Analysis of Literature       ENG OA1     Mr. Saitz

       Firstly, we are affected by literature -- we love it, hate it, or
       are indifferent.  This is the total effect.

       "Meaning" is the total effect -- the sum of all of the parts is
       what it "means" to you.  A work may have made a didactic point or
       not but you responded to it.
       The "meaning" of a work may change as you understand more about it
       or experience some of what the author has written about.
       Therefore, "meaning" is how the poem acts on you -- what it is that
       you feel.

       As you understand more about a work, its meaning will change -- it
       will have more effect, or there is also the possibility that you
       will realize that the work did not mean what you thought it did
       (you feel differently).

       The movie Friday the 13th, Part 23 may be an inspiration for the
       beginning film maker, a triumph of wise investment for the
       producer, a boring waste of time for the person who has seen the
       previous 22, and a terrifying experience for the poor spectator who
       has seen none of the others.  For each of them, the experience, the
       interpretation, and ultimately, the meaning, will be different.

       Therefore when you analyze or look at a work of art, you are trying
       to decipher how it achieves its effect or how did it produce
       meaning.

       Five questions:
                1- What aspects of the story etc. had the greatest impact
       on me?
                2- What did they seem to be saying?  How did they say it?
       (or what did they make me think that seemed new to me?  How did
       they make me think it?)
                3- How did other aspects of the work support or contribute
       to my response?
                4- How did these particular aspects help create the work's
       total effect?
                5- Did anything that I found out later about the work or
       its author change my feelings about it?

        The study of literature is not an attempt to "pick apart" great
       works but rather the attempt to understand yourself and your
       feelings better and to gain skill in explaining what it is that
       impresses or disappoints you.  It is an attempt to answer the great
       question, "why did that work move me?". After all, literature is
       just a collection of words.  The difference between dislike and
       appreciation is often just the matter of understanding yourself,
       the world around you, and art to a greater extent.