Chapter+6

= "Form and Meaning" =

In A short Guide to Writing about Literature it talks about the importance of form and meaning in literature:

Literature is about human experiences, but the experiences embodied in literature. Poets, dramatists, and storytellers find or impose a shape on scenes for giving readers things to value written or spoken accounts that are memorable not only for their content but also for their form—the shapes of speech, of the scenes, of the plot (Barnet and Cain p.81).

This statement is a rhetorical statement, because it discusses the importance of writing for an audience. In his essay titled the “Four Philosophies of Composition” Richard Fulkerson discusses how literature should have an effect on an audience whether it is good or bad: “good writing is writing adapted to achieve the desired effect on the desired audience” (Fulkerson p.433).

The book also stresses the importance of arguing about meaning:

However, even if readers can never absolutely prove the truth of their interpretations, all readers have the obligation to make a convincing a case possible. When you write about literature, you will begin by setting down random expressions of feeling and even unsupported opinions, but later, when you are preparing to share your material with a reader, you will have to go future (Barnet and Cain p.85).

Interpreting the meaning of a text can be very intimidating for some people, because some works of literature are often ambiguous. In the book called //They Say, I Say//, which is a rhetorical book about writing about literature it states:

//They Say, I Say//, chapter 4 “In other words, you might think that when you interpret a literary work you don’t necessarily agree or disagree with anything but simply explain the work’s style or structure. You need to do more than simply assert that you disagree with a particular view; you also have to offer persuasive reasons why you disagree (Graff and Birkenstein p.57).


 * Note:** This wikispace can be used as a guide to decide whether or not the text //A Short Guide to Writing About Literature// will be effective for your classroom probably at the college level. Throughout the review of this book, several composition theorists and their writings are referenced. Familiarity with these articles and theories will be helpful in accessing this guide and deciding whether or not to use this book as a source. For your convenience, on the Annotated Bibliography page of this wiki an annotated bibliography including extensive summaries of each work references can be found.