Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Arts and Humanities for Baccalaureate

Description: Definition and Types

Description is a form of discourse used to present objects, people, places, and feelings, identifying specific details as much as possible. It is customary to distinguish between objective description (of practical interest) and subjective description (in which the author tries to demonstrate their point of view or opinion).

Structure and Phases of Descriptive Texts

Descriptive texts often use a deductive structure, displaying information from the general to the specific details, data, or characteristics. The process typically involves:

• Observation
• Selection
• Organization
• Expression

Linguistic Features of Description

• Nouns and Adjectives: Descriptive texts focus on things and their properties or characteristics.
• Verb

Key Literary Concepts and Terms

Core Literary Definitions

• Lyricism: The expression of emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way.
• Connotative Language: The emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word, adding elements of attitude or emotion.
• Polysemy: The phenomenon where a single word has multiple related meanings.
• Rhetorical Devices: Methods or techniques used to engage and persuade an audience in literature.
• Literary Movements: Ways of categorizing literature based on similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features.

Contexts in Literary Analysis

• Context: The explanatory environment or background of a phenomenon.
• Context of Production: The cultural and historical factors influencing the content and style of a text when it is written.

Huckleberry Finn: an epic story through an epic quest/journey in order to save his friend. The action is romantic, but throughout his journey along the Mississippi he encounters different characters from different social groups, which is realist. He resembles the Spanish pícaro Lázaro. This is the first American picaresque novel influenced by the Spanish picaresque tradition.

It is not a completely realist novel; it is a combination of realism, romanticism, and picaresque. The road novel/narrative is an American genre. He will remain throughout the novel the American Adam because he never stops; he is always on the move, he does not stay in one place, and he is always in motion. Due to this, he defines himself day by day. He is always creating...

The Transition from Romanticism to Realism

The wish for the renovation of Romantic drama failed with the audience of the time due to the ideological evolution of the bourgeoisie. There was a success of Realism in the narrative genre, characterized by formal and linguistic simplicity, which gradually spread to other genres. Two main trends emerged: bourgeois comedy, which respected dramatic unities and focused on bourgeois matters from a conservative point of view, and Romantic drama in verse, which lacked the revolutionary ideology of the Romantic era.

Henrik Ibsen: The Father of Modern Drama

Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and director of the Norwegian National Theatre. He traveled to Italy and Germany for 27 years, where he created his...

The Objective Correlative in T.S. Eliot's Criticism

The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an “objective correlative”; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, or a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion. Such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.

If you examine any of Shakespeare’s more successful tragedies, you will find this exact equivalence. You will find that the state of mind of Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep has been communicated to you by a skillful accumulation of imagined sensory impressions. The words of Macbeth on hearing of his wife's death strike us as if, given the sequence...

Realism in 19th Century Literature

Realism emerged in France and developed across Europe and America during the second half of the nineteenth century. It conceives art and literature as mirrors of contemporary reality, allowing for a critical objective.

Key Characteristics of Realism

• Objective Vision of Contemporary Reality: This movement relies on necessary documentation regarding all aspects of reality, including characters, environments, customs, and conflicts. It studies inner reality and the motivations for actions, leading to the development of the psychological novel.
• The Topics: Themes usually involve problems intrinsic to the bourgeoisie (ideological, economic, romantic, or moral) or the relationships and conflicts between the bourgeoisie

Information Genres

These genres prioritize the objective reporting of facts.

1. The News

   This is the most characteristic genre of journalism. It is a report of a recent event of public interest. The journalist should reflect what happened objectively, without expressing personal opinions on the facts.

   Structure:

   • Headlines: Includes top title, main title, and subtitle.
   • Lead or Intro: Answers the six key questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How), often presented in italics.
   • Body: Presents information in descending order of importance.

2. Reporting

   Relates facts about a topic of current interest. It is an expanded form of news that allows for a more personal style, as it typically includes the author's signature. It adds depth through research and documentation

Historical Context of St. Thomas Aquinas

The intellectual work of St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century developed within the so-called Middle Ages (11th-15th century). This period shares with the High Middle Ages (5th-11th century) the feudal order and the estates that divide society, but it witnessed events involving the typical medieval order crisis and the emergence of the modern era.

The Rise of Cities and National States

The main fact to note is the appearance of towns or cities through economic development fostered by many technical advances, such as the windmill, water wheel, plow, and compass. Compared to the previous world, which revolved around the castle or monastery, cities began to play a greater role, and with them, a new...

Realism and Naturalism in Literature

Realism and Naturalism: The realist movement reacted against the Romantic excesses and the overuse of subjectivity and imagination. It favored thorough and accurate observation of contemporary reality.

Naturalism in France and Spain

In France around 1870 a movement called Naturalism emerged that pushed realist objectives to an extreme. Naturalism sought to explain the causes of human behavior and incorporated new scientific ideas about the human being (determinism, heredity, natural selection of species...). It was expressed in extreme characters with physical or severe moral traits, emphasizing the most miserable aspects of human life. It was a very controversial movement, whose principal theoretical representative...

The Consolidation of the Bourgeoisie

The consolidation of the bourgeoisie became a reality, leading to a conservatism aimed at protecting its interests against the popular classes. The revolutions of 1848 exemplified the split between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In 1848, The Communist Manifesto was published, which inaugurated Marxism and defined the social relations and class struggle between the two groups.

Bourgeois Society and Artistic Influence

The bourgeoisie developed its daily life in the cities, which served as the most faithful reflection of the duality between the upper classes and disadvantaged sectors. Both realities inspired Realism and Naturalism, as the bourgeoisie demanded stories that reflected their society. The Industrial...