Sonnets & Poetry (21)
English (Shakespearean) Sonnet, Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet, Iambic Pentameter, Meter, Iamb, Rhyme Scheme, Volta, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Stanza, Octet, Sestet, Quatrain, Couplet, Enjambment, End rhyme, Full rhyme, Near/Off/Half/Slant Rhyme, Sonnet Sequence/Sonnet Cycle/Corona/Crown of Sonnets, Blank Verse
Other Types of Poems (5)
free verse, villanelle, sestina, terza rima, ballads
Other Poetic Techniques (3)
anaphora, epistrophe, inversion
Figurative Language (16)
figurative language, simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, apostrophe, conceit, hyperbole, pun, double entendre, rhetorical question (=erotema), oxymoron, paradox, synesthesia, denotation, connotation
Irony (4)
irony, verbal irony, situational irony, dramatic irony
Narration (5)
narration, first person narration, third person limited narration, third person omniscient narration, stream of consciousness
Writing Style (9)
style, voice, diction, syntax, tone, mood, dialect, colloquialism, vernacular
Character (13)
characterization, direct characterization, indirect characterization, dynamic character, static character, round character, flat character, foil, protagonist, antagonist, tragic hero, antihero
Plot & Events (10)
Plot, exposition, inciting action, rising action, climax, denouement (resolution), flashback, foreshadowing, internal conflict, external conflict,
Other Literary Terms from First Semester (4)
motif, symbol, epigraph, epiphany
Monday, January 3, 2011
Midyear Exam Literary Vocabulary
Post clear, thorough definitions & clear, appropriate examples of the terms you have been assigned -- offer an explanation if necessary -- by class time January 10.
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Assignments:
ReplyDeleteJacklyn L: Eng. son., Ital. son., iambic pent.
Caroline B: meter, iamb, rhyme scheme, volta
Ellie C: alliteration, assonance, consonance
Tori H: stanza, octet, sestet, quatrain
Mac H: couplet, enjambment, end rhyme
Sean D: full rhyme, slant rhyme, sonnet cycle
Elizabeth M: blank v., free v., vill., sest.
Evan K: terza rima, ballad, anaphora
Emily P: epistrophe, inversion, fig. lang.
Tom M: simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche
Moria O: personification, apostrophe, conceit
Michelle R: hyperbole, pun, double entendre
Kelly B: erotema, oxymoron, paradox
Megan K: synesthesia, denot., connot.
Andrew M: irony, verbal i, situ. i., dramatic i.
Hilary E: narr., 1st p., 3rd p. lim., 3rd p. omn
Josiah B: st. o. con., style, voice
Ethan B: diction, syntax, tone
Molly B: mood, dialect, colloqu., vern.
Louisa B: char., dir. char., indir. char.
Alea C: dynamic, static, round, flat character
Emily C: foil, protag., antag.
Leila G: tragic h., antih., plot
Edan L: expos, inciting a., rising a.
Chelsea M: climax, denouement, flashback
Kara S: foreshadowing, internal c., external c.
Paige S: motif, symbol
Grant W: epigraph, epiphany
Blank Verse is made up of unrhymed lines which share a single meter, usually iambic pentameter.
ReplyDeleteEx: Frost's "Mending Wall"
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
Free verse is poetic verse which has no distinct meter or rhyme.
ReplyDeleteEx: Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" (excerpt)
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
And nothing, not god, is greater to one than one's self is,
I hear and behold god in every object, yet understand god not in the least,
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
the "villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2." -- Poets.org
ReplyDeleteExample: Dylan Thomas -- "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Characterization is the method used by the author to portray and define characters through dialogue, description, plot etc.
ReplyDeleteDirect characterization obviously tells the reader what the character is like.
Ex) “the young girl was friendly and outspoken, she had no trouble jumping into conversation with strangers.”
Indirect characterization is more discrete, the author uses the character's actions, thoughts and appearance to give the readers a picture of the character.
Ex) “the young girl, knowing no one at the party, quickly made her way over to a group of people and began to include herself in the conversation.”
Sestina:
ReplyDeleteOrdered poem with 6 6-line stanzas and 1 3-line stanza (39 total). Ending words repeat for each stanza in an outside-in fashion.
