Shall I compare thee . . . ?
Quips
Matchmaking
Poetics
What's The Big Idea?
100
a direct comparison between two images using 'like' or 'as'
What is simile?
100
a more agreeable - or less offensive - way to phrase an unpleasant word or concept. for example: someone is not short, they are 'vertically challenged.'
What is euphemism?
100
Easily confused with metaphor - but unlike metaphor, this device uses 'like' or 'as' to denote a comparison.
What is simile?
100
a direct or indirect reference to something classical or commonly known. example from Cuckoo: when Harding tells McMurphy they are all "hippity-hopping through our Walt Disney world." (pg 61).
What is allusion?
100
Examples of this in Cuckoo include: Freedom, Mechanical Society, Laughter, and Silence.
What are themes?
200
a useful strategy for explaining something new; this strategy points out similarities between unfamiliar ideas or things
What is an analogy?
200
the ironic minimalizing of fact. example in Cuckoo: when the doctors and staff at the ward say that it will take time to fix McMurphy. "We've got time," the nurse replies.
What is understatement?
200
Diction refers to the word-level choices of an author. This strategy, its match, refers to the sentence-level choices of an author.
What is syntax?
200
the repetition of sounds (especially consonant sounds) in two or more neighboring words.
What is alliteration?
200
Objects (not always, but often) that represent bigger ideas in a work. Examples in Cuckoo: the keys, the nurse's wicker basket; the nurse's name (Ratched).
What are symbols?
300
this strategy is one of the most prevalent in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, using quick comparisons between seemingly unlike things to paint a more poetic picture
What is metaphor?
300
an overstatement of the facts for dramatic effect. the literal Greek translation of the word is 'overshoot.'
What is hyperbole?
300
Every word has two meanings: connotation, which is its implied, associative meaning, and this device, which is its literal meaning.
What is denotation?
300
When authors use words or phrases to smoothly link ideas together; effective device that we would like to see in all of your essays on Wednesday and Thursday.
What are transitions?
300
the collection of sensory details or figurative language in a piece of art or literature. In Cuckoo, this strategy is what often Kesey uses to create vivid, unique pictures in the reader's mind.
What is imagery?
400
when an implied comparison occurs frequently throughout a work. examples in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: the fog; machines.
What is extended metaphor?
400
bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. Example from Cuckoo: when Harding says to his wife, "Enough of anything, my bright little child."
What is sarcasm?
400
Themes are the central ideas of a work; this strategy is very similar, but takes theme one step further and makes a statement about its ideas.
What is thesis?
400
This rhetorical strategy was the primary device used in your Odes.
What is apostrophe?
400
1) an evaluation of the sum of decisions an author makes when using rhetorical strategies, and 2) a way to classify authors to a group or authors, as we do when defining literature from certain historical periods. Kesey's can be called 'countercultral,' 'anti-establishment,' 'rambling,' or 'imaginative.'
What is style?
500
'bigger' than metaphor. Rather than simply comparing two unlike things, this strategy compares big ideas using elements of the book (using light and dark to represent good and evil, for example). An example in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: the Combine.
What is allegory?
500
a entire style that uses sarcasm, irony, wit, parody, understatement, or hyperbole to target human vices or foolishness. This sarcastic style is exemplified by Harding in Cuckoo.
What is satire?
500
Parallelism refers to the similiar framing of sentences ("it was the best of times; it was the worst of times") and makes language sound smoother and more elegant. This strategy is a subset of parallelism. It refers specifically to a similiar, repeated word at the beginning of successive lines in sentences.
What is anaphora?
500
This specific kind of comparison is the underlying expression of much poetry. For example, in "In Praise of the Great Bull Walrus," it was the poem's central image of a walrus.
What is conceit?
500
Atmosphere and mood are nearly indistinguishable from each other - yet it can be said that mood changes more frequently than atmosphere, though both refer to the 'emotional aura' of a work. This strategy, while similiar to those two, refers more to the author's attitude towards his/her material.
What is tone?
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