Demystifying Critical Literacy:
Critical literacy views readers as active participants in the reading process and invites them to move beyond passively accepting the text's message to question, examine, or dispute the power relations that exist between readers and authors. It focuses on issues of power and promotes reflection, transformation, and action (Freire, 1970).
Translation of Literary Style: by Song Xiaoshu, Cheng Dongming
School of Economics, Jilin University, Changchun, China
How to Write a Song Analysis for English Class. Analyzing a song for an English class project is much like analyzing a novel or a short story. English teachers often use songs to see if students can pick out literary and poetic devices in the song lyrics and to see how students are able to take in and describe the mood of the song.
Section I: Literary Forms and Genres.................1
Section II: An Introduction to Style .................14
Section III: The Novel and Short Story ........28
Section IV: Drama or the "Play" ............................40
Section V: The Poem .........................................................47
Section VI: Film Studies ................................................56
Section VII:
Literary Movements/Periods ............................60
Section VIII: Media Literacy .....................................67
POETRY ASSUMPTIONS: Readers of poetry often bring with them many related assumptions:
That a poem is to be read for its "message,"
That this message is "hidden" in the poem,
The message is to be found by treating the words as symbols which naturally do not mean what they say but stand for something else,
You have to decipher every single word to appreciate and enjoy the poem
Cognitive Poetics in the analysis of Popular Music: A new approach to song lyrics.
Yngvar B. Steinholt
Bergen University
yngvar.steinholt@uib.no
-And how did you find yourself this morning?
-Well, I just pulled back the sheets and there I was!
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Semantic Analysis of Song Lyrics
Beth Logan, Andrew Kositsky1
, Pedro Moreno
Cambridge Research Laboratory
HP Laboratories Cambridge
HPL-2004-66
April 14, 2004*
Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language. Writing is not a language but a form of technology. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics, with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols, usually in the form of a formal alphabet.
Grammar is central to good writing. Our mastery of grammatical categories and structures determines whether what we write is meaningful, logical and interesting to read. The message that we wish to convey through our written words will serve its purpose only if we shape it through the appropriate language. As we saw in Unit 2 above, a sentence like I would like to invite you to dinner is meant for one audience and purpose, and Why don’t you guys join me for dinner? is meant for another. The first sentence is a statement with a modal verb, and is meant as a formal invitation, while the second sentence, which uses an interrogative form, is also an invitation, but is meant as an informal, spontaneous utterance, addressed to close friends.
Welcome
Welcome to the English/Writing Department at Washtenaw Community College. We offer a wide range of courses for students interested in writing, literature, technical communication, journalism, and more. Our Writing Center (LA 355) serves students enrolled in English courses, as well as any WCC student or employee working on any writing project. English/Writing also hosts a lively calendar of events and clubs, and is the home of award winning literary magazines, including Huron River Review. Our faculty and staff are excited to be a part of your journey at WCC. Stop by the Writing Center anytime, or come see an instructor at office hours!