How do you understand actually literature?

Just bear with me Veeky Forums. Growing up I used to read a lot, but at some point I stopped doing it for enjoyment and surely would have stopped all together had it not been required at school. Even then, I would normally just parrot back whatever Shmoop said about themes/symbolism/etc. in my assignments. Now that I want to read for myself, I'm lost as to how you actually comprehend and find the "deeper meaning" of what I'm reading – have I lost the ability to actually think critically about what I’m reading?
Is it really just as simple as a matter of time and reading slowly?
Any advice would be appreciated and thanks in advance!

maybe ur just 2 dumb or you dont actually know how to put your interpretation of the deeper meaning into words so you feel like u didnt get it.

Symbols are boring to interpret beyond a modest level of complexity. They don't contribute to the quality of the work anywhere near as much as themes and character arcs, so you can safely ignore them.

If a book heavily relies on symbols, it is bad.

"understanding literature" is more about the bigger narratives at play than catching bits of symbolism, references to the bible, and wordplay. In a sense you can consider a book like a painting, and those high-school tier analyses is like standing with your nose to the canvas. Take a step back and look around. See how it all comes together. Then take a closer look at more interesting parts

Wrong.

Ignore that guy OP.

Well, OP, I'll lay it out for you. You never had the ability to read or think critically - not from the sound of your story anyway. Whether you can still develop this skill, or whether you are doomed to a life of brainletry, I can't tell because I don't know you. The only way to find out is to try.

I recommend starting with well written short stories, novellas, and poetry. I recommend this because their short duration allows for more practice. Once you read one, take as much time as you need to think it over and analyze it yourself. If that means an hour, it means an hour. If that means a month, it means a month. If you aren't confident you understand what an analysis is, then do some research on that first (look for scholarly sources, and not wikihows, or some similar garbage). Once you've made your own judgements on a work, then go and consult a scholarly interpretation. Learn from their methods and repeat this process.

Also, a fair amount of interpreting symbolism and deeper meaning in literature comes from simply being familiar with prior works of literature, especially the Bible, the Greeks (including philosophy, of course), Milton, and so forth.

Just keep reading and thinking. Perhaps you'll never be great at it, but you'll be doing better than most. Diligence is a man's precious possession. Also, start with the Bible.

>just parrot back whatever Shmoop
try thinking about it instead.

Read and reflect.

Just think about what you've read.

>What actually happened?
>What was the tone of the book?
>How do you think the author was trying to make you feel?
>How did they do this?

I think it's important to spend a period of time (>1 hr) reflecting on a book before you seek out other opinions. It's key to develop your own analysis, instead of just adopting whatever the prevailing opinion happens to be. You should use the opinions of others to identify new ways of looking at future works, rather than a gospel that should supplant any thoughts you had.

>Also, start with the Bible.
what about the gayreeks?

Read more slowly. This is almost certainly the problem, you're expecting to be spoonfed ideas rather than applying yourself. Also note that this guy is a moron . Don't buy any "how to read books" either. Read the academic essays on everything that you read. Eventually you'll start to read correctly. Only an ignorant small brain has some irrational bias against reading analyses and interpretations. The more you know the better.

>Don't buy any "how to read books" either.
But I already read:
Art of Poetry: How to Read a Poem,
How to read a book
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Art of Fiction
An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory
Mary Oliver - A Poetry Handbook

>you need to read to learn how to read
>you need a job to get a job
Wat?

>>you need to read to learn how to read
>>you need a job to get a job
>Wat?
What did he mean by this?

Best advice in here, thanks. I'll be doing a combination of these. Probably starting with novellas and short stories as said, moving through the recommended reread the things on the wiki, and then onto the Greeks. Overall, I'll read slower, take my time with analysis, NOT consult those cheat-sheet sites, and look for good, academic interpretations after forming my own opinion.

I would hope I have the ability to think critically, just haven't exercised it in a while, similar to how a muscle atrophies over time if not used. I was just looking for advice as to how build that "muscle" back up.
Still, thank you for your advice. I'll just have to be diligent as you said and consult scholarly interpretations afterwards.

Not me. 0/10 troll

Sorry, I meant reread the recommended books on the wiki

this

think of the book less like a series of definitions and more like a teacher trying to tell you something. what were they trying to tell you? ask the book questions and decide the answers for yourself according to what the book thinks.

how about thinking of a book like a piece of art? But instead of paint the materials are sentences

Thinking critically is the fun part. You really don't need anything to do it other than your mind. Reflect about the stuff you read while not being distracted. I like going for a walk after reading stuff that interests me.

Expressing your critic comprehensibly is the difficult part. To do that you will need some linguistic competence and knowledge about context and symbolism of the work you have read. Doesn't mean that this part is somehow 'more' critically but it's essential if you want to understand what other people think about literatur. This discourse will extend and refine your personal thinking.

Honestly I know it's pseud but I like trying to relate anything I read to my own experience as much as I can.

Heavy notetaking and annotations help too. Also reading critical essays

>reading critical essays
>academic essays
>consult a scholarly interpretation
So as in, go on wikipedia and look for these sections and then find the best ones?

No, dude! Don't get me wrong, Wikipedia is great, but you need to read actual critical analyses.

Use JSTOR, Google Scholar, look for books on the subject by scholars, or even find online university lectures on a work you've read. Also read essays on literary criticism or poetry. They will help you learn ways to think about these subjects.

Not only that, but practicing any kind of artistic analysis will enhance your overall ability to analyze. For example, paintings, especially those laden with symbolism (of which there are many), or films (Criterion is a good place to look for these) are great tools to exercise one's ability in these areas.

This may help you too OP so I'm linking you.

How do I tell whether an essay or book is worthy of a read so I can reassure myself I'm not reading a subpar analysis and thus wasting my time?

Is there a university library near you? If not look online for stuff.
You can usually just tell. Read a few pages to see if it looks legit. If they are using a lot of weird jargon it probably isn't good but occasionally it is necessary.

That will come with time. The more familiar you become with this stuff, the more powerful your academic trash detector becomes.