For stanzas 1-6, ending words A-F, pattern goes:
1. ABCDEF
2. FAEBDC
3. CFDABE
4. ECBFAD
5. DEACFB
6. BDFECA
7. (envoi) ECA or ACE
"The envoi. . .must also include the remaining three end-words, BDF, in the course of the three lines so that all six recurring words appear in the final three lines." -- Poets.org
Example: "Sestina:Altaforte" by Ezra Pound
LOQUITUR: En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a stirrer up of strife.
Eccovi!
Judge ye!
Have I dug him up again?
The scene is at his castle, Altaforte. "Papiols" is his jongleur. "The Leopard," the device of Richard Coeur de Lion.
I
Damn it all! all this our South stinks peace.
You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music!
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple, opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howls my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the lightnings from black heav'n flash crimson,
And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,
And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
III
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,
Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
Better one hour's stour than a year's peace
With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music!
Bah! there's no wine like the blood's crimson!
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash
And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music
When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash
For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music!
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing,
No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash.
May God damn for ever all who cry "Peace!"
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson!
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
Hell blot black for always the thought "Peace!"
I'm just hoping I wasn't supposed to write my own examples.
ReplyDeleteStream of consciousness: as defined by the glorious Wikipedia, “Ostensibly unedited, spontaneous live or recorded performances, as in film, music, and dramatic and comic monologues, intended to recreate the raw experience of the person portrayed or the performer”
ReplyDeleteWe all know of this style; you remember that book we pored over? That one by James Joyce?
Much of that book was written in stream of consciousness. Especially the beginning of chapter one. “Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo…”
Writing style: as defined, again, by the great and honorable Wikipedia. “Writing style is the manner in which a writer chooses among different strategies to address an issue and an audience. A style reveals the writer's personality or voice, but it also shows how she or he sees the audience of the writing. The writing style reveals the choices the writer makes in syntactical structures, diction, and figures of thought. Similar questions of style exist in the choices of expressive possibilities in speech.” There you have it. Definition number 2 completed.
ReplyDeleteWriter’s Voice: I tend to use Wikipedia for these type of things (the only reason I do this is so I’m not accused of plagiarizing). “Writer's voice is the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation,character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can be thought of in terms of the uniqueness of a musical voice. As a trumpet has a different voice than a tuba or a violin has a different voice than a cello, so the words of one author have a different sound than the words of another. One author may have a voice that is light and fast paced while another may have a dark voice.”
ReplyDeleteFOIL- a character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character.
ReplyDeleteEx) the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson is a perfect foil for Holmes because his relative obtuseness makes Holmes’s deductions seem more
PROTAGONIST- the central figure of a story, and is often referred to as a story's main character. The story follows and is chiefly concerned with the protagonist (or, sometimes, a small group of protagonists). Often the story is told from the protagonist's point of view; even when not in first-person narrative, the protagonist's attitudes and actions are made clear to the reader or listener to a larger extent than for any other character.
Ex) Hamlet in Hamlet
ANTAGONIST- The antagonist is the character (or group of characters) of a story who represents the opposition against which the heroes and/or protagonists must contend. In the classic style of story wherein the action consists of a hero fighting a villain, the two can be regarded as protagonist and antagonist, respectively. However, authors have often created more complex situations.
Ex) Grendel in Beowulf
Exposition- An insert of information about character, place, ect. "An Information Dump".
ReplyDeleteExample- Once, there were three little piggies that were very accomplished architects. Each of them built a house beside the other. One built his house of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks.
Inciting Action- The event that triggers a conflict in the story, the single moment that really gets the plot rolling.
Example- In Toy Story, the Inciting Action is when Andy first gets Buzz Lightyear for his birthday present.
Rising Action- Sandwiched between Inciting Action and the Climax, the chain of events that is triggered by the inciting action and lead to the climax, the bulk of most plots.
Example- In Toy Story, the Rising Action is Woody and Buzz's quarrels, to their getting lost at Sid's house and trying to find their way back home.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDynamic character: A major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. Dynamic characters tend to be more fully developed and described than static characters. If you think of the characters you most love in fiction, they probably seem as real to you as people you know in real life.
ReplyDeleteEx: Ebenezer Scrooge, from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. When we first meet him, he is mean, bitter, and avaricious. Through his experiences with the three ghosts, he becomes generous, kind, and beloved.
Static character: A character in a work of fiction whose personality doesn't change throughout the events in the story's plot.
