literary elements, devices & terms -...
TRANSCRIPT
Literary Elements, Devices & Terms
Mrs. Hartnett
Roy High School
All the Terms … you should know
these before the test … Allusion
Anachronism
Anadiplosis
Analogy
Anaphora
Anecdote
Antithesis
Aphorism
Apostrophe
Catharsis
Chiasmus
Colloquialism
Connotation
Contradiction
Deduction
Denotation
Ellipsis
Epiphany
Ethos
Euphemism
Expletive
Foil
Hyperbole
In medias res
Induction
Irony
Juxtaposition
Litotes
Logos
Loose Sentence
Metonymy
Oxymoron
Paradox
Parallelism
Parody
Pathos
Periodic
Polysyndeton
Sentence
Perspective
Repetition
Rhetorical Ques.
Sarcasm
Satire
Syllepsis
Syllogism
Synecdoche
Triad
Understatement
Zuegma
Allusion
DEFINITION: A causal and brief reference
to a famous historical or literary figure or
event:
EXAMPLE: “Plan ahead: it wasn't raining
when Noah built the ark.” --Richard Cushing
Notice in this example that the allusion is to a
very well known character and event, not to an
obscure one. The best sources for allusions are
literature, history, Greek myth, and the Bible. Also
note that the reference serves to explain or
clarify or enhance whatever subject is under
discussion, without sidetracking the reader.
Analogy DEFINITION: Compares two things, which are alike
in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how theidea or object is similar to an easier understood, familiar one.
EXAMPLE: “Mama always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.’” –Forrest Gump
What is the analogy in the next example? What does it accurately depict?
“They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water.” – from George Orwell’s essay “A Hanging”
The people are taking a prisoner to the gallows to be hanged. They are holding him firmly as if he were a fish which might slip and escape.
While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.
Anachronism
DEFINITION: The misplacing of any thing, person, custom or
event outside its proper historical time.
EXAMPLE 1:Act 2 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”:
“Brutus: Peace! Count the clock.
Cassius: The clock has stricken three.”
The time this play depicts is a point in history dating back to 44 AD.
Mechanical clocks referred to in the above-mentioned dialogue had
not been invented at that time but were present in Shakespeare’s
time. Thus, the mention of a clock in this play is an anachronism.
EXAMPLE 2: (same play) Act 1 Scene 2:
“…he plucked me open his doublet and offered them his throat to cut”
Romans at the time of Julius Caesar did not wear a doublet, a close-
fitted jacket, but it was a fashion among men at the time of
Shakespeare, and therefore its use in the play is an anachronism.
Anachronism comes from the Greek term anachronous which means
against (ana) time (chrono)
Anadiplosis
DEFINITION: rhetorical figure of repetition
in which a word or phrase appears both at
the end of one clause, sentence or stanza and at
the beginning of the next, thus linking the two
units.
EXAMPLE 1: “Love’s fire heats water, water cools not love.”
Shakespeare’s 154th sonnet
EXAMPLE 2: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”
Yoda, Star Wars
Example 3: “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.”
Anaphora
DEFINITION: In writing or speech, the
deliberate repetition of the first part of the
sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect.
EXAMPLE 1: – A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it
was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was
the winter of despair.”
EXAMPLE 2: William Wordsworth in “Tintern Abbey”
Five years have passed;
Five summers, with the length of
Five long winters! and again I hear these waters …
Anecdote
DEFINITION: A short and interesting story or an
amusing event often proposed to support or
demonstrate some point and make readers and
listeners laugh or brood over the topic presented for the
purpose.
EXAMPLE: from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“I’ll tell you a family secret,” [Daisy] whispered enthusiastically. “It’s
about the butler’s nose. Do you want to hear about the butler’s nose?”
“That’s why I came over to-night.” [Nick]
“Well, he wasn’t always a butler; he used to be the silver polisher for
some people in New York that had a silver service for two hundred
people. He had to polish it from morning till night, until finally it
began to affect his nose ——”
“Things went from bad to worse,” suggested Miss Baker.
