English Through Literature

Unit One

Li Feng

Unit letter:

Introduce you to the course

1. It is not the intention of this course to study literature as a subject.

2. Not all literature is difficult.

3. You have been provided with notes.

Why we think literary texts are such a good language learning resource.

1. The language of literary texts is generally much more carefully and artfully used than for most other kinds of texts.

2. Literature is also the vehicle for cultural information and for knowledge about the world.

3. Literature touches our lives as people.

Suggestions:

1. Read a lot.

2. When you read, try to use your dictionary with discretion.

3. Listen to English as often as you can.

4. Keep a personal learning journal.

5. Form the habit of formulating questions.

6. Review what you have read and studied.

section 1

Read two fables

Objectives

1. To expose you to some simple narrative texts.

2. To demonstrate that you can read literary texts: they are not necessarily too difficult.

3. To demonstrate the close connection between literature and life.

Fable: a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters

Text 1:

A Test of Friendship

Try to understand

1. the surface meaning of the story.

2.The underlying message

Questions:

1.When and where did the story take place?

2.Who took part in the story?

3.Was animal involved in the story?

4.What were they doing when the story began?

5.What happened to them?

Questions:

6. What did they do?

7. Did they survive?

8. What did the bear say to the man?

9. What moral lesson does the story tell?

Text 2:

Author: James Thurber, famous humorist and director

Vocabulary:Entangle

Devour

Buzz

Alight

Light

Settle down

Flypaper

Stick

Questions:

1. Who took part in this story?

2. Who is/are the main character/s?

3. What’s the purpose of the spider’s net?

4. Why is the fly an intelligent one?

5. What’s the function of the flypaper?

6. Do you think the fly is really intelligent?

7. What lesson does the story tell?

Section 2:

Task 1: A short story A Paring Knife

Pare: To remove the outer covering or skin of with a knife or similar instrument.

Questions:1. Who is telling the story?

2. Is he the only character in the story?

3. What are they doing when the story took place?

4. What happened?

5. Do you think the discovery is very important for the development of the story?

Narration order:1. Recent past

2. Distant past (central event)

What happened?

Why did the man go into the kitchen?

What did he do in the kitchen?

How did the man feel?

What did his wife do at that time?

What was the result of this event?

3. Recent past

Questions:1. Did the wife recall the past event?

2. Why did she slide the knife back?

3. What is the theme of the story?

Task 2: rearrange the sentences

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Section 3: Literature is all around usObjectives:

1. To introduce you to the playfulness of language use both in literature and in life.

2. To show how features of literature can also be found in many ordinary everyday texts.

3. To off a brief explanation of how some of these literary devices work.

Playful: full of fun; humorous

A proverbs is a piece of folk wisdom which has become crystallized as a fixed set of words.

Proverbs use a range of literary devices.

alliteration: repetition of consonants at the beginning of words.

He who laughs last, laughs longest.

Time and tide wait for no man.

parallelism: the same structure is repeated.

Least said, soonest mended.

He who laughs last, laughs longest.

Assonance: repetition of vowels.

Time and tide

Aphorisms is a clever witty saying. Aphorisms are different from proverbs because we usually know who invented the aphorism in the first place. With proverbs we don’t know who first spoke them.

How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?

Parallelism: what I think/what I say

Alliteration: see say

Paradox: statement that seems to say sth. Opposite to common sense or the truth, but which may contain a truth.

Oscar Wilde:

Work is the curse of the drinking class.

(Drink is the curse of the working class.)

Assonance: work/curse

George Bernard Shaw:

The minority is sometimes right; the majority is always wrong.

parallelism

1.The grammatical structures are identical.

2.The contrasts match perfectly.

Graffiti are slogans painted on walls. They are usually something to do with protest but they are also used to exhibit a kind of popular features.

1. I am anonymous. Help me! (paradox)

2. Start the day with a smile-and get it over with! (anti-climax)

3. Think-maybe the Joneses are trying to keep up with You!

(Keeping up with the Joneses.)

(intertextuality)

Newspaper headlines:

Too Old to Work. Too Young to Die.Parallelism:Too…toContrast: old/young work/die)

1.Down with Chat; Up with Talk

Parallelism

Contrast

2. Nothing Left but Theft

Assonance

3.Twice upon a Time

Alliteration

Intertextuality

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1.Drink a pinta milk a day.

(rhythmical repetition)

2. Twice as nice; not twice the price.

(rhyme and assonance)

3. Animals don’t smoke.

Animals don’t drive.

Animals don’t wear make-up.

Animals don’t use paint.

Animals don’t drink alcohol.

Animals don’t drop bombs.

Because you do

Why should they suffer?

(Parallelism and surprise)

4. Mondaily

Tuesdaily

Wednesdaily

Thursdaily

Fridaily

Saturdaily

How often do you follow the daily turn of events?

(Parallelism, blending words)

Quotations from famous writers:

1.The quick and the dead.

2.For better or worse

3.Slings and arrows

4.Once more into the breach

Quotations from famous writers:

1.The quick and the dead.

2.For better or worse

3.Slings and arrows

4.Once more into the breach