Ex: Joe Gargery, from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Joe remains faithful, honorable, and loyal despite being robbed by a convict and treated poorly by his wife and nephew.
Round character: A complex character that undergoes development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.
Ex: Heathcliff, Anna Karenina, and Raskolnikov are all round characters from classic literature. We very quickly gain a sense of their emotions, motivations, and histories, though they are all very complex people.
Flat character: A minor character in a work of fiction who does not undergo substantial change or growth in the course of a story. Also referred to as "two-dimensional characters" or "static characters," flat characters play a supporting role to the main character.
Ex: Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. A flat character, he serves a vital role in the story of how Elizabeth and Darcy get together, and he provides comedy, but his character stays essentially unchanged. (In fact, that’s part of what makes him funny.)
cou•plet –noun
ReplyDeleteDefinition: a pair of successive lines of verse, esp. a pair that rhyme and are of the same length.
Example: "If turkeys gobble,
Do Pilgrims squabble?"
"If cars go zoom,
exhaust smoke will plume!"
"If the phone rings,
hope then still clings."
en•jamb•ment –noun, plural -ments
Definition: the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.
Example: The following lines from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (c. 1611) are heavily enjambed:
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are; the want of which vain dew
Perchance shall dry your pities; but I have
That honourable grief lodged here which burns
Worse than tears drown.
(Meaning flows as the lines progress, and the reader’s eye is forced to go on to the next sentence)
end rhyme
Definition: a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses
Example: as in stanza one of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”:
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Foreshadowing
ReplyDeleteAn authors use of subtle hints to clue the reader into something that will happen later in literature.
Internal Conflict
Occurs when a character is struggling within his or herself. "Man vs Himself"
Ex. Jane trying to decide whether or not to leave Rochester
External Conflict
A struggle between a character and an outside force. "Man vs Man, Nature, Society, Machine, Time, etc"
Ex. Hamlet vs. Claudius
Symbol -- a person, place, or thing comes to represent an abstract idea or concept - it is anything that stands for something beyond itself.
ReplyDeleteIn Ralph Ellison’s invisible man, the dancing Sambo doll is used to symbolize all of the racial stereotypes that enforce the prejudices toward colored people and make it impossible for them to achieve equality.
Motif -- any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative (or literary) aspects such as theme or mood.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of darkness v. light is a motif throughout Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Darkness is associated with naivety and lack of sight. Light is associated with illumination and enlightenment and the loss of naivety with the banishment of darkness. The narrator's illuminated cave and his description of the Empire State building as one of the darkest places in out entire culture are examples of this motif being used.
Jacklyn L.
ReplyDeleteEnglish sonnet- Wyatt brought Italian sonnet into Englsih, 14 lines, iambic pentameter,every four set of lines have rhyming pattern, has a rhyming couplet at the end, the rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Shakespeare’s sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments, love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever fixéd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come, Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Jacklyn L.
ReplyDeleteItalian sonnet- also known as Petrarchian, 14 lines, iambic pentameter, a two part organization eight lines then six lines, octave then sestet, question then answer, problem then resolution, rhyme scheme ABBAABBA, and CDECDE of CDCCDC or CDEDCE
On His Blindness by Milton
When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide, Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts; who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait."
Jacklyn L.
ReplyDeleteiambic pentameter- a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable (from dictionary.com)
John Keats' Ode to Autumn
˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /
To swell the gourd, and plump the ha- zel shells
Irony-the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.
ReplyDeleteDramatic Irony-irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.
Verbal Irony-a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.
Situational Irony- an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does
Dictionary.com definitions
Full Rhyme – rhyme in which the stressed vowels and all following consonants and vowels are identical, but the consonants preceding the rhyming vowels are different, as in chain, brain; soul, pole.
ReplyDeleteTheodor Seuss Geisel used full rhyme in his Green Eggs and Ham.
I could not, would not, in a house.
I would not, could not, with a mouse.
I would not eat them with a fox.
I would not eat them in a box.
I would not eat them here or there.
I would not eat them anywhere.
I would not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
Slant Rhyme/Off Rhyme/Half Rhyme – rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical, as in eyes, light; years, yours.
American poet Emily Dickinson also used half/slant rhyme frequently in her works.[1] In her poem "Hope is the thing with feathers" the half/slant rhyme appears in the second and fourth lines. In the following example the 'rhyme' is soul/all.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.