“Yes. Things went from bad to worse, until finally he had to give up his
position.”
Antithesis
DEFINITION: two opposite ideas are put
together in a sentence to achieve a
contrasting effect. Antithesis emphasizes
the idea of contrast by parallel structures of
the contrasted phrases or clauses, i.e. the
structures of phrases and clauses are
similar in order bring forth judgment on a
particular subject
EXAMPLE 1: “Give every man thy ear, but few thy
voice.” – Polonius in Hamlet
EXAMPLE 2: To err is human; to forgive divine. –
Alexander Pope
AphorismDEFINITION: Statement of truth or opinion expressed in
a concise and witty manner. The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary principles.
EXAMPLES from Shakespeare
“Having nothing, nothing can he lose.”(Henry VI)
“Life is a tale told by an idiot — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth)
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”(A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Aphorisms often come with a pinch of humor, which makes them more appealing to the masses. Proverbs, maxims, adages and clichés are different forms of aphoristic statements that gain prevalence from generation to generation and frequently appear in our day-to-day speech.
Apostrophe DEFINITION: In literature, apostrophe is a figure of speech
sometimes represented by exclamation “O”. A writer or a
speaker, using an apostrophe, addresses a non-existent
person, inanimate object (such as a star or moon) or an
abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and capable of
understanding feelings.
EXAMPLES from John Donne:
“Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch” -- “The Sun Rising”
“Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me” -- “Death be Not Proud”
Catharsis DEFINITION: An emotional discharge through which one can
achieve a state of moral or spiritual renewal or achieve a state
of liberation from anxiety and stress; a profound realization.
EXAMPLE from Shakespeare, Macbeth:
In Act 1 Macbeth, well-regarded for his valor and talent, is made the
thane of Cawdor by King Duncan. However, carried away by ambition
and the supernatural advice, he loses his wife, his veracity and eventually
his life. The temptation of ambition robs him of the essence of his
existence as a human being and leaves behind nothing but discontent
and a worthless life. In Act V, Macbeth (5.5.24-28) gathers this idea in his
soliloquy. He says while speaking of his life:
“…a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing”
Catharsis is a Greek word and it means cleansing. In literature it is used for
the cleansing of emotions of the characters. It can also be any other radical
change that leads to emotional rejuvenation of a person.
Chiasmus DEFINITION: Two or more clauses which are related
grammatically and conceptually, but in which the grammar and concepts are reversed. Chiasmus is a figure of speech that displays inverted parallelism.
A simple chiasmus can be broken into parts labeled ABBA:
We ran away quickly; speedily, we fled.
A B ; B A
(A) a verb meaning “to escape” (B) an adverb that is a synonym of “rapidly
IAGO: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; (Othello by Shakespeare)It is the green-eyed monster which doth mockThe meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in blissWho, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;But, O, what damned minutes tells he o’erWho dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
A B , B A
“Dotes” and “strongly loves” are synonymous, while “doubts” and “suspects” are also synonymous. Note the alliteration as well. The two halves of the line are united grammatically, conceptually, and aesthetically. Explain chiasmus in these two:
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that counts.”
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Colloquialism or Local Color
DEFINITION: The writer embraces folk speech, local customs
and settings, regional character, temperament and manner of
dressing. Also called colloquialism or regional dialect.
EXAMPLE: “But I can’t lay hyeah long, doctah, case I ain’t got
nuffin’ to go on.” –Patsy’s mother in “The Finish of Patsy Barnes”
Deduction/Induction
Induction starts with known instances and arrives at a generalization, deduction involves a general principle or principles and arrives at a specific fact.
Example of Inductive Reasoning
Last year’s winter was colder than ever, therefore global warming must not be real.
Example of Deductive Reasoning
Think of the reveal moment from any detective story
Ellipsis Used in narratives to omit some parts of a
sentence or event, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps while acting or reading it out. It is usually written between the sentences as “…”.Example from “The Sisters” in Dubliners by James Joyce
My aunt waited until Eliza sighed and then said:
“Ah, well, he’s gone to a better world.”
