Literature Terms,

Rhetorical Devices,

& Figurative Language

Alliteration• Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning

of words

• Ex: Sweet smell of success

• Ex: Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.

• Ex: Hear the loud alarum bells--Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

--Edgar Allan Poe

Allusion• Cross reference to another work of

art, piece of literature, historic event, landmark, etc.

• “She’ll be not hit with Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit.” (Romeo and Juliet)

• Ex: If you stub your toe and say, “D’oh!”, you’re making an allusion to The Simpsons.

Anadiplosis• Form of repetition that occurs when the

last word or terms in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or phrase.

• Ex: "The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an Emperor. Striking story!” –Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, GLADIATOR

Analogy

• Point-by-point comparison of two things that are alike in some way; usually used to explain something unfamiliar in familiar terms

• Hot:Cold::Tall:Short

Anaphora• Repetition of the initial word(s) over successive

phrases or clauses• Ex: “…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up

and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that…

Anticlimax

• A drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a dignified or important idea or situation, to one that is trivial or humorous.

• Ex: “He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright, flowering, young men [in Vietnam]. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling."--John Goodman as Walter Shobchak, The Big Lebowski

Antithesis• Two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed;

a contrasting of opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences

• Ex: “That's one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind." –Neil Armstrong

• Ex: "We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change." --JFK

Apostrophe• A figure of speech in which someone

absent or dead OR something nonhuman is addressed as if he/she/it were alive and present.

• Ex: “O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully!” -- Richard de Bury

Assonance• Repeated vowel sounds• Ex:

"Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.”

--Dylan Thomas,

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

Asyndeton• a string of words not separated by normally

occurring conjunctions• Ex: “…You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it.

Dey's, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich….”—Bubba in Forrest Gump

• "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line."

Connotation• Attitude or feeling associated with a term

• Example:– Enthusiastic=positive– Rowdy=negative

Consonance

• Repetition of consonant sounds within or at end of words

• Example: lonely afternoon

Denotation

• Dictionary definition

• Opposite of connotation

• Example: I drive a cheap car. – Denotation=inexpensive– Connotation=piece of junk

Dialect

• Form of language spoken in a particular geographic area or by a particular social or ethnic group

• Example: “Who ask you be genius?” she shouted. “Only ask you be your best. For your sake. You think I want you be genius?” (Amy Tan, “Two Kinds”)

Dialogue

• Written conversation between two or more characters

Diction• Word Choice that expresses tone or

attitude.

• Ex: “World, I wish you would sort of take him by the hand, and gently…”

En Media Res

• Narrative technique in which the story starts at the midpoint

Epanalepsis• Beginning and ending a phrase or

clause with the same word or words• Ex: “Mankind must put an end to war--or

war will put an end to mankind.” –JFK

• Ex: “Be all that you can be.” –U.S. Army

Epic

• Long, narrative poem on a serious subject, presented in an elevated or formal style

• Traces the adventures of a great hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or race

• Examples: The Illiad and The Odyssey

Epic Hero

• Larger-than-life figure who embodies the ideals of a nation or race

• Take part in dangerous adventures and accomplish great deeds

• May undertake long, difficult journeys and display super-human strength

• Example: Odysseus

Epic Simile

• Homeric (or Epic) Simile - an extended, elaborated, ornate simile developed in a lengthy descriptive passage

• “He eats in bird-like quantities, accepting tiny portions at fleeting intervals, as the sparrow perched above the rose bush snatches the small green aphids from the dewy leaf.”

Epistrophe

• Repetition of a word or words at the end of successive phrases or clauses.

Epithet

• Brief phrase that points out traits associated with a particular character.

• Odysseus=“the master strategist”

Euphemism• substitution of an agreeable or less

offensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener

• Ex: “Let go” (instead of “Fired”)

• Ex: “Pre-owned” (instead of “Used”)

Flashback

• Interrupts a story to relate an event that occurred in the past

• Ex: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.” –Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Foreshadowing

• An author drops subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story

• Ex: In Where the Red Fern Grows, there is a dog fight in the beginning, and a dog is wounded exactly like a dog is wounded later in the book.

• Ex: In Star Wars: Episode II, Obi-Wan Kenobi says to Anakin Skywalker, "Why do I get the feeling you will be the death of me?" He is later killed by Darth Vader (a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker).

Hubris

• Hubris - from the Greek word for pride or insolence, it is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence (overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution

• “Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim.”

Hyperbole• An extreme exaggeration• Ex:

– It would take a bazillion years to get through Medical School.

– He's 900 years old. – There are millions of other things to do. – He was running faster than the speed of light. – I am so tired I could sleep for a year. – He is as skinny as a toothpick.

