Literary Devices and Character Analysis: Key Terms and Concepts

1. Anecdote:

a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. It is

2. Aphorism

: a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty

3. Binary Opposition

: Contrasting ideas such as black/white, darkness/light,

good/bad, speech/writing, male/female, etc. These assume there are no gray areas

Binary Opposition

4. Irony:

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant.

A. Verbal irony

the words literally state the opposite of the writer's or

1B. Situational irony: events turn out the opposite of what was expected; what

events turn out the opposite of what was expected; whatthe characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does

C. Dramatic irony:

facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , the audience knows Juliet is in a drugged

Dramatic Irony

5. Juxtaposition:

two or more ideas, places, characters, and their actions areplaced side by side in a narrative or a poem , for the purpose of developing

26. Paradox

: It is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but whichmay include a latent truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement

7. Rhetorical Questions

: is asked just for effect, or to layemphasis on some point being discussed, when no real answer is expected.

8. Rhetoric

: From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governingthe art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively.

9. Sarcasm

: From the Greek meaning "to tear flesh,caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may

10. Shift

: a change from one tone, attitude, etc. Look for key words like but, however,even though, although, yet, and so on.

312. Theme

: The central idea or message of a work; the insight it offers into life.

1. Genre

: The major category into which a literary work fits

2. Allegory

: An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning. First, there's thesurface of the story: the characters and plot and all the obvious meaning. Thenthere's the symbolic level, or the deeper meaning that all the surface meaning

George Orwell's novel Animal Farm ,

allegory

3. Bildungsroman

: this genre of literature denotes the story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order.

4. Epistolary Novel

: a novel in which the narrative is carried forward by letters

5. Frame Story

: a story that contains a story within another story, usually has two or

46. Parable:

a short, simple tale from which a moral lesson is drawn.

7. Parody

: A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with thespecific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. As comedy, parody distorts orexaggerates distinctive features of the original

8. Prose

: One of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction,

9. Satire

: A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. It

Horatian satire:

A gentle, sympathetic form of satire in which the subjects mildly made fun of with a show of engaging wit.

Juvenalian satire:

Harsh criticism of a society, a people or individuals in order to affect a change.

10. Tragedy

addresses the sorrowful downfallof a protagonist in a serious manner. In classical tragedy, the protagonist is a

1. Characterization

: Description, dialogue, and behavior reveal characters to readers. Descriptions of characters may come from a speaker, narrator, other characters

2. Perspective

how characters understand their circumstances,

A. Intrinsic motivation

: linked to persona lpleasure, enjoyment and interest. It is inspired by some internal

B. Extrinsic motivation

motivation comes from somephysical reward such as money, power, or lust.

4. Protagonist

: The central character in a drama, novel, short story, or narrative

5. Antagonist

in the narrative opposes the protagonist

6. Foil

a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to

67. Minor characters

often remain unchanged because thenarrative doesn't focus on them.

9. Dynamic Character

undergoes changes throughout the narrative, due to conflicts he encounters on his journey.

faces trials and tribulations, and takes time to learn from his encounters, his

10. Static Character

is one that does not undergo innerchanges, or undergoes a little change, remaining unaffected by the events of the narrative

11. Round Character

in a novel , play , or story is a complex personality. Like real people, they have depth in feelings and passions.

12. Flat Character

s a type of character in fiction that does notchange too much from the start of the narrative to its end. Flat characters are

13. Archetypal characters

: When a character comes to represent, or stand for,and idea or concept, that character becomes symbolic; some symbolic

14. Epiphany

: While characters can change gradually over the course of a narrative, they can also change suddenly as the result of a moment of realization,

15. Dialogue

: A conversation between two characters.

A. Inner Dialogue

the characters speak to themselves

16. Aside

a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience, or to himself, while other actors on the stage appear not to hear.

17: Soliloquy

usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage; the speaker- reveals inner thoughts

1. Setting

includes the time and place during which the events of the textIt also includes the social, cultural, and historical situation

2. Archetypal settings

: A setting may become symbolic when it is, or comes to be, associated with abstractions such as emotions, ideologies, and beliefs.

4. Atmosphere/ mood

: The emotioncreated by the entirety of a literarywork, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects

5. Anachronism

: derived from the Greek word anachronous , whichmeans "against time.

A. Closed poetry

: include predictable patterns in thestructure of lines, stanzas, meter, and rhyme, which develop relationships

B. Open poetry

poetry may not follow expected or predictable patterns in the structure of their lines or stanza,

2. Meter

: a generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

3. Rhythm

: the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern

Iamb (iambic)

: duh-DUH, as in "above"

4. Feet:

the individual building blocks of meter. To build a line of verse, poets string

5. Scansion

: distinguishing the line length and type of feet; V

6. Rhyme

: the repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close

Approximate/slant rhyme

: two words are alike in some sounds, but do not rhyme exactly (now and know)

Eye rhyme:

only when spelled, not when pronounced.

7. Rhyme Scheme:

the pattern of end rhymes, labeled with capital letters for th

1. Ballad

: A popular narrative song passed down orally. Folk (or traditional)

2. Complaint:

A poem of lament, often directed at an ill-fated love. A complaint mayalso be a satiric attack on social injustice and immorality

4. Dramatic Monologue

: A poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader.

5. Elegy or Lament

: In traditional English poetry, it is often a melancholy poemits subject's death but ends in consolation.

6. Epic:

A long narrative poem in which a heroic protagonist engages in an action of great mythic or historical significance

7. Epitaph

: an inscription on a gravestone or a commemorative poem

9. Hymn

: A poem praising God or the divine, often sung.

11. Lyric Poem

: verse that expresses the personal observations and feelings of a single speaker. The term refers to a short poem in which the poet, the poet's persona, or another speaker expresses personal feelings.

12. Narrative Poem

: a poem that tells a story.

13. Ode:

A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates person, place, thing, or idea.

15. Sonnet

: a fourteen-line lyric poem usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

Shakespearean/English sonnet :

a sonnet which consists of three quatrains and a couplet. The most common rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

Petrarchan/Italian sonnet

: a sonnet which consists of an octave and a sestet

1. Blank Verse

: verse written in unrhymed, iambic pentameter. This 10-syllable line

is the predominant rhythm of traditional English dramatic and epic poetry, as it is

iamb

2. Couplet:

two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. Heroic couplet , additionally,

3. End Stopped Lines

: A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary

4. Enjambment

: The running-over of a sentence or phrase from one poetic line tothe next, without terminal punctuation; the opposite of end-stopped .

Free Verse

: Nonmetrical, non-rhyming lines that closely follow the natural pattern of speech

6. Refrain:

A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated regularly in a poem,

7. Stanza

: A grouping of lines separated from others in a poem. In modern free verse ,

Couplet : two lines that rhyme

two lines that rhyme

Tercet

: 3 lines

Quatrain

: 4 lines

Cinquain

: 5 lines

Sestet

: 6 lines

Septet

: 7 lines

Octave:

8 lines