Text Analysis and History.pptVIP

Text Analysis and History Session Four: Imagery Agenda Week 42: NO CLASS – just work for you! The prose fiction module An introduction to imagery, symbol and related concepts in an historical context Group work: imagery and symbolism in ”A White Heron” Group presentations and general discussion The prose fiction module Motif and theme Story and plot, character and characterisation Point of view Imagery General summary: Toni Morrison, ”Recitatif” Evaluation: Essay assignment (for the portfolio) Imagery, symbol and related concepts in the context of history: Imagery Broadest def.: All the objects and qualities of sense perception Literal descriptions Allusions The vehicles of similes and metaphors = motif 2. Broad def.: Specific descriptions of visible objects and scenes 2. = motif 3. Narrow def.: Figurative language – the vehicles of metaphors and similes (= 1.3) An Example: Imagery – broad senses ”Charlie Stove waited until he heard his mother snore before he got out of bed. Even then he moved with caution and tiptoed to the window. The front of the house was irregular, so that it was possible to see a light burning in his mother’s room. But now all the windows were dark. A search-light passed across the sky, lighting the banks of cloud and probing the dark deep spaces between, seeking enemy airships. The wind blew from the sea, and Charlie Stowe could hear behind his mother’s snores the beating of the waves. A draught through the crack in the window-frame stirred his night-shirt. Charlie Stowe was frightened.” (Graham Greene, ”I Spy”, p. 534) Imagery, symbol and … (cont.): simile and metaphor Simile – a statement of similarity Metaphor – a statement of identity The tenor – the subject The vehicle – the metaphorical term itself My love is like a red, red rose (Robert Burns) Imagery, symbol and … (cont.): simile and metaphor There’s a lipstick sunset smeared across the August sky (John Hiatt) Let us go, then, you and I when the evening is spread out against the