Literary Terms
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Bildungsroman
Allusion
Imagery
Cliché
Metaphor
Simile
Hyperbole
Anecdote
Epigrams, aphorisms, and proverbs
Allusion
• Reference to another work of art, literature,
music, historical event and so forth.
• Here is one from the first chapter:
Bildungsroman
• A novel of formation
• A coming-of-age story
Allusion
• “…a calling as ancient as the coming of the
Spaniard to Nuevo Méjico” (2).
Allusion
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In 1598, Don Juan de Onate became New Mexico's
first Spanish governor and lead Spanish settlers to Northern
New Mexico. In 1610, Santa Fe was made the capitol of the
Spanish colony of New Mexico. In 1680, the Pueblo people
revolted and temporarily made the Spanish leave the area.
But Don Diego Vargas and a small Spanish army took back
the colony of New Mexico and the capitol of Santa Fe in
1692. The area of current day Western Colorado was on the
northern edge of the colony called New Mexico and if you
lived here during that time Spain would have claimed you
would be under the their control. But there were so few
Spaniards in the area of western Colorado that the area
was still truly controlled by the Native American tribes.
Imagery
• Patterns of sensory representation in a literary
work
• Sometimes literal, sometimes figurative
Imagery
• The opening paragraph of chapter 3
Cliché
• Any expression used so often that its
freshness and clarity have worn off.
• …and that’s just the tip of the
iceberg… that’s the way the ball
bounces..
Cliché
• Antonio and his family’s use of
clichés shows their simplicity and
their humble origins.
• “Time stood still…” (1)
• “snatched somebody from the jaws
of death” (3).
Metaphor and simile
• Figurative language of comparison
• An analogy
• A simile (a kind of metaphor)
makes the comparison obvious
with the use of “like” or “as”
Metaphor and simile
• “… and now the people are
scattered, driven like tumbleweeds
by the winds of war” (3). Simile
Metaphor and simile
• “I felt the sun of the east rise and I
heard its light crackle and groan and
mix into the songs of the
mockingbirds on the hill” (27).
Hyperbole
• Exaggeration
• “…and it seemed that a square yard
of ground produced a wheelbarrow
full of rocks which I had to push
down to the retaining wall” (11).
• “…and they had more time to spend
in the attic and cut out an
interminable train of paper dolls
which they dressed, gave names to,
and most miraculously, made talk”
(14).
Epigrams and proverbs
• Epigram: a short pithy saying, often involving
antithetical parts that show balance
• Proverb: a saying that briefly and memorably
reveals some truth about life
Epigrams and proverbs
• “Men will do what men will do” (25).
Literary Terms
• Personification
• Motif
• Mood
• Tone
• Symbol
• Allegory
• Oxymoron
• Understatement
• Synecdoche
Literary Terms
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Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Onomatopoeia
Personification
• Giving human attributes to non-human things.
• “She taught me to listen to the mystery of the
groaning earth and to feel complete in the
fulfillment of its time” (15).
Motif
• A simple element that forms the basis for
expanded narrative.
• Recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, or
action that tend to unify the work.
• The “presence of the river” is a motif in Bless
Me, Ultima
Symbol
• Something that is itself and
stands in for something else.
• “Imagery” refers to
representations of concrete
things, word pictures of the
objective world
• A symbol refers to something
beyond the objective tangible
reality.
Symbol
The River
Mood/Tone
• Emotional and intellectual attitude of the
author toward the subject. These two words
are often used interchangeably and have no
real difference.
• Mood: author’s attitude towards the subject
(pathos, defiance)
• Tone: author’s attitude towards the audience
(satirical, sincere)
Oxymoron
• Combination of two usually contradictory
terms in a paradox
• “Darkness visible”
• Bittersweet
Onomatopoeia
• Words that by their sound suggest their
meaning.
• Hiss, buzz, whirr, sizzle…
Alliteration
• Repetition of initial identical consonant
sounds:
“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free…”
Understatement
Allegory
• A type of extended metaphor in which
objects, persons, and actions in a story are
equated with meanings outside the story.
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories has allegorical
elements… who does Rashid refer to in the
real world… who does Khattam-Shud refer to?
Assonance
• Repetition of vowel sounds within words.
Consonance
• Repetition of final consonant sounds when
the vowels differ.
• Torn-burn
• Even-heaven-striven
Allusion
• Legend of la Virgen de Guadalupe (43)