Literary ModesBy: Jeanette Flores

Carpe Diem

● The phrase is Latin for "seize the day".● The term refers to a common moral or

theme in classical literature that the reader should make the most out of life and should enjoy it before it ends.

Example:

Then not be coy but use your time, And, while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime You may forever tarry.-"To the Virgins to Make Much of Time." by Robert Herrick

Comedy/Comedy of Manners

● Comedy: a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.

Example:“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,Such shaping fantasies, that apprehendMore than cool reason ever comprehends.The lunatic, the lover and the poetAre of imagination all compact:One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;And as imagination bodies forthThe forms of things unknown, the poet's penTurns them to shapes and gives to airy nothingA local habitation and a name.”

Complaint● A poetic genre in which the poet complains, often about

his beloved. ● Example: To you, my purse, and to no other creature I

lament, for you are my lady dear. I am so sorry now that you are light! Surely, unless you make me heavier cheer, I may as well be laid upon my bier. Therefore unto your mercy thus I cry--be heavy again, or else surely I must die.

Dramatic monologue● A literary device that is used when a character reveals his or her

innermost thoughts and feelings, those that are hidden throughout the course of the story line, through a poem or a speech.

● Example: To be, or not to be- that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end

them.

Elegy & Elegiac Verse● A type of literature defined as a song or poem, written in elegiac

verses, that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died.

● Example:

● “With the farming of a verse

Make a vineyard of the curse,

Sing of human unsuccess

In a rapture of distress;

In the deserts of the heart

Let the healing fountain start,

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.”

Epic1. Epic: A long narrative poem written in elevated style, in which heroes of

great historical or legendary importance perform valorous deeds.2. Mock Epic: References classical works with humor in order to make a new

point.3. Mock Heroic: Mocks the conventions of heroic epic poetry.

● Example: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, /Over many a

quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, /While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there

came a tapping, /As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. /`'Tis some

visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.'” “The Raven”

by Edgar Allan Poe.

Lyric Verse● A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the

expression of feeling. Most of the poems in this book are lyrics. ● Example: Western wind, when will thou blow,

The small rain down can rain?Christ, if my love were in my armsAnd I in my bed again!

Ode● A kind of poem devoted to the praise of a person, animal, or thing. An ode

is usually written in an elevated style and often expresses deep feeling. ● Example: She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! (lines 19-20) - Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

Parody● work in which the style of an author is closely imitated for comic effect or

in ridicule.● Example: Parody of “50 Shades of Grey”

Romance● A novel or other prose narrative depicting heroic or marvelous

deeds,pageantry, romantic exploits, etc., usually in a historical or imaginary setting.

● Example:

Went to the Garden of Love,

And saw what I never had seen:

A Chapel was built in the midst,

Where I used to play on the green.

Satire● A technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and

corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule.

● There warn’t anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn’t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it’s cool. If you notice, most folks don’t go to church only when they’ve got to; but a hog is different.” (Chap 18) - Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Tragedy● A kind of drama that presents a serious subject matter about

human suffering and corresponding terrible events in a dignified manner.

● Example: “To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Works Cited

● www.litcyc.com● www2.uncp.edu● literarydevices.net● www.schmoop.com● www.poetryfoundation.org