Write a prose paraphrase of ozymandias

Lesson 2

Glossary of Literary Terms

When you study literature, like any other discipline, you should become familiar with the terminology that is used. There are more terms than those listed below, but this list is a good place to start. The terms below are listed in alphabetical order.

Alliteration is a poetic method of repeating the first consonant sounds in a line of poetry.

Assonance is a poetic method that relies on close repetition of vowel sounds to create rhymes. The rhymes may seem to be just a little off, not quite what one might expect. For example, vowels sounds are sometimes close, but not identical, like love and prove.

Audience: This is the reader. Unlike the audience for a TV program, the audience for fiction must be engaged. That means the person reading the story, novel, play or poem, has to work a bit to get everything out of the literature that the creator put into it.

Character: The protagonist is the character at the center of the story, the main character; sometimes called the “hero” or “heroine,” the protagonist does not necessarily act in a “heroic” manner. Sometimes, there is a major character that works against the interests of the protagonist whether he/she realized it or not. This character is called an antagonist. Sometimes, the protagonist meets his or her match in the antagonist.

Major characters are those characters about which the audience learns the most and comes to care about the most while minor characters are less central to the story than major characters.

Round characters are very clearly individuals. They seem like real people. The audience gets to know a lot about them because they express a full range of human emotions and are firmly placed in the community.

On the other hand, flat characters can be somewhat lost in the background, needing to be in the story, but not the main part of it.

A dynamic character is one that changes during the course of the story because of what he or she experiences in it.

A flat character does not change throughout the course of the story. He or she is the same kind of person at the end of the story as he or she is at the beginning.

Dramatic elements are those elements that apply to plays. Reading a play is somewhat artificial because plays are merely scripts of dialogue whose true meaning does not come alive until the play is performed before a life audience.

The dramatis personae is a list of characters in the play. The terms for “character” apply here. There are no narrators in drama, unlike other fictional forms.

An act is a large division in a play made up of “scenes.” They function like chapter breaks in a book. The number of acts and scenes varies from one-act plays to plays with several acts. Usually, the text of the play also applies numbers to the lines of the play (not the sentences or paragraphs).

Dialogue is the term given to the words characters speak to each other. A soliloquy is a speech by one character given alone on the stage that gives the character’s innermost thoughts to the audience. An aside is a brief comment by one character, supposedly muttered so that the other characters on stage do not hear it. Only the audience hears the aside. Like the soliloquy, an aside tells the audience what the character is really thinking. Stage directions are the playwright’s directions about motivation, gesturing, tone of voice, costuming and setting.

The stage set is composed of all the props (structures and items) that indicate where and when the action takes place. Therefore, the stage set supplies the setting for the play.

Foreshadowing is something that happens or something that is said, either by the narrator in prose fiction or a character, that gives a hint about what is to come later in the story. In using foreshadowing, the writer does not undermine any suspense he or she is building into the story. Instead, the elements of foreshadowing may only be clear when the story ends or when it is read a second time. The more literary fiction you read, the more likely you will be able to pick out foreshadowing the first time you see it.

Fictional Genre: Genres pertain to distinctive types of literature. There are many types of genre fiction. Children’s fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, detective stories, thrillers, westerns, and young adult are the major fiction genres. Each of these genres includes elements that are specific to the genre. For example, in a children’s novel, the main character is always a child or at least a character that a child can relate to, the themes are aimed at children, and the vocabulary and sentence structure or aimed at a very young reader.

Irony: There are two types of irony.

Verbal irony is at work when the words literally mean the opposite of what the speaker really means. One type of irony is “understatement,” which deliberately diminishing the response of an idea to an extreme degree. “Hyperbole” is the opposite of “understatement.” It is a gross exaggeration of the truth.

Dramatic irony occurs in plays (and sometimes in other forms) when the audience knows something a character does not know.

Metaphor: A metaphor is a type of figurative (rather than literal) language that is used to imply a comparison between one thing and another. A simile is a type of metaphor that is recognized by the use of the words “as” or “like.” They are part of the visual/figurative imagery of prose or poetry.

