What is the difference between text and context?

When we study a poem, a play, a novel or any other piece of writing we may

initially give most of our attention to exploring and analysing the text we see

in front of us. However, no literary text can exist in a vacuum, or entirely on its

own. All kinds of factors influence the way authors write and affect the way we

read their work. Becoming aware of this background information can enhance our understanding and enjoyment of texts by enabling us to see them as part of a wider picture. In other Words, we place them in context.

There are several ways in which we can begin to place texts in context. We can

consider:

• how a text interrelates with the events of the author's life
• the place of a particular text in the author's oeuvre or writings as a whole
• how the text reflects the historical period and/ or the place in which it was written
• the text as an example of its genre or of a particular literary style or period
• the ways in which the language of a particular time or place is reflected in the text
• how our reading of the text might be influenced by the way other readers or critics have reacted to it recently or in the past, that is its reception
• the place and significance in the work as a whole of an extract, such as a passage from a novel or one poem from a collection