Sonnet Sequence/Sonnet Cycle/Sonnet Corona/Crown of Sonnets – a group of sonnets composed by one poet and having a unifying theme or subject.
See Shakespeare’s sonnets.
Moriah
ReplyDeleteF Block
Personification— n: When abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are given human character, traits, abilities, or reactions.
Ex. In Keat's poem, the treatment of the vase in "Ode on a Grecian Urn," in which the urn is treated as a "sylvan historian, who canst thus express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme," or Sylvia Plath's "The Moon and the Yew Tree," in which the moon "is a face in its own right, / White as a knuckle and terribly upset. / It drags the sea after it like a dark crime."
Apostrophe— n: A digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea.
Ex. In King Lear, he proclaims, "Ingratitude! Thou marble-hearted fiend, / More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child / Than the sea-monster." Death, of course, is a phenomenon rather than a proud person, and ingratitude is an abstraction that hardly cares about Lear's opinion, but the act of addressing the abstract has its own rhetorical power.
Conceit—n: An elaborate or unusual comparison--especially one using unlikely metaphors, simile, hyperbole, and contradiction.
Ex. John Donne's poem, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”, Donne compares two souls in love to the points on a geometer's compass. Shakespeare also uses conceits regularly in his poetry. In Richard II, Shakespeare compares two kings competing for power to two buckets in a well, for instance.
Hyperbole- The use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech, used to create emphasis or effect. Hyperboles are used to increase the impact of a story.
ReplyDeleteExamples:
1) He's got tons of money
2) She is a hundred feet tall
3) His smile was a mile wide
Pun- A pun is a word play that suggests two or more meanings by using words that have multiple means or similar -sounding words. Puns are usually intended for humorous or rhetorical effect and can be regarded as jokes. They also arise from the intentional abuse of words.
Examples:
1) At a hearing aid center: 'Let us give you some sound advice.'
2) Speaking ill of the dead is a grave mistake
3) A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking
Double entendre- A figure of speech in which a phrase is devised to be understood in one of two ways, either a straightforward one, or an inappropriate or ironic one. Double entendres can be used to express potentially offensive opinions without explicitly doing so. They rely on both multiple meanings of a word and different interpretations of words or phrases. Double entendres often mean different things to different people.
Examples:
1) It pays to remember your social obligations. If you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't come to yours.
2) Police authorities are finding the solution of murders more and more difficult because the victims are unwilling to cooperate with the police.
3) If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
Synesthesia- refers to the artistic and poetic devices which attempt to express a linkage between the senses. Some examples of cross-sensory metaphors or synesthesia are ‘loud shirt,’ ‘bitter wind,’ and ‘prickly laugh.’
ReplyDeleteDenotation- the explicit or direct meaning(s) of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it; the association(s) that a word usually elicits for most speakers of a language, as distinguished from those elicited for any individual speaker because of personal experience. A word that names, signifies or symbolizes something specific: “Wind” is the denotation for air in natural motion. “Poodle” is the denotation for a certain breed of dog.
Connotation- the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.”
I looked at definitions on various websites and I paraphrased them in my my own words except for tone which I really couldn't figure out how to rephrase without making the definition any longer than it had to be
ReplyDeleteDiction- the style in which a piece of writing is spoken aloud in a specific pronunciation or tone in order to emphasize certain syllables and such to better convey the message of a poem
Syntax- the way that words are put together in a sentence with careful attention put into the order of the words
ex. The bad ass Ethan likes ice cream. vs. Ethan the bad ass likes ice cream.
Tone- a sound with a distinctive quality
ex. The only thing I can think of is the way neon was said by the woman poet we heard in class the other day Hallaway was her name I think. It is hard to express tone in writing
1. Erotema (rhetorical question): A question posed without expectation of an answer but merely as a way of making a point. (Ex; What do you have to say for yourself?)
ReplyDelete2. Oxymoron: a succinct effect, by which contradictory terms are used in conjunction. (Ex; poor rich kid, jumbo shrimp, cruel kindness, etc.)
3. Paradox: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. (Ex; "War is peace." "Freedom is slavery." "Ignorance is strength." (George Orwell, 1984), “I am lying”. For that one the person makes you believe they lie, but if they are telling the truth then they are lying. hmm..)
Epistrophe: the repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences
ReplyDelete“I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong. …”
Inversion: reversal of the usual or natural order of words; anastrophe.
