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Literary Elements

Plot

Plot is the sequence of related events in a work of literature. It may be simple or complex,

and it includes what characters do, think, and say. The word first used by Aristotle for plot

in Poetics was mythos (origin of the word myth). According to Aristotle, plot was the "soul

of tragedy": its "first principle." The general structure of plot is as follows:

Exposition: gives information about settings and characters

Conflict: struggle between characters or forces (ideas, actions, desires, wills, goals,

etc.) that brings about action

internal conflict: occurs within an individual

external conflict: when an individual struggles against an outside force

(an animal, a force of nature, another character, etc.)

Complications: new conflicts or setbacks for the main character

Climax: decisive turning point in a narrative; the "high point," or moment of

greatest intensity

rising action: leads up to the climax

falling action: occurs after the climax (between the climax and

resolution)

Denouement: the resolution; the aftermath or outcome of the plot; how things are

settled in the end


Suspense: curiosity about the plot's outcome; makes us want to know what happens next

Foreshadowing: technique in which an author plants clues about what will happen next

Detective story: story in which the plot consists of solving a mystery; Edgar Allan Poe's "The

Murders in the Rue Morgue" is recognized as the first American detective story

Flashback: a scene that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier

Epiphany: a moment of understanding, insight, or revelation experienced by a character

concerning what is happening to him or her

Tall Tale: story in which the plot contains wild exaggerations, vivid settings, the use of

dialect, and a "hero" with superhuman characteristics

Plot manipulation: occurs when an author overuses chance or coincidence; in other words,

the outcome of the plot is not justified by the situations or characters involved in the story

(the author is "manipulating" the events); one method of plot manipulation is deus ex

machina (literally "god from the machine"), a technique by which Greek dramatists would

have a god or goddess descend from heaven at the last possible moment to rescue the main

character from an impossible situation (This was accomplished in Greek theater by use of a

stage machine)

Chronological order: the narration of events in the order they occur in time

Stream of consciousness: a writing style that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a

character's thoughts, feelings, memories, and mental images as the character experiences

them; the term was first applied to the human mind by William James in Principles of

Psychology; James Joyce, Katherine Anne Porter, and William Faulkner are among the

authors most closely associated with this technique


Character

A character is a person (or animal or natural force presented as a person) in a work of

literature. Characterization is the way an author presents a character. An author using

direct characterization makes statements about the characters and tells us what characters

are like. In indirect characterization, the author lets us draw our own conclusions about a

character based on what the character says or does, how he or she is dressed, or what other

characters think about him or her. When characters speak directly to one another, they

engage in dialogue. To be convincing, characters should be consistent in behavior, clearly

motivated (we must understand the reasons characters talk and act as they do), and

believable in their actions. Below are some character types.

Protagonist: the main character in a work of literature

Antagonist: a character or force opposing the protagonist; not necessarily a villain or "bad

guy"

Foil: a type of antagonist that offsets the protagonist or other characters by comparison or

by stopping a plan

Static Character: a character who does not change

Dynamic Character: a character who changes in an important way

Flat Character: a "one-sided" character; displays only one or two distinguishing traits;

usually can be summed up in one sentence

Round Character: a character presented in-depth from many angles; may be complex and

many-sided

Stock Character: a familiar character type requiring little or no imagination on the part of

the author (mad scientist, silent sheriff, cruel stepmother, eccentric detective)

Stereotype: a conventional, oversimplified opinion or image of a person or group of people;

related to stock character


Archetype: a prototype, model, or "perfect example"; i.e., Daniel Boone as an archetype of

the American frontiersman

Tips for Understanding Character

1. Recognize and consider physical

characteristics and behaviour.

2. How do characters change during the course

of the story?

3. What causes characters to change?

4. How are changes demonstrated in what

characters do and say?

5. Are there any similarities between or among

the characters?

6. What are the differences between or among

characters?

Irony

Irony is a general term for the contrast between appearance and reality; a contrast between

what appears to be true and what is true.

Verbal Irony: occurs when a character says one thing and means something

else

Dramatic Irony: occurs when the reader knows something a character does

not know; the character is unaware of how things he or she does and says

contrast with the truth

Irony of Situation (Situational Irony): occurs when a character's actions bring

unexpected results; events turn out opposite of what is expected or what

should be


Point of View

A story's point of view is the angle or position from which a narrative is told.

First-person point of view: the narrator is one of the characters and tells the

story in his or her own words; uses the words I, me, we, and us; the reader

only knows what the narrator knows and observes

Third-person point of view: the narrator is not one of the characters (an

outside observer) and uses the words he, she, it, they, and them; the two

types of third-person point of view are limited and omniscient; third-person

limited focuses on the feelings and thoughts of one character; third-person

omniscient has an "all-knowing" narrator who can describe the thoughts and

feelings of all characters (omni- means "all")

Objective/Dramatic point of view: the narrator does not reveal the feelings

and thoughts of any character; the narrator only records what is seen and

heard; the reader, like a spectator at a movie or play, can only infer what

characters feel

Setting

The setting is the time and place in which events of a literary work take place (geographical

location, weather conditions, historical context, time, psychological state of characters, way

of life of characters, etc.); not just where events take place; settings may be symbolic,

representing ideas larger and more significant than the literal time and place.

