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Handout of
LITERARY
TERMS
Allegory -
A figurative work in which a surface narrative carries a
secondary, symbolic or metaphorical meaning.
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring
words.
Example: sweet smell of success ; a dime a dozen, bigger and better, jump
for joy sings a solitary song that whistles in the wind.
Allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or ficticious,
or to a work of art. Casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure
or event.
An allusion may be drawn from history, geography, literature, or religion.
Examples:
I doubt if *Phaethon feared more - that time
he dropped the sun-reins of his father's chariot
and burned the streak of sky in *Rhodes we see today or if poor *Icarus did - feeling his sides
unfeathering as the wax began to melt,
his father shouting: "Wrong, your course is wrong
*It is assumed that the average reader is unfamiliar with Phaethon, Rhodes
and Icarus
Analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.
The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose
the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of
relationships you should find. Example:
hot is to cold as fire is to ice OR hot:cold::fire:ice
Antagonist a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or
works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist
doesn’t necessarily have to be an person. It could be death, the devil, an
illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living
“happily ever after." In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, the
antagonist is Iago. Throughout the play, he instigates conflicts and sows
distrust among the main characters, Othello and Desdemona, two lovers who
have risked their livelihood in order to elope. Iago is determined to break up
their marriage due to his suspicions that Othello has taken certain liberties
with his wife.
Aphorism is a brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a
principle or precept given in pointed words.
Example:
Hippocrates: Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting
dangerous, reasoning difficult.
Apostrophe is when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important
object is directly addressed.
Example:
With how sad steps, O moon, thou climbest the skies. Busy old fool, unruly
sun.
Aside an actor’s speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to
be heard by other actors on stage. An aside is usually used to let the
audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking.
For example, in Othello, Iago gives several asides, informing the audience of
his plans and how he will try to achieve his goals. Asides are important
because they increase an audience's involvement in a play by giving them
vital information pertaining what is happening, both inside of a character's
mind and in the plot of the play.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds as in
Example: fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks.
Cacophony is harsh, discordant sounds. Opposite of euphony.
Example:
finger of birth-strangled babe.
Caesura is a natural pause or break. Example: England - how I long for
thee!
Characterization is the method used by a writer to develop a character.
The method includes (1) showing the character's appearance, (2) displaying
the character's actions, (3) revealing the character's thoughts, (4) letting
the character speak, and (5) getting the reactions of others.
Conflict/Plot is the struggle found in fiction. Conflict/Plot may be internal
or external and is best seen in (1) Man in conflict with another Man: (2) Man
in conflict in Nature; (3) Man in conflict with self.
Connotation is an implied meaning of a word. Opposite of denotation.
Example:
Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (burial)
Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, as in
assonance. Example: lady lounges lazily , dark deep dread crept in
Couplet
a rhymed pair of lines, which are usually of the same length. If
these are iambic pentameters it is termed a heroic couplet. This form was
made popular by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and became the dominant
poetic form in the latter part of the seventeenth century. In the work of
Alexander Pope it becomes a flexible medium for pointed expression.
Couplets of four iambic feet (i.e. eight syllables in all) are called octosyllabic
couplets.
Denotation ):
the exact meaning of a word, without the feelings or
suggestions that the word may imply. It is the opposite of connotation in
that it is the dictionary meaning of a word, without attached feelings or
associations. Some examples of denotations are:
1. heart: an organ that circulates blood throughout the body. Here the word
"heart" denotes the actual organ, while in another context, the word "heart"
may connote feelings of love or heartache.
2. sweater: a knitted garment for the upper body. The word "sweater" may
denote pullover sweaters or cardigans, while “sweater” may also connote
feelings of warmness or security.
Denoument literally meaning the action of untying, a denouement is the
final outcome of the main complication in a play or story. Usually the climax
(the turning point or "crisis") of the work has already occurred by the time
the denouement occurs. It is sometimes referred to as the explanation or
outcome of a drama that reveals all the secrets and misunderstandings
connected to the plot. In the drama Othello, there is a plot to deceive
Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him.