Meter is the rhythm of the language used in poetry. Sometimes the rhythm is broken within a line of poetry; this break is called a caesura. There are many types of rhythmical patterns:

The iamb is the natural rhythm of the everyday speech of English. It is defined as one “unstressed” syllable followed by one “stressed” syllable, which is called a foot. For example, the word “hotel” has a first unstressed syllable (ho) and a final stressed syllable (tel) where the voice stresses that last syllable over the first one as the word is spoken. Lines of poetry that used “iambs” are defined by the number of “iambs” they contain. Common forms are iambic trimester (three iambs), iambic tetrameter (four iambs), and iambic pentameter (five iambs), which is the form that Shakespeare used. Varying the meter helps to create interest as conforming to closely to a certain meter for too long in a poem quickly becomes boring to the audience.

Narrator: The narrator is the person who provides additional information about what is happening in fiction or what the characters are thinking. There are several varieties of the narrator that an author may create. The narrator is not usually considered to be a character, but a kind of speaker who tells the story. The audience should not assume that the narrator and the author are the same person. That does not happen in fiction.

The limited-omniscient narrator seems to know everything but is limited in some way. He or she may know all about only one of some of the characters, giving that character’s point of view about a situation and that character’s prejudices.

The omniscient narrator is one that is completely reliable. The audience can believe everything he or she says because the omniscient narrator knows everything about all the characters.

A first-person narrator is one who tells his or her story from the first person point of view (I/me/my). He or she is an active participant in the actions of the story and interacts with the other characters. This is the only time a narrator can also be considered as a character. Like everyone, the first-person narrator is limited by his or her personal experience, beliefs and values. The reader must always keep in mind that a first-person narrator is always telling the story from his or her own perspective and may not know everything that is going on the story.

The third-person narrator is either an omniscient or limited omniscient narrator who speaks in an objective manner (never using I/me/my). The characters are referred to as “he,” “she,” or “they.” The narrator, therefore, is outside the story, not a part of the action.

An unreliable narrator is one that the audience cannot trust for some reason. The fact that the narrator is not reliable may be withheld from the reader until the end of the story and he or she could turn out to be prejudiced or even insane! Part of the work the audience needs to do is figure out how much of the narrator’s information is accurate.

Paradox literally means “beyond what is thought” and indicates that two contradictory ideas are considered equally believable. One example is the “oxymoron,” which is a word or phrase that contains its opposite within itself.

Personification occurs when human characteristics are applied to something that is not alive. It works best in short works and is usually found in poetry.

Plot: The plot is what happens in the story. Keep that work “what” in mind. The plot is composed of the events that happen to the characters and what the characters do in the story. The main plot, then, is what holds most of the audience’s interest. A subplot also tells what happens in the story, but it is less important than the main plot. Subplots are usually about minor characters. The longer the work of literature, the more subplots there may be.

There are several elements that feed into the plot of a story: Stories depend on an emotional, physical, or social problem; there are conflicts between characters or within a character’s mind (an internal conflict). The chronology of the story is the time sequence of events. Sometimes, writers disrupt their chronology with flashbacks that explain events prior to the opening of the story, or they sometimes use foreshadowing to look ahead.

The plot in prose fiction (novels, novellas, short stories) follow a certain structure:

·

The exposition conveys information at the beginning of a story. It introduces the characters and places the story in a setting of time and place. In other words, it gets the story going.

The rising action begins where the story starts to get complicated. Conflicts arise that move the story forward. Obstacles are placed in the way of the characters. Sometimes, conflicts are resolved or thought to be resolved only for new conflicts to arise. Rising action, as shown in the image to the left, makes up most of the story.

The climax of a story is the point at which everything must change. It marks a turning point in the story. Things may get better or worse, but they definitely change. The climax is the most dramatic point in the story.

Falling action occurs after the climax as the plot starts to wind down to the end of the story. The story is still moving forward, but the reader knows the end is near.