Verisimilitude: the appearance of reality (time and place) in fiction

Local colour writing: general name for a writing style that uses details associated with a

particular setting; therefore, readers get ideas about the dress, speech, customs, and

scenery of a location; Mark Twain was the "pioneer" of local color writing in American

literature


Vernacular Style: writing style that imitates or suggests the everyday spoken language of

people in a particular locality; would be used by someone writing local color fiction

Dialect: the characteristic speech of a particular time, region, or social group; "the way

people talk"

Voice: the language style adopted by an author to create the effect of particular speaker

Theme

A work's theme is its main, controlling idea: its central insight or understanding about

life. The theme of a literary work my be implied or stated.

Didactic literature: literature that is designed to teach a moral lesson; didactic comes from

the Greek word for "teaching"; the Bible is an example of didactic literature

Moral: a practical lesson about right or wrong conduct or a rule for living in general

Cliché: a familiar, overused expression; begin as fresh, powerful expression but lose their

impact over time; many rely on figurative language; some common clichés are as follows:

quiet as a mouse busy as a bee deep, dark secret

as cold as ice needless to say crack of dawn

out of the blue get the lead out after all is said and

done

at a loss for words easier said than done light as a feather

bored to death time is money raining cats and dogs

You can't judge a book by its

cover.

Sentimentality: when an author makes an insincere appeal to the reader's emotions using

faked tender feeling, oversimplification, emotion, or exaggeration; a type of plot

manipulation


Pathos: refers to qualities designed to arouse pity or sorrow in the reader (hint: think of

the word pathetic)

Tips for Stating the Theme of a Literary Work

1. Express the theme as a complete statement,

not a word or phrase.

2. The theme should be a generalization, but

not too broad or specific. Be sure your

statement is supported by setting, tone, plot,

and symbolism.

3. Avoid words like always, never, all, or none.

4. Do not express the theme as a cliché or

moral, unless the story is designed to be

instructive.

Tone and Style

Tone is the general attitude a writer takes toward the subject. Style is the author's way of

writing. An author may use a variety of words and sentence structures. Sentence length

(short or long), the amount of action versus the amount of description, and the amount of

dialogue used to tell the story are among the elements of a writer's style. Whereas a plain

style contains simple words in clear order, an ornate style consists of learned references,

odd sentence structures, and/or parallelisms (think: ornaments are decorations, so an

ornate style is "decorated").

Diction: word choice in speech or writing; may be formal or informal; may be elementary or

"elevated," depending on the audience

Colloquial language: informal language; language that is "conversational"

http://scott.k12.va.us/jshipley/litel/LEPacket.htm#Parallelism


Oxymoron: the use of two opposite or contradictory ideas; the plural is oxymora; some

examples are as follows:

plastic glasses small crowd found missing tight slacks

military

intelligence good grief pretty ugly

government

organization

sanitary landfill peace force friendly fire small fortune

gentle giant act naturally terribly

pleased soft rock

resident alien definite maybe sweet sorrow same difference

diet ice cream clearly

misunderstood honest thief student teacher

white grapes jumbo shrimp night light

Denotation: the literal or "dictionary" meaning of a word

Connotation: the unspoken or unwritten meanings associated with a word beyond the

"dictionary" definition

Syntax: the way phrases and clauses are structured in writing; a writer should vary

sentence structure as much as possible

Parallelism: the repetition of phrases and sentences that are similar in structure or

meaning; most frequently used in persuasive writing; for example, each of the Ten

Commandments begins with "Thou shalt. . . ." or "Thou shalt not. . . ."

Rhetorical Question: a question to which the answer is obvious; the person asking the

question knows the answer; frequently used in persuasive writing

Euphemism: an expression or "phrase" that is "prettier" or less harsh than the word or

word it represents; often used in place of words considered unpleasant, painful, or offensive;

when courtesy and tact are required, euphemisms are properly used; if the euphemism is

misleading or being used to cover up the truth, however, you should use the more precise,


original term; the adverb form of the word is euphemistically, and the adjective form is

euphemistic; some examples are as follows:

Unpleasant Term Euphemism

die pass away

false teeth dentures

to arrest to detain

to spy to do intelligence work

propaganda information

retreat strategic withdrawal to the rear

garbage collector sanitation engineer

old age golden years

poor economically disadvantaged

sneak attack pre-emptive strike

lay off workers restructure/downsize

garbage dump landfill

public toilet comfort station

prison correctional facility

library learning resource centre

short vertically challenged

Sarcasm: language that expresses an idea by saying the opposite

Archaic words: words that are no longer in actual use (thou for you, shalt for shall, etc.)


Jargon: specialized vocabulary for technical or professional fields; may be unfamiliar or

confusing to "outsiders"; frequently found in magazines and newspaper articles; avoid using

jargon that is unfamiliar to your audience.

Sports Arts Science Business

bullpen harmony black hole capital

gridiron choreography nova debit

line drive abstract biosphere commodity

rebound epic enzyme monopoly

squeeze play ballad quasar prime rate

blitz cast quantum recession

safety melodrama fission overhead

face-off merger

Gobbledygook: difficult words or complicated sentences (unintelligible, nonsensical

language); often used to sound well-informed and impressive; found frequently in

professional, public, and private statements (officialese)

This policy is issued in consideration of the application therefore, a copy of

which application is attached hereto and made part hereof. Payment for said

insurance is on file of the above-named issued. The previous statement's

meaning is as follows: Here is your insurance policy, and our record shows

that you have paid for it.

