Literary Elements
scheme, plan, framework, story structure
A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar
Metaphor
“Our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.”
Identify the rhetorical appeal from the example:
More than one hundred peer-reviewed studies have been conducted over the past decade, and none of them suggests that this is an effective treatment for hair loss.
logos
the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
Irony
“Go ask his name: if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
Two words having opposite meanings
Antonym
hot : cold punctual : tardy gorgeous : grotesque
the author or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, evident through diction or the viewpoint of an author or speaker on a particular subject
Tone
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
Hyperbole
“At that time Bogota was a remote, lugubrious city where an insomniac rain had been falling since the beginning of the 16th century."
Identify the rhetorical appeal from the example:
'Buy my old car or this cute little kitten, afflicted with a rare degenerative disease, will expire in agony, for my car is the last asset I have in the world, and I am selling it to pay for kitty’s medical treatment.’
pathos
the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences
Antithesis
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, i
the meaning of a word or phrase, usually as defined by a dictionary
denotation
the atmosphere of a piece of writing; it’s the emotions a selection arouses in a reader through diction, figurative language, and other choices
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance
Allusion
“The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere.”
Identify the rhetorical appeal from the example:
As an Educator I can tell you that public education may seem like an issue but attending these schools vastly outrank other instructional institutions
ethos
a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated
Metonymy
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
language that communicates a feeling or idea that is suggested by a word in addition to its basic meaning, or something suggested by an object or situation
connotation/ connotative language
The time, place, and circumstances in which something occurs or develops the time and place of the action of a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work.
Setting
An expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but must be learned as a whole
Idiom
“Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”
Identify the rhetorical device from the example:
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” Edward Bulwer Lytton
Metonymy
a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole
Synecdoche
"The captain commands one hundred sails"
The reader is able to make an educated guess, use reasoning or background knowledge to determine the meaning of an unknown word.
Inference
the underlying message or big idea of a talk, book, film, or other work
Theme
The presentation of a thing with underemphasis especially in order to achieve a greater effect; understatement
Meiosis
"Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.”
Identify the following rhetorical appeal from A Quilt of a Country
(I was the product of a mixed marriage, across barely bridgeable lines: an Italian girl, and Irish boy. How quaint it seems now, how incendiary then.)
ethos
an inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases
Chiasmus
“In his face Divine compassion visibly appeerd Love without end, and without measure Grace”
common narrative archetype, or story template, that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, learns a lesson, wins a victory with that newfound knowledge, and then returns home transformed
Hero's Journey