lOMoARcPSD

Prctica - Poema "12 o'clock news", Elizabeth Bishop.

Comentario de Textos Literarios en Lengua Inglesa (UNED)

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD

PART A: choose the correct answer in each case. Make sure you tick only one box. This is a
hurdle part of the exam. You must have 7 correct answers out of 12 in order to pass and have
PART B marked as well by your Tutor.

COMENTARIO DE TEXTOS LITERARIOS EN LENGUA INGLESA (CTLLI) 2014-2015

PRUEBA DE EVALUACIN CONTNUA (PEC) UNITS 1 to 3 (corrected Word 97-2003 version)

NAME AND SURNAME(S):

DNI/NIE/PASSPORT:
CENTRO ASOCIADO:
Make sure you save your answers with the following format: Surnames-Name-C.A.-2014-2015

1. A structuralist approach to the commentary of literary texts focuses on

a. autobiographical elements.
b. textual disunity.
c. textual coherence.
d. the historical context.

2. The figurative element used in poetic language that associates one tenor and a
vehicle based on proximity in order to create an image is called a

a. metaphor b. simile c. synecdoche d. metonymy

3. Dylan Thomas poem A Refusal to Mourn the Death of a Child by Fire in London

a. does what it says it will not do.

b. is a conventional elegy.
c. was inspired by the outbreak of World War I.
d. is made up of five-line stanzas.

4. Dylan Thomass phrase tells with silence is an example of

a. alliteration.
b. aporia.
c. synaesthesia.
d. paradox.

5. The tenets of New Historicist interpretative method include:

a. drawing theoretical views from historical

texts to be applied to literary texts.
b. the reading of literature within an ahistorical context.
c. the parallel reading of literary and non-literary texts.
d. the interpretation of literary characters as historical characters.

6. Which of the following is not a binary opposition?

a. Light-darkness.
b. Language-literature.
c. Life-death.
d. Absence-presence.
7. What is the title of the important critical work in feminist literature from which the
fragment by Gilbert and Gubar is extracted in Unit 3?

a. Witches in the World

b. Literary Women

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD

c. Sexual Politics in Literature

d. The Madwoman in the Attic

8. What do feminist critics characteristically do?

a. Show disunity in literary texts.

b. Endorse neutral interpretations of literary texts.
c. Consider literary texts as historical documents.
d. Reassess the literary canon.

9. Panoptic surveillance is a concept connected to the understanding of state

power in New Historicism firstly coined by

a. Antonio Gramsci
b. Louis Althusser
c. Michel Foucault
d. John Smith

10. One symbolic element used reiteratively in Roosters is

a. colour b. the weather c. the natural world d. fire

11. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar react against the notion of

a. deconstruction.
b. anxiety of influence.
c. criture feminine.
d. compulsory heterosexuality.

12. There is nothing outside of the text []. [T]here has never been anything but
writing. The author of this famous assertion is

a. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

b. Roland Barthes
c. Jacques Derrida
d. Dylan Thomas

Part B: this part of the exam must be written in full paragraphs in correct
English. Make sure that you discuss all the aspects indicated. Dont exceed the
allotted space in the answer boxes.

TEXT FRAGMENT FOR THE COMMENTARY

As you all know, tonight is the night of the full

moon, half the world over. But here the moon
gooseneck seems to hang motionless in the sky. It gives very
lamp little light; it could be dead. Visibility is poor.
Nevertheless, we shall try to give you some idea of
the lay of the land and the present situation.

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD

The escarpment that rises abruptly from the central

plain is in heavy shadow, but the elaborate terrac-
ing of its southern glacis gleams faintly in the dim
Typewriter light, like fish scales. What endless labor those
small, peculiarly shaped terraces represent! And
yet, on them the welfare of this tiny principality
depends.

I) CONTEXT (max. 100 words). Indicate the author of the text, the title of the
text, explain its historical context and the literary and cultural context of the
text and its author. (Up to 0.5 point).

The fragment is part of a poem in prose titled 12 OClock News by Elizabeth Bishop,

considered one of the most distinguished American poets of the twentieth century.