As a result of this plot, Othello kills his wife out of jealousy, the climax of
the play. The denounement occurs soon after, when Emilia, who was
Desdemona's mistress, proves to Othello that his wife was in fact honest,
true, and faithful to him. Emilia reveals to Othello that her husband, Iago,
had plotted against Desdemona and tricked Othello into believing that she
had been unfaithful. Iago kills Emilia in front of Othello, and she dies telling
Othello his wife was innocent. As a result of being mad with grief, Othello
plunges a dagger into his own heart. Understanding the denouement helps
the reader to see how the final end of a story unfolds, and how the
structure of stories works to affect our emotions.
Dialogue isthe conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. A
dialouge occurs in most works of literature. For example, many ballads
demonstrate a ocnversation between two or more characters.
Didactic refers to literature or other types of art that are instructional
or informative. In this sense The Bible is didactic because it offers guidance
in moral, religious, and ethical matters. It tells stories of the lives of people
that followed Christian teachings, and stories of people that decided to go
against God and the consequences that they faced. The term "didactic" also
refers to texts that are overburdened with instructive and factual
information, sometimes to the detriment of a reader's enjoyment.
End Rhyme consists of two words that rhyme at the end of each sentence
My weekend was like any other,
I went to a movie with Mother.
Euphony is soothing pleasant sounds. Opposite of cacophony.
Eye Rhyme is something that looks like a rhyme but isn't. For example:
cough
("kof"), enough ("eenuf"), bough ("bow")
Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
Figurative Language - a type of language that varies from the norms of
literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as
the "ornaments of language," figurative language does not mean exactly what
it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to
comprehend an author's point. It usually involves a comparison between two
things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one another. In a simile, for
example, an author may compare a person to an animal: "He ran like a hare
down the street" is the figurative way to describe the man running and "He
ran very quickly down the street" is the literal way to describe him.
Figurative language facilitates understanding because it relates something
unfamiliar to something familiar. Some popular examples of figurative
language include a simile and metaphor.
Frame -
A narrative structure that provides a setting and exposition for
the main narrative in a novel. Often, a narrator will describe where he found
the manuscript of the novel or where he heard someone tell the story he is
about to relate. The frame helps control the reader's perception of the
work, and has been used in the past to help give credibility to the main
section of the novel. Examples of novels with frames:


Mary Shelley Frankenstein
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
Frame story- a story that provides a vehicle or frame for telling other
stories. The frame in The Canterbury Tales is about a pilgrimage.
Foreshadowing is the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later
in literature.
Genre- a category in which literature is grouped.
Gothic novel - A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of
unknown terror pervades the action. The setting is often a dark, mysterious
castle, where ghosts and sinister humans roam menacingly.
Hyperbole is
an extravagant exaggeration. From the Greek for
"overcasting," hyperbole is a figure of speech that is a grossly exaggerated
description or statement. In literature, such exaggeration is used for
emphasis or vivid descriptions. In drama, hyperbole is quite common,
especially in heroic drama. Hyperbole is a fundamental part of both
burlesque writing and the “tall tales” from Western America. The conscious
overstatements of these tales are forms of hyperbole. Many other examples
of hyperbole can be found in the romance fiction and comedy genres.
I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
He's as big as a house.
Iambic Pentameter an unrhymed line of five feet in which the dominant
accent usually falls on the second syllable of each foot (di dúm), a pattern
known as an iamb. The form is very flexible: it is possible to have one or
more feet in which the expected order of accent is reversed (dúm di). These
are called trochees.
Imagery
is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing,
hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
Internal Rhyme is rhyming within a line.
Example: I awoke to black flak.
The movie was great; lots of popcorn I ate
Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant ; a
literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or
circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact
opposite of what it appears to be. There are many types of irony, the three
most common being verbal irony, dramatic irony, and cosmic irony. Verbal
irony occurs when either the speaker means something totally different than
what he is saying or the audience realizes, because of their knowledge of the
particular situation to which the speaker is referring, that the opposite of
what a character is saying is true.
Three kinds of irony:
1. verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something
else.
2. dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a
character in the literature does not know.
3. irony of situation is a discrepency between the expected result
and actual results. Example:
"A fine thing indeed!" he muttered to himself.