Redundant Expressions: express the same meaning twice

advance warning Jewish rabbi

join together advance planning

new innovation leave from

close scrutiny completely unanimous

proceed forward return back

same identical sudden impulse


end result exact same

share together unexpected surprise

tuna fish young child

new baby

Wordiness and "Padded Language": the use of more words than are necessary to express

an idea; unnatural, imprecise

Her olfactory system was suffering from a temporary inconvenience means the

same as Her nose was blocked.

Below are some examples of wordy, "padded" expressions:

at the end of = after

at the present moment/at this moment in time = now

because of the fact that = because, since

what I want is = I want

with the exception of = except

by means of = by

in view of the fact that = because

is located in = is in

rarely ever = rarely

which was when = when

due to the fact that = because

for the reason that = because

"Padded": Pat hasn't been to school due to the fact that he is sick.

Revised: Pat hasn't been to school because he is sick.

"Padded": The statue that is in the plaza towers over the capital.

Revised: The statue in the plaza towers over the capital.


General/Other Terms and Concepts

Escape Literature: literature written for pleasure or entertainment; designed to take us

away from the real world and help us pass time

Interpretive Literature: literature written to bring pleasure, as well as broaden, deepen, or

sharpen our awareness of life

Artistic unity: when nothing irrelevant is included in a work of literature; nothing is there

for its own sake or its own entertainment

Literary analysis: an explanation of a literary work; should be written in present tense

Genre: a category with shared characteristics; literary genres include mystery, romance,

western, science fiction, etc.

Prose: any type of writing organized into sentences and paragraphs; in other words,

"normal" writing (not poetry)

Narrative: a collection of events telling a story; may or may not be true

Persona: a personality created by the author to tell a story or provide the voice of a poem;

the narrator is the persona in a story; the speaker is the persona in a poem

Epigraph: a brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work

Allusion: a meaningful, indirect reference to a well-known character, place, quotation, or

situation for the sake of comparison; most commonly biblical, historical, musical, and

mythological; success determined by the level of the reader's knowledge of the thing being

alluded to (you have to "get it" for it to be effective)

Analogy: a comparison between two things similar in a number of ways; a way to explain

unfamiliar things by using familiar things (heart's structure to a pump, a camera to the

human eye, etc.); in argument by analogy, a writer compares two similar situations, implying

that the outcome of one will resemble the outcome of another; an analogue is a piece of

writing that is similar in some way to another


Paradox: a statement that seems to contradict itself, yet makes sense when considered

thoughtfully (A tiger is a beautiful, dangerous creature.); the adjective form is paradoxical,

and the adverb form is paradoxically

Anecdote: an interesting story told to make a point; may be humorous or serious; often a

biographical incident

Juxtaposition: the act of placing two items side-by-side, often for contrast; often done with

characters; the verb is juxtapose

Inference: a conclusion based on the evidence available; figuring out something by using

what you already know; infer is the verb (past tense is inferred)

Aphorism, or Proverb: a brief statement, usually one sentence in length, that expresses

some truth about life in short, easily remembered form

Parody: humorous, exaggerated imitation of another work; written merely to amuse the

reader

Satire: a work that uses mockery, irony, and wit to make fun of something (habit, idea,

custom) or someone; written to arouse contempt (make someone angry) or lead to a

change

Imagery: the use of vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste,

and smell); produces mental images (lively sensory impressions); authors enhance the

imagery of writing through the use of sound devices and figurative language


Sound Devices

Sound devices may draw attention to words a writer wants to emphasize, connect words, or

create special moods.

Onomatopoeia: the use of a word that suggests the sound it makes; creates clear sound

images and helps a writer draw attention to certain words; examples include buzz, pop, hiss,

moo, hum, murmur, crackle, crunch, and gurgle

Alliteration: the repetition of initial (first) consonant letters or sounds in word groups; term

comes from the Latin word allitera, meaning "adding letters"; examples include wild and

wooly, sweet sixteen, through thick and thin, dime a dozen, and big blue balloon; recognized

by sound, not by spelling (know and nail alliterate, and know and key do not)

Assonance (partial rhyme, near rhyme): the similarity or repetition of similar vowel sounds

in word groups; examples include right-hive and pane-make; lake and stake rhyme, while

lake and fate contain assonance

Consonance: the repetition of inner or end consonant sounds in word groups, without a

similar correspondence of vowel sounds; similar to alliteration, except consonance does not

limit the repeated sound to the first syllable (Margaret got a velvet hat)

Euphony: pleasant combination of sounds; smooth-flowing meter and sentence rhythm

give lines euphony; generally, lines with a high percentage of vowel sounds in proportion to

consonant sounds tend to be more melodious, or "euphonic"

Cacophony: "bad-sounding"; refers to the unpleasant discordant (cacophonous) effect of

sounds or words; sometimes used by writers to give their writing a special effect;

Dissonance is the arrangement of cacophonous sounds in words or rhythmical

patterns


Figurative Language

Literal language, straightforward and matter-of-fact, means exactly what it says. A writer

using literal language states an idea directly. Figurative language, on the other hand, uses

figures of speech to go beyond literal meanings. Authors using figurative language make

comparisons and indirect statements to help us see things in vivid, imaginative ways. A

figure of speech is any way of saying something other than the literal, ordinary way. Some

commonly-used figures of speech are given below.

