Literary Terms
for
Beowulf
Author Unknown
Point of View
• The point from
which the story is
told. Usually the
narrator, character
or outside observer
who tells the story.
http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/ktvf/car%20accident.jpg
First Person Point of View
• When a character in
the story tells the
story.
– Example: When “I”
or “Me” is used in a
story or movie to tell
the story.
http://www.worth1000.com/entries/42000/42129AFhe_w.jpg
Second Person Point of View
When “you” is
used to narrate
the story. It can be
intimate or
accusatory. This
should be used in
adventure and
recipe books.
http://www.pandora.ca/pictures9/676276.jpg
Third Person Limited Point of View
•
•
The narration does
not use “I” or “me”.
Only he/she/it.
The narrator
focuses on the
thoughts and
feelings of just one
character.
http://www.3d-screensaver-downloads.com/images/harry-potter-screensaver/big3.jpg
Third Person Omniscient Point of
View
• The all knowing
narrator can tell us
about the past,
present and future of
all the characters
(godlike).
http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/God.creating.stars.jpeg
Narrator
• The person that is
telling the story.
http://www.unca.edu/housing/images/services/video-game-lending-library/videos/covers/forest-gump.jpg
Setting
• The time and place of a literary work.
– Example: The setting for “The Cask of
Amontillado” is “Early evening in an Italian
city during a carnival immediately
preceding Lent.”
http://cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/PoeTales.jpg
Theme
http://www.militarymuseum.org/Resources/saving%20private%20ryan%20poster.jpg
http://victoryatseaonline.com/war/otherwars/images/patriot.gif
• A central message of a
literary work. It is a
generalization about
people or about life that
is communicated
through the literary
work. Readers think
about what the work
seems to say about the
nature of people or
about life.
Character
• A person or an
animal who takes
part in the action of
a literary work.
Characters are
sometimes classified
as round or flat,
dynamic or static.
http://web.mit.edu/kayla/Public/Backgrounds/LOTR%20Frodo.JPG
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.numberonestars.com/movies/images2/cars.jpg&imgrefurl=http://
www.madeinatlantis.com/movies_central/2006/cars.htm&h=829&w=560&sz=96&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=Y6EU5Svon
uLBTM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCars%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%
3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DG
Dynamic Character
• This character
develops and
grows during
the course of
the story.
http://www.eurpac.com/hepicts/tsdvd/princess%20diaries%20dvd.jpg
Round Character
• This character
shows many
different traits-faults as well as
virtues.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/malcolm/gallery/images/340/malcolm4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/malc
olm/gallery/season3/malcolm4.shtml&h=255&w=340&sz=10&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=XhkiSujuGSyOkM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3
Dmalcom%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bmiddle%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:enUS:official_s%26sa%3DG
Static Character
• This character
does not
change much
in the story.
http://static.flickr.com/39/82639167_4bdae091fd_m.jpg
Flat Character
http://members.tripod.com/~film_circle/rushhour.jpg
• Has only one or two traits.
http://www.darrenfrodsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/batman.jpg
Protagonist
• The main
character in a
literary work.
http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/napolean_dynamite/napoleandynamite3.jpg
Antagonist
• A character or force
in conflict with a
main character or
the protagonist.
http://www.tvcrazy.net/tvclassics/wallpaper/superman/smallville/lex-luthor.jpg
Plot
• The sequence
of events in a
literary work.
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/images/TMP_plotdiagram_large.jpg
Exposition
• Is a writing or speech that explains a
process or presents information. In the
plot of a story or drama, the exposition is
the part of the work that introduces the
characters, the setting, and the basic
situation.
Expositio
n
Rising Action
• All the events leading up to the climax.
Climax
• The conflict reaches a high point of interest
or suspense.
Climax
Falling Action
• Follows the climax and leads to a
resolution.
Resolution
• The end of the central conflict.
Resolution
Conflict
• A struggle
between
opposing
forces,
usually it will
form the
basis of
stories,
novels, and
plays.
http://www.warnerbros.co.uk/movies/troy/img/troy_main.jpg
Internal Conflict
• Involves a
character in
conflict with
himself or
herself.
http://www.sfrevu.com/ISSUES/2002/0201/Film%20-%20A%20Beautiful%20Mind/beautiful%20mind.jpg
External Conflict
• The main character
struggles with an
outside force.
Usually the outside
force consists of:
–
–
–
–
man vs. man
man vs. nature
man vs. society
man vs. supernatural
(God or gods)
Man vs. Man
http://www.talithamackenzie.com/pics/biog/troy.jpg
Man vs. Nature
http://www.canadian-titanic-society.com/book_cover.jpg
Man vs. Supernatural
http://www.kidsclick.com/images/hercules_action.jpg
Man vs. Society
http://musicmoz.org/img/editors/jswafford/rememberthetitans.gif
Poetry Terms
The examples given in parentheses, following some
of the definitions below, are taken from The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner. Some of these examples
also illustrate the correct form for using the virgule
(slash mark) to write two or more lines of poetry in
prose text form or for using brackets within quoted
lines of poetry.
