Write 300–500 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Literature in the Public Domain
All of the literature for this course will come from the public domain, which means that it is available for use without having to request permission from the author and without having to pay royalties.

Step 1: In your own words, explain each of the 4 main genres of literature, which are fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and drama. Discuss the following: 

How do the main genres of literature differ from one another? 
How are the main genres of literature similar? 
What are common literary themes? 
Some genres allow the author to approach a theme indirectly, while other genres are more direct. How are themes expressed across the genres?

Step 2: Choose 1 of the 4 main genres of literature. Using one of the following links to a public domain site, conduct a search to find your genre of choice’s literary work:  (PLEASE CLICK ON LINKS)

Fiction
Poetry
Nonfiction
Drama

Step 3: Identify the title and author. Use a citation to identify where you located this work. 

Title: 
Author: 
Reference citation:

Step 4: Read the first 2–3 paragraphs of the piece of literature you chose above, and discuss the following: 

What do you know about the work based on that short passage? 
Are any characters revealed? Who are they? 
What emotions does this piece evoke? 
How does this work relate to your own personal experience?

 
READ ME FIRST –Here is a “Sample” to Model Your Response On For Section 2-4 above
 
Literature can be divided into four main categories: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and drama. In my opinion, fiction is imaginative writing like monsters and vampires; a great example of fiction would be Twilight  by Stephenie Meyer. When I think of poetry, I think of love poems by writers like Shakespeare, and when I think of nonfiction, I think of big volumes full of facts like encyclopedias. Finally, when I think of drama, I think of my favorite play, a musical, called “Wicked”. A big difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction can have facts and truth if it wants to do so, but nonfiction has to be completely true. The other three genres are very similar in that they all have a mix of imagination and fact. For instance, while vampires don’t exist, Stephenie Meyer is writing about what it feels like to be in high school and have your first love—those are things we all understand. In fact, true love is a common literary theme, because it is an experience human beings share or desire. When I think about how true love is shared across genres, it seems to me that poetry is indirect as it may say that love is like a sunrise, but nonfiction is direct because it will talk about a real person or tell you what happens to the physical heart when you feel love. 
     
For my selection, I am choosing fiction. 

             Title: The Bobbsey Twins at the County Fair 

             Author: Laura Lee Hope 

             Reference citation: Hope, L. L. (1922).  Bobbsey Twins at the County Fair . Retrieved from: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16756/16756-h/16756-h.htm

             When I read the first few paragraphs of this story, I found out that it was about four children, two brothers and two sisters, who are evidently going to do something exciting. The main speaker is Flossie, and she asks questions of her siblings: Nan, Bert, and Freddie. The oldest brother is carving a boat with a pocket knife which I found interesting. I found myself smiling as I thought about how little children show their excitement. I thought of my youngest nephew wiggling and squirming just as Flossie described: “I feel just like wigglin’ and squigglin’ inside and outside!”. As I read, I realized that it has been a very long time since I could not contain my excitement. I’m not sure if that’s because I have self-control or because nothing extremely exciting has happened of late.