Metaphor: a figure of speech comparing things that are basically unalike to make the

reader see them as similar in some way; metaphor is Greek for "transfer" (meta means

"across," and phor/pher means "carry")

Stated (direct) metaphor: stated directly (The thief was a fox. She is a doll.);

metaphors may follow linking verbs such as become or remain (The boy

remained a rock for his family during the tragedy. The offensive line became

an effective wall to run behind during the game.)

Implied metaphor: the connection between two things is suggested rather

than stated (He strutted across the room.)

Extended metaphor: a comparison developed in detail, i.e., throughout an

entire poem

Simile: a comparison of things that are basically unalike by using the words like, as, as if,

than, such as, or resembles; technically, a simile is a type of stated metaphor; most similes

begin with like or as

The unkind words struck like a knife in the girl's heart.

His hands are like leather.

She eats like a bird.

He is skinny as a rail.

The cave was as dark as a tomb.


It is important to know that not all phrases beginning with like or as are

similes. Look at the following sentence and notice that two unalike items are

not compared: He got some shoes like Bill's. In that sentence, the author is

speaking literally, not figuratively.

Symbol: a person, place, thing, or event that means more than it is; a dove is a symbol of

peace, a heart is a symbol of love, an eagle is a symbol of the United States, a skull and

crossbones is a symbol of poison, etc.; symbolism is the use of something to stand for more

than it is; a work of literature may have a symbolic meaning

parable: a short narrative that illustrates a moral or religious lesson; uses

everyday situations

fable: a story (with animals as characters) that illustrates a moral (usually a

short, simple lesson); for example, "slow and steady wins the race" in "The

Tortoise and the Hare"

allegory: a narrative or description that serves as an extended metaphor (has

a symbolic meaning beneath the surface); contains characters, actions, or

settings representing ideas abstract qualities or ideas; stories are usually long

and complex; meant to explain or teach a moral idea or lesson; may be

written as fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or

genre; John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678) and Edmund Spenser's The

Faerie Queen are the most famous allegories in English literature, and the

American author most closely associated with allegory is Nathaniel Hawthorne

Personification: technique in which an author gives human characteristics to nonhuman

things (animals, natural forces, objects, ideas, etc.); examples are Jack Frost, Old Man

Winter, Mother Nature, etc.; sentences with personification are as follows:

The angry sky thundered overhead.

The land was glad rain finally came.

The waves danced upon the beach.


The tree stood tall like an old warrior.

Pun: a figure of speech involving a play on words; a word used to express two meanings at

the same time; a joke based on words with several meanings or words that sound the same

but have different meanings.

The gorilla went ape when he saw the bananas.

On the side of the diaper delivery truck was written "Rock a Dry Baby."

A plumber's advertisement said, "A flush is better than a full house."

Synecdoche: the use of part of a thing to stand for the whole, or vice-versa

Give me a hand with this, please.

I got pulled over by the law.

Metonymy: when an author substitutes the name of one thing for that of another closely

associated with it

The White House decided. . . . (meaning The President decided. . . .)

Lands belonging to the crown. . . . (meaning Lands belonging to the king. . . .)

Hyperbole: overstatement; a deliberate exaggeration used for an ironic or humorous effect

to emphasize a point; from the Greek word for "overcasting"

I'm starved. I'll die if I don't pass English.

He calls a million times a day. He's older than dirt.

Conceit: a type of hyperbole; an extended comparison or metaphor between

two startlingly different things; examples include the works by the English

metaphysical poets, as well as Edward Taylor's "Huswifery"

Understatement (litotes): when a serious matter is treated as a small one for an ironic or

humorous effect (a statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is

meant); used frequently in everyday speech; usually has a negative assertion and ironic

intentions; examples would be calling a slow person "speedy," calling a fat boy "Skinny," etc.

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/3108.html


Antithesis: the balancing or contrasting of one term against another; an example is found in

Shakespeare's words, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Apostrophe: device in which the narrator addresses a personified abstraction (an absent or

imaginary person, quality, or something intangible), as if the thing was present and could

reply; in "The Rhodora," for example, Ralph Waldo Emerson addresses a flower as if the

flower were a person; at Christmas, many people sing "O, Christmas Tree" (they are singing

to a tree); children may say "Rain, Rain, Go Away!" (they are talking to rain)

Basic Elements of Poetry: Rhyme, Rhythm, and Meter

Poetry as a literary form may be defined simply as a patterned expression of ideas in

concentrated or imaginative terms, usually (but not necessarily) containing rhyme and a

specific meter.

