Midterm 1 Flashcards
Didactic literature
Literature designed to instruct
Peritext
Context and attitude around reading a text
Allegory
Conveys a deeper meaning than described, presented symbolically to teach a lesson
Fable
A brief tale in either prose or verse, with a moral. Usually characters are animals
Parable
Brief tale in either prose or fiction, used to teach a lesson. Usually human characters as opposed to animals
Folklore
Archaic myths and traditions that have survived until the modern age. Includes legends, syories, riddles, proverbs, nursery rhymes, and popular ballads
Myth
An anonymous story presenting supernatural episodes to explain natural events and phenomena. Product of a group rather than an individual. May attempt to explain existence and death; chronological adventures of hearoes, less concerned with morals
Legend
An established narrative tradition that has less of a supernatural element and more historical truth
Archetype
An original pattern or model from which later forms develop or form which copies are made. A literary archetype is a basic theme, situation or character that reoccurs in life and is reflected in the literature of most ages and languages
William Caxton
One of the first printers. Published Aesop’s fables
Chapbooks
Emerged in the 17th century
Named for those who delivered them
Could be bought for 1 cent
Scorned by the upper class due to their violence and poor grammar
Puritans reacted to such and began to create appropriate literature
Charles Perrault
In 1697 published “From tales long ago, with morals”
John Newberry
First english published of books for a children audience
High believer in Locke notion of simple and good literature
Published the little pretty pocket book
The Brothers Grimm
Wilhelm and John
Travelled ariund Germany collecting oral stories and published them in 1812. Originally not meant for children but rather to preserve German culture. Once aimed at children were critisized for their violence and thus many editions were formed, the later of Wilhelm Grimm published on his own.
Hans Christian Anderson
Collected oral traditions het also wrote his own tales such as the little mermaid and the emperors new clothes
