ENG 201 Lecture 1: Introduction to Literature 1

• School: CBU, Cal Baptist
• Department: English
• Course: ENG 201
• Professor: Thomas Schneider

Document Summary

Objectives: to introduce the subject of the course, including close reading, to introduce course objectives, to practice close reading a poem. It is not easy to give simple definitions to certain things. The definition of literature depends on context, who you are, and the purpose of your definition which literature is supposed to serve. Literature is something that can be interpreted multiple ways. Literature is something that has some sort of impact today. Literature has different levels of definitions which is why value judgments are necessary. A close reading is something specific to the disciple of english, or literary studies, when we talk about including close readings in the context of an essay. A close reading is an analysis of a passage of literature that addresses one or more of the following elements, depending on perspective and purpose: contextual elements, thematic elements, setting, character, plot, tone, dialogue, formal elements.