Anyone can read a novel, epic, poem, etc., but it takes a dedicated and informed reader to analyze and understand the text they are reading. The author usually conveys their message using devices, and if one can recognize them and how they are used in a story they will most likely understand the text.
While reading Homer's "The Odyssey" I recognized some of the devices he uses; however, I did not even notice others. I made no connection between the landscape and characters of the epic until our annotated bibliography assignment where we read scholarly articles on that exact device. Homer made it so that the landscape reflected the character and vice versa. For example, calypso is a beautiful immortal stuck on a remote island that is also quite beautiful.
Recognizing and understanding devices used by authors is critical in fully and accurately understanding a piece of literature, for they play a major role in the telling of the story.
Most of the time many author will try to use all of the resources that they can find on that certain topic that they are writing about. This way they can make good use of any literary devices that comes along the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who lets the devices that writers use go right over my head. It takes skill to recognize these devices, let alone to understand them. As a by-the-book scholar, I find it hard to practice these "conceptual" ideas.
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