Standard 3, Reading

Standard 3, Reading: Comprehension and Analysis of Literary Text

Students read and respond to grade-level-appropriate historically or culturally significant works of literature, such as the selections in the Indiana Reading List (www.doe.state.in.us/standards/readinglist.html) illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. At Grade 10, students read a wide variety of literature, such as classic and contemporary literature, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology, poetry, short stories, dramas, and other genres.

Structural Features of Literature

10.3.1
Analyze the purposes and the characteristics of different forms of dramatic literature (including comedy, tragedy, and dramatic monologue).
Example: Analyze the features of plays, such as I Never Sang for My Father by Robert Anderson or Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring or A Piano Lesson by August Wilson or The Buck Private by Luis Valdez.

10.3.2
Compare and contrast the presentation of a similar theme or topic across genres (different types of writing) to explain how each genre shapes the author’s presentation of the theme or topic.
Example: Compare three different reactions to Lincoln’s death: Walt Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” Frederick Douglass’ eulogy, and the report of Lincoln’s death from The New York Times on April 12, 1865. Analyze the differences among the genres and how the form impacts the reader’s perception of the event.

Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Literary Text

10.3.3
Evaluate interactions between characters in a literary text and explain the way those interactions affect the plot.
Example: Compare the development of the characters as they are represented in Merlin: The Coming of Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, retold in a collection by David Day and The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck.

10.3.4
Analyze characters’ traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, and soliloquy (when they speak out loud to themselves).
Example: Read works, such as “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” by Emily Dickinson or In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker, and analyze the characters, citing specific examples from the text to develop this description.

10.3.5
Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the views expressed in each work.
Example: Analyze and compare selections that deal with the theme of independence developed in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Childhood Story of Christy Brown (based on the film My Left Foot) by Christy Brown.

10.3.6
Evaluate an author’s development of time and sequence, including the use of complex literary devices, such as foreshadowing (providing clues to future events) or flashbacks (interrupting the sequence of events to include information about an event that happened in the past).
Example: Discuss how the games the boys play in school foreshadowed the coming of the war in A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

10.3.7
Evaluate the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory (the use of fictional figures and actions to express truths about human experiences), and symbolism (the use of a symbol to represent an idea or theme), and explain their appeal.
Example: Evaluate the imagery in poetry, such “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth and “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” by William Shakespeare.

10.3.8
Interpret and evaluate the impact of ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and inconsistencies in a text.
Example: Read selections from short stories by Franz Kafka and evaluate the manner in which ambiguity and allegory function.

10.3.9
Explain how voice and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.
Example: Read Darkness at Noon by Harold Krents and discuss the impact of the narration as the story unfolds.

10.3.10
Identify and describe the function of dialogue, soliloquies, asides, character foils, and stage designs in dramatic literature.
· Dialogue: a conversation between two characters
· Soliloquies: long speeches in which characters, on stage alone, reveal inner thoughts aloud
· Asides: words spoken by characters directly to the audience
· Character foils: characters who are used as contrasts to another character
· Stage designs: directions and drawings for the setting of a play
Example: Evaluate the function of different dramatic devices in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.

10.3.13
Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of speaker (narrator) affect the mood, tone, and meaning of text.

Literary Criticism

10.3.11
Evaluate the aesthetic qualities of style, including the impact of diction and figurative language on tone, mood, and theme.
Example: Read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton or The Perfect Storm by Sebastien Junger and evaluate the way the author’s style and descriptions help create a mood of tragedy and suspense.

10.3.12
Analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical period.
Example: Read a book such as Hornblower During the Crisis by C. S. Forester and tell how the author uses the story to convey larger themes about a period of transition in British history.

Song: "Raining in Baltimore"

"Raining in Baltimore" by Counting Crows
{personification, understatement, rhyming, irony, *repetition, and apostrophe}

This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around

*I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
*I need a phone call

These train conversations are passing me by
And I don't have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way

*I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don't get no change
It's raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same

There's things I remember and things I forget
I miss you
I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?

*I need a phone call
Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train
If I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I'm lonely for the big towns
I'd like to hear a little guitar
I think it's time to put the top down

*I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

Songs: "Sound of Silence"

"Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel
{apostrophe, paradox, rhyming, simile, personification, irony}

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisperd in the sounds of silence.

