Literature written in the past may not hold the same weight or importance now. For example, literary works considered controversial are now mundane. This change in the importance of literary works is like how a recipe essential to the survival of a country can become a casual meal over time. When people and countries evolve, recipes and literature are forced to evolve and as…
Within the first few pages of an article, professional writers can portray an effective means of building an argument. Among these writers and articles are Arthur Kirsch’s “Virtue, Vice, and Compassion in Montaigne and The Tempest,” Jürgen Pieters’ “The Wonders of Imagination: The Tempest and Its Spectators,” Melissa E. Sanchez’s “Seduction and Service in The Tempest,” and Evelyn B. Tribble’s “The Dark Backward and Abysm of Time: The Tempest and Memory.” These writers’ articles and the strategies each used in creating them are the focus of this report. The strategies discussed are the title, opening statement, emphasis, thesis, and secondary sources. Each of the articles contains a mixture of the aforementioned strategies in various ways.…
It seems that in the modern world and throughout history, we have been shrouded in conflicting perspectives. Everybody has a different point of view, a unique perspective and this is reflected heavily throughout most if not all literature. Further more, the conflicting perspectives often supply the text’s main interest and drama.…
One expects a literary masterpiece, not only to be well written, but also to serve as an example of the best possible writing. Depending on genre, form, and style one expects different things from a masterpiece of literature. If one reads Homer’s ancient master works the Iliad and Odyssey, one expects to find epic poetic verse filled with ornate language and divine context. If on the other hand, one reads Melville’s Moby Dick or Stevenson’s Treasure Island, one expects high adventure rife with danger and intrigue. Alternately, if one reads Shelley’s Frankenstein or Stoker’s Dracula, one expects a chilling depiction of horror that presents vexing moral and ethical dilemmas. Regardless of genre, there are certain expectations that are common to all masterpieces. One expects a masterpiece to be thought provoking and address important issues. Likewise, one supposes a masterpiece to feature extraordinary characters in unusual circumstances that teach valuable lessons. In addition, the most fundamental expectation one has for a masterpiece is this. One expects…
Frye uses this lecture to reinforce the idea that literature immortalizes characters and is conventional in nature. Also, he stresses the importance of imagination in literature and the importance of the imaginative nature of literature. "The world of imagination is a world of unborn or embryonic beliefs; if you believe what you read in literature, you can, quite literally, believe anything."3 In understanding the imaginative quality in literary works and the ideas behind them, allegory and allusion play an important role to the…
Writing at the end of the time is at many levels book full of provocative questions where the humanities are the topical issue with the analyzing of literature arts, colored with great debates over its importance in modern time. This book should serve as guidance for teachers and students involved with humanities.…
Some say that every text has a use by date and whereas some believe that every text is dateless. The idea that every text has its use by date is incorrect, and in this essay, we will argue against this idea. If a text is written from a long period of time ago it does not mean that it still won’t be interesting today, as the events and themes used in the text can still be relevant to today’s time. And these texts are what we can call universal. A universal text allows us to compare, contrast and also reflect on the themes and context of the past to the current time. Hence, these texts provide us an understanding about a particular time by the themes, context or events mentioned in the text and we can therefore use these concepts as a reflection to the current time. Les Murray’s “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow” and “The Mitchells” are examples of texts that do not need a use by date. These two poems highlight major themes and are considered to be of relevance to today’s time.…
New Historicism is a modern literary theory that focuses on how events, culture, and places within a society influence a written work. New Historicists analyze allusions to characteristics of the time period in which the work was written. By definition, new historicism seeks to discover the significance in a text by taking into account the work within the construction of the established ideas and assumptions of its historical era. Literary texts are entrenched with historical context and the author is seen as subject to the forces of the culture that he or she works within. New Historicists reject the New Critical principle that texts are autonomous and should be read without any comparison to history, and instead argue that texts are always linked to their historical and social framework.…
Cited: Meyer Spacks, and William G. Thalmann. The Norton Anthology Of Western Literature: The Ancient World Through The Renaissance. 8. New York: W W Norton , 2006. 1945-1961. Print.…
He describes the general public’s embrace of the “meretricious” and “sentimental” in the novels of Max Brod and Franz Werfel and cannot fathom how the public could “be that wrong.” This shows that he regards the poor common people as mere philistines too unrefined and ignorant to appreciate quality art. Immediately after, Josipovici expresses surprise that the work of Franz Kafka, “obscure, crabbed, incomprehensible even to [himself],” was “without merit,” as if these characteristics themselves marked compelling writing. Here, Josipovici and Modernists alike show a sense of arrogance in their expectation that these odd conventions, often not used by the public, prove their work to be superior in some way. This arrogance on the part of the Modernists is unnecessary; if their work is as revolutionary as it purports to be, it does not need to employ complex vocabulary and indecipherable constructions to proclaim the superior, higher-level nature of their work. It should be…
Texts are usually a reflection of the time period and the values held during that time period. When compared, William Shakespeare’s play Othello written in the 16th century England and Tim Blake Nelsons film O produced in 20th century America, accentuates the reflection, when analysing the contexts, purpose, form, audience via characters and themes arises the context which are historical, social and cultural as well as the values held during the time periods.…
The arrival of new readers with different ideals and thereby changing tradition, can reject classical or "canonical" work and their "fame" will melt into nothingness. Most stories, histories and legends that emerge from oral heroic poetry are to herald the achievement of the powerful and wealthy so that their…
I ask a favour that I fear will not be granted; it is that one not judge by a moment 's reading the work of twenty years, that one approve or condemn the book as a whole and not some few sentences. If one wants to seek the design of the author, one can find it only in the design of the work. ' (Montesquieu 1989: preface)…
To understand the novel’s play with predictability, we must have recourse to the post modernist discourse about it. Aristotle primarily argued in “Poetics” that:…
‘Significant texts in any genre arise from specific social and cultural conditions, and while they possess an enduring relevance, they are never completely original’…