AYC0327/1 - What is Literature? Keys to Understanding Literary Language

Kursus on gümnasistidele ning kutsekoolis õppijatele, inglise keeles. What is literature? How is literary language different from common language? What makes a text ‘artsy’ while another is inexpressive or just plain boring? In this course, you become familiar with the five essential mechanisms to elaborate an artistic or literary message: rhythm, lexical richness, use of rhetorical figures, infraction of grammatical norms and elaboration of a connotative and ambiguous message. We work with relevant texts from the history of literature as well as with promising texts of contemporary literature, and you experiment with creative writing yourself!

Gümnaasiumi ja kutsekooli ealised õpilased

To develop strategies and acquire techniques to understand complex literary texts and to express the own ideas and emotions through literary language.

In this course we (try to) answer the following questions: what is literature? How is literary language different from common language? What is the poetic function of language?
At the same time, we become familiar with the five essential mechanisms to elaborate an artistic or literary message: rhythm, lexical richness, use of rhetorical figures, infraction of grammatical norms and elaboration of a connotative and ambiguous message.
We work with relevant texts from the history of literature as well as with promising texts of contemporary literature, and eventually students experiment with creative writing themselves.

The student:
- is able to identify the main elements and themes of a literary text (as well as the author’s intention);
- can take on a variety of textual genres (poetry, narrative and drama) and identify their differences and similarities;
- is able to criticize a text applying aesthetic reasoning;
- can produce texts with a clear literary intent.

To be part of the target group. English level B2

TLÜ auditoorium

magistrikraad

The course consists of five modules (each of them is a four-hour session).
At the beginning of each module there will be a theoretical problem and an activity to be solved either in groups or individually. This activity will be based on a series of readings that the student must have done independently, before the class session.
Each module ends with a group discussion based on the activity and previous readings.
The student will gather the five activities in the portfolio that will be delivered at the end of the course, along with a personal reflection on the knowledge acquired in it.

TLÜ tunnistus