ENG 102
tone
( the attitude, or stance, toward the subject and toward the reader or audience implied in a literary work; the "tone of voice" it seems to project) Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. Every written piece comprises a central theme or subject matter. The manner in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes. Consider the following examples of tone: Father: "We are going on a vacation." Son: "That's great!!!" - The tone of son's response is very cheerful.
climax
(From Greek word for "ladder"): The moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis reaches its point of greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved. It is also the peak of emotional response from a reader or spectator and usually the turning point in the action. The climax usually follows or overlaps with the crisis of a story, though some critics use the two terms synonymously. (Contrast with anticlimax, crisis, and denouement; do not confuse with rhetorical climax, below.) Also known as auxesis and crescendo, this refers to an artistic arrangement of a list of items so that they appear in a sequence of increasing importance. See rhetorical schemes for more information. The opposite of climax is bathos. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html
allusion
A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical references, historical events, legends, geography, or earlier literary works. Authors often use allusion to establish a tone, create an implied association, contrast two objects or people, make an unusual juxtaposition of references, or bring the reader into a world of experience outside the limitations of the story itself. Authors assume that the readers will recognize the original sources and relate their meaning to the new context. For instance, if a teacher were to refer to his class as a horde of Mongols, the students will have no idea if they are being praised or vilified unless they know what the Mongol horde was and what activities it participated in historically. This historical allusion assumes a certain level of education or awareness in the audience, so it should normally be taken as a compliment rather than an insult or an attempt at obscurity. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html
flashback
A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events--usually in the form of a character's memories, dreams, narration, or even authorial commentary (such as saying, "But back when King Arthur had been a child. . . ."). Flashback allows an author to fill in the reader about a place or a character, or it can be used to delay important details until just before a dramatic moment. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_F.html
fragments
An incomplete piece of literature--one the author never finished entirely--such as Coleridge's "Kubla Khan"--or one in which part of the manuscript has been lost due to damage or neglect--such as the Finnesburgh Fragment or "The Battle of Maldon." Chaucerian scholars also use the term fragment to describe the individual sections of the Canterbury Tales in which the various tales have links to each other internally but lack links to the other sections of the Canterbury Tales so that scholars cannot reassemble them all into a single cohesive text. At the time of Chaucer's death, he left behind ten fragments that can be organized in various ways to make a larger narrative. These fragments are bits of narrative linked together by internal signs such as pieces of conversation or passages referring to an earlier story or the story about to come next. The fragments are usually designated with Roman numerals (I-X) in modern editions of the text, but the Chaucer Society uses alphabetical designations to refer to these fragments (i.e., Fragments A-I). Only between Fragments IX-X and (in the case of the Ellesmere family) between Fragments IV-V do we find explicit indication of an order. Consequently, modern editors differ in the order the tales are presented. Click here to download a PDF handout discussing the order of these fragments and the controversial Bradshaw Shift. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_F.html
character
Any representation of an individual being presented in a dramatic or narrative work through extended dramatic or verbal representation. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html
visual auditory + tactile imagery
Auditory imagery, where the reader can hear the sounds that are being made or can be heard. Authors sometimes use Onomatopoeia to convey this type of imagery. An example of auditory imagery is: "The scream she let out was bloodcurdling and horrifyingly painful to listen to." Onomatopoeia is a sort of auditory imagery where a word imitates or suggests the source of the sound. An example of this is: "The animal let out a shrill meow of hunger." The meow allows the reader to recognize the animal as a cat because of the sound it makes. Tactile imagery, which allows the reader to imagine the feel or texture of certain things. An example of tactile imagery is: "The blanket was as soft as cotton and as smooth as silk."http://www.mibba.com/Knowledge/Writing-Tips/5805/Literary-Devices-Imagery/
verbal/dramatic situational irony