Form: a poem's design as a whole; its shape or structure

closed form: the poet follows some sort of pattern

open form: the poet does not follow a pattern; instead, the poem is shaped

as is moves along, often adding emphasis as it goes

Subject: the central topic of a poem

Speaker: the voice telling the poem; a poem may have more than one speaker; the speaker

and the poet are not necessarily the same

Persona: a "mask" the poet creates to provide the speaker of a poem; when analyzing

poetry, be sure to distinguish between the poet and the speaker (if there is a difference)

Satiric Poetry: poetry that makes fun of human corruption, wickedness, or foolishness

Repetition: the recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, or lines in poetry


Rhyme: the similarity or likeness of sound existing between two words; the repetition of

sounds that are similar or identical; expresses strong feelings and enhances the meaning

and impact of poetry

masculine rhyme: the rhyme of one-syllable words or words with a final

stressed syllable (light/sight, defeat/retreat)

feminine rhyme: occurs in words of two or more syllables; stress is placed on

a syllable other than the last (better/setter, Cindy/windy)

internal rhyme: the repetition of similar sounds within lines

end rhyme: the repetition of similar sounds at the end of lines

perfect/exact/true rhyme: different initial consonant sounds are followed by

similar vowel sounds (tie/lie, meet/feet)

approximate/slant/off rhyme: only the final consonant sounds are identical

(comb/tomb, cat/cot, hope/cup); see consonance

rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhymes formed by the end rhyme in a poem;

first sound is a, second sound is b, third sound is c, etc.

Rhythm: the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (beats) we hear in poetry;

stress is simply the greater amount of emphasis we give to a syllable in speaking; stressed

syllable is accented (long); unstressed syllable is unaccented (short)

Meter: the pattern of rhythm in a line of poetry; from the Greek word meaning "measure";

the type of meter depends upon the placement of stress within each poetical foot (see chart

below)

Poetical foot: unit used to measure rhythm in a line of poetry; consists of two or three

syllables; lines of poetry consist of a series of feet; poetic lines are classified according to the

number of feet per line (clues in prefixes)


monometer: 1 foot trimeter: 3 feet pentameter: 5 feet heptameter: 7 feet

dimeter: 2 feet tetrameter: 4 feet hexameter: 6 feet octameter: 8 feet

Scansion: the process of analyzing rhythm in a poem and marking poetical meter and feet

as stressed ( ¯ or ’ ) and unstressed ( u )

Types of Meter

Foot Description Example

iamb (iambic meter)

2 syllables: unstressed - stressed

"rising meter" (pro-CEED, be-LOW)

the most common foot in English

Henry

Wadsworth

Longfellow,

"Nature"

trochée (trochaic

meter)

2 syllables: stressed - unstressed

"falling meter" (FIF-ty, NEV-er)

Edgar Allan Poe,

"The Raven"

anapest (anapestic

meter)

3 syllables: 2 unstressed - 1 stressed

"rising meter" (o-ver-COME)

James Russell

Lowell, A Fable

for Critics

Byron, "The

Destruction of

Sennecherib"

dactyl (dactylic meter) 3 syllables: 1 stressed - 2 unstressed

"falling meter" (PAR-a-graph)

Henry

Wadsworth

Longfellow,

"Evangeline"

spondée (spondaic

meter)

2 stressed syllables; often used to slow

rhythm of line; two spondées combined

into one unit is a dispondée

usually

compound words

(FOOT-BALL,

CHILD-HOOD)

pyhhric

2 unstressed syllables; also called a

dibrach, the shortest metrical foot in

Classical verse

usually found

interspersed with

other poetical

feet






http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/sentimnt/evanhp.html


Meter can be "mixed" within lines of a poem. For example, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's

"The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" contains two trochées and two iambs per line. Iambic

pentameter, the basis of English verse, is a line with five poetic feet (10 syllables).

Caesura : a deliberate pause within a line designed to help express meaning; plural caesurae;

means "a cutting" in Latin; may be created by punctuation, but may also result from the

meanings of words or the natural rhythms of language; line may or may not have caesura;

can be initial (at the beginning), medial (near the middle), or terminal (near the end) of a

line; accented (masculine) caesura follows an accented syllable and unaccented (feminine)

caesura follows an unaccented syllable

Verse Forms Based on Meter and Rhyme

1. Rhymed Verse: contains end rhyme and usually has a regular meter and rhyme

scheme; rhyming couplets means that every two lines rhyme; an example of "closed

form"

2. Blank Verse: contains a fixed rhythm and regular line length - unrhymed iambic

pentameter (10 syllables per line and no rhyme); an example of "closed form";

often found in poetry dealing with complex subjects; commonly used in narrative

and dramatic poetry; because of its regular rhythm, it may become monotonous and

"sing-songy" (many poets vary the rhythm to add emphasis and avoid monotony);

originated in England with Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; other examples are

Shakespeare's dramatic poetry (plays), John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), William

Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis," and Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses"

3. Free Verse: poetry free of traditional metrical and stanzaic patterns; no fixed

rhythm or rhyme scheme; uses everyday (colloquial) language, natural speech

rhythms, and differing line lengths; key feature is its departure from traditional

meters; an example of "open form"; examples are Psalms and Song of Solomon in

the King James Bible, John Milton's Samson Agonistes and Lycidas, the poetry of


Walt Whitman, and the work of the nineteenth century French symbolists; other

poets using free verse include Stephen Crane, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, Ezra

