1. What is Literature? 

-The Definition in the American Heritage Dictionary: "imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value."

-The three major genres: fiction, poetry, and drama

-Canon: a group of works of "recognized artistic value"

-Matthew Arnold on literary experiences: "The interpretations of science do not give us this intimate sense of objects as the interpretations of poetry give it; they appeal to a limited faculty, and not to the whole man. It is not Linnaeus...who gives us the true sense of animals, or water, or plants, who seizes their secret for us, who makes us participate in their life; it is Shakespeare ...Wordsworth... Keats."  

-John Keats's "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"

Much have I traveled in the realms of gold
    And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
    Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
    That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
    Yet never did I breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
    When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
    He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
    Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

"the subjective experience of reading and the complex sensations it inspires--the dizzying exhilaration of discovery; the sense of power, accomplishment, and pride that comes of achieving something difficult; the wonder we feel in those rare moments when a much-anticipated experience turns out to be even greater than we had imagined it would be."

"the sensual qualities-the way the words look, sound, and even feel in our mouths because of the particular way they are put together on the page. The sensation of excitement--of a racing heart and mind--is reproduced in us as we read the poem."

 

2. What is Poetry?  

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad 

Dactylic Tetrameter

Iambic Pentameter and Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer¡¯s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer¡¯s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature¡¯s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow¡¯st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand¡¯rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow¡¯st.
     So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.