Cicero referred to irony as "saying one thing and meaning another." Irony comes in many forms. Verbal irony (also called sarcasm) is a trope in which a speaker makes a statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply from the meaning that the words ostensibly express. Often this sort of irony is plainly sarcastic in the eyes of the reader, but the characters listening in the story may not realize the speaker's sarcasm as quickly as the readers do. Dramatic irony (the most important type for literature) involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know. In that situation, the character acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or the character expects the opposite of what the reader knows that fate holds in store, or the character anticipates a particular outcome that unfolds itself in an unintentional way. Probably the most famous example of dramatic irony is the situation facing Oedipus in the play Oedipus Rex. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html#irony_anchor
comma splice
Ex i've lost my train of thought, no one is listening anyway. ^comma splice
literal vs figurative
Literal: in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical: the literal meaning of a word. Figurative: language in which figures of speech are used to make it effective, persuasive and impactful. Whenever we think of it, often metaphors and similes spring to our minds. Writers use it to go beyond the real meanings of the words to make a comparison and give the readers a new insight into the content of their works. It also appeals to the senses of the readers. Figurative language can appear in multiple forms with the use of different literary and rhetorical devices. According to Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia, figurative language has five different forms: understatement or emphasis, relationship or resemblance, figures of sound, errors and verbal games. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literal
limited + omniscient POV
Omniscient is a literary technique of writing narrative in third person in which a narrator knows the feelings and thoughts of every character in the story. Through omniscient narrative, an author brings an entire world of his characters to life and moves from characters to characters, allowing different voices to interpret the events, and maintaining omniscient form — that is keeping a distance. Omniscient narrative tells the story of every character by demonstrating that only the narrator possesses information. Omniscient Points of View - When a narrator has knowledge about all the characters in a narrative, it is omniscient or all-knowing point of view. Limited Omniscient Points of View - In limited omniscient point of view, a narrator has limited knowledge of just one character, leaving other major or minor characters. http://literarydevices.net/omniscient/
1st 2nd 3rd person POV
Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers "hear" and "see" what takes place in a story, poem, essay etc. Point of view is a reflection of the opinion an individual from real life or fiction can have. Examples of point of view belong to one of these three major kinds: 1. First person point of view involves the use of either of the two pronouns "I" and "we". Example: "I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace." 2. Second person point of view employs the pronoun "you". "Sometimes you cannot clearly discern between anger and frustration." 3. Third person point of view uses pronouns like "he", "she", "it", "they" or a name. "Mr. Stewart is a principled man. He acts by the book and never lets you deceive him easily." http://literarydevices.net/point-of-view/
alliteration
Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. For instance, the phrase "buckets of big blue berries" alliterates with the consonant b. Coleridge describes the sacred river Alph in Kubla Khan as "Five miles meandering with a mazy motion," which alliterates with the consonant m. The line "apt alliteration's artful aid" alliterates with the vowel sound a. One of Dryden's couplets in Absalom and Achitophel reads, "In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, / Before polygamy was made a sin." It alliterates with the letter p. Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" employs the technique: "I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass." Most frequently, the alliteration involves the sounds at the beginning of words in close proximity to each other. Alliteration is an example of a rhetorical scheme. Alliteration in which the first letters of words are the same (as opposed to consonants alliterating in the middles or ends of words) is more specifically called head rhyme, which is a bit of a misnomer since it doesn't actually involve rhyme in a technical sense. If alliteration also involves changes in the intervening vowels between repeated consonants, the technique is called consonance. See alliterative verse, alliterative prose, assonance, and consonance. See also alliterative revival and sound symbolism. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html
exposition
The use of authorial discussion to explain or summarize background material rather than revealing this information through gradual narrative detail. Often, this technique is considered unartful, especially when creative writers contrast showing (revelation through details) and telling (exposition). For example, a writer might use exposition by writing, "Susan was angry when she left the house and climbed into her car outside." That sentence is telling the reader about Susan, i.e., using exposition. In contrast, the writer might change this to the following version. "Red-faced with nostrils flaring, Susan slammed the door and stomped over to her car outside." Now, the writer is showing Susan's anger, rather than using exposition to tell the audience she's angry. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_E.html
