Literary Style & Figurative Language – Lecture Vocabulary

Figurative Language, Rhetoric & Style

• Figurative Language
  • Descriptive, imaginative wording that makes comparisons and activates the reader’s imagination.
  • Significance: Turns abstract or unfamiliar ideas into vivid mental images, enhancing retention and emotional impact.
  • Core categories: simile, metaphor, personification (all detailed later).
• Rhetoric
  • Carefully chosen words/phrases arranged to achieve effective, often persuasive, communication.
  • Practical Relevance: Central to political speeches, advertising, legal arguments.
  • Connection: Uses many of the figures of speech listed below as persuasive tools.
• Semantics
  • The study of meaning in signs, symbols, and words; examines both sense (meaning) and reference (manner of conveyance).
  • Importance: Determines how audiences interpret a message; semantic shifts can alter social perception.
• Style (Authorial Style)
  • The characteristic, often perfected, manner of writing unique to an author (e.g., Hemingway’s terse, journalistic prose).
  • Includes diction, syntax, imagery, tone, rhythm, and even thematic preoccupations.

Core Figures of Speech

• Simile
  • Indirect comparison using “like” or “as.”
  • Example: Dr. Fujii is “squeezed…\text{like} a morsel between two huge chopsticks.”
• Metaphor
  • Direct comparison without “like” or “as.”
  • Extended Metaphor: Sustained through multiple lines or the entire work (e.g., boys labeled “savages” in Lord of the Flies).
• Personification
  • Assigns human qualities to inanimate objects or animals (e.g., “my thoughts hum in my brain”).
• Synecdoche
  • A part represents the whole or vice-versa (e.g., “East Egg” for an entire social class).
• Trope
  • Umbrella term for any figurative or metaphorical use of a word (includes simile, irony, hyperbole, etc.).

Detailed Lexicon of Devices & Examples

• Anachronism
  • Parachronism: obsolete object projected into the future (abacus in a future computer lab).
  • Prochronism: present/future object placed in the past (soldiers with iPods in \text{WWI} trenches).
  • Literary Function: Highlights theme of timelessness, creates irony, or underscores satire.
• Anaphora
  • Repetition at the beginning of successive clauses (e.g., MLK’s “I Have a Dream”).
  • Creates rhythm, emphasis, and a cumulative persuasive force.
• Aphorism
  • Compact statement expressing universal truth (Nietzsche: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”).
• Apostrophe
  • Direct address to an absent/dead person or inanimate object (e.g., “Judge, O you gods …”).
• Archaism
  • Use of outdated diction (“vittles,” “thee,” “thou”) to evoke historical setting or authenticity.
• Cliché
  • Phrase once vivid/original that has become overused (“Big Brother”).
  • Writing Tip: Avoid unless used deliberately for irony or characterization.
• Colloquialism
  • Everyday, informal language unacceptable in formal prose (“flat broke,” “gonna”).
• Conceit
  • Extended metaphor employing a striking, sometimes elaborate comparison (e.g., lovers = blossoming flowers in sonnets).
• Connotation vs. Denotation
  • Denotation: literal dictionary meaning.
  • Connotation: emotional or cultural nuance (contrast “slim” vs. “scrawny”).
• Euphemism
  • Softened replacement for harsh reality (“passed away” for died).
• Gallows / Black Humor
  • Grotesque or morbid comedy exposing absurdity or cruelty (e.g., Ender’s Game quip: “I’m only fair-minded before and after battles”).
• Hyperbole
  • Deliberate overstatement (“I’m dying of hunger”).
• Idiom
  • Culture-specific phrase whose meaning can’t be deduced literally (“flat broke”).
• Invective
  • Vehement, abusive language (Swift on Gulliver’s “odious vermin”).
• Lampoon
  • Satirical ridicule targeting a person/institution (e.g., Mad Magazine).
• Malapropism
  • Comic misuse of a similar-sounding word (Tom & Huck’s speeches).
• Meiosis
  • Understatement for ironic emphasis (“’Tis but a scratch” while mortally wounded).
• Mixed Metaphor
  • Incompatible comparisons producing confusion (“snakes told us our plans and stabbed us”).
• Onomatopoeia
  • Word imitating sound (“hiss,” “splash”).
• Oxymoron
  • Two contradictory terms paired (“jumbo shrimp,” “planned spontaneity”).
• Paradox
  • Apparent contradiction revealing truth (a 5-year-old turning 20 due to leap years).
• Parallelism
  • Symmetrical structure enhancing comparison/emphasis (Lincoln: “…little note nor long remember…”).
• Pun
  • Wordplay exploiting multiple meanings/similar sounds (“mender of bad soles/souls”).
• Rhetorical Question
  • Asked to stimulate thought, not answer (“To be or not to be”).
• Sarcasm
  • Cutting, often ironic remark pointing out faults (Orwell’s satire of totalitarianism).
• Tropes Recap
  • Includes simile, metaphor, metonymy, irony, synecdoche, personification, hyperbole.