Pound, and E.E. Cummings

Stanza Forms

A stanza (Italian for "station," "stopping place," or "room") is a unit of poetry longer than a

line; it is a way of arranging lines of poetry in a pattern based on thought or form, usually

according to rhyme and meter. A stanza serves the same function as a paragraph in

prose: it allows the poet to organize his or her thoughts into a unit. A refrain is a group of

words, phrases, or lines repeated at regular intervals in a poem. Types are as follows:

terminal refrain: the most common; occurs at the end of a stanza

incremental refrain: the words change slightly with each recurrence

internal refrain: appears within a stanza, usually in a position that stays fixed

within the poem

couplet: 2-line stanza; 2 successive lines that rhyme (a-a)

triplet (tercet): 3-line stanza (usually a-b-a or a-a-a)

quatrain: 4-line stanza; most common form in English (a-a-a-a; a-b-a-b; a-b-b-a; a-a-b-b; a-

b-a-c)

quintet: 5-line stanza (may be one of a number of rhyme schemes)

sestet: 6-line stanza (sometimes used to refer to last 6 lines of sonnet)

septet: 7-line stanza

octave: 8-line stanza (often used to refer to first 8 lines of sonnet)


Heroic Couplet ("closed couplet"): two successive rhyming verses that contain a complete

thought within the two lines; usually iambic pentameter (poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer and

John Dryden and Anne Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of Our House")

Terza Rima: 3-line stanzas (tercets) with interlaced or interwoven rhyme scheme (a-b-a, b-

c-b, c-d-c, d-e-d, etc.); usually iambic pentameter (Dante's Divine Comedy, Shelley's "Ode to

the West Wind")

Villanelle: French verse form; 19 lines; 5 tercets (all a-b-a) and one quatrain (a-b-a-a);

entire first and third lines are repeated alternately as final lines of tercets 2, 3, 4, and 5 and

together to conclude the quatrain (Edwin Arlington Robinson's "The House on the Hill,"

Theodore Roethke's "The Waking," Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good

Night")

Rime Royal: 7-line stanza in iambic pentameter rhyming a-b-a-b-b-c-c (so named because it

was used by King James I)

Ottava Rima: 8 iambic pentameter lines with rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c; borrowed

from the Italians (used by Lord Byron in Don Juan)

Spenserian Stanza: 9-line stanza; 8 lines of iambic pentameter and one line of iambic

hexameter (the alexandrine); rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b-b-c-b-c-c (gets name from Edmund

Spenser, who started the form in The Faerie Queen)

Limerick: 5-line nonsense poem with anapestic meter; rhyme scheme usually a-a-b-b-a;

first, second, and fifth lines contain three stresses; third and and fourth lines contain two

stresses; made popular by British painter and author Edward Lear (1812-88)

Ballad Stanza: four lines with rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b; first and third lines in tetrameter;

second and fourth lines in trimeter

Haiku: about 17 syllables; usually three lines (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables); means

"beginning verse"; mostly rhymeless imagery; originated in the sixteenth century in Japan

Tanka: 5 lines of 31 syllables (5, 7, 5, 7, 7)


Concrete Poetry: poem visibly resembling the object which it describes; key is the

arrangement of words

Acrostic: initial letter of each line, read downward, spells out word or words

Types of Poetry

1. Lyric Poetry: expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of a single speaker (a

single emotional event); may or may not contain definite stanza forms and patterns

of rhyme and rhythm; may be "open" or "closed" form (rhymed verse, blank verse,

or free verse); may tell a story, but shorter than a narrative or dramatic poem;

generally between 12 and 30 lines, and rarely over 60 lines; emphasizes sound and

imagery over dramatic and narrative content; often rich in musical devices; once had

a narrow meaning: it was "musical" poetry (name comes from the Greeks, who sang

the poems to the music of the lyre; some notable Greek lyric poets were Anacreon,

Sappho, and Archiolochus

Sonnet: 14-line stanza, usually in iambic pentameter, following a specific

rhyme scheme

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet: contains eight lines (octave)

following the rhyme scheme a-b-b-a a-b-b-a, followed by six

lines (sestet) with a varying rhyme scheme (c-d-e-c-d-e or c-d-c-

d-c-d); turn between the octave and the sestet is the volta;

usually divided into comparison/contrast or question/resolution

according to the divisions of the octave and sestet; used in

American literature by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet: contains three quatrains and

one couplet following the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-

g-g; each quatrain is usually a variation of the basic theme of the

http://scott.k12.va.us/jshipley/litel/LEPacket.htm#Iambic_pentameter


poem, and the couplet is usually a conclusion

Note: while both types follow a rhyme scheme and (usually) are

written in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare ended his sonnets

with a couplet

A sonnet cannot be written in blank verse because a sonnet

rhymes and blank verse does not.

