now ... let it snow ??

yes i have been away for ages ... Yes the second ice age has approached the humble villages and billions are hiding from this perpetual cold.

Anyway whining aside, here back is the next part of the literature post that I am putting up. 

Now, Where have i seen her before ? 

Literature is something like connect the dots

3 main things to remember, PRACTICE, PATTERN, RECOGNITION 

There is no such thing as a wholly original work of Literature 

History is story as well ( some history is fiction ) 

So now i will make a large sweeping and totally ignoring the works of all previous authors living or dead 

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY ...EVER !!!!!

Stories grow from other stories

as we read any story, we must be able to achieve the AHA!!! factor as we analyze the text 

Dialogue between old and new texts is always ongoing (intertextuality) 

this will bring in layers into the text, characters, to have their own characters. 

THis is the key ...ONCE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ,,, THE REST IS EASY. 

 

If it is square, It's a sonnet

Well as the brighter of you may perceive, i have been away for awhile. 

so to get over and done with this cruddy thing... Here goes: 

Sonnets , 14 lines 

common ever since the Renaissance 

No other poem is so versatile and ubiquitous and agreeable as the sonnet 

Geometry of the poem, square like 

READ the poem first, BEFORE any stylistic analysis

images, and the musicality of the language, idea, content, wordplay 

Sonnet - merely a form 

2 MAIN TYPES - Pentrachan and Shakespearean 

PENTACHAN 

rhyme scheme that ties the octave (8) together followed by a sestet (6) 

and if you are really poor in maths yes that is 14 lines 

SHAKESPEAREAN 

divided into quatrains and  there is a rhyming couplet at the end 

Count how many sentences there are in the poem

often it follows the basic pattern of 8/6 : leaving us to 2 sentences 

POEMS- Arranged in lines, written in sentences 

Blank Sonnet - unrhyming lines

MAIN POINT : READ FIRST DISSECT LATER !!!!

So... Poetry is rather simple... if your brain is slightly warped like most lit students are. 

Sign off... Botti 

Well here's part 3

being a teacher is rather tiring. 

so I have not been able to post these small snippets here 

but otherwise I hope one need not wait too long for a "decent blog" as such to appear 

Anyway here is chapter 3: Nice to eat you (Acts of Vampires) 

Vampires-Anne Rice, Dracula 

Alluring, Mysterious, dangerous 

Van Helsing- Nemesis of the Count 

Vampires become younger by consuming people's blood    

whilst the victim becomes like him, a vampire

vampirism is not always about vampires 

it is about Selfishness, Exploitation, refusal to accept the anatomy of people 

Hamlet, Ghost of is father, scrooge, Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

There is a more sublime meaning 

Ghosts and vampires are NEVER just about ghosts and vamps 

it often involves : older figure (corrupt), a virginal female (purity)

older man kills off the younger female... Vampire story 

Vampires can also be represented by seasons (the shifting of seasons from summer to winter)

Vampire stories are often about using a person till he or she is wasted away.

Till the person is consumed and destroyed 

Naturalistic movement- survival of the fittest 

Placing our desire particularly our agenda over and above the need of others (vampiristic)

e.g in order to remain undead - I must steal the life-force of someone's fate that matters less than my own 

Explanation and selfless -the way of Vampires 

Well here comes to the end of my short snippet on Vampire stories. And in the event that you do get affected or attached by Vampires for that matter... remember to eat your garlic  

  

Chapter 2 Literature

So Here is chapter 2. If you being the ignorant sod you are, have not read the previous chapters. Please please return back to the start and red from chapter 1. 

Anyway presenting chapter 2 

Nice to eat with you: Acts of communion 

Sometimes a meal is not just a meal 

However more often than not, it is not 

Whenever people eat or drink together, it is communion 

Communion- an act of charing and peace 

The very act of eating or ingesting is personal 

It is often difficult for a writer to write an interesting meal scene 

For example : Tom Hones by Henry Fielding uses meals to represent sexual union 

communion as you can see does not even need to be holy or decent 

There is bound to be commonalities with the person one eats with 

Smoking can also be a sort of communion 

Something which is ritualistic 

When a dinner turns ugly or does not happen at all

It often means a bad sign 

For example if 2 people eat and a person interrupts them and the 2 stop eating we pretty know what they think towards the intruder 

sharing food with a dog often shows companionship and kinship 

Lets say 2 people are eating but one is planning the demise of the other 

we find this meal scene revolting and also to the act of murder 

Food can also be like armies, drawn up with tension 

The reader can also be part of the communion 

perhaps to understand the feelings of the other characters at the table, Awkwardness etc.

A communion is often about life and very seldom about death. 

Yup that is the end of chapter 2. I guess I am pretty faithful to do this up everyday. 

So Signing off 

Mr Botti 

How to read Literature

Literature is bloody confusing. Many interpretations and way too many views. So to clear all this mambo jumbo up i decided to read 'How to read Literature like a professor' written by Thomas C. Foster. I knew I could definitely NOT go wrong. To think that a book of merely 113 pages could cover the essential aspects of Literature, I was terribly wrong. However I got something out of it, if that's what they call writing notes. 

I will show you what I have got out of it and hopefully it might enlighten the ignorant. 

so i begin. 

