from me to get me to do anything. Starting middle school however, my love for reading began to diminish as I had to read books that I did not enjoy. I used to believe I had to like a book in order to get into it. The more I thought like this, the more reading became a chore to me, something I dreaded. Back then, my teachers did not teach me to strive to find a deeper meaning to the text; I did not understand that there could be a deeper meaning to what I read on a page, and I didn't know that a novel could have more than two dimensions to it. I continued reading this way, without truly understanding, until freshmen year at Cranston West. I began to realize that reading was not just skimming the surface, however this was just the beginning. Sophomore year was a whole different story with Ms. Delfiore as a teacher. She had us read a novel that I couldn't stand at first called "How to Read Literature like a Professor", by Foster. It was so confusing to me. How could there only be one story? Why can't it just be a rainy day, why does it have to mean more? The first novel we applied Foster to was "The Book Thief." I had read this novel over the summer going into 10th grade, and it was nothing special to me, however reading it a second time turned the novel into one of my favorites of all time. "Fosterizing" it was amazing. I loved every second of it. I didn't notice how important different aspects of the novel were the first time I read it, like when Max paints the pages of Mein Kampf and writes his own story over it to give to Liesel. Ms. Delfiore's class discussions made reading fun for me again. It was a lot of work to dive deeper into the text, but at the end of the day, it made me look forward to the class, and it made me want to read again, which is something that I did not think would ever happen. Her class opened my eyes to a whole different literary world, and taught me skills that I can use to further my understanding of the text. Junior year I was able to use these skills that have been engraved in me in Ms. Fed's class, as she taught in a similar way. I no longer say I dislike a book because it is boring, i dislike books now that don't have enough meaning to them. I dislike authors that only write in two dimensions, because now half the fun of reading is understanding and diving deeper. Figuring out what an author is trying to let the reader discover has changed reading for me, thus brining me back to the years where reading was one of my favorite things to do.
ReplyDeleteKim, you literally wrote exactly what I was thinking! I loved reading when I was little just like you. In the summers before I entered high school, I could read one, and sometimes two books a day because I couldn't get enough. But I understand now, having gone through Ms. Del's class that when I was little, I was just reading books for the story, for the fiction behind it. I never realized I wasn't truly reading the books until I discovered How to Read Literature like a Professor and was finally able to discover that there was way more to the story than the written word on the page! Now, I cannot read those "young adult" inspired novels because they don't allow me to think, to make connections, and to draw my own answers. I didn't realize Ms. Del's class would influence us so much, but throughout high school, her lessons have taught me the most about reading and I assume they've taught you the most about reading too.
DeleteIf one were to look at my transcript from my whole academic career, they would likely see mostly A's in the english column. They would most likely not suspect that until my Junior year, I was probably just reading and memorizing the lines and not what was between or hidden behind them. It was not until reading "The Awakening" with Ms. Federman my junior year that I was awakened in a literary sense and started to find the meanings the author intended and not what was just typed or written out. For me, since starting to reveal to myself the deeper meanings and symbols of novels and poems, literature has become more interesting and almost interactive. Thanks to Ms. Fed, I applied my new interpreting skills to the summer reading books. However "The Invisible Man" novel showed me that I can still definitly improve. Reading has always been enjoyable for me and I hope it will continue to be.
ReplyDeleteArguably, the time I learned how to read was one of the most important and influential times in my entire life (thus far of course). After that, I felt like the world was in my fingertips. I asked to go to the library or the bookstore every weekend to buy a new book and I know my mom always dreaded taking me because I could be in the store for hours and hours on end. She'd yell, "Elizabeth, where are you? It's time to go, it's getting late!" Through the stacks of books she'd call my name until finally, she'd stumble upon me sitting on the ground with my head in a book. Then she'd make me choose only one book instead of the five books I had wrapped in my arms and I'd go home and divulge the book in a couple of hours. The next weekend, this cycle would start all over. As I grow older, I realized I haven't changed. I still love going to the book store or the library and just spending time walking the shelves and running my fingers along the books. Although, I have begun to realize that my love for reading is not truly a love for obtaining knowledge or insight into the real world. Before, I read for the story, for the characters and for imagining myself inside the latest novel. I read for the pictures in my mind and not for the knowledge the author was trying to give. After reading How to Read Literature like a Professor, I felt like I was learning to read all over again. Foster taught me to look beyond the surface, to look so deep that sometimes you forget what sentence of symbol made you look so deep in the first place. I remember the most memorable book I read in Ms. Del's class with Foster's book by my side and that was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. At first, I thought this book was going to be a drag. But as I began to read with the help of Ms. Del and Foster, I realized this book was so much more complex than I could have ever imagined. Discovering why Pip was named Pip or the irony behind Magwitch being Pip's benefactor astonished me and made me want to read every book I'd ever read all over again to find all the symbols and deeper meaning I'd missed. Reading Great Expectations also made me wonder about the books people referred to as "The Classics." Instead of reading the latest novel by Nicholas Sparks or John Green, I found myself gravitating towards books with more substance and more lessons to be learned like, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde or The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. By learning to look beneath the surface, I was able to make connections and to think critically and this has helped me not only to become a better reader but also a more well-rounded and knowledgeable individual.