“How beautiful is the rose!”
Figurative language :speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech
“busy as a bee”
Terza rima- is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D. There is no limit to the number of lines, but poems or sections of poems written in terza rima end with either a single line or couplet repeating the rhyme of the middle line of the final tercet. The two possible endings for the example above are d-e-d, e or d-e-d, e-e. There is no set rhythm for terza rima, but in English, iambic pentameter is generally preferred.
ReplyDeleteBallad-is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century
Most, but not all, northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating lines of iambic (an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable) tetrameter (eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (six syllables), known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed (in the scheme a, b, c, b), which has been taken to suggest that, originally, ballads consisted of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of fourteen syllables.[3] As can be seen in this stanza from ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet’:
ex: The horse| fair Ann|et rode| upon|
He amb|led like| the wind|,
With sil|ver he| was shod| before,
With burn|ing gold| behind|.
Anaphora-The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills" (Winston S. Churchill).
Simile-
ReplyDeleteDefinition: A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared usually in a phrase that takes use of “like” or “as”.
Examples:
1.)He was as blind as a bat.
2.)She eats like a pig.
3.)He was as old as the hills
4.)“The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean .” (from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
5.)“There was a quivering in the grass which seemed like the departure of souls.” (from “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo)
6.)“Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.” (from “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood.
Metaphor-
ReplyDeleteDefintion: A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied, suggestive comparison is made between two unlike things that have something in common without using “like” or “as”.
Examples:
1.)“A man may break a word with you, sir, and words are but wind.” (from “The Comedy of Errors” by William Shakespeare)
2.)“All the world’s stage,
and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and entrances,
and one man in his time plays many parts,
his acts being seven ages.”
(from “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare)
3.)He has a heart of gold.
4.)The meal was fit for a King.
5.)His idea was difficult to swallow.
6.)“Straight from the heart.
I step on it,
Clutching my bottle
Of pink fizz. A celebration, this is.
Out of a gap
A million soldiers run,
Redcoats, every one.” (from “Cut” by Sylvia Plath)
Metonymy-
ReplyDeleteDefinition: A metonymy is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is substituted for another for which it is closely related. It also is used for describing something based on what is around it. A metonymy identifies something by referring to something else.
Examples:
1.)“The pen is mightier than the sword.” (Refers that the power of literary works and freedom of speech is greater than military or physical force. We associate “pens” with writing, and “swords” with fighting.)
2.)“He is a man of the cloth” (Refers that he follows religious orders, such as a priest or pastor, we associate “robes” or “cloth” with religious figures)
3.)“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” (from “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare) (Refers that he wants people to listen to what he has to say. We associate “ears” with paying attention to someone speaking )
4.)“The White House supports the Bill” (Refers to the President supporting the bill, but uses “The White House” instead. The President is not the White House, but the White House refers to the entity of the President, there is closeness between them. The White House is the residency of the President, but we associate it with the President, his staff, and etc.)
5.)“The suits on Wall Street walked off with most of our savings” (Refers to “suits” as bankers or businessmen. Wall Street is just a street in New York City, but we associate it with the American Financial and Banking Industry)
6.)“Broadway is booming” (Refers to the action of Broadway as the live theatre district/ industry of New York. Broadway is an avenue on Manhattan, but we associate it with all things live theatre.)
Synecdoche-
ReplyDeleteDefinition: A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or the whole is used to represent a part of something. It also can classify something specific or general by referring to a larger or smaller more general or more specific classification respectively.
Examples:
1.)“In the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada won 14 medals” (The country of Canada did not win 14 medals, the athletes participating representing the country of Canada did)
2.)“Since 9/11, airport security has been increased in huge amounts.” (9/11 is used to represent the U.S. terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, whereas 9/11 itself is just a date.)
3.)“He’s got new wheels.” (Refers to a new car, a car is composed of more than just wheels, but wheels are associated with the car as a whole.)
4.)“Russia was a major contributing factor to the events during the Cold War.” (Before and during the Cold War, and even today, the Soviet Union was referred to by it’s biggest member, the country of Russia, whereas it was actually composed of more than just one country.)
5.)“I need your John Hancock.” (Refers to someone’s signature, we associate a signature with that of the specific signature of John Hancock, who famously signed the Declaration of Independence)
6.)“The city isn’t doing anything about the problem.” (Uses the city as a whole, but refers to the city’s local government and politicians.)