Poetry
Poetry is made up of oral or written ideas in
a compressed and creative form that has an
identifiable pattern. Poetry usually contains
a definite pattern (meter) and can contain
rhyme, but it does not necessarily have to.
RHYMED VERSE
• Rhymed verse consists of lines of poetry
that rhyme and have a regular meter (a
pattern to lines).
Blank Verse
• Poetry
written in
unrhymed
iambic
pentameter
•
Who can express the slaughter of that night,
Or tell the number of the corpses slain,
Or can in tears bewail them worthily?
The ancient famous city falleth down,
That many years did hold such seignory.
With senseless bodies every street is spread,
Each palace, and sacred porch of the gods.
-Surrey, Aeneid
Rhyme
• REP of sounds at
the end of nearby
words.
– Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)
– Admit impediments. Love is not love (b)
– Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)
– Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)
– O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c)
– That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)
– It is the star to every wand'ring barque, (c)
– Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)
– Love's not time's fool but ed reavey likes the dick, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)
– Within his bending sickle's compass come; (f)
– Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)
– But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (f)
– If this be error and upon me proved, (g)
– I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)
End Rhyme
• End rhyme is when the rhyme
occurs at the ends of two or more
lines of verse (“As who pursued
with yell and blow / Still treads the
shadow of his foe”).
Internal Rhyme
• Either where a word in the middle of a
line of poetry rhymes with the word at
the end of the line e.g. The Raven by
Edgar Allan Poe or where two words
in mid sentence rhyme e.g. 'dawndrawn' in The Windhover by Gerard
Manley Hopkins.
Rhyme Scheme
• Rhyme scheme is the pattern or sequence in which
the rhyme occurs. The first sound is represented or
designated as a the second sound is designated as b,
and so on. When the first sound is repeated, it is
designated as a also. This designation continues
through the stanza.
It is an ancient Mariner, a
And he stoppeth one of three. b
By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, c
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me? b
Frame Narration or Frame Story
• A framed story is a narrative
in which one story is
enclosed or embedded
inside another.
Terms and Definitions
Alliteration
• Repetition of
initial consonants
for rhyme.
• Example: Sally
sells seashells by
the seashores.
Apostrophe
• directly addressing an imaginary person,
place, thing, or abstraction, either living,
dead or absent from the work. Example:
Ophelia, in Hamlet, says, “O, heavenly
powers, restore him.”
Hyperbole
• Is an extreme
exaggeration.
– Example: I have so
much money, I am
burning a hole in my
pocket
– If I told you once, I’ve
told you a thousand
times
Metaphor
• A figure of speech in
which one thing is
spoken of as though it
were something else.
– Example:
• “Time is a monster that
cannot be reasoned
with”
http://www.alyon.org/generale/theatre/cinema/affiches_cinema/s/seu-smo/simon_birch.jpg
Metonymy
• Metonymy (unlike metaphor) uses figurative expressions that are
closely associated with the subject in terms of place, time or
background. The figurative expression is not a physical part of
the subject. Examples are:
– The White House declared (White House = US government / President)
– The land belongs to the crown. (crown = king / queen / royal family /
monarchy)
– Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty
hearts can do that. (Norman Vincent Peale) (empty pockets = poverty;
empty heads = ignorance / dullness / density; empty hearts = unkindness /
coldness)
– the spit-and-polish command post (meaning: shiny clean)
• The name of one thing is applied to another thing with which it
is closely associated:
– “I love Shakespeare.”
Onomatopoeia
• a word whose sound (the way it
is pronounced) imitates the
meaning.
–Examples: “roar,” “murmur,”
“tintinnabulation.”
Oxymoron
• Figure of speech
containing two
conflicting terms.
• (See examples on next
slide)
Oxymoron Examples
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Found missing
Genuine imitation
Same difference
Silent scream
Small crowd
Butt Head
Sweet sorrow
Passive aggression
Clearly misunderstood
Plastic glasses
Pretty ugly
Resident alien
Good grief
Alone together
Living dead
Soft rock
New classic
"Now, then ..."
Taped live
Extinct Life
Terribly pleased
Working vacation
Personification
• Inanimate objects
have human
characteristics.
– “The wind cried in
the dark.”
– “The leaves were
dancing in the trees.”
To Kill a Mockingbird
Simile
• A figure of speech in
which like or as is
used to make a
comparison between
two basically unlike
ideas.
– Example: Claire is as
flighty as a sparrow.
http://www.abcteach.com/circus/images/simile10.gif
Symbol(ism)
• Anything that stands
for or represents
something else. An
object that serves as
a symbol has its own
meaning, but also
represents abstract
ideas.
http://wynn.house.gov/images/American%20Flag.gif
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/wedding_rings2.jpg
Synecdoche
• This is a form of metaphor.
• A part or something that is used to the
signify the whole:
– “Turning our long boat round […] on the last
morning required all hands on deck” (hands =
people) (4)
• Whole used instead of a part:
– Troops halt the drivers (troops = soldiers)
– “Canada played the United States in the
Olympic Hockey finals.”