Eliza sighed again and bowed her head in assent. My aunt fingered the stem of her wine-glass before sipping a little.
“Did he…peacefully?” she asked.
“Oh, quite peacefully, ma’am,” said Eliza. “You couldn’t tell when the breath went out of him. He had a beautiful death, God be praised.”
“And everything…?”
“Father O’Rourke was in with him a Tuesday and anointed him and prepared him and all.”
Epiphany It is a sudden realization that leads to a new perspective that clarifies a
problem or situation (similar to catharsis). A character may have an epiphany,or it may also occur in the narration such that the reader has the epiphany. Example of Epiphany from Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield
Just at that moment a boy and girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. They were beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father's yacht. And still soundlessly singing, still with that trembling smile, Miss Brill prepared to listen.
"No, not now," said the girl. "Not here, I can't."
"But why? Because of that stupid old thing at the end there?" asked the boy. "Why does she come here at all - who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?"
"It's her fu-ur which is so funny," giggled the girl. "It's exactly like a fried whiting."
"Ah, be off with you!" said the boy in an angry whisper. Then: "Tell me, ma petite chere--"
"No, not here," said the girl. "Not yet."
On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker's. It was her Sunday treat. Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not. It made a great difference. If there was an almond it was like carrying home a tiny present - a surprise - something that might very well not have been there. She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck the match for the kettle in quite a dashing way.
But to-day she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room - her room like a cupboard - and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time. The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying.
Ethos Appeal to Authority
In rhetoric, ethos represents credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved.
Origin of Ethos: The term has its roots in Aristotle’s “ingredients of persuasion” or “appeals.” He divides means of persuasion into three distinct categories: ethos, pathos and logos. He says in his treatise “On Rhetoric”: “Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are
three kinds. […] Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible.”
It is a means of convincing others of the character or credibility of the persuader. It is natural for us to accept the credibility of people whom we hold in reverence. Example of Ethos from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee “I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the
jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”
EuphemismPolite, indirect expressions which replace words & phrases
considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant or too indelicate for certain ears to hear. Everyday euphemisms: Kick the bucket, x-y-z, the birds and the bees, let go, break wind, fun-sized
Example of Euphemisms from 1984 by George Orwell The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment,
education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty.
George Orwell made much use out of the significance of euphemisms, and their potential danger, in his masterpiece dystopian novel 1984. The “Party”—the ruling government organization to which it seems no individual really belongs—has created four main ministries, as described in the excerpt above. Each one has a name that is directly opposed to the true nature of the ministry. This is just one way in which the Party uses language to confuse and distort reality.
In fact, Orwell’s creation of the term “doublethink” has become a well-known euphemism for the types of distortions that many politicians and media personalities use to explain their positions, which may be hypocritical.
Expletive NOTE: In the rhetorical world, expletive does not mean swear word.
Expletive is a grammatical construction that starts with the words like it, here and there, etc. Expletives serve as filler words through which writers shift other words to different places for emphasis. Hence, they have a purpose in writing; however, if you use them recurrently in a text, they will weaken the quality of writing.
Example of Expletives
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” (Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief …” (Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)
Foil
A secondary (minor) character who has qualities that contrast with the major with the objective to highlight the traits or to enhance the importance of the major character. Example of Foil from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson
Stevenson explores the theme of doppelganger in which “Hyde” is not only an evil double of the honorable Dr. Jekyll but also qualifies as his foil. “Jekyll” creates “Hyde” by a series of scientific experiments in order to prove his statement:
“Man is not truly one, but truly two.”
He means that the human soul is a mixture of evil and good. In other words, every man’s foil exists in himself. Hyde is the manifestation of the evil that existed in otherwise honorable Dr. Jekyll. Being a respectable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll can never fulfill his evil desires. Therefore, he separates his “evil-self ” and gave him a separate identity and thus invents his own foil.