personification
a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. For example, when we say, "The sky weeps" we are giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky has been personified in the given sentence. Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn't it so? The wind whispered through dry grass. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. Time and tide waits for none. The fire swallowed the entire forest. http://literarydevices.net/personification/
simile
a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. http://literarydevices.net/simile/
enjambment
a line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next linehttp://www.fallriverschools.org/Poetry%20Terms.pdf
dropped quote
a quote that appears in a paper without introduction—can disrupt the flow of thought, create an abrupt change in voice, and/or leave the reader wondering why the quote is included. Instead of creating an unwelcome disruption in their paper's cohesiveness with a dropped quotation, thoughtful writers should employ strategies for smoothly integrating source material into their own work. In the poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud," Wordsworth uses metaphors heavily. "...quote..." (Wordsworth 18). Another metaphor.... http://writingcommons.org/evidence/quotations/563-avoid-dropped-quotations-
meter
a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse or within the lines of a poem. Stressed syllables tend to be longer and unstressed shorter. In simple language, meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern for the verses, as it gives poetry a rhythmical and melodious sound. For instance, if you read a poem loudly, and it produces regular sound patterns, then this poem would be a metered or measured poem. The study of different types of versification and meters is known as prosody. English poetry employs five basic meters including; iambic meter (unstressed/stressed), trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed), spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed) anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed) and dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed). Example 1 If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, That breathes upon a bank of violets, (Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare) http://literarydevices.net/meter/
paradox
from the Greek word "paradoxon" that means contrary to expectations, existing belief or perceived opinion. It is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly but may include a latent truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas. A paradox is often used to make a reader think over an idea in innovative way. Your enemy's friend is your enemy. I am nobody. "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young." - George Bernard Shaw Wise fool Truth is honey which is bitter. "I can resist anything but temptation." - Oscar Wilde From the above examples of paradox, we can say that paradox creates a humorous effect on the readers because of its ridiculousness. http://literarydevices.net/paradox/
end rhyme
in poetry, a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses, 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. End rhyme is the most common type of rhyme in English poetry. Compare beginning rhyme; internal rhyme.
stanza
poetry's version of a paragraph, a stanza is an arrangement of lines of verse in a pattern usually repeated throughout the poem. Typically, each stanza has a fixed number of verses or lines and a consistent rhyme scheme. Couplet - a two line stanza Quatrain - a three line stanza Sestet - a six line stanza Octave - an eight line stanza http://www.fallriverschools.org/Poetry%20Terms.pdf
theme
the central idea embodied or explored in a literary work, what it all adds up to. linehttp://www.fallriverschools.org/Poetry%20Terms.pdf
speaker in poetry
the narrative voice in a poem (such as a sonnet, ode, or lyric) that speaks of his or her situation or feelings. It is a convention in poetry that the speaker is not the same individual as the historical author of the poem http://www.fallriverschools.org/Poetry%20Terms.pdf
rhyme scheme
the practice of rhyming words placed at the end of the lines in the prose or poetry. Rhyme scheme refers to the order in which particular words rhyme. If the alternate words rhyme, it is an "a-b-a-b" rhyme scheme, which means "a" is the rhyme for the lines 1 and 3 and "b" is the rhyme affected in the lines 2 and 4. Example: Roses are red (a) Violets are blue (b) Beautiful they all may be (c) But I love you (b) The above is an "a-b-c-b" rhyme scheme. http://literary-devices.com/content/rhyme-scheme
consonance
the repetition of consonant sounds in the same or nearby lineshttp://www.fallriverschools.org/Poetry%20Terms.pdf
plot
used to describe the events that make up a story or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story. Plot is known as the foundation of a novel or story which the characters and settings are built around. It is meant to organize information and events in a logical manner. When writing the plot of a piece of literature, the author has to be careful that it does not dominate the other parts of the story. There are five main elements in a plot. The first is the exposition or the introduction. This is known as the beginning of the story where characters and setting are established. The conflict or main problem is introduced as well. The second element of a plot is known as the rising action which occurs when a series of events build up to the conflict. http://literarydevices.net/plot/
