Author’s Craft
Standard E2.1 The student will read and comprehend a variety of literary texts in print and nonprint formats.
Students in English 2 read four major types of literary texts: fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, and drama. In the category of fiction, they read the following specific types of texts: chapter books, adventure stories, historical fiction, contemporary realistic fiction, science fiction, folktales, myths, satires, parodies, allegories, and monologues. In the category of literary nonfiction, they read classical essays, memoirs, autobiographical and biographical sketches, and speeches. In the category of poetry, they read narrative poems, lyrical poems, humorous poems, free verse, odes, songs/ballads, and epics.
Indicator E2-1.5 Analyze the effect of the author’s craft (including tone and the use of imagery, flashback, foreshadowing, symbolism, irony, and allusion) on the meaning of literary texts
Explanation of Indicator
Author’s craft is the use of specific techniques that an author chooses to relay an intended message. Author’s craft includes tone and the use of imagery, flashback, foreshadowing, symbolism, irony, and allusion. Tone is the writer’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience conveyed through the choice of words and details. Imagery is language that creates a sensory impression within the reader’s mind; flashback is the technique of disrupting the chronological flow of a narrative by interjecting events that have occurred at an earlier time; foreshadowing is the use of hints or clues to suggest future action; symbolism is the author’s use of an object, person, place, or an event that has both a meaning in itself and stands for something larger than itself; irony is the discrepancy between what one says and what one means, what a character believes and what a reader knows, or between what actually occurs and what one expects to occur; and allusion is a brief reference to a historical, mythological, or literary person, place, thing, or event.
Author’s craft is a broad term for how an author intentionally uses techniques to create meaning and feeling for the reader. For example, to convey tone, an author may intentionally use slang when writing the thoughts or dialogue of a teen-aged character or use academic language to represent the thoughts or dialogue of a scholarly character.
E2-1.3 Analyze devices of figurative language (including extended metaphor, oxymoron, and paradox) on the meaning of literary texts.
E2-1.6 Create responses to literary texts through a variety of methods such as written works, oral presentations, media productions, and the visual and performing arts.
E2-1.7 Carry out independent reading for extended periods of time to derive pleasure.
E2-2.4 Create responses to informational texts through a variety of methods such as drawings, written works, oral presentations, and media productions.
E2-2.8 Analyze informational texts to identify propaganda techniques.
E2-4 All indicators as students respond in writing.
E1-5 All indicators as students respond in writing.