Hyperbole
An exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.
Examples of Hyperbole
“I had to wait in the station for ten days-an eternity.” (Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”)
I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
(W.H Auden, “As I Walked One Evening”)
LITERARY TERMS PART 1 QUIZ
1. Allusion
2. Anachronism
3. Anadiplosis
4. Analogy
5. Anaphora
6. Anecdote
7. Antithesis
8. Aphorism
9. Apostrophe
10. Catharsis
11. Chiasmus
12. Colloquialism
13. Connotation
14. Contradiction
15. Deduction
16. Denotation
17. Ellipsis
18. Epiphany
19. Ethos
20. Euphemism
21. Expletive
22. Foil
23. Hyperbole
There will be 20 MC questions.
Some terms will be used twice
as answers.
Rare image of a shark stepping on a Lego
LITERARY TERMS PART 2 QUIZ
24. Imagery
25. In medias res
26. Irony
27. Juxtaposition
28. Litotes
29. Loose Sentence
30. Metaphor
31. Metonymy
32. Oxymoron
33. Paradox
34. Parallelism
35. Parody
36. Periodic Sentence
37. Polysyndeton / Asyndeton
38. Perspective / POV/ Narrative Voice
39. Repetition
40. Rhetorical Question
41. Sarcasm
42. Sardonic
43. Satire
44. Syllepsis
45. Syllogism
46. Synecdoche
47. Triad
48. Understatement
There will be 25 MC questions. Some terms will be
used twice as answers.
Imagery Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute
for and create sensory stimulation, including visual, sound, smell, taste, touch, physical or emotional imagery (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinesthetic, organic).
The impact of imagery is two-fold: Imagery helps the reader to experience the event/scene and it creates a certain emotional atmosphere - positive or negative
A toad the power mower caught,
Chewed and clipped of a leg, with a hobbling hop has got
To the garden verge, and sanctuaried him
Under the cineraria leaves, in the shade
Of the ashen heartshaped leaves, in a dim,
Low, and a final glade. (excerpt from The Death of a Toad by Richard Wilbur)
First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. The trees are
columns of slick, brindled bark like muscular animals overgrown beyond all reason. Every space
is filled with life: delicate, poisonous frogs war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation,
secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves. Vines strangling their own kin in the
everlasting wrestle for sunlight. The breathing of monkeys. A glide of a snake belly on a
branch. A single-file army of ants biting a mammoth tree into uniform grains and hauling it
down to the dark for their ravenous queen. And, in reply, a choir of seedlings arching their
necks out of rotted tree stumps, sucking life out of death. This forest eats itself and lives
forever. (from Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)
In Medias Res Literally means “into the middle of things.” Storytelling
technique in which the narrator begins the story at some
exciting point in the middle of the action, thereby gaining the
reader’s attention before explaining preceding events.
To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the
city, and it is a good highway and new. Or was new, that day we
went up it. You look up the highway and it is straight for miles,
coming at you, with the black line down the center coming at and
at you, black and slick and tarry-shining against the white of the
slab, and the heat dazzles up from the white slab so that only the
black line is clear, coming at you with the whine of the tires, and if
you don’t quit staring at that line and don’t take a few deep
breaths and slap yourself hard on the back of the neck you’ll
hypnotize yourself and you’ll come to just a the moment when the
right front wheel hooks over into the black dirt shoulder off the
slab, and you’ll try to jerk her back on but you can’t because the
slab is high like a curb, and maybe you’ll try to reach to turn off
the ignition just as she starts the dive. But you won’t make it, of
course. (from All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren)
Irony Verbal irony – what is said is opposite of what is meant
Dramatic irony – discrepancy between what a character says and what the reader or audience knows to be true
Situational irony – incongruity between appearance and reality or between expectation and fulfillment or between actual situation and what would seem appropriate
Cosmic irony – idea that fate, destiny, or a god controls and toys with human hopes and expectations; also, belief that the universe is so large and man is so small that the universe is indifferent to the plight of man
Max yells at his mother, threatening to cannibalize her. His mother then, in a fit of irony,puts him to bed without any dinner. Later, Max returns home when the monstersdeclare, “We’ll eat you up, we love you so.” (from Where the Wild
Things Are by Maurice Sendak)
Juxtaposition
Putting two or more ideas, places, characters and their
actions side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose
of developing comparisons and contrasts.
“Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.”
– Shakespeare, Sonnet 116
Litotes A negative statement is used to affirm a positive
sentiment. For example, when asked how someone is doing, that person might respond, “I’m not bad.” In fact, this means that the person is doing fine or even quite well. The extent to which the litotes means the opposite is dependent on context. For example, the person saying “I’m not bad” may have recently gone through a divorce and is trying to reassure a friend that things are okay. On the other hand, this person may have just won the lottery and says, “I’m not bad” with an enormous grin on her face, implying that things are, in fact, incredible.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragoust. (Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal)
I lived at West Egg, the — well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Loose & Periodic Sentences
Loose sentence: Makes complete sense if brought
to a close before the actual ending.
We reached Edmonton that morning after a turbulent flight
and some exciting experiences.
Periodic sentence: Makes sense only when the end
of the sentence is reached.
That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting
experiences, we reached Edmonton.
Metaphor
A direct comparison where one thing or idea substitutes for
another where it is said that one thing is another without the use
of the words like, as or than.
The pile of rags suddenly moved. To his surprise, the mound
was an old woman.
Metonymy/Synecdoche
This a way of referring to a specific portion of an item or idea that represents the whole item or idea and brings emphasis to this portion.
Do you know your ABCs? – what does ABCs stand for?
The alphabet!
Our farm employs three hired hands. - what does hands represent?
helpers
The pen is mightier than the sword. – what is meant by pen and sword?
pen = words, ideas sword = fighting
Let’s throw the pigskin around. – what is meant by pigskin?
football
Our taxes support the crown. – what is meant by crown?
Government. What does “crown” imply about government?
Narration/Point of View/Perspective
Narration: Telling a story
Point of view: position or vantage-point from which the
events of a story seem to be observed and presented to
the reader.
God’s eye view – knows all
“god-like” knowledge – some superior knowledge
Participant’s view – very limited
Narration/Point of View (cont’d)
First-person: Told by a character who is taking
part in the story, using the personal pronouns to
demonstrate the narrator’s involvement (I, me,
we); the story is restricted to his/her partial
knowledge and experience and therefore will not
give us access to other characters’ hidden
thoughts.
First Person Major: Main character tells his/her own story. (Anthem or Life of Pi)
First Person Minor: A minor character (his/her actions do NOT drive the plot) tells the story. (Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes, or Nick in The Great Gatsby).
Let me tell
you a story
that I was
involved in!
Narration/Point of View (cont’d)
Third-person omniscient: Narrator shows
an unrestricted knowledge of the story’s
events from outside or “above” them;
Narrator knows the thoughts of all the
characters in the story.
Third-person limited-omniscient: confines
reader’s knowledge of events to whatever is
observed by a single character or a small
group of characters
Narration/Point of View (cont’d)
3rd Person Objective: In this more telling, authors are like a
single movie camera that can see, hear and record, but only
from one perspective (there aren’t multiple cameras at
multiple locations). They are not in any character’s head but
function more as a reporter. However, they can still choose
an angle.
Here’s
my
version
Narration/Point of View (cont’d)
Many modern authors have also used
“multiple points of view,” in which
readers are shown the events from the
positions of two or more different
characters.
Oftentimes each chapter switches to a
different narrator
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara
Kingsolver
Here’s
the way I
saw it
Oxymoron / oxymoronic A description in which two opposite and almost incongruent ideas, objects or
characteristics are placed beside one another in a way that makes paradoxical sense.