ReplyDeleteFor as far back as I can remember I have always loved to read. Every Christmas when it came time to make my wish list, I would ask for a big box of books. On Christmas mornings I almost could not control my excitement, waiting to go downstairs and see what new titles I would be adding to my collection. For the following year I would spend my free time reading those books then putting them up on my bookshelf, alongside the others. As many children do, I was just reading what I saw on the page... it was all I knew how to at the time. Maybe it was because the books I was reading didn't have a deeper meaning because they meant for my age, or maybe it was because I just had not yet acquired the trait of digging deeper into literature. I remember exactly when I finally did acquire this trait. It was sophomore year English class. Mrs. Feole taught the class how to look farther than just the written words on the pages. I learned to look for symbolism which can completely change the way a piece of literature is interpreted. For example, after finishing Chronicle of a Death Foretold, we had an in class discussion. I was shocked when we were told about all of the symbolism and I could not believe that there were two ways of reading; either you read what was on the page or you took it to the next level. I have taken the skill of interpreting with me into every book that I've read since. It is a skill that changed the way I look at literature... It has made reading ten times more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIn literature, much like real life, it’s easy to simply look at the surface of a situation. In order to come to a greater understanding and see the bigger picture, it’s necessary to delve into a problem or scenario, use prior knowledge, and make predictions as to what may come of it. Behind everything, lies a deeper meaning. Whether it’s a character’s name indicating a detail of their personality or a recurring symbol or message that is relevant to the plot. Although my reading and analyzing skills have significantly improved in the high school years, I have always been the type of person to search for something that wasn’t blatantly written out. I’ve always enjoyed “investigating,” more specifically I enjoy reading historical books and using information I know from different time periods in order to piece together a work of literature. As I aspire to attain a career in some type of law enforcement, using context clues and retracing my steps in literary pieces is especially appealing to me. If you begin reading a novel with the goal to thoroughly understand it by looking beyond the words, you will get more out of it than you ever imagined.
ReplyDeleteFor much of my childhood, I had always thoroughly enjoyed reading. To me, it didn't necessarily matter what the content was- I read magazine articles, short stories, online posts, novels, textbooks,manuals, and so on. Reading was always just a source of entertainment or a way to gain knowledge and understanding. In various English classes I only half understood when teachers tried to explain how to identify themes, symbols, and how to find deeper meaning. But, coming into junior year, I read "A Farewell to Arms: by Hemingway. And for the first time, I was left confused by the story, by how the plot abruptly changed course. Wanting understanding, I read various explanations of the themes, symbols, and events of the novel. Suddenly, I understood the deeper purpose behind the work, I saw why Hemingway crafted the story the way he did, why he included certain images. I finally realized how the novel was a commentary on not only life during the First World War, but a deeper representation on human life- the impossible struggles people faces individually, but also as a whole. From that point on I realized that authors put further meaning into their work than just the story itself, and i began to understand why literary elements exist, why authors include them in their stories.
ReplyDeleteFor much of my childhood, I had always thoroughly enjoyed reading. To me, it didn't necessarily matter what the content was- I read magazine articles, short stories, online posts, novels, textbooks,manuals, and so on. Reading was always just a source of entertainment or a way to gain knowledge and understanding. In various English classes I only half understood when teachers tried to explain how to identify themes, symbols, and how to find deeper meaning. But, coming into junior year, I read "A Farewell to Arms: by Hemingway. And for the first time, I was left confused by the story, by how the plot abruptly changed course. Wanting understanding, I read various explanations of the themes, symbols, and events of the novel. Suddenly, I understood the deeper purpose behind the work, I saw why Hemingway crafted the story the way he did, why he included certain images. I finally realized how the novel was a commentary on not only life during the First World War, but a deeper representation on human life- the impossible struggles people faces individually, but also as a whole. From that point on I realized that authors put further meaning into their work than just the story itself, and i began to understand why literary elements exist, why authors include them in their stories.
ReplyDeleteWhen I entered the second grade, I struggled to read and write at the basic levels. As that year progressed, it became evident to my teacher there was a significant problem with my ability to learn because of my low comprehension skills; with the assistance of a reading specialist and some summer tutoring, that following year I flourished. I learned not only the basic concepts of reading and writing, but I also developed a love for books because it took me outside of my everyday life and into any place and time I desired. As I have grown older, and ventured into high school my love for reading has also grown. As the human mind develops, it gives the heart opportunity to understand more than just what is presented in the words. It allows images and feelings to be conveyed that provide a true sense of empathy towards the characters. Analyzing texts should not be thought of as difficult task, it should be one that is done automatically. Diving into the author's words to discover the bare ideals of the work and how it was developed, allows the the text to be fully appreciated. Without reading the option for exploring beyond one's self is absent. To be truly able to learn and grow as a person, one must be able to look past themselves and understand others for their past experiences, present personality and future plans. Without that ability to convey empathy through words, there would be no progress in this world.
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