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ELA 5: How to Summarize and Analyze Literature 233 Views


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Description:

Today we're going to summarize and analyze summaries and analyses of literature. Hopefully that's a good summary of the lesson. We'll leave it to you to analyze it.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:14

Analyzing and summarizing might sound pretty similar.

00:17

After all, they both end with a "zing"!

00:19

How different can they be? [Coop pointing to analyzing and summarizing]

00:20

Well, don't let those dual zings fool you.

00:23

Summarizing is a walk in the park… [Man walking in the park]

00:25

…while analyzing is a walk in a park full of…lava and….spikes? and…maybe sharks [Man walking in park and lava spikes and sharks appear]

00:30

or something?

00:31

…Okay, so we're not great at comparisons.

00:34

Basically, summarizing equals simple, analyzing equals not so simple.

00:39

When we summarize, we're just retelling something in our own words. [Man summarizing war and peace at the front of class]

00:42

That's it.

00:44

Analyzing, however involves a lot more work.

00:46

When we analyze, we have to ask questions to better understand the text, and come to

00:51

a more detailed understanding of it.

00:53

…So…not quite as exciting as lava sharks. [Man falls on the floor in library]

00:56

Oh, well.

00:57

If we want to see these two strategies at work, all we have to do is get them both internships! [Man interviewing men with zing's for faces]

01:02

…just kidding.

01:03

All we actually have to do is check out a poem.

01:05

Say we read a poem about two kids who are playing marbles… [Boys playing with marbles]

01:09

…and one makes a shot that sends a marble into a sewer.

01:13

Might not sound like a great game of marbles, but hey, that doesn't mean it wouldn't make [Marble hits pigeon on the head]

01:16

a great poem.

01:17

If we wanted to summarize this poem, then do we have some good news for you!

01:21

We kinda already did.

01:22

The poem's about two kids who are playing marbles, and one makes a shot that sends a

01:26

marble into a sewer.

01:27

Done and done.

01:28

To analyze this poem, though, we'll need to go through a lot of different steps. [Girl walks up stairs]

01:32

First, we need to read it through once.

01:34

That might sound kinda obvious; it'd be tough to analyze something you've never read.

01:39

But on the first read, we should focus on getting the overall feel of the poem.

01:43

Maybe even … enjoy it?? [Woman looks surprised]

01:46

Step number two is to read the poem again, but this time at a nice, slow pace.

01:50

This second read will hopefully allow us to pick up on words, phrases, and other details

01:55

we may have missed the first time through. [Hand picks up words and phrases from the floor]

01:57

And don't worry if any turtles finish reading sooner than you.

02:00

This is literary analysis, not a race!

02:03

After our slow read, we can start thinking about the literary devices the poem used.

02:08

Poets have all sorts of literary tools at their disposal, like meter form, imagery,

02:12

rhyme pattern, and language.

02:14

By checking out how the poet used each device, we'll get a better sense of how the poem works. [Emily Dickinson chainsawing a poem]

02:19

And bonus?

02:20

The poet won't have wasted their time using all of those fancy literary devices for nothing! [T.S Eliot throws poem into trash can]

02:26

In the fourth step, we do a little bit of research about the poet who wrote the poem

02:30

we're reading.

02:31

If we know about the poet's life, we might be able to tell if their background is somehow

02:34

related to the text.

02:35

Who knows?

02:36

Maybe the guy who wrote the marble poem lost a shooter as a kid and never got over it. [Poe crying beside a crow while reading a book]

02:40

And finally, we consider the theme of the poem.

02:43

Like lots of kinds of literature, poems are rarely just about what's happening in the text.

02:48

Sure, this poem might be about kids losing a marble…

02:50

…but that might be a metaphor for confronting loss.

02:53

Or helplessness. [Poe falling into a whirlpool]

02:55

Or maybe it really is about losing marbles.

02:57

That kinda pain can really stick with you.

02:59

And that's it!

03:00

That's how we summarize and analyze.

03:02

And not a terrifying lava shark to be seeeee…..

03:05

Oh, you've gotta be kidding… [Shark appears]

03:07

….okay.

03:08

Okay, just back…away…slowly….

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