• The container representing the thing
being contained:
– “The pot is boiling”
• The material from which an object is
made stands for the object itself:
– “The quarterback tossed the pigskin.”
Stanza
• A group of lines in a poem.
It is similar to a paragraph
in a story.
Quatrain
So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse, (A)
And found such faire assistance in my verse, (B)
As every Alien pen hath got my use, (A)
And under thee their poesy disperse. (B)
•A stanza
or poem
of four
lines.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing, (C)
And heavy ignorance aloft to flie, (D)
Have added feathers to the learned's wing, (C)
And given grace a double majestie. (D)
Yet be most proud of that which I compile, (E)
Whose influence is thine and born of thee, (F)
In others'works thou dost but mend the style (E)
And arts with thy sweet graces graced be. (F)
But thou art all my art, and dost advance (G)
As high as learning my rude ignorance. (G)
Ballad
Ballad of Birmingham
(1969)
(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)
• A poem that tells a
story similar to a folk
tale or legend and
often has a repeated
refrain. “The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner”
by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge is an
example of a ballad.
"Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?"
"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren't good for a little child."
"But, mother, I won't be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free."
"No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children's choir."
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
The mother smiled to know that her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
"O, here's the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?"
Ballad Stanza
• a stanza of four lines of poetry with a
rhyme scheme of abcb.
Folk Ballad
• a narrative poem of unknown authorship; it
is usually based on an old folk legend or
tradition and contains repeated lines or
phrases, archaic expressions, elements of
the supernatural, and references to good
and evil.
– Example: “Bonnie Barbara Allen”
Literary Ballad
• a deliberate imitation of the folk ballad
style by a known author; it copies the
subject, the overall atmosphere, and the
style of the folk ballad.
– Examples: Casey at the Bat, The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner.
Diction
• A word choice intended to convey a
certain effect.
• Example: “It was easy to use that
laptop” or “It was effortless using
that laptop”
Connotation
• A word that contains a set of ideas
associated with it in addition to its explicit
meaning. Based on the word, it can be
personal and/or based on individual
experiences.
Example: “My bad” or “Sorry”
“House” or “Home”
Tone
• The writer or speaker’s
attitude toward a
subject, character, or
audience, and it is
conveyed through the
author’s choice of
words and detail. Tone
can be formal or
informal, serious or
playful, bitter or ironic,
indignant, objective, etc.
http://pressunic.com/video/images/shangai_kid2.jpg
Foreshadowing
• The use in a literary work of
clues that suggest events
that have yet to occur
(future action). Use of this
technique helps to create
suspense, keeping readers
wondering and speculating
about what will happen next.
http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/images/foreshadowing.jpg
Irony
http://kilby.sac.on.ca/towerslibrary/pages/users/DVD%20-%20Romeo%20&%20Juliet%20(Hollywood).jpg
• The general term for
literary techniques
that portray
differences between
appearance and
reality, expectation
and result, or
meaning and
intention.
• Implies a twist.
Verbal Irony
• Words are
used to
suggest the
opposite of
what is meant.
http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/twentieth_century_fox/
star_wars__episode_iii___revenge_of_the_sith/_group_photos/hayden_christensen5.jpg
Dramatic Irony
• There is a
contradiction
between what a
character thinks
and what the
reader or
audience knows
to be true.
http://www.sunnews.com/images/2003/0821/jasonRGB.jpg
Situational Irony
• An event occurs
that directly
contradicts the
expectations of
the characters,
the reader, or
the audience.
http://www.d8a.co.uk/vcd/Planet-of-the-apes.jpg
Imagery
• The descriptive or
figurative language used
in literature to create
word pictures for the
reader. These pictures or
images, are created by
details of sight (visual) –
p. 678, sound (auditory),
taste (gustatory), touch
(tactile), smell (olfactory),
movement (kinesthetic),
or internal (organic).
http://www.thailandtradenet.com/photos/cat
alog/bedroom/chinese-bed.jpg
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/article
s/20050601/a798_129.SMELL.JPG
Assonance
• REP of
vowel
sounds in
nearby The cat with a hat sat on a bat named Ta
words.
Consonance
• REP of
middle or
ending
consonance
sounds in
nearby
words.
• The repetition
of consonants
or of a
consonant
pattern,
especially at the
ends of words,
as in blank and
think or strong
and string
Kennings
• A metaphorical expression used in
place of a noun
• Sea = “whale-road” or “swan’s way”
• Joints, ligaments = “bone-locks”
• Sun = “sky-candle”
• Icicles = “water-ropes”
Metonymy and Synecdoche
• Metonymy: Name of one thing is
substituted for the name of
something else that most people
would associate with the first thing
– “Iron” for “Sword”
– “Crown” for “king” or “monarchy”
• Synecdoche: Substitute a part for
the whole
– “keel” for “ship”
– “All hands on deck”
– “Heads of cattle”
Caesura
• An obvious pause in a line of poetry.
It is usually found near the middle
of a line, with two stressed syllables
before and two after, creating a
strong rhythm. It is often indicated
with double slashes.
• Example: A prince of the Geats, //
had killed Grendel.