Getting to Know... Literary Studies
This area of study delves into the rich tradition of English literature in Great Britain, as well as the newer literatures that have emerged in English across the globe. Of particular interest is the role literature has played across a range of cultural contexts throughout history, both in terms of its functions and achievements. Literature is therefore viewed as an integral part of the culture of the modern era, in the widest sense of the phrase – encompassing cultural developments from the Middle Ages to the so-called postmodern era.
More recent developments in the field, built on the concept of Literary Studies as a form of Media Studies and Cultural Studies, form the basis for exploring the relationship between literary texts and other types of text and media, thus creating a productive link between Literary and Cultural studies. The ability to critically analyse and reflect on texts of any kind constitutes the core principle underlying teaching and learning in this area.
William Wordsworth's Poem "My Heart Leaps Up"
Below you can find a video clip from the lecture course "Introduction to Literary Studies." It provides an analysis of William Wordsworth’s short poem "My Heart Leaps Up" (1802; the poem is also known as "The Rainbow").
Listen carefully to the analysis of the poem. It might be useful to take some notes as if you were in a real lecture.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Reinfandt on William Wordsworth's "My Heart Leaps Up" (Video Lecture)
It's Your Turn Now!
True or False?
After listening to the video excerpt, proceed to read the following statements and decide whether they are true or false.
Once your have made up your mind, simply click on the statement to reveal the correct answer and additional information.
After reading the first two lines of the poem, a reader who knows something about poetic form will expect a song-like stanza.
TRUE.
The alternation of four-stressed iambic lines and three-stressed iambic lines (common metre) can frequently be found in hymns, songs and ballads.
The poem keeps up to its very end the alternation of four-stressed and three-stressed iambic lines (i.e. iambic tetrameter and trimeter) that is established in its first two lines.
FALSE.
From line 3 onwards four-stressed lines dominate the poem, with the exception of line 6 (two-stressed) and line 9 (five-stressed).
The rhyme scheme of the poem is abcdabcdd.
FALSE.
No, it is abccabcdd.
Wordsworth famous statement that "The Child is Father of the Man" indicates an inversion of perspective from outside (world) to inside (experience).
TRUE.
While outwardly the man is father of the child, every man’s identity has been "fathered" by his inner development from child to adult.
The poem's last line is the only five-stressed line in the poem (iambic pentameter); this indicates a shift from orality (song forms) to written forms (poems).
TRUE.
It does, but only tentatively: The stressed final syllable which also emphasizes the concluding dd-rhyme is counteracted by the fact that the final syllable of the word "piety" has only a secondary stress vis-à-vis the strong first syllable of the word.