Literary Techniques
A line of writing that consists of ten syllables in a specific pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
Iambic Pentameter
A statement that appears at first to be contradictory, but upon reflection then makes sense.
Paradox
“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.”
Edith Wharton
"I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep / As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, / Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, / Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede."
Ophelia (Hamlet)
He directed the 1993 film adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence
Martin Scorsese
When the audience or reader knows or understands something that the characters do not
Dramatic Irony
The attitude that a speaker or narrator has towards its subject
Tone
O that this too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! / Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd / His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!
Shakespeare
“Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo”
Simon Dedalus
John Keats's philosophy that the sign of true intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing or contradictory ideas in mind
Negative capability
Something happening that is very different to what was expected
Situational Irony
Descriptions of appearance, what one says, what one does, what one thinks, and what others say
Indirect Characterization
"Words. Was it their colours? He allowed them to glow and fade, hue after hue: sunrise gold, the russet and green of apple orchards, azure of waves, the greyfringed fleece of clouds."
James Joyce
"The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!"
Countess Ellen Olenska
Narrative technique whereby the author attempts to represent the inner workings and processes of the mind
Stream of Consciousness
The common narrative template of stories that involve a protagonist who receives a call to adventure, meets friends and foes along the way, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and returns home changed or transformed.
Hero's Journey
An extended speech by a single character who is alone on stage; provides the audience insight into what the character is thinking
Soliloquy
"Those that I fight I do not hate / Those that I guard I do not love"
W.B. Yeats
"I have measured out my life in coffee spoons"
J. Alfred Prufrock
A poem about a work of art, such as a painting or a sculpture
Ekphrasis
A style of third-person omniscient narration which goes deeper than just describing what a character thinks or feels, instead inhabiting the character's worldview. This technique allows an author to switch between external and internal perspectives.
Free Indirect Discourse/Speech
A major, unifying idea of a text, one that transcends the specific context of a narrative and offers an insight into something universal in the human condition
Theme
"If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, / Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts / Of tender joy wilt thou remember me"
William Wordsworth
"Never let women triumph over us."
Creon (Antigone)
A recurring image, object, or word that supports a central idea about a narrative, such as repeated references to eyes and sight in The Great Gatsby representing the superficiality of the characters
Motif