Ex.: A paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun
("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used
for effect, to emphasize contrasts, incongruities, hypocrisy, or simply the complex nature of
reality. Examples: wise fool, ignorantly learned, pious hatred. Some others:
I do here make humbly bold to present them with a short account of themselves and
their art. . . . --Jonathan Swift
The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.
--Alexander Pope
He was now sufficiently composed to order a funeral of modest magnificence, suitable
at once to the rank of a Nouradin's profession, and the reputation of his wealth. --
Samuel Johnson
Oxymoron can be useful when things have gone contrary to expectation, belief, desire, or
assertion. The figure produces an ironic contrast showing how something has been
misunderstood or mislabeled:
Senator Rosebud calls this a useless plan; if so, it is the most helpful useless plan we
have ever enacted.
The cost-saving program became an expensive economy.
Paradox
Paradox: an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense,
but contains contemplative truth in it.
What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.
Parallelism (with oodles of examples) Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words. This can happen
at the word, phrase, or clause level. The usual way to join parallel structuresis with the use of coordinating conjunctions such as "and" or "or.”
Words and Phrases: With the –ing (gerund) and infinitive (to) forms of verbs:
Parallel Gerund:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and bicycling.
Parallel Infinitive:
Mary likes to hike, to swim, and to ride a bicycle.
OR
Mary likes to hike, swim, and ride a bicycle.
Note: You can use "to" before all the verbs in a sentence or only before the first one.
Do not mix forms.
Example 1:
Not Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.
Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle..
Parallelism (cont’d) Example 2
Not Parallel:
The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and in a detailed manner.
Parallel:
The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.
Example 3
Not Parallel:
The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and his motivation was low.
Parallel:
The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and lacked motivation.
Parallelism in Clauses A parallel structure that begins with clauses must keep on with clauses. Changing to
another pattern or changing the voice of the verb (from active to passive or vice versa) will break the parallelism.
Example 1: NOTE the pronouns!
Not Parallel:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and to do some warm-up exercises before the game.
Parallel:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game. —OR—
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, not eat too much, and do some warm-up exercises before the game.
Example 2: NOTE active/passive voice – which clause slipped into the wrong tense?
Not Parallel:
The salesman expected that he would present his product at the meeting, that there would be time for him to show his slide presentation, and that questions would be asked by prospective buyers.
Parallel:
The salesman expected that he would present his product at the meeting, that there would be time for him to show his slide presentation, and that prospective buyers would ask him questions..
Parody Parody is an imitation of a particular writer, artist or a genre,
exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect. The humorous
effect in parody is achieved by imitating and overstressing noticeable features
of a famous piece of literature, as in caricatures, where certain peculiarities
of a person are highlighted to achieve a humorous effect.
In literature, a parodist exploits the peculiarities of an author's expression--his
propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, or whatever. The
parody may also be focused on, say, an improbable plot with too many convenient
events.
Parody (con’t)Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to
remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a
lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a
greyhound for racing. (Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes)
Cervantes’s famous Don Quixote is an interesting example of
parody because the entire epic work is based off of the tradition of
the knight-errant. This was a popular tradition in Cervantes’s day,
and in the opening to Don Quixote we can see the beginnings
of this parody. A man originally known as Alonso
Quixano, takes on a new identity—that of “Don
Quixote”—and sets out on a quest with his lance,
ancient shield, skinny nag, and his friend Sancho
Panza. His quests are mostly ridiculous, such as
the famous scene in which he fights windmills.
Cervantes used this parody to help usher in a new
era of literature and rebrand these old chivalric tales
as out-of-date.
Personification The figurative representation of an animal or inanimate object as having
human attributes--attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. As the name implies, a thing or idea is treated as a person:
The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea.
This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.
Ideas and abstractions can also be personified:
Wisdom cries aloud in the streets; in the markets she raises her voice. --Prov. 1:20
Men say they love Virtue, but they leave her standing in the rain. --Juvenal
Love and faithfulness meet together.