Ode: long lyric poem in stanzas of varied metrical patterns; often a serious

poem on a dignified theme; formal, lofty language and admiration for the

subject; generally celebrates a subject of public interest and involves the

performance of a group of people; sung in honor of gods or heroes in Greek

and Roman literature

Elegy: sadly meditative poem dealing with the subject of death, often telling

what a deceased person was like, expressing sorrow for the loss, and offering

consolation; in the past, an elegy (from the Greek word elegus meaning "a

song of mourning or lamentation") was any meditative poem dealing with a

serious theme; the most famous examples are Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written

in a Country Churchyard" and Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the

Dooryard Bloom'd"

2. Narrative Poetry: tells a story; often has a strong dramatic element

Epic Poem: most famous type of narrative poem; a long narrative poem

about a national or legendary hero; examples are the Iliad, Odyssey, Aenead,

Columbiad, Beowulf, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Milton's Paradise Lost; a

Homeric Simile, common in epic poetry, is an extended comparison of two

actions or objects that develops mounting excitement and usually ends in a

climax; a canto is a subdivision of an epic poem


Ballad: a narrative poem in short stanzas (often rhymed and in quatrains)

sometimes set to music; among the most common subjects are love, jealousy,

revenge, death, adventure, mystery, and war; frequently focuses on a

dramatic or tragic incident and contains dialogue of characters; often involves

historical or legendary figures; commonly uses a refrain to add emphasis or

suspense; the French word for ballad once meant "to dance"; Bishop Thomas

Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) increased popular interest

Folk ("popular") Ballads: composed to be sung; arose from

anonymous folk origins; strong and simple rhythms; passed

down orally for generations before ever written down (because

of widespread illiteracy); storytellers told different versions of

these ballads (ninety-two variations of "Bonny Barbara Allan"

are part of of Virginia folklore)

Broadside Ballads: printed on one sheet of paper; often set to

traditional tunes (Lord Byron, Andrew Marvell, Jonathan Swift)

Literary Ballads: unlike folk ballads, have known authors; not

meant for singing; written by sophisticated poets for book-

educated readers (Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the

Ancient Mariner" and John Keats's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci")

3. Dramatic Monologue: a poem written as a speech made at some decisive or

revealing moment; usually addressed by the speaker to someone else; first

developed by Robert Browning in "My Last Duchess"; also used by T. S. Eliot, Carl

Sandburg, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and Allen Tate






Basic Elements of Drama

Narrator: a character in some plays who speaks directly to the audience, introducing the

action and providing commentary between scenes; may or may not be a character in the

action

Dramatic Convention: any dramatic device which is accepted by the author and audience

as a means of representing reality

Monologue: a long speech by a character; allows characters to express complicated

thoughts or develop extensive arguments; in fiction, one person speaks in a monologue

Soliloquy: a type of monologue in which a character, alone on stage,

addresses himself; "thinking out loud" lets the audience know a character's

true thoughts and feelings

Aside: a brief remark or speech; when a character on stage turns from the

person he is addressing to speak directly to the audience; audience alone

hears his thoughts (rest of characters cannot); lets the audience know what

the character is really thinking and feeling, as opposed to what he or she

pretends; two characters addressing one another may speak in asides to the

audience

Chorus: a group of actors speaking or chanting in unison, often while going through steps of

elaborate, formalized dance; usually used to express views and emotions of the public;

sometimes pose questions to characters or audience; sometimes used as a narrator; a

characteristic device of Greek drama for conveying communal or group emotion

Realistic Drama: attempts, in context and presentation, to preserve the illusion of actual,

everyday life; characters are not "superhuman"; situations or plots are usually believable

Nonrealistic Drama: departs from presenting the outward, visible appearance of life;

characters sometimes have "superhuman qualities"; plots sometimes border on the absurd;

good parallel is a soap opera


Tragedy: a type of drama in which the protagonist (someone of unusual moral or

intellectual stature or ability) suffers a fall in fortune because of some error of judgment,

excessive virtue, or flaw in his nature (tragic flaw); sometimes warns of excess in any one

personality trait; most of the time, a reconciliation takes place in the end

Aristotle's Guidelines for Tragedy (in Poetics)

1. tragic hero: someone of high standing, but

not perfect

2. flaw (i.e., hubris [excessive pride]) or

weakness in hero that leads to downfall

3. recognition scene: hero realizes what he has

done

4. catastrophe: sudden, inevitable disaster;

protagonist's death or moral destruction

Catharsis: a term (first used by Aristotle) that describes some sort of

emotional release experienced by the audience at the end of a successful

tragedy; "wisdom gained from tragedy" (waste of human life, waste of human

greatness, etc.)

Traits of Shakespearean Tragedy

1. tragic hero: main character; his tragic character flaw leads to a fatal

mistake; flaw: hamartia ("act of injustice") in Greek drama; makes

character vulnerable to fate; done through ignorance or to

accomplish the greater good (benefits outweigh expense);

punishment for hero usually exceeds the degree of flaw

2. conflict: internal or external


3. humor: used to relieve somber mood of tragedy

4. supernatural event: ghost, witch, storm, etc.

