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HERE are some literary terms not considered previously. They are familiar terms but confusing to readers. The like of “moral”, a practical lesson about right and wrong conduct. In fables, the moral is stated directly, in other stories, it is usually implied.
Satire is a form of writing that ridicules people, practices and institutions in order to reveal their failings. I have Animal Farm written by George Orwell as an example of satire. Myth is a traditional story of anonymous origin that deals with goodness, gods, heroes and supernatural events.
Mood is the feeling or atmosphere that an author creates in a literary work. The mood can suggest a specific emotion, such as excited or tearful. Mood can also suggest the quality of a setting, such as sombre or calm in a poem, word choice, line length, rhythm and other elements contribute to its mood.
Descriptive language and figures of speech also help to establish the mood. Onomatopoeia is the use of the word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes. Oral tradition is literature that passes by word or mouth from one generation to the next Oxymoron is a figure of speech that is a combination of seemingly contradictory words.
For example, the following lines from act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contain several oxymoron:
Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
O any thing, of nothing first create,
O heavy lightness, serious vanity
Misshappen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Leather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still walking sleep, that is not what it is.
Paradox is a situation or statement that includes two parts, both of which are true but seem to contradict each other. It is a paradox, for example, if a person says that he gained back all the weight he lost following surgery but that his clothes still don’t fit the way they did. Parallelism is the use of a series of words, phrases or sentences that have simple grammatical form. Parallelism emphasises the items that are arranged in the similar structures.
Parody is a literary or musical work in a satirical or humorous way. Behaviour and customs can also be parodied. Personification is a figure of speech in which an animal object, force of nature or idea is given human qualities or characteristics. Plot is the sequence of events in a narrative work. The story begins with the explosion or the introduction of the characters, the setting and the conflict.
Rising action occurs as complications, twists or intensifications of the conflict occur. This action leads up to the climax or emotional high point. The climax gives way rapidly to its logical result in the falling action and finally to the resolution in which the final outcome is revealed.
Protagonist is the central character in a literary work around whom the main conflict revolves. The protagonist is often the person with whom audience members or readers sympathise or identify.
Pun is a humorous play on two or more meanings of the same word or two or on two different words with the same sound. Today’s puns often appear in advertising headlines and slogans. Repetition refers to a literary device in which sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas are repeated for emphasis in a poem or other literary work. The use of repetition may lend a sense of unity and continuity to the writing when a line or stanza is repeated in a poem, it is sometimes called refrain.
Resolution is part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict. Rising action is the part of a plot that adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest. Short story is brief fictional narrative in prose. Elements of the short story include plot, character, setting, point of view and theme.
Point of view is the relationship of the narrator to the story. In a story with first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story referred to as “I”. The reader sees everything through that character’s eyes. Simile is a figure of speech using like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
Soliloquy is a long speech delivered by a character who is alone on stage. A soliloquy typically reveals the private thoughts and emotions of the character. A stanza in a poem is a group of lines forming a unit. It is similar to a paragraph in prose.
Stereotype is a character, who is not developed as an individual, but as a collection of traits and mannerisms supposedly shared by all members of a group. Suspense is the growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a work of literature. To build suspense a writer may use foreshadowing — or clues to what will happen next — as well as a number of other literal devices.
This is not a literature in English lesson coming in disguise of English Language. This is to show that these subjects are related. . Learning one shows the relationship between the two. As often stated on these pages, it is insufficient to find the definitions of these terms and leave it there.
But, what is their meanings and make use of them. You can make use of them in your language learning exercises or writing your essays. These help you use them properly as you understand their meanings.
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