Complex Irony System

• Irony (General): Reality vs. expectation.
  • Cosmic Irony: Fate/the universe thwarts character ambitions (Henry’s false safety in Red Badge).
  • Dramatic (Tragic) Irony: Audience knows truth unseen by character (Proctor forgetting the adultery commandment).
  • Situational Irony: Event outcome contrasts sharply with expected result (Willie Loman’s hopes vs. failures).
  • Structural Irony: Naïve narrator’s misguided view differs from author’s; readers feel superior (Gulliver’s pious moral judgments).
  • Verbal Irony: Spoken contradiction between literal and intended meaning; sarcasm subtype (“too much i’ the sun/son”).

Stylistic Techniques

• Allusion
  • Brief reference expecting audience recognition (Biblical Flood in Grapes of Wrath).
• Caricature
  • Exaggerated portrayal for comic/satiric effect (the “Duke” in Huck Finn).
• Stream of Consciousness
  • Interior monologue replicating mental flow (Joyce’s Ulysses).
• Epiphany
  • Sudden insight altering understanding (Jurgis’s realization at the rally in The Jungle).
• Foreshadowing
  • Early hint of later events (Friar Lawrence’s speech in Romeo and Juliet).
• In Media Res
  • Narrative begins mid-action (Odysseus already imprisoned at opening of Odyssey).
• Melodrama
  • Plot/characters exaggerated; clear heroes/villains (“The Perils of Pauline”).
• Pathos
  • Writing mode invoking pity (sympathy for Jonas in The Giver).
• Poetic Diction
  • Elevated language reserved for poetry (“Ode: Intimations of Immortality…” by Wordsworth).
• Poetic License
  • Authorial freedom to ignore grammar/structure for effect (e. e. cummings’ unconventional punctuation).

Theme & Thematic Devices

• Theme
  • Central, universal insight about humanity (justice/dignity/freedom in To Kill a Mockingbird).
  • Conveyed via title, recurring quotations, motifs, symbols.
• Archetype
  • Universal pattern or prototype (reluctant hero—Bilbo Baggins; the heroic quest structure).
• Imagery
  • Sensory “word pictures,” often visceral (Sinclair’s nauseating descriptions of meatpacking plants).
• Motif
  • Recurrent element reinforcing theme (dishonesty throughout Ender’s Game—“Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth,” p=2).
• Symbol
  • Concrete object/person representing an abstract idea (dove = peace; white whale = evil in Moby-Dick).
• Thesis
  • Author’s explicit/implicit argumentative foundation (industrial exploitation in The Jungle).
• Tone
  • Authorial attitude shaping atmosphere (subtle rage permeates Spiegelman’s Maus).

Practical Usage & Exam Tips

• Learn not just definitions but effects: Ask “What purpose does this device serve in context?”
• Provide textual proof in essays—quote & analyze.
• Remember: Combining devices (e.g., anaphora + parallelism) multiplies rhetorical power.
• Watch for irony “stacking” (e.g., verbal within dramatic) to craft deeper analyses.

Quick Reference Equation / Numerical Mentions (wrapped as LaTeX)

• Leap-year paradox birthday: 5 \text{ years} = 20 \text{ calendar years}.
• Page/line citations in examples: (24), (207), (82), (11), (2) help locate passages.