DO YOUR BEST

Literary Term Inventory

DIRECTIONS

Write down the definition of the literary term on each of the slides I present you

Determine which literary term/writing strategy is being described and write it next to the definition

You will have a “live” test on this tomorrow

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1)

The practice or art of using an object or a word to represent an abstract idea. Almost any action, person, place, word, or object can all have an alternative, representative meaning. When an author wants to suggest a certain mood or emotion, he can also use this term to hint at it, rather than just blatantly saying it. 

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey

From The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

2)

The attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience, is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary

From “The Raven,” by Edgar Allen Poe

3)

The place from which an author considers things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, it is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story, poem, essay etc.

I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.

From The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass

4)

 A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot and grasp its importance in a text.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

From, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, by Martin Luther King

5)

A literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces

What specific types of this term are represented in the following slides?

5a)

Opposing Force A): One ManOpposing Force B): A community or group of people

I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.From, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, by Martin

Luther King

5b

Opposing Force A): One person or a group of peopleOpposing Force B): The natural world

Because the land was mined and booby-trapped, it was SOP for each man to carry a steel-centered, nylon-covered flak jacket, which weighed 6.7 pounds, but which on hot days seemed much heavier.

From The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

5c)

Opposing Force A): One personOpposing Force B): His own desires

The little aluminum boat rocked softly beneath me. There was the wind and the sky. I tried to will myself overboard. I gripped the edge of the boat and leaned forward and thought, Now. I did try. It just wasn't possible.

From The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

5d)

Opposing Force A): One person or groupOpposing Force B): Destiny, or a pre-

established future

He has always pressed it, and he always will. We always let him and we always will let him. The moment is structured that way.

From Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

5e)

Opposing Force A): One ManOpposing Force B): Another person

Weary drew back his right boot, aimed a kick at the spine, at the tube which had so many of Billy's important wires in it. Weary was going to break that tube.

From The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

6

a typical character type, or an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. These character types are common and recurring representation in the history of the entire human race. These fact that these types of characters appear in literature throughout human history shows us how closely people are linked…

“Do or do not, there is no try”-Yoda, in the role of teacher

7)

A figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are separate from each other but have some characteristics common between them. When you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are using this term.

To carry something was to hump it, as when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps. In its intransitive form, to hump meant to walk, or to march, but it implied burdens far beyond the intransitive.

8)

A figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

He was dead weight. There was no twitching or flopping. Kiowa, who saw it happen, said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something just boom, then down—not like the movies where the dead guy rolls around and does fancy spins and goes ass over teakettle.

From The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

9)

A literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. It often appears at the beginning of a story or a chapter and helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a story. A writer may use dialogues of characters to hint at what may occur in future. In addition, any event or action in the story may throw a hint to the readers about future events or action. Even a title of a work or a chapter title can act as a clue that suggests what is going to happen.

Billy says that he first came unstuck in time in 1944, long before his trip to Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians didn't have anything to do with his coming unstuck. They were simply able to give him insights into what was really going on

10)

A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that may end up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference between the appearance and the reality.

Example 1: CASSIUS: “‘tis true this god did shake”

Example 2: “Water, water, everywhere,And all the boards did shrink;Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink.”

From “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge

11)

Generally, when the intended meaning is intentionally different than what the speaker actually says. We add extra meaning to our words when we use this term which allows us mock a some victim or topic with the purpose to amuse and/or hurt someone or something.

Mark Twain: “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”

BRUTUS: Be patient till the last.Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for mycause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe mefor mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, thatyou may believe: censure me in your wisdom, andawake your senses, that you may the better judge.If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend ofCaesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesarwas no less than his. If then that friend demandwhy Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I lovedRome more. Had you rather Caesar were living anddie all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to liveall free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he wasvaliant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, Islew him. There is tears for his love; joy for hisfortune; honour for his valour; and death for hisambition. Who is here so base that would be abondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? Ifany, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here sovile that will not love his country? If any, speak;

for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.

ANTONY: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones;So let it be with Caesar. The noble BrutusHath told you Caesar was ambitious:If it were so, it was a grievous fault,And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--For Brutus is an honourable man;So are they all, all honourable men--Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.He was my friend, faithful and just to me:But Brutus says he was ambitious;And Brutus is an honourable man.He hath brought many captives home to RomeWhose ransoms did the general coffers fill:Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

12)

A literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. This is a useful device for writers to portray their characters in great detail to create suspense and achieve a rhetorical effect. It is a human quality to comprehend one thing easily by comparing it to another. Therefore, a writer can make readers sense “goodness” in a particular character by placing him or her side by side to a character that is predominantly “evil”. Consequently, goodness in one character is highlighted by evil in the other character.

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, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. -A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

13)

Derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting,” this is a figure of speech which involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis. It is a device that we employ in our day-to-day speech. For instance, when you meet a friend after a long time, you say, “Ages have passed since I last saw you”. You may not have met him for three or four hours or a day, but the use of the word “ages” exaggerates this statement to add emphasis to your wait. Therefore, this writing strategy an unreal exaggeration to emphasize the real situation.

Cassius: Why, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.-From Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

14)

A figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.

“When well-appareled April on the heelOf limping winter treads.” (appareled means dressed and tread means to walk)

-Capulet from Romeo and Juliet

15)

The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect. This is possibly the oldest literary device as it has its roots in Biblical Psalms used to emphasize certain words or phrases.

“Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of

Pennsylvania.Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.”-From Martin Luther king’s “I Have a Dream Speech”

1 SYMBOL2 TONE3 POINT OF VIEW4 ALLUSION5 CONFLICT5a MAN V SOCIETY5b MAN VS NATURE5c MAN VS HIMSELF5d MAN V FATE5e MAN V MAN

6 ARCHETYPE7 METAPHOR8 SIMILE9 FORESHADOWING10 IRONY11 SARCASM12 JUXTAPOSITION13 HYPERBOLE14 PERSONIFICATION15 ANAPHORA