Literary Criticism and Terminology in Cymraeg

A term that does no work is not worth knowing

Most people meet literary terminology as a list to be memorised, and that is why so much of it never gets used. A term learned as a definition sits in your head and does nothing. A term learned as a CHOICE somebody made does the opposite, because once you see it as a decision you can immediately ask two more questions: why did the writer decide that, and what does it do to the reader. That is the whole of literary criticism, and the analytic move never changes however difficult the text. Name the choice. Say what it does. Point at where it happens. Three parts, every time. The second reason to take this seriously is that the toolkit is the one part of the course you use everywhere. The same terms and the same move work on the novel, on the poems, on the short stories and on a text you have never seen before, which is why they are taught once rather than separately for each. The unseen text is where the toolkit proves itself, because you cannot have revised it: everything you bring in is terminology and method. Learn a term well enough to USE, and it works on anything. Learn it as a definition, and it works on nothing.

Five kinds of choice

These name the families of decision a writer makes. Each is a place to look rather than a word to recite.

What is the writer doing?

Which sentence is criticism?

Four students write about the same passage, in which short sentences interrupt long ones. Which is doing literary criticism?

• The writer breaks a run of long sentences with a three-word one, which stops the rhythm and forces attention onto what it says
• The writer uses both long and short sentences in this passage
• Sentence length is a structural feature that writers use for effect
• The short sentence is very effective and makes the passage much better

Spotting, and analysing

The difference is not how many terms you know. It is what you do with the one you have just used.

Build a critical point

Five parts of a paragraph of literary criticism. Put them into the order that produces analysis rather than a list.

• Notice something a reader actually experiences in the text
• Name the choice behind it, using the right term
• Point at exactly where it happens
• Say what it does to the reader, in your own words
• Link it to something else in the text that works the same way or against it

What makes an effect creditable

You have named a choice and want to say what it does. Which THREE things make that effect worth marks?

• It could only be said about this text rather than about writing in general
• You can point at exactly where in the text it happens
• It describes something that happens to a reader, rather than praising the writer
• It is expressed at length
• It uses as many critical terms as possible

The unseen text is the real test

Everything in this topic is finally aimed at a text you have never read, and it is worth understanding why that changes how you should revise. On a set text you can carry in a great deal: what happens, what critics have said, what your class agreed the ending meant. On an unseen text you carry in nothing except the toolkit and the move, and that is exactly what the unseen task is designed to find out. Which means the revision that helps is not learning more about the texts you know. It is practising the move until it is automatic on anything: notice, name, point, explain, link. Two habits make the difference under pressure. First, read for what the text is DOING to you before you read for what it is about, because your own reaction is the fastest route to a choice worth writing about. If a passage made you uneasy, something did that, and finding what is analysis. Second, do not go looking for a list of features to tick off. A student hunting for imagery will find some, write that it is there, and earn nothing. A student who noticed that the room felt closed and then worked out that every image was of something shut has done the same task in the opposite direction and has something to say. The toolkit is for explaining what you noticed, not for deciding what to notice.

Complete the criticism words

The kind of thing a text is, and the expectations that come with it, is its _____. The order things are given in, including what is delayed or withheld, is its _____. The feeling a passage creates, built from many small choices, is its _____. Who is speaking, how much they know and how far they can be trusted, is the _____.

One paragraph, taken apart

Here is the move run on a described passage, so you can watch each part arrive. The passage: a character returns to a house they have not visited for years. The sentences are long and unhurried for most of it. The images are of things that are closed or fastened, a latched gate, a drawn curtain, a door that sticks. And then, near the end, one sentence of four words. First, notice. What a reader experiences is a growing sense that this return is not going to be welcoming, before anything unwelcoming has actually happened. That reaction is the thing to explain. Second, name. Two choices are producing it: the imagery is consistently of enclosure, and the sentence rhythm is unhurried. Third, point. The enclosure images are in the first half, one in nearly every sentence, and the short sentence is near the end. Fourth, the effect, in ordinary words. Because every image is of something shut, the house reads as already decided against the visitor, and because the sentences are long and calm the reader is not warned to expect it, which is why the short sentence lands as hard as it does. Fifth, link. The rhythm and the images work together rather than separately, one building the expectation and the other breaking it. Notice that the terminology is doing work in every part and is never the point of any of it.

Find the sentence that analyses

Five sentences from a critical response. Tap the ONE that is analysis rather than spotting, defining or praising.

• The writer uses a range of imagery throughout the passage.
• Imagery is when a writer creates pictures in the mind of the reader.
• Nearly every image in the first half is of something shut or fastened, so the house feels closed against the visitor before anything is said.
• The imagery in this passage is extremely effective and very well chosen.
• There are several examples of imagery in the opening paragraphs.

Write the critical point

A critical point earns marks by naming, locating and explaining. Choose the option in each gap.

The criticism run

Five quick questions on the toolkit. Three lives.

Ten minutes with a text you have never read

You are in the exam with an unseen prose passage and about ten minutes to plan a response. You have read it once and it left you uneasy, though nothing alarming happens in it. Work through three decisions.

• How do you start?
• You notice the images are nearly all of things that are shut. What do you do with that?
• You also notice the sentences are unusually long until near the end. How do you use it?

Write the critical point

A passage describes somebody returning to a house they have not seen for years. The sentences are long and unhurried, nearly every image is of something closed or fastened, and one very short sentence appears near the end. Write a paragraph of literary criticism about it.

• Say what a reader experiences before anything is explained
• Name at least two choices the writer has made, using the right terms
• Point at where in the passage each one happens
• Explain what each does to the reader, in your own words rather than by calling it effective
• Finish by linking the two choices, saying how they work together