How To Read Literature Like A Professor Chapter 1 Summary

In his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” Thomas C. Foster provides a list of attributes that a fictional character may have if they are a symbolic Christ Figure in their story. The list consists of characteristics such as “very forgiving” and “came to redeem an unworthy world.” In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” although the Old Man is thought to be an angel by the awe struck people around him, it is possible to claim that he is a Christ Figure. While the Old Man doesn’t turn water into wine, he seems to have something with the odd “miracles” occurring in the town. The Old Man’s ragged appearance is also an attribute that should be accounted for. Foster explains that “he’s dirty and unkempt and bug-ridden,

Phrases Shakespeare coined are still around today in one form or another and are used in everyday, average conversations. According to document 3, “they turned for inspiration to the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome.” Writers drew inspiration from ancient greek and roman literatures, which influenced literature such as poetry, which is still present

In the novel How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, the value in reading William Shakespeare’s works is displayed. Shakespeare’s works enables readers to help understand literature and pick up references in modern day entertainment. For example, Foster states “[William Shakespeare is] everywhere, in every form you can think of. And he’s never the same: every age and every writer reinvents its own Shakespeare” (30). This statement depicts that Shakespeare’s legacy lives on to today and even though he is dead, he continues to impact lives today. All authors create their own form of Shakespeare and if you know Shakespeare, it’ll make understanding literature so much easier. This is because authors based their works off of

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare as a play for the theatre. William Shakespeare took his idea from an Italian folk story and is heavily influenced by sonnets which where developed by Francesco Petrarch an Italian poet. Shakespeare took most of his inspiration for Petrarch for demonstrating love with in the poem.

Over time, William Shakespeare has become a literary genius that many authors, screenwriters, and playwrights have drawn influence from. The influence of Shakespeare has been seen from movies like She’s The Man to musicals like West Side Story to books like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. As one of the first featured playwrights of his time, Shakespeare himself did not have as many tropes and events to write about like modern writers do and would have had to draw inspiration from life around him and texts that had been written at the time. Even if a person could not read in sixteenth century Catholic, and then Protestant, England, they probably had a general idea of what the Bible was and the stories included. The Bible was a source of influence for many morality plays and even small collections of short stories like The Canterbury Tales. Roland Barthes, a theorist on textualism, would say that old texts like the Bible contain codes that can be found in texts even today. From an intertextual reading of his plays like King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, King Henry IV, Part I, and The Tempest, it can be argued that Shakespeare drew his inspiration for the betrayal in these plays from Biblical stories like the story of Jacob and Esau.

The topic of William Shakespeare has become quite controversial over the role that he, and his plays, have in our English curriculum. William Shakespeare is, and forever will be, “an influence on the English language more than any other writer in history” (HISTORY). With many well known plays such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest, William shakespeare expresses the use of many literary skills and and styles in which is taught in today’s English curriculum.

William Shakespeare is the most influential English writer that ever existed. Though he may not have invented all of the literary tools we use today, he popularized them in his works. Many are considered to be essential in literature, as they add necessary detail and plot. Charles Dickens is also one of the most influential writers in English history. Though he was influential on his own, a lot of his style is based off of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, are two of the most celebrated pieces of literature of all time. 250 years separate these works, yet their similarities could not be more obvious. Shakespeare employed these literary tools along with his understanding of the flaws in human nature so effectively that they continue to be relied upon in modern texts to keep audiences captivated.

Summary: In chapter one, Foster begins giving an example of a quest; he explains how a trip to the store is considered a quest. Foster provides five key details included in a quest: a quester, a place to go, a reason to go there, challenges and tests on the way, and a real reason to go there (Foster 3). Furthermore, Foster explains how the “stated” reason is not the reason to go on the quest. The quester goes on the quest believing it is their life mission. Quote: “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 4). Personal Example: The Epic of Gilgamesh is an example of a quest. Gilgamesh is the protagonist of the poem who makes a long quest in search for immortality.

Shakespeare’s influence is especially prevalent in media and entertainment. Recent films, for example, copy his unique plot lines. Renowned Broadway musical and movie West Side Story retells the story of Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story tells the tale of two lovers separated by family expectation’s and feuds, mirroring Romeo and Joliet. Popular films Macbeth and 0 copy the unique plot lines of Shakespeare’s famous play’s Macbeth, and Othello (Dyce) .

Simply stated, students should study Shakespeare's works in school because of the incredible value within them. In addition to exposing students to a multitude of literary techniques, Shakespeare's plays challenge the student with difficult language and style, express a profound knowledge of human behavior and offer insight into the world around us.William Shakespeare is recognized by much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. The intricate meanings, extensive vocabulary, and powerful imagery contained within his works demonstrate the phenomenal story telling ability of the English playwright. "Shakespeare's use of poetry within his plays to express the deepest levels of human motivation in individual, social and universal

Students have been learning about William Shakespeare’s greatest works for years. They have been taught that he was the greatest writer of his time and about how his works still live on today. Many people still believe that he was the mastermind behind the beautiful stories of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, however this is not true. People have been taught for centuries that Shakespeare wrote every one of his works, however evidence shows that he has stolen ideas and that he might not be the author of his famous works.

Shakespeare wrote his plays, poems, and other works during the time of Elizabethan England. This is a very interesting time period in history because many new revolutions and reforms were taking place. The most important one regarding Shakespeare was the Italian Renaissance. You see, Early Modern English which is what we call the English that Shakespeare wrote in was very messy regarding its structure and vocabulary when you compared it to languages such as Latin and Greek. When Shakespeare was starting to write his works, the English language was going through incredible changes, absorbing and integrating words from other languages due to the events that were happening in the 1600s such as colonization, exploration, war, and others. There was a huge return to philosophical thinking in Italy and a new way of expressing ideas that we today call the Renaissance.

William Shakespeare is a well-known author. He was a very popular writer and many people enjoyed the type of writing he does. For that reason, “Shakespeare’s history plays were so successful in the 1590s’ London theatre that the editors of Shakespeare’s complete works, in 1623, chose to group his dramatic output under three headings: comedies, histories, and tragedies. The genre established itself by sheer force of its compelling popularity” (“Shakespeare” 1). His theater made him more popular. With that said, his plays “are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before” (“Shakespeare” 1). Mainly, every freshman class in the United States reads Romeo and Juliet because the history and excellence that is involved

William Shakespeare’s motivations and influences of his writings. Indeed, mostly came from poems, older novels, like Latin and Greek, and many were from other writers. Also, Shakespeare had two favorite authors that he used for inspiration. Those two authors are Plutarch and Geoffrey Chaucer. Furthermore, Plutarch made a book that consists of biographies of notable soldiers and statesmen. Another thing, Plutarch book was translated by Sir Thomas North. Additionally, Shakespeare used the translated book to use as inventiveness for Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, and many other plays. Equally, Geoffrey Chaucer inspired William to write his plays. Likewise, Geoffrey Chaucer was a poet and created many poems. William

William Shakespeare, as did most writers of his time, took the basis for the stories he wrote from other texts. He would use source poems or mythology in order to write his own works. Romeo and Juliet, for example, can be compared to the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisby. Plays such as Richard III and Julius Caesar are artistic accounts of historic events. The Tempest, however, is commonly perceived as an original story. Many critics feel that this was the only story of his that was entirely created by Shakespeare. This is not the case. In fact, there are several sources from which he very much drew inspiration for this tale. Shakespeare used