Songs: "Ironic"

"Ironic" by Alanis Morissette
{a great example of situational irony (each stanza) and verbal irony (sarcasm), rhyming, assonance, and personification}
{edited for content}

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think

Chorus
It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures

Mr. Play-It-Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole * life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
'Well isn't this nice...'
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think

Repeat Chorus

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

It's a traffic jam when you're already late
It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...

Repeat Chorus

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

Songs: "Used to Feel Lucky"

"Used to Feel Lucky" by Wallflowers
{example of assonance, simile, paradox, irony, and metaphor}

Now mine is a sunshine kind of a valentine
But sometimes I still dont feel even worth a dime
But it used to be different, before I'd been where I've been
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Now you've got a heart
so you know how it feels
When you can't move at the top of a ferris wheel
But I used to keep trying, but it always felt like dying
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

So sad
Everything's gone bad
In the dreams I've had
They all laugh at what I have

Oh, no
Tell me that it ain't true
When I awake I'm still me
Man, I wish I could once be you

Now I used to feel lucky, till I spent some time with me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Now if losing is amusing, man get a load of me
You see me fallin' in love with a guillotine
But it used to be funny, to think you would think of me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Now I wish I could just take all my things and leave
But I've fallen down in the wheels of this machine
But it used to be somethin', to be nowhere with nothin'
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

So sad
Everything's gone bad
In the dreams I've had
They all laugh at what I have

Oh, no
Tell me that it ain't true
When I awake I'm still me
Man, I wish I could once be you

Now I used to feel lucky, till I spent some time with me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Now if losing is amusing, man get a load of me
You see me fallin' in love with a guillotine
But it used to be funny, to think you would think of me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Now I wish I could just take all my things and leave
But I've fallen down in the wheels of this machine
But it used to be somethin', to be nowhere with nothin'
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

So sad
Everything's goin' bad
In the dreams I've had
They all laugh at what I have

Oh, no
Tell me that it ain't true
When I wake I'm still me
Man, I wish I could once be you

Now I used to feel lucky, till I spent some time with me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

So sad
Everything's goin' bad
In the dreams I've had
They all laugh at what I have

Oh, no
Tell me that it ain't true
When I wake I'm still me
Man, I wish I could once be you

Now I used to feel lucky, till I spent some time with me
Oooh ooh ooh oooh

Literary Devices in Songs, Continued

I'm glad we all have a better grasp on repetition (although most of us can't spell it ).

We also seem to get personification -- although we need to remember that a phrase only counts as personification if the action is a "human" action. To say "the sun melts" CANNOT be personification; although the sun cannot really melt, a human can't either. This could be symbolism or a metaphor, depending on how it is used.

Remember, a metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things, saying one is equal to the other (my love is a red, red rose). Similes, however, compare two unlike things using like or as. (my love is like a red, red rose OR my love is as red as a rose).

Irony comes in three packages: verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is like sarcasm: saying something and meaning another. Situational irony involves the event itself; what happens is not what is expected to happen. Dramatic irony usually occurs in plays; the audience knows what's happening (or what already happened) but the characters do not.

Now that we've got those four literary devices mastered (or close to it), let's try to find the following ones in song lyrics. Feel free to use children's songs too! If you can't remember what some of these lit devices are, refer to your notes from last semester or visit the links provided on the original post below this one.

• alliteration (read "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" -- not for the weak stomachs)
• anthropomorphism (read "Gorilla You're a Desperado" Warren Zevon)
• foreshadowing (read "Frankie and Johnny" or see/listen to a variation by Johnny Cash)
• hyperbole
• imagery
• apostrophe
• onomatopoeia
• oxymoron
• paradox
• allusion (view a really cool flash video for "We Didn't Start the Fire" or read the lyrics)
• palindrome (see or read Weird Al Yankovic's song "Bob")
• anagram (read "Anagram" lyrics by Rush)
• assonance
• cacophony
• consonance
• internal rhyme
• inversion
• rhythm
• rhyme

Another great resource: http://www.thewallflowersweb.com/glossary.htm

http://www.northern.edu/wild/dany/mxthea05/Mt_Lyrics_s03.pdf

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=115