Literary terms and devices

1. Literary terms and devices

2. Allegory • a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative stand for meanings that lie outside the work itself. • Animal Farm is an allegory

3. alliteration • Repetition of beginning consonant sounds

4. assonance • repeating the same or similar vowel sounds within words • lake & fake demonstrate rhyme • lake and fate = assonance

5. analogy • comparison of two different things

6. chiasmus • A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is a reversal of the first. • Flowers are lovely; love is flower-like

7. anaphora • Repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences. • What a face! What a nose! What huge teeth!

8. archetype • A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is though to appeal in a universal way to evoke a response. • The hero • The journey the mentor

9. Connotation • Denotation

10. denouement/resolution • the final unraveling of a plot, the solution to a mystery, an explanation or outcome

11. hyperbole • exaggeration for effect or humor • …this my hand will rather • the multitudinous seas incarnadine, • making the green one red.

12. irony • verbal • situational • dramatic

13. metonomy • substitution of the name of an object closely associated with a word for the word itself • “The Crown” = royalty • “White House” = President, cabinet

14. synecdoche • a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part • “Threads” = clothes • “Hands” = workers • (How many hands will you need for this project?) • Brazil has won the World Cup (team)

15. Parodox • The blind prophet Tiresias SEES the truth while Oedipus is blind to the truth. • The more a man learns the more he realizes how little he knows.

16. Parody

17. Chiasmus • a pattern in which the second part is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. • “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.” • “Keep it, for it keeps you.”

18. Anaphora • the same expression (word or words) repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

19. Polysyndeton • use of more conjunctions than is normal

20. Asyndeton • condensed form of expression in which elements customarily joined by conjunctions are presented in a series without the conjuntions. • …government of the people, by the people, for the people”

21. Anachronism • event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out of its natural order in time. • striking clock in JULIUS CAESAR

22. Conceit • an elaborate figure of speech comparing two very different things. • “Teeth are pearls” • same as a metaphor

23. Apostrophe • figure of speech in which someone (usually absent), or some abstract quality is addressed as though present. • “O Julius Caesar, thou are mighty yet!”

24. Juxtaposition • placing words, phrases, paragraphs, chapters, etc. close together to emphasize comparison or contrast. • Book I & II of CTBC Home and situation of Kumalo is juxtaposed with the home and situation of Jarvis

25. Parallelism • arranging elements of equal importance in the same grammatical structure. • He was constantly whining about his parents, about his teachers, and about his poor pitiful life.

26. Imagery • It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

27. Characterization • Indirect – what others say about the character, what the character says, what the character does • Direct – what the author or narrator says about the character

28. Point of View • Third person limited • Third person omniscient • First person

29. Guess the device • “The pen is mightier than the sword.” • “The strongest oaths are straw to the fire I’ the blood.” • “The tawny-hided desert crouches watching her.” • “O tenderly the haughty day fills his blue urn with fire.”

30. “Winston’s heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape. It was too strong, it could not be stormed.”

31. Consonance • Repetition of a consonant sound within or at the end of a series of words to produce a harmonious effect: • e.g. when Jane Eyre is lost and wandering the moors, she says, “while the rain descends so, must I lay my head on the cold, drenched ground?” The “d” sounds suggests a dull, thudding finality since she wishes to die at this point.

32. Antithesis • A contrast or opposition. • St. John with his icy disposition is the antithesis of the fiery-natured Rochester in Jane Eyre.

33. Sentences-Structure • Balanced – the phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their likeness, meaning, or length: • He disavowed nothing; he seems as if he would defy all things.”

34. Complex – contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate or dependent clauses: • When your uncle received yourletter, Mr. Mason, who was staying atMadeira for his health, happened to be with him.

35. Compound • Contains two independent clauses joined by a semicolon or by a coordinating conjunction preceded by a comma. • He was not in any of the lower rooms; he was not in the yard, the stables, or the grounds.

36. Compound-Complex • Contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate, or dependent, clauses: • Helen had been cold and stiff at thefirst, and when she saw me come in tidy and well-dressed, she evensmiled.

37. Loose Sentence • Has its main clause at the beginning of the sentence: • A rude noise broke on these fine ripplings and whisperings, so clear, a positive tramp, a metallic clatter, soft thuds in the distance.

38. Loose Sentence • Fear overcame me; I dared not advance, dreading a thousand nameless evils that made me tremble, although I was unable to define them. • Chapter 7, Frankenstein

39. Periodic Sentence • Has its main clause at the end of the sentence. It forces the reader to retain information from the beginning and often builds to a climactic statement with meaning unfolding slowly: • Seeing that Adele was comfortably seated in her little chair by Mrs. Fairfax’s fireplace, and given her favorite doll to play with, I set out, with a kiss.

40. Anaphora • Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses; it helps establish a strong rhythm and produces a powerful emotional effect. • What a face he had! What a great nose! And what a mouth!