The resolution, or dénouement, is the point at which the conflict in the story disappears; the problem is solved. Usually, this happens at or near the end of the story. However, sometimes there is a false resolution earlier in the story. It seems as if the conflict has disappeared in a certain way, but as the reader continues, he or she learns that the conflict truly disappears in a completely different way at the end of the story.

Poetic genres: Genres pertain to distinctive types of literature. There are several poetic genres. Here are a few of them:

· A ballad is a long singing poem that tells a story (usually of love or adventure), written in quatrains (four lines). This is called “narrative form” because it tells a story.

· Blank verse is an unrhymed iambic pentameter line, which so often what Shakespeare used in his plays.

· Free verse has no regular rhythm other than the natural rhythm of the language.

Point of view in literature is what the narrator (or the “speaker” in a poem) sees or tells the audience. As you read, you should notice your own impression of the narrator (or speaker) at the beginning and whether or not (and why) your impression changes as your reading progresses.

Prose fiction is composed of short stories, novellas, and novels. A novel is longer than 150 pages. Unlike the short story, it is meant to be read over several. There tend to be more characters with the minor characters being fully developed with life histories and “inner lives” of their own. They interact with each other, creating social conflicts. The novels tend to comment on social issues. The novel has the space to contain a whole world and a lifetime. The novella is a long short story or a short novel that is anywhere from 75 to 150 pages. A short story does not usually exceed 75 pages. It is meant to be read in one sitting. It is closer to poetry than to the novel in that they both rely on the intensity of the emotional effect. A short story restricts itself to one or two settings and only a handful of characters. It emphasizes one dramatic event and the characters’ actions to it, often with one event and one character’s reaction to it. Therefore, the short story tends to be psychological.

Prosody is an understanding of the poems poetic language and structure. The language tends to communicate the ideas expressed in the poem is a less direct manner than prose. Meaning is derived both from the denotation of words (their literal meaning) and the connotation of words (the emotional meanings the words convey in their context in the literary text). A good reader pays attention to both.

· Figurative language is also important. Metaphors may be used liberally, or the whole poem may be an extended metaphor. Prosody also includes symbols.

Rhyme schemes: The rhyme scheme is the rhyming pattern of a poem. Alliteration is a poetic form that repeats initial consonant sounds while assonance is a rhyme based solely on the repetition of vowels sounds. Vowels sounds are sometimes close, but not identical, like love and prove. End rhyme occurs at the end of a line. Slant rhyme describes words that almost rhyme, like bush and brush.

Satire is an indirect attack at someone or something. Occasionally, the attack is so indirect that a person being satirized might not even recognize him or herself in the satire. Be careful not to confuse this term with irony.

Setting: The setting is the impression of place and time that is described in the story and is given in the story’s exposition. It can affect the atmosphere or mood of the story and is meant to evoke an emotional response from the audience. It can also be used to foreshadow later events.

· Physical setting is made up of the physical places where the plot unfolds.

· Temporal setting is the time in which the events occur.

· A cultural setting is one that contains a set of beliefs and values. These will change with the physical/temporal setting and with the characters. They are not necessarily beliefs and values that the author holds or that he or she expects the audience to accept as their own, but they are beliefs and values that are logical and natural with the physical/temporal setting of the story.

Sonnet: A sonnet is a one-stanza poem of fourteen lines. There are three types of sonnets: Italian (or Petrarchan), Spenserian and Shakespearean. For the purposes of this course, the Shakespearean sonnet is the most important of the two as he wrote some of the most famous sonnets in the English language. Usually, the Shakespearean sonnet is composed of four divisions within the poem, three quatrains (three sets of four lines each; lines 1-12), with each quatrain having its own rhyme scheme and a rhymed couplet (lines 13-14) with end rhyme (line of poetry whose last words rhyme). The couplet at the end is usually a commentary on what came earlier in the poem, and the meaning of the sonnet can be completely changed by that couplet.