-I paraphrased definitions from About.com and looked towards other online literary sources for other definitions. Most of my examples were original, the others were found via online sources, as I cited the authors.
MOOD (from Anglo-Saxon, mod "heart" or "spirit"):
ReplyDelete(1) In literature, a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind
(2) In grammar, an aspect of verbs.
(addition to definition 1: Most pieces of literature have a existing mood, but shifts in this existing mood may function as a counterpoint, provide comic relief, or echo the changing events in the plot. Specific diction, description, setting, and characterization to illustrate what sets the mood.)
Example:
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Frost is commonly interpreted as looking back on his experience with joy. That is true, if he were to speak those lines cheerfully. However, imagine that he actually sighs when he says "sigh" and he appears sullen when he says "And that has made all the difference." The entire meaning of the poem is changed, and Frost is, indeed, not thrilled with the coice he made in the past.
DIALECT:
ReplyDeleteThe language of a particular district, class, or group of persons.
The term dialect encompasses the sounds, spelling, grammar, and diction employed by a specific people as distinguished from other persons either geographically or socially.
Dialect is a major technique of characterization that reveals the social or geographic status of a character.
Example: Mark Twain uses exaggerated dialect in his Huckleberry Finn to differentiate between characters:
Jim: "We's safe, Huck, we's safe! Jump up and crack yo' heels. Dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it."
Huck: "I'll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It mightn't be, you know."
COLLOQUIALISM: A word or phrase used every day in plain and relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing.
ReplyDeleteExample:
words : "y'all" or "gonna" or "wanna"
phrases : "old as the hills" and "graveyard dead"
VERNACULAR (from Latin vernaculus "native, indigenous"):
ReplyDeleteThe everyday or common language of a geographic area or the native language of commoners in a country as opposed to a prestigious dead language preserved artificially in schools or in literary texts.
Example: the Chinese Wên Li was a vernacular language at the time of Confucius, and it would have been easily understood by most Chinese people in that dialectical area. As time goes by, and the early writings take on special cultural prestige, these older writings tend to be preserved and taught even after the original language changes or dies out completely. Often the classical languages are no longer understandable by common citizens--but these dead languages would still be used in the courts, in government documents, in poetry, and in scripture.
Narration: The act of telling a sequence of events. The term refers to any story, whether in prose or verse, involving events, characters, and what the characters say and do.
ReplyDeleteFirst Person Narration: a narrative or mode of storytelling in which the narrator appears as the ‘I’ recollecting his or her own part in the events related, either as a witness of the action or as an important participant in it.
Third Person Limited Narration: a narrative or mode of storytelling in which the narrator is not a character within the events related, but stands ‘outside’ those events. In a third‐person narrative, all characters within the story are therefore referred to as ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘they’.
Third Person Omniscient Narration: This is a common type of third person narration where the narrator embodies an omniscient or all knowing perspective. With this type of narration the narrator is able to describe the thoughts and feelings of other characters.
A-block
ReplyDeleteforeshadowing (example)
The fires early in _Lord of the Flies_, _Wide Sargasso Sea_, and _Jane Eyre_ foreshadow climactic, destructive fires later in the novels.
Alliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession.
ReplyDeleteExample:
Cipher Connected
By Paul McCann
Careless cars cutting corners create confusion .
Crossing centrelines.
Countless collisions cost coffins.
Collect conscious change.
Copy?
Continue cautiously.
Comply?
Cool .
Assonance is refrain of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance serves as one of the building blocks of verse. In using assonance, the long vowel sounds will decrease the energy at that point in the poem and make the mood more serious. Higher vowel sounds will increase the energy and lighten the mood.
Example:
Bells
By Edgar Allen Poe
I
Hear the sledges with the bells -
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
Consance is the repetition of consonants or of a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words.
Example:
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Alliteration, assonance, and consonance are sound devices that are used in conjuction with each other and separately throughout literature. They are used phonetically to create a desired aesthetic.
Tragic hero:a literary character who makes an error ofjudgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy
ReplyDeleteEx: Hamlet
Antihero: a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure,as nobility of mind and spirit, a life or attitude marked by action orpurpose, and the like.
