English lit techniques

english literature techniques

ellipsis

gaps or omissions in the narrative (often represented by … )

polysyndeton syndetic list

a list with a lot of conjunctives

autodiegetic narrator

a first person narrator who is also the protagonist

epistrophe

repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses/sentences

anaphora

repetition of a word at the beginning of successive clauses/sentences

Successive clauses

Successive clauses are simply clauses strung together. They may be complete clauses or not, but they must have a main clause to make a complete sentence.

cacophony

mixture of harsh and inharmonious sounds

verisimilitude

appearance of being true or real

declarative senctence

short, punchy sentence used for emphasis

hyperbole

exaggeration used for rhetorical effect

stream of consciousness

a characters interior monologue: a continuous flow of thoughts going on in a characters mind

pathetic fallacy

the use of setting, scenery or weather to mirror the mood of human activity

catharsis

an emotional release engendered by an intense experience

hamartia

a fatal flaw in a protagonist of a tragedy

refrain

a verse or line that repeats in different stanzas

irony

Irony is a way of using words to convey multiple levels of meaning that contrast with or complicate one another.

verbal irony

words are frequently used to convey the exact opposite of their literal meaning

dramatic irony

occurs when there is a contrast between the reader’s knowledge and the knowledge of the characters in the work.

Anachronic narrative

a narrative in which the order of events is not the same as the order in which they are told to us.

Analepsis/flashback/retrospection

a form of anachrony by which some of the events of a story are related at a point in the narrative after later story events have already been recounted.

Bildungsroman

a novel dealing with a character’s formative years.

Prolepsis/flashforward

a flashforward by which a future event is relatedas an interruption to the ‘present’ time of the narration.

Roman à clef

a novel in which real people and events appear but with invented names.

antithesis

opposites

Asyndetic list

refers to where the writer leaves out conjunctions, uses commas 

fronted conjunction

A fronted conjunction is just a conjunction that it at the beginning of a sentence.

The effect is to emphasise the fronted item.

• Tricolon

• Power of 3

• Triadic structure

group/collection of words in a group of three