Humanizing a cold abstraction or natural phenomenon provides a way to understand it so that we can further comprehend it. And even the so-called pathetic fallacy can sometimes be turned to advantage, when the writer sees his own feelings in the inanimate world around him:
After two hours of political platitudes, everyone grew bored. The delegates were bored; the guests were bored; the speaker himself was bored. Even the chairs were bored.
Syndeton /Asyndeton / Polysyndeton
The concepts of syndeton, asyndeton and polysyndeton all
refer to the usage of conjunctions. Syndeton is the “normal”
usage of conjunctions: “I wore a sweater, a hat, and a scarf.”
Asyndeton omits all conjunctions where they could be appropriate.
“I wore a sweater. A hat. A scarf. Mittens.”
Polysendeton adds conjunctions in places where they are not
contextually necessary.
“I wore a sweater, and a hat, and a scarf, and a pair
of boots, and mittens.”
What is the noticeably different effect
between the attitude when using
asyndeton vs. polysyndeton?
Repetition Repetition consists of repeating a word, phrase, or
sentence, and is common in both poetry and prose to
add emphasis, unity, and/or power.
“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we
shall all hang separately.” (Benjamin Franklin)
“We are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not
forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (St. Paul, The Bible)
“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in
an institution?” (Groucho Marx)
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can
do for your country.” (JFK)
Rhetorical Question
It is a question that is asked not to get an answer, but
instead to emphasize a point and elicit thought and
understanding on the part of the listener or reader.
The word “rhetorical” signifies that the question is meant as
a figure of speech.
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages,
and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody
ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any
best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have
ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could
head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much
as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a
woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to
slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus
heard me! And ain’t I a woman? –Sojourner Truth
Sarcasm A form of verbal irony, expressing sneering, personal
disapproval in the guise of praise or wit. In each of
these examples, who or what is being pilloried
(exposed to public scorn or ridicule)?
Politics: 'Poli' a Latin word meaning 'many'; and 'tics' meaning
'bloodsucking creatures'.” - Robin Williams
"I know not with what weapons
World War III will be fought,
but World War IV will be fought
with sticks and stones."
- Albert Einstein
"I am not young enough to know
everything."
- Oscar Wilde
"Some cause happiness wherever
they go; others whenever they go.”
- Oscar Wilde
Sardonic ADJ., disdainfully or skeptically humorous : derisively mocking
<a sardonic comment>
Irony is funny most of the
times. Sarcastic remarks may
be funny sometimes, provided
if you are not the target of
sarcasm. Sardonic may only
sound funny but it's never
funny, because it implies
bitterness. One example of
sardonic humor: “The good
news is that I don't need to
attend the Obedience Classes
every Saturday.” (because my
dog died)
Satire A manner of writing that mixes a critical attitude with wit and
humor in an effort to improve mankind and human institutions.
Includes ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and other techniques
The satirist may insert serious statements of value or desired behavior,
but most often she relies on an implicit moral code, understood by her
audience and paid lip service by them.
The satirist's goal is to point
out the hypocrisy of her
target in the hope that either
the target or the audience
will return to a real following
of the code. Thus, satire is
inescapably moral even
when no explicit values are
promoted in the work, for the
satirist works within the
framework of a widely spread value system.
Simile A direct, expressed comparison between two things essentially unlike each
other, but resembling each other in at least one way.
A variety of ways exists for invoking the simile. Here are a few of the
possibilities:
x is like y x is not like y x is the same as y
x is more than y x is less than y x does y; so does z
x is similar to y x resembles y x is as y as z
x is y like z x is more y than z x is less y than z
x does y the way z does a
When a noun is compared to a noun, the simile is usually introduced by like:
The soul in the body is like a bird in a cage.
When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used:
They remained constantly attentive, as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.
Here is your pencil and paper. Compete as the greatest hero would in the race of his life.
Simile (cont’d) Often the image precedes the thing likened to it. Here, so shows the comparison:
The grass bends with every wind; so does Harvey.
