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.