hello everyone, welcome back to my studyblr. so today I am making a post on studying literature and warning warning: these tips may not work for everybody because everyone has a different way fo comprehending things. but these are my personal fave pro tips which have worked pretty well for me and I hope it does for you all, too
for poetry:
in case the poem is set in a specific setting or has a background story, it is always the best to have prior knowledge of it
be well acquainted of the figures of speech
have a pocket dictionary (or your phone in hand, just in case you need to check the meaning of the unknown words
try to feel the essence and the meaning of the poem instead of just understanding it. lietrature is not about just about understanding, its totally about being a part of the very scene itself
as soon as you know what the poem is all about, try to write its summary because in that way the freshly baked information will be still locked fresh in your head
here’s the format of how i annotate a poem
for prose:
Try to visualize the prose in your hand as you simultaneously read/listen and comprehend it. in that way, it’ll be like watching a movie and people usually don’t forget the movies they watch
again, be well aware of the story’s background details , settings, references, et cetra (in case it has some)
as you go on reading the text, continue scribbling the annotations (rough), meanings and stuff, just as you did in case of poetry
Try to notice the little things happening in a prose because usually, they are the biggest plot twisters, trust me.
In case you are aiming for studying for an exam, I’d recommend practicing long answer based questions. this will help you to train you for managing your time while writing these sort of question in the exam hall and will not only help you in brushing up your writing skills but will also help you to explore the matters deeply
For plays/dramas:
These are the places where you need to know about the characters in the play. this can be either given within your book or you may go ahead and ask you teacher or even Google it
Annotate each speech of the each character (if requires) by writing it down by the side of the text or on a sticky note so that it’s easy to revise
I prefer the text of the play to be read out loud because in that way your ears will participate in the study session along with your brain and believe me, it really works great as it helps in better and quicker comprehending
write the detailed summary of a scene as soon as it is taught because the sooner the better
practice mainly reference based questions to analyse the stuff better and also brush up your thinking skills as they are pretty tricky
-x
