Literary Terminology 1
The literary technique of using a sequence of words that begin with the same letter or sound for a poetic or whimsical effect.
Examples: Many of Stan Lee’s iconic comic book characters have alliterative names: Peter Parker, Matthew Murdock, Reed Richards, and Bruce Banner.
Alliteration
When objects, characters, actions, or other recurring elements in a story take on another, more profound meaning and/or represent an abstract concept.
Example: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (and The Hobbit), it is said the ring of Sauron represents evil, corruption, and greed, which everyday people, symbolized by Frodo, must strive to resist.
Symbolism
A term that refers to a frame or border that forms a visual boundary around a narrative element. It acts as a sort of general indicator that time or space is being divided. Each one tells a piece of the story, and they can be composed of just images, just words, or most often, words and images.
Panel
These contain the words within a panel. This is the section of a panel that is occupied by text and is most often characterized as an oval-shaped white space with words inside it and a pointer indicating the speaker of those words. However, the exact shape and nature of these may be different depending on the kind of information it is intended to convey.
Balloon
A the way in which something is usually done within a particular genre.
Convention
Refers to the language and word choice an author uses with their subject matter, like playful language when describing children playing, or hostile language when describing the emergence of a villain. This refers mostly to individual aspects and details, not the entire piece of work.
Example: Told in the first person, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye uses angsty and sardonic language to depict the protagonist's mindset, including slang and curse words.
Tone
The emotional response the author is targeting throughout the entire work. A writer sets the mood not just with the plot and characters, but also with tone and the aspects they choose to describe.
Example: In the horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, vampires are scary and ominous, but in the comedic film What We Do In Shadows, vampires are friendly and light-hearted.
Mood
These are the heart of the graphic novel. The term refers to the empty space between panels; that space requires the reader to extrapolate the connection between one panel and the next in the sequence and, in effect, cocreate the story with the writer. Here in the limbo of this space, human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea.
Gutter
A panel that depicts where and when the story is taking place.
Setting Panel
The action of departing from an established convention or accepted standard.
Deviation
An indirect reference to another figure, event, place, or work of art that exists outside the story. These are made to famous subjects so that they don’t need explanation—the reader should already understand the reference.
Allusion
Using casual and informal speech, including slang, in formal writing to make dialogue seem more realistic and authentic. It often incorporates respelling words and adding apostrophes to communicate the pronunciation.
Example: “How you doin’?” asked Friends character Joey Tribbiani.
Colloquialism
A type of balloon that shows what a character is saying aloud.
Dialogue Balloon
A type of gutter that depicts a shift in characters.
Subject to Subject
Developing a deep understanding and a precise interpretation of a literary passage that is based first and foremost on the text itself.
Close Reading
When an author attributes human characteristics metaphorically to nonhuman things like the weather or inanimate objects. This is strictly figurative (not literal).
Example: “The heart wants what it wants—or else it does not care . . .” —Emily Dickinson
Personification
When non-human things like animals or objects act human, exhibiting traits such as speech, thoughts, complex emotions, and sometimes even wearing clothes and standing upright.
Example: While most fairy tales feature animals that act like humans, the Beauty and the Beast films portray household object like talking clocks, singing teapots, and more,
Anthropomorphism
Graphic novels containing story arcs originally published in periodicals.
Trade Paperbacks
A type of gutter that depicts the flowing of time.
Moment to Moment
An argument that is difficult (but not impossible) to prove. The best type of position to take up in a discussion post or paper.
Odysseus Argument
This combines two contradictory ideas in a way that, although illogical, still seems to make sense.
Example: “I know only one thing, and that is I know nothing.” —Socrates in Plato’s Apology
Paradox
A recurring element in a story that holds some symbolic or conceptual meaning. Theses are specific objects or events, not abstract ideas.
Example: In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s obsession with washing her hands symbolizes her guilt.
Motif
A type of gutter that juxtaposes two panels that do not obviously relate; the relation may be foreshadowing or may depict symbolism or some other literary component.
The Non Sequitur
A type of gutter that depicts changes in perspective (of the same scene).
Aspect to aspect
The year the term "graphic novel" was coined.
1964