What I Learned Researching and Writing Literary Terms
Researching and writing the literary terms for Dr. Canada's class really
opened up my understanding of how great literature is written and the many
conventions that can be used to make a literary work more compelling and
interesting. It is very intriguing to note how authors use motifs,
recurring objects, structures, or concepts in a work, to add more depth
and scope to a play, novel, poem, or short story. For example, Genesis
is replete with stories involving sacrifice, showing how God requires a
lot on the part of humanity if they desire to serve him. Irony is
also used by authors to spice up a literary work by adding surprise twists
and allowing the reader to become more involved in the work, even if they
are aware of the irony early in the work. The audience knows Iago
is deceptive from practically the offset of the play, yet they still become
very involved in the play because they want to see if he succeeds in his
diabolical quest. Even though the audience knows it is ironic when
Othello and others refer to Iago as honest, seeing he is very dishonest,
it only serves to make the play much more interesting as it adds more suspense
and drama to it. Researching these two literary terms has also allowed
me to see how I can use such conventions to spice up my own writings.
What I Learned Researching and Writng The Web Page
Writing the web page on H.P. Lovecraft was an extremely enlightening and
exhilirating experience. It really helped me to understand how much
more an individual can glean from a work if they have an adequate knowledge
of who wrote the work. Through my research, I found consistent themes
evident in Lovecraft's work, such as the belief that we are all inherently
evil and his use of oneiric objectivism, the belief that the dream world
can be more real than the conscious world. Armed with this knowledge,
I understood more fully Lovecraft's writings, writings which are deemed
difficult to understand and interpret by many people. For example,
it is easier to see the Edward Derby's struggle to avoid possession by
an evil spirit in The Thing on the Doorstep as mankind's struggle
against his inherent evil nature when one understands this is a common
thread running through the whole of Lovecraft's works. One more fully
understands the narrator's conversations with his dead uncle and grandfather
in The Silver Key and its relevance to the resolution of the story
when one has a firm understanding of how Lovecraft uses the theme of oneiric
objectivism. As most authors write from their own experiences, having
an understanding of their life helps considerably in interpreting their
works. Reflections of Lovecraft's life can be seen in The Thing
on the Doorstep as Edward Derby had a keen interest in Edgar Allan
Poe, wrote poetry, and procured an interest in the supernatural.
Thus, putting together this fascinating web page on Lovecraft has allowed
me to realize the importance of understanding the author so that I might
understand his work.
