Literary Devices

1. Iambic Pentameter - Oxymoron Literary Devices

2. Iambic Pentameter The most common form of English poetic meter: Ten beats per line made up of 5 stressed and 5 unstressed syllables. Example #1: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” Example #2: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

3. Language that appeals to the five major senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Example #1: “Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind” (sight, touch) Example #2: “It was on a dreary night of November…when …I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” Imagery

4. A brief work of non-fiction that offers opinion on a subject, usually not in a completely serious tone. May be humorous, personal, even rambling. Example: A student’s writing about the quality of the cafeteria food. Well –known example: “An Academy for Women” by Daniel Defoe Informal Essay

5. A character’s flow of thoughts that reveal the character’s mind and emotions; may appear in a series of images and impressions. Example: Victor’s inner turmoil and guilt mixed with his anger at the creature while wondering through the mountains and admiring nature. Interior Monologue

6. The struggle that may occur within a character.Example #1: Macbeth’s struggle with the decision to kill Duncan and the effects of guilt.Example #2: Victor’s inner turmoil regarding his responsibilities. Internal Conflict

7. Rhyme that occurs within a single line of poetry. Example: “Give crowns and pounds and guineas, but not your heart away” --From “When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A.E. Housman Internal Rhyme

8. A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens. Three types: Situational, Dramatic, Verbal. Example: Duncan expects peace at Macbeth’s castle which looks peaceful, but the audience is aware of the Macbeths’ evil plans (situational; dramatic) Irony

9. A poem consisting of 14 lines, made up of two quatrains and a final sestet. The rhyme scheme is abba, abba, cdc, cdc. Example: Sonnet 292 (see page 310 of textbook) Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet

10. Examples: “The grey-bearded lord” (renames Hrothgar) “whale-road” (renames the sea) “The sin-stained demon” (renames Grendel) Kenning An Anglo-Saxon Metaphor; a compound word or phrase that renames

11. Imagery that recreates muscle tension and movementExample: “He felt the chilled dust push up between his toes” or “His foot pressed up against the starting block and his body tensed, ready for the shot…” Kinesthetic Imagery

12. Written correspondence between individuals (friends, family, acquaintances, etc.) usually meant to be private. Examples: The Paston Family’s written exchange during the War of the Roses (Medieval Literature); Letters from the Crypt Letters

13. Examples: “Barbara Allan,” “Sir Patrick Spens,” “Get Up and Bar the Door”; or “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” adapted from an earlier folk song by unknown author(s) Literary Ballad A narrative poem originally intended to be sung

14. A short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings; (from the Greek “lyre” = a musical instrument used to accompany songs) Examples: ; “The Wife’s Lament”; “The Moment” by Margaret Atwood; Shakespeare’s sonnets; Odes written by John Keats Lyric

15. The most important characters in a work; the main characters who undergo a change throughout the movement of the plot. Examples: Beowulf; Macbeth & Lady Macbeth; Ebeneezer Scrooge; Victor & the Creature Major Characters

16. A non-fiction, auto-biographical work in which the author recalls significant events in his or her life Examples: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain; All But My Life by GertaWiesman Klein; Night by Elie Wiesel Memoir

17. A direct comparison between two dissimilar things that may have something in common to be compared for effect. Examples: School is torture; English class is H.E.11; Marriage is a rose garden; Life is a long road of ups and downs Metaphor

18. Examples: “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” and “Death Be Not Proud” –both by John Donne Metaphysical Poetry A 17th century poetic style (promoted first by John Donne) that rejected courtly love and musical lyrical form and instead focused on the logical, intellectual and philosophical aspects of life; often contain conversational style, language play, unexpected images, and paradox.

19. Repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in poetry. Meter is indicated using a ˘ to denote an unstressed syllable and a / to denote a stressed syllable.Example:˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / I hold it true, whate’ er befall Meter

20. Examples: Wulfgar in Beowulf; Peter Cratchet in A Christmas Carol; Ernest and William in Frankenstein; Ross and Menteith in Macbeth The less important characters in a work of literature Minor Characters

21. A medieval form of literature that dramatized the lives of saints. Examples: A play about the life of the Apostle Paul; A dramatic performance about John the Baptist Miracle Play

22. A lyric poem or a speech in a drama in which a speaker addresses a silent or absent listener in a moment of high intensity or deep emotion for the purpose of revealing feelings, motivations, etc. Examples: The poems “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning; Macbeth’s speech about the meaninglessness of life after the death of Lady Macbeth. Monologue

23. The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader, often with the use of imagery, details, setting, connotation, etc.Examples: The eerie feeling that the witches create at the beginning of Macbeth; the gloomy setting of Victor’s lab; the description of the door where Mr. Hyde receives a check Mood

24. A medieval form of drama in which the characters were allegorical (symbolic) figures such as Death, Greed, Pride, Jealousy, etc. Examples: A drama portraying an old man character named Death who teaches three rioters a lesson about greed Morality Play

25. The smallest recurring element in a story having the power to persist in tradition, often related to the theme. Examples: Water in Macbeth; Scrooge’s Journey to his past; Death in Frankenstein Motif

26. Examples: A dramatic performance of “Noah and the Ark,” or “Job,” or “Joseph and His Brothers,” or “Moses Leading the Hebrews out of Egypt” Mystery Play A medieval dramatic form that portrays a biblical story; often performed in churches or the outdoors

27. The telling of a story or the voice of a story; the voice may be a character in the story or a voice outside the action. Examples: Robert Walton, Victor, & the Creature in Frankenstein; Mr. Utterson in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Narration / Narrator

28. Writing concerned with relating a series of events; it can be imaginary or factual. Examples: A short story; a novel; a newspaper account; a soldier’s account of his stay in Iraq; Hiroshima, a journalist’s compilation of survivor testimonies Narrative

29. Examples: Beowulf; the Iliad; the Odyssey; Paradise Lost; Rime of the Ancient Mariner; A poem that tells a story; narrative poems contain characters, plot, point of view, and theme Narrative Poem

30. A form of realism in which the writer conveys the belief that everything is part of the natural world and explainable by natural or physical causes; characters are victims of natural forces Examples: Doris Lessing’s “A Sunrise on the Veld”; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Naturalism

31. An 18th century writing style that imitated classical literature with the use of strict form, logic, symmetry, restraint, clarity, & conciseness; purposes included instruction in moral and social behavior; essays, epigrams, satire, and parody are favorite forms of this writing movement Examples: Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal”; “An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope Neoclassicism

32. Nonfiction Prose writing about real people, places, and events Examples: Autobiographies, biographies, letters, essays, diaries, journals, memoirs, speeches; The Paston Letters; Winston Churchill’s speeches

33. An extended work of fiction Examples: Frankenstein; Lord of the Flies; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Brave New World; A Separate Piece Novel

34. Eight lines of poetry; the first eight lines of a sonnet that may ask a question or present a problem Example: Shakespeare’s sonnet 29 opens by posing the problem of despair; might have a rhyme scheme of abba, abbaor ababcdcd Octave

35. An exalted , complex lyric that develops a serious, dignified theme; often praise people, nature, or commemorate events Examples: Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poems in praise of the West Wind and in praise of a Skylark (“_____ to the West Wind”) Ode

36. Off Rhyme End rhyme that is not exact but near rhyme or approximate. Examples: “come” and “doom” in “The Frog Prince” by Stevie Smith

37. The all-knowing perspective of the narrator into the minds of more than one character; allows depth and complexity not permitted with the first-person or limited p.o.v. Examples: “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence Omniscient Point of View

38. Words whose sounds echo their meanings Examples: buzz, gurgle, whisper, murmur Onomatopoeia

39. Oxymoron A “concise” paradox; two contradictory terms that are placed together for effect Examples: “cruel kindness,” or “brave fear,” or “brilliant moron”