Literature as a Lense - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Literature as a Lense Video

As an English teacher who is married to a history teacher, I can say with confidence the two subjects are beautifully interconnected. Afterall, English and history are both disciplines in the humanities.

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When English teachers contextualize a work of literature to historical or cultural times, they use a historical lens for analysis. However, so often, this context comes directly from the teacher, rather than giving students the charge to study the historical context.

Using a historical lens to interpret a work of literature, students can gain insight Lfnse cultural, political, and other social themes. A historical lens is just one of many literary lenses that students can use to find meaning in a work of literature. Before we begin, you might want to check out this article about what are literary lenses and why you should use them in your classroom.

First, we must talk about Historicism versus New Historicism.

These terms mark a very important distinction for classroom use. Before we talk about the historical lens in ELA classrooms, we have to start with the broader literary theories that came first. Structuralism is a school of literary theory that studies the structure of a Literature as a Lense work or many works to discover patterns and principles. Derived from Structuralism, historical theory is a literary theory that examines the text in terms of historical themes, time period, and culture. Whereas the older historical tendencies were to use history as a factual background for Lirerature, New Historicism takes a different approach.

New Historicism examines the way a work of literature reflects the history and culture of the time period. Therefore, similar to Structuralism, New Historians interpret how literature reveals cultural, political, and historical patterns, themes, attitudes, and biases of the time.

Finally, this progression takes us to the historical lens in link ELA. Historical lens concerns itself less with historical facts and dates and more with social themes and interpretations. The point is that in a literary context, pointing out dates and places is just the beginning. Rather we want to Literatue students to uncover cultural, political, and social interpretations.

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The goal, then, is for students to draw conclusions based on these interpretations. Here are some examples of the shift:. In the classroom, historical lens provides a great opportunity for student-centered inquiry.]