Journal 6 - Literary Theory

I would have to agree, that most students typically would have a little trouble understanding literary theory. At this point in the semester, I believe that I am still having some trouble understanding literary theory. In my own words, I would have to say that I believe that literary theory is the way that we interpret and analyze literature ourselves. I did some online research to see if what I thought that literary theory was, was correct. I found that "literary theory is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to understand literature." This made things much more clear for me and more understandable. Literary theory is very important to make sure that we do grasp a good concept of all of the meanings that lie underneath just the text. I do believe that there are some things that I could do to make myself understand literary theory more clearly. To work on this, I need to make sure I understand all of the literary terms completely. 216 As for my own "theory" of what literature is, it is not fully developed yet. I believe that I still have much room to grow and learn more. I actually enjoy reading literature now. I believe that part of this is because, I enjoy trying to find out what the deeper meaning behind the story is. I think that I should work more on my literary terms so I learn how to analyze these literary works that we read even more. With the help of this, I believe that I can develop my theory even more.