Assignment 5

Summary

Peter Barry is in this text showing us that applying critique to literary work can be quite a tricky business. There are both obvious points to a text, as well as hidden meaning sometimes. However, he is offering us a list of some vital rules for how our minds work when we are reading a text, rules which we will always be able to use when trying to cut through different layers in literature:

1: There are always patters to a text and what we notice about text are most likely the parts that stick out from the background.

2: Things are not always what they seem – things or characters that seem miles apart may just be two sides of a very thin pancake.

3: We search for deeper meaning and interpretations in a text.

4: Meaning and significance are not the same thing.

5: The genre can have an impact of how literary work functions.

6: We look for metaphors, especially in poems.

7: We understand that not everything is a metaphor though!

8: As readers we are sensitive to word order and such patterns in language.

9: We are able to distinguish new beginnings and chapters in literary work.

10: Semantic change can alter the meaning of words and phrases.

After these points, Barry goes on to analyzing a sonnet by Shakespeare and pick it apart – especially from a metaphorical point of view. He also makes the observation that the use of some unusual word order can contain hidden meaning. Barry also intrigues us with some thoughts on the gender aspect – are there some ways in this sonnet to figure out that the author is a man and not a woman? Finally, he also makes a connection between literary work and psychoanalysis.

Then Barry goes on to describing how analyzing a text more conventionally or, as he says, using “textual harassment” can really alter one’s perception of a piece of literary work. He makes his points by using the different techniques on the poems Oread and Transit. Here he also finds some contradictions and linguistic quirks. Poems lend themselves well for analyses and Barry picks up different shifts in attitudes as he further dissects the texts.

Finally, Barry wraps up his thoughts with some reasons for why one should analyze literary work in the first place. According to him, getting some light bulb moments from literature could even be fun!


Keywords

Meaning: This whole text is about finding meaning in literary work, hidden or obvious as it may be.

Metaphor: The word comes up several times in the text, it is one of the most well known literary terms and the author uses metaphors himself. For example, he is describing a text to a cat, as something you stroke the right way with interpretations, or on the other, stroke the wrong way for effect.

Flowers: Again, a metaphor. The author is comparing literary patterns to flowers on a wall paper. The only ones you notice are the ones that stand out.

Literary jewel: Good imagery that explains a lot when find a gem in language.

Knife and fork: An often unconscious way of using words in a particular order. It does not really make a difference to the meaning of the phrase to say “fork and knife” instead, but it will perhaps imply a hidden context about the text or of the speaker.