The title of this blog is pun, a kind of wordplay that plays off of separate meanings for the same word. "Coming to terms" is meant literally, in the sense that this blog will invite its readers to learn terminology for literary analysis. "Coming to terms" is also meant idiomatically in the sense of "dealing with" or "being equal to" something. Another connotation for "coming to terms" is resigning oneself to something. Well, not every connotation is going to work in your favor.
There are risks in using literary form. But there are also risks in ignoring it, falling prey to superficial or even abusive uses of language and art. I'm in favor of becoming more aware of and skilled in literary method. This is one reason why I have created this blog, as well as its subsidiary blogs that my students will be maintaining:
- Coming to Terms with Fiction
- Coming to Terms with Poetry
- Coming to Terms with Drama
- Coming to Terms with Creative Non-Fiction
In this blog I will address more general issues about analyzing literature and the methods of writing informally or more formally about it. In the breakout blogs, features of each category of literature will receive more specialized treatment by my students.