The seas are quiet when the winds give o're;
So calm are we when passions are no more. --Edmund Waller
But sometimes the so is understood rather than expressed:
As wax melts before the fire, / May the wicked perish before God. --Psalm 68:2b
Whenever it is not immediately clear to the reader, the point of similarity
between the unlike objects must be specified to avoid confusion and
vagueness. Rather than say, then, that "Money is like muck [manure]," and
"Fortune is like glass," a writer will show clearly how these very different
things are like each other:
And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. --Francis Bacon
Fortune is like glass--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. --Publilius Syrus
Like a skunk, he suffered from bad publicity for one noticeable flaw, but bore no one any ill
will.
Simile (cont’d) Many times the point of similarity can be expressed in just a word or two:
The pitching mound is humped too much like a camel's back.
He was as lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned his head against a wall to bark. --Proverb
And occasionally, the simile word can be used as an adjective:
The argument of this book uses pretzel-like logic.
This gear has a flower-like symmetry to it.
Similes can be negative, too, asserting that two things are unlike each other in one or more respects:
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. . . .--Shakespeare
John certainly does not attack the way a Sherman tank does; but if you encouragehim, he is bold enough.
Other ways to create similes include the use of comparison:
But this truth is more obvious than the sun--here it is; look at it; its brightness blinds you.
Or the use of another comparative word is possible:
How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.--Matt. 23:37b
His temper reminds me of a volcano; his heart, of a rock; his personality, of sandpaper.
Syllepsis (the more syntactical version of Zuegma)
the use of a word to modify or govern syntactically two or more
words with only one of which it formally agrees in gender,
number, or case so there is a grammatical error
"She exercises to keep healthy and I to lose weight."
The syllepsis occurs with the verb exercises. The problem is that only one
subject, "she" (not "I"), agrees with the verb.
the use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent
words in the context with one literal and the other metaphorical in
sense.
In each example, which use is literal and which is metaphorical?
Miss Bolo "went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair."
—Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
Rend your heart, and not your garments. —Joel 2:13
You held your breath and the door for me. —Alanis Morissette
Syllogism A syllogism is a form of logical reasoning that joins two or more
premises to arrive at a conclusion.
For example: “All birds lay eggs [major premise]. A swan is a bird
[minor premise]. Therefore, a swan lays eggs [conclusion].”
Syllogistic arguments are generally presented in this three-line
format.
Dr. House: Words have set meanings for a
reason. If you see an animal like Bill and
you try to play fetch, Bill’s going to eat you,
because Bill’s a bear.
Little Girl: Bill has fur, four legs, and a collar.
He’s a dog.
Dr. House: You see, that’s what’s called a
faulty syllogism; just because you call Bill
a dog doesn’t mean that he is . . . a dog.
Triad or Rule of Three
While there are many acceptable ways to make a point,
it is generally accepted in speech-making to:
1. Use one for power.
2. Use two for comparison, contrast.
3. Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness.
4. Use four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand.
“Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered) –Julius Caesar
“Friends, Romans, Countrymen. Lend me your ears.“—Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
“We can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow —
this ground.“ –Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people” —General
MacArthur, West Point Address, 1962
“Duty, Honor, Country” [repeated several times in the speech] —Barack
Obama, Inaugural Speech
UnderstatementAn understatement is a tool that helps to develop other
figures of speech such as irony and sarcasm by
deliberately decreasing the severity of a situation
when an intense response is expected by the listeners
or the readers.
“I have to have this operation. It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little
tumor on the brain.” –Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye by J.D.
Salinger
During a plane crash in 1982, after all four engines of British Airways
Flight 9 failed due to volcanic ash, the captain of the
flight made the following announcement: “Ladies and
Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a
small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are
doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust
you are not in too much distress.”
And then there’s the Black Knight from Monty Python
Zuegma (the more vocabulary based version of syllepsis)
A single verb in a sentence creates two different
senses by its attachment to two different objects.
“She took my advice and my wallet.” Nice.
“Trump dragged out his three
point plan and his latest wife.”
“The County Commission voted
to restore fluoride to the water
and sanity to the public debate.”