The poem was included in the 1976 collection Geography III. It was written and published
during the Vietnam War, at a time when the US had a strong conservative government and
mass media heavily affected public opinion. Opposition to the war grew in strength in its
later years.

Bishop's life spanned both the Postmodern and Contemporary literary periods, as well as

the Confessional poetry movement, although her writings can't be easily categorized.

II) FORM and CONTENT (max. 200 words). Explain the following aspects of
the text: its genre, poetic voice or speaker, visual and aural elements in the
poem, syntax and poetic devices, theme and how its form interrelates with
its content. (Up to 1.5 points).

Though at first glance the fragment may not seem to be a poem, as it is not written in verse,

we can deduce its true nature by the presence of poetic devices and the figurative intent of

the text. The way it is written in conjunction with the title is designed to emulate a news

broadcast, or more specifically, a war dispatch.

It is visually structured into two columns: a list of common items related to writing on the
left and their highly figurative descriptions on the right. The descriptions make use of
metaphors and personification to depict the objects on the left (typewriter abrupt
escarpment, elaborate terracing). Alliteration is exemplified by the repetition of |l|, |g|,
|p|, |r| and |n| sounds in the typewriter paragraph and serves to provide musicality and
rhythm to the text.

The poetic voice is that of a first person narrator, a reporter perhaps, who describes what

they are seeing. The author does not identify with the ideas expressed, but rather creates a

ventriloquised voice to establish distance between the reader and the ideology present in

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD

the poem. The way reality can be distorted by language is an important theme in the text.

III) THEORY & CRITICISM (max. 250 words). Write an interpretation of the
fragment above from the point of view of New Historicism. (Up to 2 points).

While 12 O'Clock News does not specifically state a time and place, if we take into

account the period in which it was written and published, we can infer that it is linked to

the Vietnam War.

The official ideology and prevailing rhetorical strategy in the United States during the war
was of pro-war propaganda, made possible through the appearance of mass media and their
support of the picture that was to be painted for the general public.

Bishop's poem reacts to this prevalent discourse by describing, in an ironic manner, another
side of the war that was rarely shown to Americans at the time. The title, along with the
poem, implies that the reality of the war was mediated through the news. Families sat down
to watch the 12 O'Clock News and accepted that the information they were being given
was true, when the war was actually very different to what was being broadcast on
televisions and radios. For example, citizens were never informed that a small American
plane bombed a lone Vietnamese cyclist with enough explosives to level a whole platoon.

Using defamiliarisation (by describing the familiar objects in the left column of the poem

in an unfamiliar way), Bishop urges the reader to reflect upon the language used and

become wary of the ways words can distort reality.

Alumno
PART A
students answer correct answer points
Questions 1 c c. textual coherence 0,5
2 d d. metonymy 0,5
3 a a. does what it says it will not do 0,5
4 d d. paradox 0,5
5 C c. the parallel reading of literary and non-literary 0,5
texts
6 B b. language-literature 0,5
7 D d. The Madwoman in the Attic 0,5
8 D d. Reassess the literary canon 0,5
9 C c. Michel Foucault 0,5
10 A a. colour 0,5
11 B b. anxiety of influence 0,5
12 C c. Jacques Derrida 0,5
Total points (0,5 each; up to 6) 6

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD

PART B
Question Parts Notes
(i) Context Author
Title
Historical context
Literary and Just a commentary, Contemporary literary period is not a literary
cultural context movement, we consider contemporary literature everything written
between the early 20th century and now.
Use of English
Total points (up to 0,5) 0.4

(ii) Form and Genre

Content Poetic
voice/speaker
Visual and aural
elements
Syntax and poetic
devices
Theme
Form
Use of English
Total points (up to 1,5) 1.5

(iii) Theory and New Historicism Your analysis is very good, although it would improve if you mentioned a
Criticism co-text (for example McCarthys text which can be found in the course
material) and if you offered a parallel reading of both documents as New
Historicists propose.
Use of English
Total points (up to 2) 1.6
TOTAL POINTS 9.5

Su distribucin est prohibida | Descargado por Magda Snchez (uni9866@gmail.com)