FOR THE IB DIPLOMA English Literature Nic Amy Carolyn P. Henly Angela Stancar Johnson Kathleen Clare Waller Series editor: Carolyn P. Henly 9781510467132.indb 1 6/4/19 9:29 AM The Publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material. Photo credits Acknowledgements Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the Publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Although every effort has been made to ensure that website addresses are correct at time of going to press, Hodder Education cannot be held responsible for the content of any website mentioned in this book. It is sometimes possible to find a relocated web page by typing in the address of the home page for a website in the URL window of your browser. 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Ltd., Pondicherry, India Printed in Italy ISBN: 978 1 5104 6713 2 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. 9781510467132.indb 2 6/4/19 9:29 AM Contents Introduction Section 1 Readers, writers and texts 1.1 Why and how do we study literature? 1 1.2 How are we affected by literary texts in various ways? 22 1.3 How does language use vary among literary forms? 42 1.4 How does the structure or style of a literary text affect meaning? 71 1.5 How do literary texts offer insights and challenges? 96 1.6 In what ways is meaning constructed, negotiated, expressed and interpreted? 115 Section 2 Time and space 2.1 How important is cultural or historical context to the production and reception of a literary text? 135 2.2 How do we approach literary texts from different times and cultures to our own? 148 2.3 To what extent do literary texts offer insight into another culture? 162 2.4 How does the meaning and impact of a literary text change over time? 177 2.5 How do literary texts reflect, represent or form a part of cultural practices? 204 2.6 How does language represent social distinctions and identities? 231 Section 3 Intertextuality: connecting texts 3.1 How do conventions and systems of reference evolve over time? 252 3.2 How do literary texts adhere to and deviate from conventions associated with literary forms? 268 3.3 In what ways can diverse literary texts share points of similarity? 283 3.4 How valid is the notion of a ‘classic’ literary text? 293 3.5 How can literary texts offer multiple perspectives of a single issue, topic or theme? 312 3.6 In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative? 332 Glossary 352 Notes on activities 357 Index 370 Acknowledgements 371 Notes 00 9781510467132.indb 3 6/4/19 9:29 AM Introduction OBJECTIVES OF CHAPTER n To understand the role of the coursebook in the IB English Literature course n To introduce the three areas of exploration and define them for the for IB Diploma n To introduce the seven course concepts and define them n To introduce the concept of global issues and to define examples n To define inquiry-based learning IB English Literature English Literature You have probably been reading for just about as long as you can remember. Much of the reading you have done in your early life and through primary or elementary school was likely to have been quite easy to understand. Maybe you are familiar with this very famous poem: Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. 5 When the blazing sun is gone, When he nothing shines upon, Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. Then the traveller in the dark 10 Thanks you for your tiny spark, How could he see where to go, If you did not twinkle so? In the dark blue sky you keep, Often through my curtains peep, 15 For you never shut your eye, Till the sun is in the sky. As your bright and tiny spark Lights the traveller in the dark, Though I know not what you are, 20 Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Even if you have not encountered this poem by Jane Taylor before, you can read this work very easily. Originally entitled ‘The Star’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ has been beloved for more than 200 years since it was originally published in 1806 (‘First Publication of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’), even though the ideas are simple and the language is easy to understand. iv 9781510467132.indb 4 6/4/19 9:29 AM As you get older, however, reading gets more and more difficult, and, for some people, less and less fun. Compare this next poem with the one above: If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, Injurious distance should not stop my way; For then despite of space I would be brought, From limits far remote where thou dost stay. the for IB Diploma 5 No matter then although my foot did stand Upon the farthest earth removed from thee; For nimble thought can jump both sea and land As soon as think the place where he would be. But ah! thought kills me that I am not thought, To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone, English Literature But that so much of earth and water wrought 10 I must attend time’s leisure with my moan, Receiving nought by elements so slow But heavy tears, badges of either’s woe. Obviously, this poem is much harder to read and understand than the first one. The sentence structure is unfamiliar, as is some of the vocabulary. Some of the words may be completely new to some readers; others will be familiar but used in unfamiliar ways. The content too is difficult, because it deals with sophisticated ideas. Like the first poem, however, it has stayed with us for hundreds of years and is still read and appreciated today. The poem is William Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 44’, the first half of a pair of sonnets that explore an idea about how the speaker’s physical body is a barrier to their ability to be with the person they love. The two sonnets explore scientific ideas that were common in Shakespeare’s day and which proposed that all matter was made up of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. In these two sonnets, Shakespeare takes that belief and posits the imaginative alternative that thought is a fifth type of substance. The speaker wishes they were made of the same substance from which thoughts are made, because thoughts can be wherever they want instantaneously. The content is actually quite intriguing. The idea that we might be able to transport through time and space as if we had no body appeals to anyone who would like to travel all around the world without needing time or transport. That idea is a staple of science fiction, from Star Trek to the 2017 novel The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein. If we can read the more difficult work, it gives our imaginations more with which to connect and explore than poems like ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’. But first we have to be able to read it! Your IB English Literature course is all about learning to read the adult literature of the world, the stories, poems and plays that explore provocative and challenging ideas about what it means to be human, both in a physical and in a psychological sense. The course will instruct you on how to engage with any piece of literature as an independent work using your own skills as a reader. It will also teach you to explore the relationship of works to the time and place in which they were written, so that you can understand how the culture of a writer and the historical development of literary works within that culture contribute to the style, form and content of future works.