Speaker is the term used for the narrator of a poem. Ordinarily, you should not confuse the speaker with the poet. However, sometimes the speaker of the poem seems to be the poet speaking about him or herself. Often, though, what seems to be the poet speaking about him or herself is really the poet creating a speaker who merely speaks using the poet’s beliefs, anxieties, values, etc. Some speakers may reveal a lot about themselves; others are less visible, not seeming to reveal themselves at all. The concept of a first- or third-person speaker, as it is discussed under narrator can apply to poetry as well a prose.

Stanza: A stanza is one section of a poem. Stanzas are separated from each other by white space on the page. Each stanza usually one idea or image.

Symbols are elements in prose or the imagery of poems that represent something other than the obvious. In that way, they are like the denotation and connotation of words (as explain in prosody): They indicate some literal object or concept, but also has a deeper meaning that adds to the meaning of the story, play, or poem.

Theme: The theme is the basic idea behind the story. It is something special that the author wants to say, some message he or she wants to express to the audience through the plot and characters. Sometimes, the theme of a story is not obvious, and the audience has to work a bit (think!) to figure it out.

Tone is developed by the diction (word choices) used by the author. It indicates the solemnity, playfulness, or teasing quality of the writing. In poetry, meter and rhyme contribute to tone.

Lesson 2

Writing about Literature
The type of papers you will write and how to write them
For this course, you will be writing literary analysis as formal essays for the midterm and final exams. They are persuasive in nature. According to William Whitla in his book The English Handbook: A Guide to Literary Studies, a persuasive essay attempts to persuade a reader that the position you are defending is valid . . . Your case will depend on your evidence, and how you marshal it for your purposes (88). The evidence used in literary analysis consists of quotations from the text(s) that support your assertion (thesis) and your interpretation of those quotations. The biggest difference between what I am describing here and a research paper is that you do not need to do outside research to support your ideas. All the evidence you need is embedded in the author's work. Of course, that means you have to read closely and think carefully about what the author writes in the text(s), but that is part of the study of literature. Also, the text(s) really are sources for your paper; therefore, you must document every quotation. This is also true for paraphrases of action and speech in the text(s). In this course, you must use MLA documentation guidelines. This includes both in-text notations and a Works Cited page. (Note: This document illustrates the use of introductory signals and in-text notations, also called parenthetical citations, for all paraphrases and quotations and includes a Works Cited page at the end, all following MLA guidelines.)

When you receive an assignment, Whitla writes that you must first separate [the] subject matter from the formal requirement (89), like the number of texts/authors your must cover than the length of the paper. You need to satisfy all the formal requirements of the assignment to earn your best grade. Then, you have to consider the subject matter of the assignment. Whitla explains, many assignments state or assume an abstract concept, a theme, a mode of character analysis, or state a position, and then ask you to apply that concept to a limited number of texts. In many cases, it is clear that . . . the principle is really not open to question (90). At other times, you may be allowed to choose your own subject matter. Finally, you need to look at what the assignment says about the subject matter, looking for keywords that explain how you need to address them. Here is an example from a possible Shakespeare module in this course.

Writing Prompt: Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to the dark lady or the young man, themes of beauty and love run deeply through all of them. This statement is true in both those sonnets that follow a more traditional approach and those challenge the traditional conventions of sonnet-making. Write a 300-word essay, posted in the appropriate discussion forum, that discusses how Shakespeare develops one of these themes throughout one of the sonnets you have read for the class. Post your work as a new post; then, write a 100-word reply to one other student's work.

Notice the formal requirements about the length and the number of texts to include in your new post essay. Also, notice that a second, shorter reply assignment is required to get full credit. Then, look at the subject matter. Two themes are pointed out at the beginning of the prompt. These are two from which you are allowed to choose. The prompt also states that you must develop your choice of theme throughout the sonnet you choose. In other words, quoting one or two lines is not sufficient.

