How Does Literature Mean What It Means?

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” – What Does It Mean?

Mary’s Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,Its fleece was white as snow;And everywhere that Mary went,The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day;That was against the rule;It made the children laugh and playTo see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out,But still it lingered near,And waited patiently about

Till Mary did appear.

And then he ran to her and laid His head upon her arm, As if he said, “I’m not afraid – You’ll keep me from all harm.”

"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"The eager children cry."Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"The teacher did reply.

And you each gentle animal In confidence may bind, And make them follow at your call If you are always kind.

Sarah Josepha Hale

How to Figure Out Anything, Even Your Friends – The Set Analysis

• If you complete a set analysis chart, the secret of whatever you’re analyzing will be yours!

• Yes, it’s called a Set Analysis, and I will be asking you to do this often.

• The idea comes from a workshop given by Marie Ponsot and Rosemary Dean. They based their approach on a technique developed by Kenneth Burke. I have expanded upon these ideas.

• One of the best things about this is that you can construct meaningful meanings for yourself that you can check for accuracy. Works of value always have multiple meanings. Just like your friends!

Part I – “Scene”

This is one of the easy ones. Decide where and when the action is occurring. In other words, provide a setting, even if the detail clues are sort of sketchy.

What is the SCENE of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Write this down in your notebook. Be prepared to share your responses.

Part 2 – “Action”

This is usually just one word long. It names the main action of the work in question. It doesn’t have to be a word from the text.

Always write this as an –ing word.

What is the ACTION of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Write this in you notebook and be prepared to share.

Part 3 – “Agent”

Name who is doing the action.

Do not use the word “author.” Identify the exact agent as best you can. Sometimes the best you can do is “the speaker.”

Who is the AGENT in “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Write this in you notebook and be prepared to share.

Part 4 – “Agency”This is going to be a rather long list (try for at least 5 items).

Answer the question, “How is the action being completed?”

It’s crucial in this section to use the exact diction of the work in question, altering it only by adding –ing when necessary and prefacing each entry with the word “by.” Sometimes you might have to add a few of your own words before by and the –ing word. It’s just important to make sure you have used a few words from the text. Sometimes you might have to add the word “not.” Just make sure to use some of the exact diction.

What are the AGENCIES in “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Write these out in your notebook and be prepared to share.

Part 5 – “Purpose”

Answer the question, “For what reason or end is the action done?”

You must use an exact quoted detail from the work in question, usually one phrase or one sentence.

The purpose is the purpose of the agent, not the purpose of the author.

Preface the phrase or sentence with the word “to.”

What is the purpose of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Write this in your notebook and be prepared to share your response.

The Point-of-View, or Meaning, Sentence

Review the set analysis that you’ve constructed and then use the following format to construct a meaning sentence:

“In [name of work] by [author], the author develops the meaning that [your point of view].”

So, What Is the Meaning of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?

Maybe you have something that looks like this:

Your meaning sentence might look like this:

In the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by Sarah Josepha Hale, the author develops the meaning that we can only intensely love those who make us feel safe.

Scene School

Action Following

Agent Lamb

Agency by “following”

By “lingering”

By “running”

By “laying”

By “loving”

Purpose To be “not afraid”

Here’s One to TryIn the WellAndrew Hudgins

My father cinched the rope,a noose around my waist,and lowered me intothe darkness. I could taste

my fear. It tasted firstof dark, then earth, then rot.I swung and struck my headand at that moment got

 

another then: then blood,which spiked my mouth with iron.Hand over hand, my fatherdropped me from then to then:

then water. Then wet fur,which I hugged to my chest.I shouted. Daddy hauledthe wet rope. I gagged, and pressed

my neighbor's missing dog

against me. I held its deathand rose up to my father.Then light. Then hands. Then breath.

Here’s Another

DesignRobert Frost.

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,On a white heal-all, holding up a mothLike a white piece of rigid satin cloth--Assorted characters of death and blightMixed ready to begin the morning right,Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?What brought the kindred spider to that height,Then steered the white moth thither in the night?What but design of darkness to appall?--If design govern in a thing so small.

And Yet Another

Fallen sick on a journey,In dreams I run wildlyOver a withered moor.

A haiku by Basho

Wow! Another One!ImmortalityLisel Mueller

In Sleeping Beauty's castlethe clock strikes one hundred yearsand the girl in the tower returns to theworld.So do the servants in the kitchen,who don't even rub their eyes.The cook's right hand, liftedan exact century ago,completes its downward arcto the kitchen boy's left ear;the boy's tensed vocal cordsfinally let gothe trapped, enduring whimper,and the fly, arrested mid-plungeabove the strawberry pie,fulfills its abiding missionand dives into the sweet, red glaze.

As a child I had a bookwith a picture of that scene.I was too young to noticehow fear persists, and howthe anger that causes fear persists,that its trajectory can't be changedor broken, only interrupted.My attention was on the fly;that this slight bodywith its transparent wingsand lifespan of one human daystill craved its particular shareof sweetness, a century later.

Here’s Just One More! I Promise!

“The Death of Santa Claus” Charles Webb

He's had the chest pains for weeks,but doctors don't make housecalls to the North Pole,

• he's let his Blue Cross lapse,blood tests make him faint,hospital gown always flap

• open, waiting rooms upsethis stomach, and it's onlyindigestion anyway, he thinks,

• until, feeding the reindeer,he feels as if a monster fisthas grabbed his heart and won't

• stop squeezing. He can'tbreathe, and the beautiful whiteworld he loves goes black,

 

• and he drops on his jelly bellyin the snow and Mrs. Claustears out of the toy factory

• wailing, and the elves wringtheir little hands, and Rudolph'snose blinks like a sad ambulance

• light, and in a tract housein Houston, Texas, I'm 8,telling my mom that stupid

• kids at school say Santa's a bigfake, and she sits with meon our purple-flowered couch,

• and takes my hand, tearsin her throat, the terriblenews rising in her eyes.

So Now What?

Basically, you just have to keep practicing and practicing. Try to determine the meaning of the following items by using a set analysis.

Three Flags, Jasper Johns, 1958