Literature has grammar, it has rules, patterns and codes 

Layman readers, respond on an emotional level 

However a Literature student should respond by bringing in connections with other texts and other authors. Where Have I seen this before 

3 Main Keys : Memory, Symbol, Pattern 

Everything is a symbol of something until proven otherwise 

Ask, What are the overarching themes in the novel, play etc.

Chapter 1 :Every trip is a quest (except when it is not) 

Every Quest has 5 main things 

a) a quester

b) a place to go

c) a stated reason to go there 

d) challenges on the road

e) a REAL reason to go there 

b and c are often together, e.g the quest for the holy grail 

e is NEVER the stated reason 

The Quest is always educational 

The reason for the quest is ALWAYS for self Knowledge 

That is why most questers are young and immature 

So, What if it fails ?

Journeys - not every journey is a quest, sometimes it is just a journey

E.g : Crying Lot of 549

Quester - Young woman

Place to go - San Francisco to California 

Reason to go - to be the executor of the will her former lover

Challenges and trials - Meets scary and dangerous people 

Real reason to go there - her name is Oedipa (Sophocles- his character with the same name, does not know himself)  soon she gives up on other men and acquires SELF KNOWLEDGE. 

Done. So this is the Preface and Chapter 1 hopefully i will keep this habit up and post this sort of outline everyday. 

If you find this ignorant and ridiculous ... As an avid follower of Jane Austen :One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. You are probably in that half

Mr Botti 

bottom dealing ...

well these are the hands of a noble ranter. this is me botom dealing.

Bottom dealing has been used in to gain the Aces and bloody gain an advantage in a game like in this video shown here . Hope you enjoy the video.

Format for an Essay (Introduction)

Well for the past ... forever I have stuck to this main format for an essay, General paper or just a standard argumentative essay. It has got me many A's and B's just by following this format, along with many good points and examples. Here goes:

Introduction

• Hook

The hook is the thing that gets your reader interested in what you have to say. A good hook is informative and interesting.

there are several different type of hooks :

1. Defining of terms - explain BIG WORDS in your sentence. e.g Happiness, Compassion. The problem about these words is that they mean so many things to different people. Therefore to guide your reader to what specific area that you are trying to focus use the definition of these BIG WORDS.

2. Establish relevance - make the reader feel involved. By using this technique, address what the reader may go through in his or her daily life and how this essay can affect their lives by reading it.

3. Quote somebody - if the topic is of great significance, I'm sure someone would definitely poke his nose into it and say something witty about it. make use of these quotations to give your essay a refined quality about it.

4. Forceful comments - a short direct statement on how you feel on that topic then go on to explain what you mean.

Personally I really like to mix between quotations and defining of terms. I feel it gives a more profound feel to your essay. At the same time by quoting someone you ensure that the reader does not see you as just a opinionated writer, but as a writer who is well researched and knowledgeable in the aspect that you are writing on.

• Topic

Tell your reader what the question is. Treat your reader like a bloody idiot. Explain to the reader what your essay is responding to. e.g " The topic I would like to discuss is ..... "

• Point of View

This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your essay so listen up. tell your reader your stand. e.g Yes i agree, No i disagree or Yes I agree to a limited extent so on and so forth. Without this Point of view your essay is a goner. It is absolutely suicidal not to write this point. Write it and you will be alright.

• Outline of 3 main Argument

Finally, the 3 main arguments. this section is just a brief outline of what your following paragraphs will be like. It gives your reader a brief view of your essay and this is absolutely essential otherwise your reader will be lost.

As you can see this post is rather long and draggy so I'll stop here. The Introduction of your essay is of utmost importance. Without it your essay will be suicidal. Writing a good introduction is one of the skills of a excellent writer. All teachers look forward to a good introduction, believe me. So Master it and you will do just fine.

As someone once said "Let us watch well our beginnings, and results will manage themselves.

English and its roots

The language that layman may percieve as old english i.e Shakespearean, (to much of your surprise) is actually Mordern English. Since the time of Henry VII, There was a shift from middle English to mordern English. Middle english (1100-1500 AD) looks something like this:

'Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name; þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is dounin heuene. yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred. And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us. And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.'

to Early Modern English i.e Shakespeare (1500-1800 AD) 'Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'which is the common laguage we use today.

Ah, However Old English which dates from approx. 450-1100 AD looks like this:

Fæder ure þuþe eart on heofonum si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

'Yes rather unbelievable that the very language that you speak actually looked like that on paper about a thousand years ago.

By calling those times that Old Englisc was used as the so unaptly named 'dark ages' is rather ignorant of the fact that this, so named dark ages apparently covers a period which is a third of the entire time that English has been used on this Earth. Many works of literature , The Wanderer, Seafarer, The Ruin, the Wife's Lament, Dream of the rood,Beowulf and many many other countless poems and prose , was written during this period. So, how can one bear to label this age of enlightenment as something so crude and unthinking as 'the dark ages'. At the same time it also inspired one of the finest author's in the 20th century Mr. J.R.R Tolkien which sold many copies of his novel, The Lord of the Rings.

Introduction

The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel not what we ought to say. The oldest have borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

Edgar, King lear

Well this is the main purpose of my blog. To speak what i feel not just what we ought to say.

So stay tuned for more.