As you write, keep in mind the basic requirements for an academic essay. At the beginning of your introduction, identify the full name(s) and title(s) that you will cover in your essay. Make sure for format the text(s) title correctly. Since you are writing a short essay, you need a thesis statement in your introduction, as Whitla states, one that is clearly stated, unambiguous, and tightly focused on one idea (102). It should be stated in one, concise sentence. The thesis should be at the end, not the beginning, of your introduction.

Whitla also says that a thesis has to be defended (102). This is where the body of the essay comes in. It should point to several lines that support your thesis and explain how they help Shakespeare develop the theme you are discussing. Use short quotations of four or few lines. For longer quotations, paraphrase or summarize (write it without looking in your book to make sure that you really are using your own words then check it against the text for accuracy), not forgetting to provide documentation. However, avoid the temptation to paraphrase or summarize everything because it is the quotations that provide your strongest evidence. Use as many quotations as are appropriate to your chosen theme and/or as many as you can fit into the body of an essay of the length required. For a paper, make every attempt to take the whole work into consideration because meaning can change drastically, especially in a sonnet. A reading journal for a longer work can be more selective.

There are a few things to keep in mind as you write out your support. First, organize the quotations and paraphrases you use in chronological order, which is easier for the reader to follow. Always introduce (introductory signals) all of them. Your introductory signals should be phrases, not sentences (they tend to result in run-ons), and normally, but not always, include the author's name. Then, after presenting a quotation or paraphrase, interpret (explain) it; quotations and paraphrases are facts, and facts do not explain themselves. They are illustrations that support the position you have taken in your thesis. However, they are not a substitute for explaining your own point of view. Whitla suggests explaining how and why you are using them and what you conclude from them (108). By extension, quotations and paraphrase are not effective when placed at the ends of paragraphs. Comment on the material you have borrowed from the text before going on to your next point.

Your conclusion should be what Whitla calls emphatic and confident, not apologetic (107). Avoid the additional temptations, to simply repeat everything you already wrote in the essay or to add new support that really should be developed in the body of the essay. Remember, you are trying to persuade your reader to accept the truth of your thesis, in this case trying to show your professor that you understand the sonnet.

An easy way to plan a literary analysis is, to begin with, a temporary assertion proposal. Formulas for Composition explains this proposal as a planning chart used to match data (quotations) from the text(s) with interpretation (Lague 105-108). It is very easy to create such a chart. Start by writing your thesis at the top of the page; then, divide the remainder of the page into two columns. Microsoft Word's tables work well. In the left-handed column, write out the quotations and paraphrases with their in-text notations you plan to use in chronological order. In the right column, directly across from each quotation or paraphrase, write out a note to yourself concerning what you would like to say to interpret it. Keep the quotations and paraphrases lined up with their interpretations so that there will be no confusion as you write. Once you have the chart complete, you can follow it to write your essay. As you add a quotation or paraphrase to the paper, follow it with the interpretation you planned. Work through your whole chart, not forgetting to add a conclusion to your paper.

Works Cited

Lague, Victoria. Formulas for Composition. 3rd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2009. Print.

Whitla, William. The English Handbook: A Guide to Literary Studies. Chichester, United Kingdom: Whiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print

Lesson 3

Sample Discussion Posts for Discussion 1 and the Mini-Essays

Discussion 1:

For Discussion 1, your initial post to the discussion should be an independent paragraph, about 150 to 200 words long. Start with a sentence that explains what the paragraph is about. Support that sentence in the body of the paragraph, and end with a concluding sentence that wraps up the paragraph. Make sure you write about what the discussion requires.

Discussion question:
After you have read through the material and links on this page, go to Discussion 1: Literary Analysis. Your assignment is to post your ideas about what you have read, what you understand and don't understand. Post a question. Answer a question. Whatever it takes to make sure you understand the idea of a literary analysis. You need to get a conversation going about the material in this module. You may need to come back to the discussion more than one time, spend time reading through what other students have posted, and respond to what you have read.

