Welcome to Literary Theatre with SHPAM. Today’s lesson will be Figurative Language: Why the Written Word Speaks to Every Level. In other words, it says whatever the heck you want it to. Who knew Six Degrees of Separation was also for analyzing writing?
Think about it: “You have 20 minutes, class. I want a full response, several paragraphs, on images or metaphors in this piece of work and what they mean.” You’ve heard it before. And maybe once, twice if you’re stretching, you actually had an idea that you believed in while you were writing the paper. Odds are, you’re like me, making it up as you go along. I keep a little checklist of likely suspects. Sooo… Animals? Colors? Names? I can always find something to say about one of them. I don’t know about you, but when the teacher gives us one of these, I pray the author mentioned water or snakes.
OK, that didn’t work. It’s some random poem on why kitchens are cool. Dang. Time for a game of “Six Degrees”! Kitchen…. Kitchens have food…. Hey, wasn’t food a symbol of community? In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, way back in sophomore year. Yes! One paragraph down. Next you move into what happens in a kitchen. You already talked about food, so it’s onto what happens next. Washing dishes happens in the kitchen, right? There you go! Water! Your favorite topic when “responding” to literature. You’ve made it back to your safety zone. The work is obviously about rebirth. Come to think about it, every work you’ve ever analyzed somehow connects to water and rebirth. Must be a popular topic.
You’ve got the deeper levels down, or at least your English grade says you do. And the surface level seems crystal clear, but is there more? Here at SHPAM’s Literary Theatre, we support the third level of Literature: Confounding Your Classmates. Try it sometime. Pick the randomest line you can find, and think of a really strange topic. Then see if you can convince a classmate next to you to believe that the line clearly supports that topic. If your English teacher catches you, tell her that you’re trying to help them think deeply about the poem by analyzing to the Third Level of Literature. Just don’t blame us if she hasn’t heard of it.
That’s it for Literary Theatre with SHPAM. Tune in next time to hear SHPAM say:
“Did you know that Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Bells” argues that students should have naptime in class?”
-Shannon D.
I always like reading your posts because they are entertaining. And I support you in the last paragraph about how any line can be supported by something random, I think it just has to be convincing enough. :)
ReplyDeletePav
I loved reading this post it is very clever! Confounding your classmates always works if you focus on symbolism in fish- another common symbol- because it's new to this year and who wants to stray from the safety zone in writing to put your grade in the not so safe zone?
ReplyDeleteEmily S
Shannon, I love your blogs! :) But you actually make a really valid point point here. If you ask eight people to read and analyze a line you're likely to end up with eight different ideas. Just because one person believes it to mean one thing, doesn't mean that that is the only possibility. As long as you're analysis makes sense and can be backed up, it adds meaning to the line, poem, novel, etc.
ReplyDelete-Sapir L.