Reading Literature Closely: Argument
literature as argument
Do literary works make arguments?
Literature as Argument
No work of literature tells the whole truth.
A literary work is and is not an argument.
● It is an argument in the sense that through the literary work, an author
expresses a view of life, an understanding of who we are and how we think
and feel.
● But a literary work first and foremost seeks to stimulate our minds and
affect our hearts.
○ If an author wanted solely to present an argument, he or she could have
written an argumentative essay instead of a poem, a story, or a play.
Literature as Argument
Think of Romeo and Juliet:
● It shows that fate conspires against the happiness of young lovers
● It shows that the folly of parents can have terrible and tragic consequences for
their children.
Now think of Shakespeare’s other plays where the lives of young lovers do not end
tragically, but continue joyfully together.
Literture as Argument
Literature, then, can be understood as an argument, but it is much more
than that: it’s an exploration, an invitation to feel deeply and to reflect.
A literary work cannot necessarily be reduced to one argument (nor can an
author’s repertory).
Literature as Argument
The arguments in proverbs are fairly straightforward:
● Proverbs typically have an agreed-upon meaning.
● They are short and pithy
● They are constructed as advice or a statement about the way life is
How do we determine the argument (or message) in a work of
literature?
Literature as Argument
● In argument, certain statements are given as reasons for other statements.
● Argument, by its use of reasoning, can thus be distinguished from other forms
of writing (such as exposition, which explains, or narration, which tells a
story).
● When you write an argument, you are expected to assert a thesis and support
it with reasons that convince the reader that you have a strong case.
● You support your thesis, the basis for your argument (sometimes used
interchangeably with the words “your argument”), with evidence
Literature as Argument
Literature can make arguments in a similar way, offering
● a thesis
● evidence
● additional evidence
● a conclusion
For example, in lyric poems making an invitation to love, the male speaker urges
the woman to yield to his pleas because of the commonest reason that time is short
and the commonest evidence that we have only one life to live, and like flowers we
will soon be gone
❖ The speaker points to evidence available to all eyes and draws an (apparently)
irrefutable conclusion
Arguments in Lyric Poems
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
A. E. Housman
Arguments in Lyric Poems
● a thesis - Live for the moment
● evidence - Experience shows us that flowers die; living things are
transient.
● additional evidence - The Hebrew Bible tells us that our years are “three
score and ten,” or seventy.
● a conclusion - Therefore, take advantage of every moment.
Is this likely to convince us to adopt the speaker’s world-view? To copy his or
her actions?
Literature as Argument
❖ The moral of fables is agreed upon; that is, it’s considered
to be definitive, with no two interpretations about it.
➢ Proverbs are the same way.
❖ But literature, as we discussed, offers a range of arguments,
insights, and ideas.
➢ Why does it differ in this way?