Ex: Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye
Plot: the plan, scheme, or main story of aliterary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story
Epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context
ReplyDeleteEx: The William Blake Poem on the first pages of Grendel “And if the babe is born a boy…”
Empathy is the capacity to share the sadness or happiness of another sentient being through consciousness rather than physically. Empathy develops the ability to have compassion towards other beings.
Ex: Mary in Invisible Man in regards to the Invisible Man and his situation,. She feels empathy for him
Climax: is a moment of great intensity in the plot of a literary work, generally bringing events to a head and leading to the conclusion.
ReplyDeleteEx. In Bronte's _Jane_Eyre_ when Jane discovers the ruins of Thornfield.
Denouement: refers to the resolution of the complications of a plot in a work of fiction, generally done in a final chapter or section (often in the epilogue). The denouement generally follows the climax, except in mystery novels, in which the denouement and the climax may occur at the same time.
Ex: In the novel's denouement we learned that the sister also married and lived happily ever after. (Jane describing her life with Mr. Rochester after they marry.)
Flashback: A shift in a narrative to an earlier event that interrupts the normal chronological development of a story.
Ex: Stephen's memories in Clowngowes etc... When his friend hits him with a cane and he remembers the scene when they beat him with a cabbage for liking a different poet best.
Stanza: A Stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a story.
ReplyDeleteExample of a Stanza
Do not go Gentle into that Good Night - Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
^ (stanza)
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
^ (stanza)
Octet: The first 8 lines of a sonnet.
Sestet: The last 6 lines of a sonnet.
Example of octet and sestet.
Sonnet 130 - William Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
^ (octet)
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
^ (sestet)
Quatrain: Quatrains are stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme.
Example of quatrain
The Tyger - William Blake
Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
Tom M.
ReplyDeleteF Block
While organizing my list of literary terms, I realized for some reason, my definition for synecdoche is not here.I posted it on the same day as I posted the others, but I'm not surprised. I blame the internet hating me for its lack of presence.
Anyways, here it is:
Synecdoche-
Definition: A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or the whole is used to represent a part of something. It also can classify something specific or general by referring to a larger or smaller more general or more specific classification respectively.
Examples:
1.) “In the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada won 14 medals” (The country of Canada did not win 14 medals, the athletes participating representing the country of Canada did)
2.) “Since 9/11, airport security has been increased in huge amounts.” (9/11 is used to represent the U.S. terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, whereas 9/11 itself is just a date.)
3.) “He’s got new wheels.” (Refers to a new car, a car is composed of more than just wheels, but wheels are associated with the car as a whole.)
4.) “Russia was a major contributing factor to the events during the Cold War.” (Before and during the Cold War, and even today, the Soviet Union was referred to by it’s biggest member, the country of Russia, whereas it was actually composed of more than just one country.)
5.) “I need your John Hancock.” (Refers to someone’s signature, we associate a signature with that of the specific signature of John Hancock, who famously signed the Declaration of Independence)
6.) “The city isn’t doing anything about the problem.” (Uses the city as a whole, but refers to the city’s local government and politicians.)
-I paraphrased definitions from About.com and looked towards other online literary sources for other definitions. Most of my examples were original, the others were found via online sources, as I cited the authors.
Meter
ReplyDeletethe rhythmic element as measured by division into parts of equal time value.
www.dictionary.com
Iamb
a foot of two syllables, a short followed by a long in quantitative meter, or an unstressed followed by a stressed in accentual meter
Ex. There lived | a wife | at Ush | er’s Well,
And a weal | thy wife | was she:
She had | three stout | and stal | wart sons,
And sent | them o’er | the sea.
www.britannica.com
Rhyme scheme
the pattern of rhymes used in a poem, usually marked by letters to symbolize correspondences, as rhyme royal, ababbcc.
Ex. There was once a fat cat
Who lived in a barn.
He never liked to chat,
He only slept on orange yarn.
www.dictionary.com
Volta
Also called a turn, a volta is a sudden change in thought, direction, or emotion near the conclusion of a sonnet. This invisible volta is then followed by a couplet or gemel (in English sonnets) or a sestet (in Italian sonnets). Typically, the first section of the sonnet states a premise, asks a question, or suggests a theme. The concluding lines after the volta resolve the problem by suggesting an answer, offering a conclusion, or shifting the thematic concerns in a new direction
www.web.cn.edu
Sorry this is so late everybody!
ReplyDelete