•

Imagery• Descriptive words and phrases used in literature which appeal to one or more of

the five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and create word pictures in the mind of the reader– Visual - something described through sight, appears most commonly in

poetry.  – Auditory - representation of a sound – Olfactory - representation of a smell – Gustatory - representation of a taste – Tactile - touch: hardness, softness, wetness, heat, cold

• Ex: “Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.” -James Earl Jones as Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

Inference

• The process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true

Invocation

• an appeal to a god or goddess for inspiration

• e.g. “TELL ME, O MUSE, of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.”

Irony• Dramatic: the audience knows something that

the characters do not• Verbal: character says one thing and means

another (sarcasm)• Situational: an incongruity between the intended

meaning of an action and the actual or perceived meaning of an action– Ex: A man steps backward to avoid getting

sprayed by a sprinkler only to fall in a swimming pool.

Juxtaposition

• Placing two objects or ideas near one another for comparison, contrast, or other effect.

• “…and swiftly ran through all his evening chores. Then he caught two more men and feasted on them.” (juxtaposition of the mundane chores with the heinous)

Metaphor

• Comparing 2 things (without using like or as)

• Ex:– Life is a journey.– This is our roadmap to peace.

• “All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;”

(Shakespeare, As You Like It)

Motif• recurring element that has symbolic significance

in the story• devices that can help to develop and inform the

text’s major themes. • can be an idea, an object, a place, or a

statement

• Ex: The Of Mice and Men author, John Steinbeck, uses animals as repeated symbols throughout his books.

Onomatopoeia• Words that sound like what they are (or words that imitate sounds)

• Ex: Snap, crackle, pop!

Overstatement

• Synonym for hyperbole

• Extreme exaggeration

• “I have told you a thousand times to stop exaggerating!”

Oxymoron• contradictory word pair• Ex:

– “A little big”– “Pretty ugly”– "act naturally“– "found missing“– "alone together" – "peace force“– "terribly pleased“– "ill health" – "small crowd" – "clearly misunderstood" – “jumbo shrimp”

Paradox• Something that seems to contradict

itself, but actually expresses a truth.• Ex:

– “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”--Alexander Pope

– "The swiftest traveler is he that goes afoot."--Henry David Thoreau, Walden

– "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."--George Orwell, 1984

Parallel Structure• Successive words, phrases, clauses with the

same or very similar grammatical structure.

• Ex: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." --JFK

Personification• Giving humanlike characteristics to an

inanimate object• Ex: “The Wind” by James Stephens

The wind stood up and gave a shout.He whistled on his fingers and

Kicked the withered leaves aboutAnd thumped the branches with his hand

And said he'd kill and kill and kill,And so he will and so he will.

Polysyndeton• The deliberate and excessive use of

conjunctions in successive words or clauses

• Ex: “Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero.” –Lt. Gordon, The Dark Knight

Pun• Play on words• Ex: I couldn't quite remember how to throw a

boomerang, but eventually it came back to me.• Ex: What do you call cheese that doesn’t belong

to you? Nacho cheese!• Ex: I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s

impossible to put down.• Ex: I wondered why the baseball was getting

bigger. Then it hit me.

Repetition

• Repeating words; rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or emotional effect

• Many types: anaphora, polysyndeton, etc.• Ex: “And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”(Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening")

Rhetorical Question• figure of speech in the form of a question posed for

rhetorical effect rather than to receive an answer • Ex: "Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do 'practice'?”

–George Carlin

• Ex: In The Simpsons, Lisa is singing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," "How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?”

Overhearing her, Homer shouts out, "Eight!"

Lisa: That was a rhetorical question!Homer: Oh. Then, seven!Lisa: Do you even know what rhetorical means?Homer: Do I know what rhetorical means?"

Satire

• Literary technique in which ideas, behaviors, institutions, etc. are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.

• The Onion

Simile

• Comparing 2 things using like, as, resembles, than

• Ex: "Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” –Carl Sandburg

• Ex: “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.’” –Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump

• “They were people, but lived like animals.” (Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird)

Symbolism• Something that represents something beyond itself

• Ex:

– The American flag symbolizes freedom.

– An owl symbolizes wisdom.

– The phoenix symbolizes rebirth.

– The dove symbolizes peace.

Syntax

• Arrangement of words in a sentence; choice of word order; sentence structure or style. This term is an umbrella term for a number of rhetorical strategies.

Tragic Hero

• A dignified character in a tragedy who experiences a downfall due to a fatal character flaw

• Example: Romeo; Odysseus

Tone

• Author’s attitude toward a subject

Understatement

• Form of irony in which a writer intentionally makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is

• Example: “It’s just a flesh wound.” (The Black Knight, after having both arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

Voice

• A writer’s unique use of language that allows a reader to “hear” a human personality in the work

• Includes syntax, diction, and tone