History of Literary Devices: tracking development of the narrative
Epic of Gilgamesh
2700 BC
First Great Heroic Epic
1. Journey
2. Epic Hero
3. Plot
Construction of the self
Sexual knowledge
Encyclopaedia of the
Ancient world:
Politics, Ethics, Law,
Physics
Book of Job
(1500-925 BC)
Series of Tests
Disguise and Recognition
Hero
Protagonism vs
Antagonism
Job is delivered from his
own story
U-shaped Progression
1. Original Prosperity
2. Descent to
humiliation
3. Restoration
Prepared by Almeda Glenn Miller. Selkirk College
Homer
~800 BC
Illiad/ Odyssey
Home & Hospitality
First Evidence of
POV
Poet is present in
narrative
Journey motif
Themes of
Geography,
Navigation, Quest
Beowulf
(1000 AD)
Premonition
Time slows and speeds
up// time is an obstacle
Repetition of like images //
reinforcing images
Dialogue begins to form
some function
Gathers up past events
and brings them into the
present
Real time and detail//as
time slows details are
accentuated
Echos
POV (Storytelling mode –
past tense)
Psychology of thought
processes
Digressions and purpose
to the digressions
Adolescent indulgence in
gore
Presence of irony
Timing to the dispensation
of information
Giovanni Boccaccia
(1313-1375)
Decameron
Narrative Frame is the Plague
Dramatic Irony – disparity between
the nature of the stories and the
context of the plague
History of Literary Devices: tracking development of the narrative
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340-1400)
Canterbury Tales
Characterization
Foreshadow/premonitions
Story with in a story
We begin to see deliberate
literary devices
Narrative intrusions
Historical allegory to bolster
argument
Elements of satire
Human frame
Reversal of fortune
Mock heroic
Cervantes (1547– 1616)
Don Quixote
Rhythm in the language
Repetition used as a
comedic device
Strong characterization
Using opposites to
emphasize the positive
Listing
Prepared by Almeda Glenn Miller. Selkirk College
Defoe
(1722)
Moll Flanders
First novel in the
western tradition
Episodic –sequential
events
Central Organizing
Principle
Confessional
Anatomy
Religious dedication to
details of argument
Jane Austin
(1816)
Emma
Central organizing principle - community is the
binding force, primarily interested in Social Context
Atmospherics – changing seasons
Linear progression of thought/plot
The novel has at its heart a controlling idea/metaphor
that has to have sufficient force to extend through the
novel.