Lyric
a lyric is a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings of
emotions or thought from a particular person, thus separating it from
narrative poems. These poems are generally short, averaging roughly twelve
to thirty lines, and rarely go beyond sixty lines. These poems express vivid
imagination as well as emotion and all flow fairly concisely. Because of this
aspect, as well as their steady rhythm, they were often used in song. In
fact, most people still see a "lyric" as anything that is sung along to a musical
instrument.
Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not
using like or as as in a simile. Example: He is a pig. Thou art sunshine.
MotifA recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work or a
dominant theme or central idea.
Nemesis The term has several possible meanings: (1) the principle of
retributive justice (sometimes referred to as "poetic justice") by which
good characters are rewarded and bad characters are appropriately
punished; (2) the agent or deliverer of such justice, who exacts vengeance
and meets out rewards, as, for example the Duke in Shakespeare's *Measure
for Measure*. In classical mythology, Nemesis was the patron goddess of
vengeance; the expression often denotes a character in a drama who brings
about another's downfall, so that Hamlet may be said to be Claudius's
nemesis in Shakespeare's tragedy.
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents.
Examples:
splash, wow, gush, kerplunk "buzz," "crash," "whirr," "clang" "hiss," "purr,"
"squeak," "mumble," "hush," "boom."
Oxymoron is putting two contradictory words together.
Examples:
hot ice, cold fire, wise fool, sad joy, military intelligence, eloquent silence,
Act naturally
Found missing
Resident alien
Advanced BASIC
Parody – a humorous satirical imitation of a person.
Paradox reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory.
Example:
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.
Point of View -
a way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader, it
is the vantage point from which the narrative is passed from author to the
reader. The point of view can vary from work to work.
Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects.
Example:
a smiling moon, a jovial sun
Rhyme Scheme is rhymed words at the ends of lines.
Example:
Roses are red a
Violents are blue b
Sugar is sweet c
And so are you. B
Satire – comedy- Use of humor or wit using sarcasm, critical attitude,
irony, or ridicule.
Scansion is the dividing of verse (lines of poetry) into feet by indicating
accents and counting syllables to determine the meter of a poem. It is a
means of studying the mechanical elements by which the poet has
established his rhythmical effects. The meter, once the scanning has been
performed, is named according to the type and number of feet employed in a
verse.
Following are the major types of meter (the adjective form is in
parenthesis). The
stressed one.
indicates an unstressed syllable; the
indicates a
Iambus (iambic)
Trochee (trochaic)
Anapest (anapestic)
Dactyl (dactylic)
Spondee (spondaic)
Pyrrhus (pyrrhic)
Setting - the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a
situation occurs. Settings include the background, atmosphere or
environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical
characteristics of the surroundings. Settings enables the reader to better
envision how a story unfolds by relating necessary physical details of a piece
of literature.
Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Related to
metaphor Example:
He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.
Stanza is a unified group of lines in poetry.
Stream of Consciousness - the unbroken flow of thought and awareness of the waking
mind
* 'interior monologue' an alternate term
*a special mode of narration that undertakes to capture the full spectrum and the
continuous flow of a character's mental process
* sense perceptions mingle with conscious and half-conscious thoughts and memories,
experiences, feelings and random associations
* in a literary context used to describe the narrative method where novelists describe
the unspoken thoughts and feelings of their characters without resorting to objective
description or conventional dialogue
Symbol a symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or
object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible. For
example a dove stands for Peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot.
*The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing
symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.
*A system of symbols or representations.
*A symbolic meaning or representation. Example:
the bird of night (owl is a symbol of death)
Theme - a common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated
throughout a literary work. A theme is a thought or idea the author presents
to the reader that may be deep, difficult to understand, or even moralistic.
Generally, a theme has to be extracted as the reader explores the passages
of a work. The author utilizes the characters, plot, and other literary
devices to assist the reader in this endeavor.
Tone is the attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character:
serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, solemn,
objective.
The tone set by the mayor, made the city a very tense and angry place
to live and work.
Verse is a line of poetry.
Versimilitide The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true or
something that has the appearance of being true or real.
Source: http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/