Elements of cognitive literary design

 Cognitive- How to analyze a text using perception, memory, judgement and reasoning. Contrast
with emotional and volitional processes.
 Design- Organization or structure of formal elements in a work of art; composition.

Subject vs theme

 The SUBJECT is what the work is about ex. Love

 The THEME is the attitude the author has taken toward the subject or the perspective on that
subject ex. Love hurts (this can include emotion and volume)
 The attitude or perspective guides the development of an author’s work.

To identify stuff in content:

 Identify the subject

 Identify a possible theme that could be appropriate for the given subject and identify the main
message
 What elements support the idea?
 What elements made you reach the solution?

Literary design elements

 Tools the author uses to emphasize the subject

 These elements work together, often overlapping to help develop the theme.

1- STRUCTURE

 How the writer leads his or her reader through a work- visually, aurally and developmentally.

2- Visual structure

 Indentation of specific lines

 Specific types of poetry (concrete poetry)
 Use of specific typefaces: italics, bold, uppercase letter; Any change of typeface
 Line length
 Line placement
 Length of paragraphs
 Sections within chapters or there visual dividers
 Chapter breaks
 Books within books
 Acts and scenes
 Dialogue cs description
 Graphics vs mainly textual woks

3- Guiding questions

 Why did the writer choose to lauout/dovide as they did?

 What impact does the visual structure have on the reader?
  How does the visual stricture complete the impact of the work (subject/theme)?

4- Aural structure

Rhythm:

 The repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

 The foot is the basic meter of poetry: types of feet include iambic pentameter
 Repetition, alliteration, assonance (search)
 Ex. A line of iambic pentameter (search) is fixe iambic feet (search) in a row
 Generally, the more feet per line, the more grave or somber the line becomes.
 Acts as a mnemonic, a way for readers to remember the text- ex. A poem (nursery rhymes n
stuff)

Rhyme:

 A break In rhyme can signify some importance

 Creates direction for the poem
 Sets up expectation
 Creates an impression that the poem is an artistic construct