CMLIT010 - Sorting Exercise

Print out this page, complete according to the instructions to the best of your ability, and bring with you to class on 12 January. You will receive extra-credit points for handing it in.

The discussion of literary form often involves classification, in which we sort texts into categories on the basis of shared features. This sorting resembles that carried out in some sciences, such as biology, and the resulting formal categories can tell us a great deal about texts. The syllabus for the course is constructed on a progressive series of such sortings.

To introduce you to this idea, and to familiarize you a bit with the Norton anthology, we ask that you complete the following tables and bring them with you to class. Obviously, we do not expect you to thoroughly read all the works listed or ones that you choose. A cursory inspection of the texts should suffice for you to make your decision. Also, make the decision based on what you know or think you know, rather than on what the book might tell you about the text.

Your name______________________________________

Place checkmarks in the appropriate columns for each work. Items 5-7 are to be selected from the Norton anthology. 8-10 are to be selected on the basis of what you have read, seen, or heard up to this point in your life (popular music, granddad's stories, etc. Don't assume that literature is confined to written words on a page!)
Name of text
a.
is poetry
b.
is prose
c.
is in between poetry and prose
d.
is neither poetry nor prose
e.
is oral
f.
is written
g.
is both oral and written
h.
is neither oral nor written
1. Ovid, "The Flood" (690)                
2. Popol Vuh (1742)                
3. Eliduc (996)                
4. "Anywhere Out of the World" (2431)                
5.                
6.                
7.                
8.                
9.                
10.                

By considering the texts which have a tick in column A or column B, fill in the columns below, being as specific as you can.
What about a text helps you decide whether it is poetry? What makes the issue unclear? What about a text helps you decide whether it is prose? What makes the issue unclear?

 

 

  

By considering the texts which have a tick in column E or column F, fill in the columns below, being as specific as you can.
What about a text helps you decide whether it was composed orally? What about a text helps you decide (or not) whether it is a written form?

 

  

To explore the question of whether it is possible to identify distinctive features which make up different forms, work through the following table.

Fill in the following table by choosing three forms from the 'Topic' column of the CMLIT010 syllabus and then making as explicit as you can the features of a text which you think characterize that form.
Name of form Features you would expect to find in a text of this form
1.  
2.  
3.