Evaluate how key elements enhance or add layers of meaning and/or style in a literary text and explain the functional significance of those elements in interpreting the text.
Clarifications
Clarification 1: Key elements of a literary text are setting, plot, characterization, conflict, point of view, theme, and tone.
Clarification 2: For layers of meaning, any methodology or model may be used as long as students understand that text may have multiple layers and that authors use techniques to achieve those layers. A very workable model for looking at layers of meaning is that of I.A. Richards:
Layer 1) the literal level, what the words actually mean
Layer 2) mood, those feelings that are evoked in the reader
Layer 3) tone, the author’s attitude
Layer 4) author’s purpose (interpretation of author’s purpose as it is often inferred)
Clarification 3: Style is the way in which the writer uses techniques for effect. It is distinct from meaning, but can be used to make the author’s message more effective. The components of style are diction, syntax, grammar, and use of figurative language. Style helps to create the author’s voice.
Clarification 4: Functional significance refers to the role each element plays in creating meaning or effect for the reader.
Subject Area: English Language Arts (B.E.S.T.)
Grade: 12
Date Adopted or Revised: 08/20
Status: State Board Approved
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Course Title222 |
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Related Access Points
| Access Point Number |
Access Point Title |
| ELA.12.R.1.AP.1a | Analyze how key elements increase understanding of literary text and/or style. |
| ELA.12.R.1.AP.1b | Compare and contrast how the key elements impact the functional significance in interpreting the literary text. |
Related Resources
Lesson Plans
| Name |
Description |
| A Need for Sleep: A Close Reading of a Soliloquy from King Henry IV, Part II | In this lesson, students will consider the literary elements Shakespeare uses to communicate King Henry's inability to sleep. Students will analyze how diction, tone, syntax, and imagery help to convey King Henry's state of mind, and will write a short response to outline their analysis, using text to support their answers. |
| Emily Dickinson: Poet Extraordinaire of Language, Time, and Space: Part 2 | This is part two in a series of three exploring and analyzing Emily Dickinson's style. In part two, students will use the historical and literary research conducted in part one and they will read and analyze a variety of her letters written during the Romantic Period. Students will use their analysis of the letters as sources for the summative assessment, a letter to the editor written in response to one or several of Dickinson's letters or topics. |
| Emily Dickinson: Poet Extraordinaire of Language, Time, and Space: Part 1 | This lesson is part one in a series of three lessons analyzing the language of Emily Dickinson, researching the Romantic Period, and comparing her works to her contemporaries. In part one of this lesson series, students will work in small groups to analyze the language of Emily Dickinson's poems, they will research the literary period of The Romantic Period, and they will create a re-envisioned poem using information gleaned from their small group discussions, research, and whole group discussions. |
| Poetry Analysis and Time Periods | Students will analyze how Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson each used figurative language to develop a specific tone in relation to mortality. They will also consider how each poet reflected the time periods within which they wrote. |
| Dealing with Grief: A Comparison of Tone and Theme | In this four-part lesson series, students will delve into the topic of grief through analysis of poetic devices, form, and point of view in poems by Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Students will connect theme to the poets’ viewpoints on the emotions, or the lack thereof, that one experiences during times of pain and loss. Students will read the poems multiple times to seek layers of meaning and write an in-depth analysis. |