Sample Post (257 words) for Discussion 1:
All the material included in sections �Elements of Literature� and �Writing about Literature� was very helpful and interesting to me. Since I love everything that has to do literature, I fell in love with all the information provided. As I was reading �Elements of Literature,� I found some terms that I was already familiar with; however, many others were totally new to me. Even though I like reading a novel and short stories so much, I did not know the appropriate terminology that is used to talk effectively about what I�ve read. For instance, I learned the meaning of the term �plot� which is kind of the backbone of novels and short stories. It was interesting how the plot in a story can be graphed to follow the action in a story or novel. I suppose play�s plot works in the same way. Using the appropriate language is very important especially when it comes to writing about literature and trying to get our ideas across to someone else in the class or to the professor. The part that shows the proper way of writing an essay in �Writing about Literature� was very helpful to me, especially the part about how to support the thesis with quotations because my big mistake is that I tend to paraphrase rather than quote the author�s work. Writing is something that becomes kind of hard to me because English is not my first language. However, all the information provided in the module it is going to help me out while writing about literature.

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Remaining Discussions:

The discussions that remain in the course begin with a Mini-Essay about 300 words long. They require what any essay requires, an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. For the Mini-Essay, a short introduction with a thesis, one supporting body paragraph, and a short conclusion.

Your Mini-Essay should answer the discussion question that is posed for the assignment. You should think of it as a short version of a literary analysis that will allow you to practice what you have learned in this module and express your opinion about the literature in question. Here�s a sample for a discussion question that asks students to discuss the issue of power in the poem �Ozymandias� by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Notice that it has three paragraphs (introduction, supporting body paragraph, and conclusion), that the thesis is at the end of the introduction, and that the quotations are followed by parenthetical citations giving the line number(s) for each quotation.

Sample Literary Analysis Mini-Essay:
Powerful people sometimes forget that all people, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, eventually come to the same end. It's a good idea for anyone to keep in mind. If people want to leave a legacy after they are gone, they should choose one that lasts. Power is fleeting, though, and Percy Bysshe Shelley�s poem, �Ozymandias,� expresses that idea.

The poem�s speaker relates an account told to him by �a traveler from an antique land� (1). He has no direct knowledge of the image he is about to relate, but the story has caught his imagination enough to pass it. As he tells the traveler�s story word for word, describing the remains of an ancient Egyptian statue that has been reduced to rubble. He describes �Two vast and trunkless legs of stone [that] / Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, / Half sunk, shattered visage lies� (2-4), the �wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command� (5) still visible on the face. The speaker that brings the original sculptor through the inscription on the pedestal. In reality, the inscription was probably commanded by Ozymandias himself, the man whose �passions� (6) and mocking hand and heart (7) were captured by the sculptor�s art. His inscription is meant as a warning to anyone who would have challenged Ozymandias. It reads, �My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: / Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!� (10-11). Immediately afterward, the poem�s readers are brought back thousands of years to the present when the poem returns abruptly to the speaker who proclaims that nothing remains of the statue (12) and goes on to describe the desert surroundings. Nothing is left of Ozymandias or his great kingdom.

By the end of the poem, the symbol of Ozymandias� power has returned to the desert, just like Ozymandias himself. Therefore, the readers of the poem are left to consider the fleeting nature of power.

Parenthetical Citations for Discussions:

The numbers that belong in the MLA parenthetical citations depend on what type of literary work you are analyzing. Here are the requirements:

Literary Work
Default MLA Parenthetical Citation
Prose (novels, novellas, short stories)

Page numbers

For example, page 7: (7)

Short Poem

Line numbers

For example, line 3: (3)

For example, lines 3 through 5: (3-5)

Poem separated into numbered sections

Section and line numbers

For example, section 1, line 12 (1.12)

Play

Act, scene, and line numbers; if lines numbers are not given, provide act and scene numbers.

For example, act 1, scene 6, line 5 (1.6.5)

For example, act 1, scene 8: (1.8)

Prose on a website

Paragraph numbers (You will have to count the paragraphs. The first time you provide a citation, show that paragraphs numbers are being used.

For example, paragraph 4: (para. 4)