WORKING WITH LITERARY DEVICES

And Homework for next week

LITERARY DEVICES

• Because so much of its meaning depends on form, speechmaking (like poetry and songs) , tends to use literary devices liberally.

• In fiction and nonfiction these devices tend to be scattered sparingly, singling out and linking together key moments within the broader narrative.

• Working with the devices in a speech/presentation as well as literary text means not only noticing them and identifying them properly, but asking what function they serve in the text as a whole.

FUNCTION

They can change the expected diction, or word choice and word order, creating patterns ofsound;

or they can change or supplement the expected meaning of words, creating patterns of figurative meaning.

PATTERNS OF REPETITION

In prose, drama, and speech, they can channel our attention, create associations, and emphasize the key moments in the narrative or argumentative structure.

The most common patterns of repetition are alliteration, assonance, consonance, and anaphora.

Patterns of Contradiction Antithesis achieves its effect by combining contradictory words, phrases, or concepts in a parallel or a chiastic construction.

When two antithetical words are combined more intimately as noun and adjective, we call the resulting device an oxymoron. Because there is no parallel structure to imply a comparison between two terms, an oxymoron, on the surface at least, istruly contradictory.

Like the oxymoron, a paradox presents an apparently contradictory assertion that eventually resolves itself into a kind of truth, often a poetic or

FOR NEXT WEEK….“Neutered” speech, or speech free of rhetorical figures, is a technical term in linguistics; it is also a useful exercise in seeing how the presence of rhetorical figures works to create meaning.

1. Find in the texts I provided you with examples of alliteration, assonance, consonance, oxymoron, antithesis, paradox and/or anaphora, and rewrite it, retaining the original diction and meaning as much as possible but “neutering” it, removing any literary devices that you find in it.

2. Write a paragraph comparing the original with your neutered version. How has the text changed in meaning as a result of your alteration?

Texts1. Bob Dylan (handout)2.Martin Luther Kinghttp://www.med.umich.edu/diversity/pdffiles/1%20January/January%20I%20have%20a%20dream.pdf 3. Shakespearehttp://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-short-speeches/william-shakespeare-richard-iii-speech-now-is-the-winter-of-our-discontent.htm 4. Sappho (handout)5. Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urnhttp://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/keats/urn.text.html 6. Churchillhttp://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-short-speeches/winston-churchill-speech-blood-toil-tears-and-sweat.htm