Literary Devices
The representation through language of sensory experience.
What is imagery?
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
What is Hamlet?
The voice of a poem.
What is the speaker?
The details that not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that environment.
What is setting?
A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay [claim] analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole.
Who is _______________? (answers will vary)
An object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning suggests other meanings as well.
What is a symbol?
"...stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!"
What is Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Closed Form of poetry -- 14 lines. Petrarchan and Shakespearean.
What is a sonnet?
Select a novel, play, or epic poem that features a character whose origins are unusual or mysterious. Then write an essay [claim] in which you analyze how these origins shape the character and that character’s relationships, and how the origins contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.
What is _____________? (answers will vary)
Mostly found in poetry, harsh, unpleasant, or discordant sounds. Pop culture examples are included in songs recorded by the rock group Nine Inch Nails.
What is cacophony?
"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."
What is Frankenstein?
Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme.
What is couplet?
Comparisons, representation, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text.
What is the function of figurative language?
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one's fear." -- Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon
Choose a work of fiction in which a character makes a judgment that "something else" is more important than fear. Then, in a well-written essay [claim], analyze how the complexity of that judgment reveals values and contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole.
What is ________? (answers will vary)
"so much depends
upon"
What is "a red wheel
barrow?"
When the verb comes before the subject, for example.
What is inverted syntax?
Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence.
What is Literary Argumentation or What is writing an essay?
"Young people, nowadays, [said Lord Fermor] imagine that money is everything." "Yes, murmured Lord Henry, ..."and when they grow older they know it." -- Oscar Wilde.
Choose a work of fiction in which a character's attitude toward money illustrates or contradicts Lord Henry's observation. Then, in a well-written essay [claim], analyze how the complex role of money in the character's life contribute to an interpretation of the work as a whole.
What is __________? (answers will vary)
Positioning opposites next to each other to heighten the contrast.
What is juxtaposition?
The character (from a Modernist poem) who asked "Do I dare disturb the universe?"
Who is J. Alfred Prufrock?
The continuation of a sentence without a pause BEYOND the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
What is enjambment?
The details that reveal something about perspectives, motives, values, and intent.
What is the function of character or characters?
"...the beauty of the world...has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." - Virginia Woolf
Woolf's statement suggests that literary work achieves its greatest power by blending humor and suffering, laughter and anguish. Choose a work of fiction in which humor and suffering interact. Then, in a well-written essay [claim], analyze how the complex effect of this interaction contributes to an interpretation of the work as a whole.
What is _________? (answers will vary)