5. revenge: often serves as motivation for characters

6. chance happening: leads to an end

Melodrama: (related to tragedy); contains sensational incidents and

emphasizes plot over characters; conflicts are often "crude (virtuous

protagonist versus villainous antagonist); resolutions are emotionally

satisfying and "happy" (good winning out over evil); issues are oversimplified;

adjective form is "melodramatic"

Comedy: a type of drama (opposed to tragedy) normally having a happy ending and

emphasizing human limitation, rather than human greatness; the main purpose of a scornful

comedy is to expose and ridicule human corruption, folly, vanity, and hypocrisy; in a

romantic comedy, a likeable and sensible main character is placed in difficult circumstances

from which he or she is rescued at the end, either attaining his or her goals or having

fortunes reversed

Drama of the Absurd: closely related to comedy; radically non-realistic in

content and presentation; emphasizes the absurdity, emptiness, or

meaninglessness of life

Farce: related to comedy; improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical

action, and coarse wit; the situation (rather than the plot or characters)

provides humor


Non-Fiction Literature

Non-fiction literature is a type of prose literature dealing with real people and real life

situations. This is not to say, however, that non-fiction literature is necessarily "fact" or

"truth." Among the varieties of non-fiction literature are biographies, autobiographies,

speeches, histories, essays, diaries, journals, newspapers, and even cookbooks or car repair

manuals. An author's purpose may be to entertain, inform, persuade, or explain. The

chief uses of non-fiction literature are as follows:

Descriptive Literature (description): uses imagery to give us a picture about

the subject

Narrative Literature (narration): tells about a series of events

Expository Literature (exposition): presents information or explains a subject

Persuasive Literature (persuasion): designed to change people's ideas or

actions

Major Forms of Non-Fiction Literature

Essays. An essay is a piece of prose of various length dealing with a subject

briefly and from a personal point of view. An essay attempts to say

something, but not everything, about a subject. The author of an essay

should have evidence for his or her ideas. A critical essay deals with a topic

of literature or any of the arts. The major styles of essays are formal and

informal.

Formal Essay: serious in tone, tightly-organized, generally

objective; frequently designed to instruct (didactic); major parts

(introduction, body, conclusion) work together to make up a

complete idea or thing; develops theme according to principles


of unity, coherence, and emphasis

Informal Essay: may be relaxed, serious, or humorous;

conversational style (colloquial), digressions, humorous

anecdotes; writer's personality and point of view are as

important as the subject; E. B. White and James Thurber are

among the American "masters" of the informal essay

Speeches. Speeches are mostly intended for oral presentation, but some are

meant to be read silently. In either case, the key element is the author's

ability to be persuasive (often use rhetorical questions and parallelisms)

Biographies (including Autobiographies). The subject of a biography is

someone's life. A biographer may use a variety of source materials: diaries,

letters, archives, memoirs, personal knowledge, books, etc. For the distinction

between primary and secondary source materials, see below.

Types of Source Materials

The two major categories of source materials are primary sources and secondary sources.

Primary Sources: original documents written by someone who participates in

or has direct knowledge of something. Examples include speeches, diaries,

letters, novels, legislative bills, laboratory studies, field research reports,

eyewitness reports, or newspaper articles.

Secondary Sources: commentaries on primary sources, often written by a

non-participant in an event or after the fact about someone or something

else

For example, if you were writing a research paper about the assassination of

President Kennedy, you might examine both primary and secondary sources (a

report on the assassination and a biography published in 1980, for example);

your paper would be a type of secondary source. Although a primary source is


not necessarily more reliable than a secondary source, it has the advantage of

being a "firsthand account." Naturally, you can better evaluate what a

secondary source says if you have first read and are familiar with the primary

source.

Paraphrasing and Plagiarism

Paraphrasing is restating someone else's language in your own words; it

makes ideas clearer and avoids plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the stealing and passing off as your own someone else's ideas

or words without crediting (acknowledging, citing) the source. In other

words, presenting as "your work" or "your idea" something that came from

someone else is plagiarism. Plagiarizing someone else's work can get you

expelled from a college or university.

Basic Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism

1. Give credit for facts that someone else discovered,

someone's original theory or idea, or research that proves

a story.

2. Give credit for information gained from photographs,

tables, or graphs.

3. Give credit for a direct or an indirect quotation from a

book.

4. Do not give credit for things that are "common

knowledge." (The sun rises in the East. Abraham Lincoln

was elected President in 1860.)

5. Do not give credit for sayings that are so much a part of

our culture (clichés) that no one knows who said

them. ("You can't judge a book by its cover.")


Tips for Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction

1. Ask yourself, "What is the author's purpose?" Is the writer

trying to entertain, to inform, to persuade, or to explain

something? Does it seem to be more than one of these

purposes?

2. Is the tone formal or informal? Is it some of both? How do

you know?

3. What impressions do you form of the writer and his or her

personality? Why do you feel this way?

4. Examine what the author does with language. How does the

language affect you as a reader? Explain.

5. In your own words, what is the main idea that the author is

trying to express?

6. How do elements of style (imagery, figurative language, irony,

etc.) help express the author's attitude toward the subject, as

well as your response?

7. Read the work more than once. On the first reading, think

about the main point (thesis) of the essay and whether or not

the author uses sufficient evidence to support his or her

ideas. How does the author support his or her claims? Is it

with relevant and sufficient evidence or with just a few

anecdotes or emotional examples? Are any of the author's

assumptions questionable? Does the author consider

opposing arguments and refute them persuasively? Are there

any reasons to be suspicious of the author's motives or to

question his or her objectivity? As you read, also think about

the author's style and your personal response to the writing.

8. Be aware of what types of source materials (primary and/or

secondary) provide the bases of the author's arguments.

Documents

Literary Elements - Jeni McAnally's IB and ToK Websitecrhsib-com.webs.com/Literary-Elements by Genre for Handbook.pdf · Literary Elements Plot Plot is the ... Conflict: struggle