Figurative Language
The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Ex. "Mosquito, she had said, had asked Ear to marry him, whereupon Ear fell on the floor in uncontrollable laughter. 'How much longer do you think you will live?' she asked. 'You are already a skeleton.' Mosquito went away humiliated..." (p.75) Things Fall Apart
What is Personification?
A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
What is an Allegory?
Could this be classified as a symbol?
How is this different from a symbol?
The set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure and arrangement of words in a sentence in spoken and written language, including word order.
What is Syntax?
Could dialect and/or diction be classified under this?
Characters, settings, images, or other motifs that stand in for bigger ideas, used to give their work more meaning and to make a story be about more than the events it describes.
What are Symbols?
How is this related to allegory and connotation?
When a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.
What is Verbal Irony?
How does this compare to other types of irony?
The use of vivid visually descriptive language to describe a phenomenon.
Ex. "The blazing sun returned, more fierce than it had ever been known, and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains." (p.23) Things Fall Apart
What is Imagery?
A type of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry.
What is an Extended metaphor?
Could the same be applied to similes, or do similes that extend over multiple lines classify as extended metaphors?
A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
What is Dialect?
Could this be considered as different forms of syntax?
A humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece or pieces of literature or writing from one or more other artists.
What is a Parody?
How does this differ from a Pastiche?
When actions or events have the opposite result from what is expected or what is intended.
Ex. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo committing suicide is the opposite of what was expected after he claimed he would survive anything.
What is Situational Irony?
How does this compare to other types of irony?
A figure of speech that directly compares two things by highlighting the similarities using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or " than".
Ex. "He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito." (p.63) Things Fall Apart
What is a Simile?
How is this different than a Metaphor?
Could this be classified as a metaphor, could a metaphor be classified as a simile, or could it be neither?
A work of literature that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists.
What is a Pastiche?
How does this differ from a Parody?
A writer's or speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem, story, speech, or writing.
What is Diction?
Could this be considered a writer's/speaker's choices in syntax?
A literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. It can be a repeated or recurring image, word, phrase, topic, situation, or action expressed in language.
What are Motifs?
Could these be considered symbols?
A literary device by which the audience’s or reader’s understanding of events or individuals in a work differs from and surpasses that of its characters, and is expressed through a work’s structure. The words and actions of the characters take on a different meaning for the audience than they have for the work’s characters.
What is Dramatic Irony?
How does this compare to other types of irony?
The use of language to exaggerate meaning to emphasize a point.
Hyperbole
How does this relate to an understatement?
A comparison between two things, typically for explanation or clarification.
What is an Analogy?
Could similes and/or metaphors be classified as analogies, or do they stand on their own?
A word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
What is Colloquialism?
Is this an example of diction?
The literal or primary meaning or translation of a word or sign.
What is Denotation?
How is this related to Connotation?
A literary device that contradicts itself but contains truth, or is both true and untrue at the same time.
What is a Paradox?
How does this relate and differ from an antithesis?
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Ex. "My in-law, Uzowulu, is a beast." (p.91) Things Fall Apart
What is a Metaphor?
How is this different from a simile?
Could this be classified as a simile, could a simile be classified as a metaphor, or could it be neither?
The act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect.
What is Juxtaposition?
Could similes, metaphors, and/or analogies be classified as forms of juxtaposition, or are they different?
Used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.
Ex. "Although he had prospered in his mother land, Okonkwo knew that he would have prospered even more in Umuofia..." (p.162) Things Fall Apart
What is an Antithesis?
A commonly understood cultural or emotional association, or idea or feeling, that any given word or phrase carries or invokes, in addition to its explicit, primary, or literal meaning.
What is Connotation?
How is this related to Denotation?
Could this be classified as a symbol?
A form of speech that contains an expression of lesser strength (smaller, worse, or less important) than what would be expected or what it actually is.
What is an Understatement?
How is this related to a hyperbole?