LITERARY TERMS 5
Polysyndeton -Romance
polysyndeton
◦Sentence which uses a conjunction with NO
commas to separate the items in a series.
◦ X and Y and Z
PROTAGONIST
◦ THE CENTRAL CHARACTER IN A STORY, THE ONE WHO INITIATES OR DRIVES THE
ACTION; HERO OR THE ANTI-HERO
◦ GUESS WHO?
Others that you’ve met…
Hamartia
◦Tragic flaw
PUN
◦ A PLAY ON WORDS BASED ON THE MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF A
SINGLE WORD OR ON WORDS THAT SOUND ALIKE BUT MEAN
DIFFERENT THINGS.
PUN
◦•I would like to go to Holland someday. Wooden
shoe?
QUATRAIN
◦ A POEM CONSISTING OF FOUR LINES OR A 4-LINE STANZA
REFRAIN
◦ A WORD, PHRASE, LINE, OR GROUP OF LINES THAT
IS REPEATED FOR EFFECT SEVERAL TIMES IN A
POEM
BALLADS are sometimes written in
quatrains. They also use refrains.
◦ Please read the following ballads: “Lord Randall” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lbCT0OedQ
◦ “Edward, Edward” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCkcYYQv3so
Assignment # 1
◦ Write a reader response on the ballads (one page minimum). You may comment on theme,
dialect, the singing of the ballad (its intended medium), etc. Please format according to
MLA guidelines. This assignment is due on the day of the literary terms quiz. I will grade
your writing, so please edit and revise before submission. Thanks!
RHYTHM/ POETIC FEET
◦ The rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of
stressed and unstressed syllables in language.
◦ Please visit the following site:
◦ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/570/03/
Assignment 2
◦ Please answer the following; use the previously cited web
page for information. The internet will provide you with
words that fit the specific patterns. On the literary
terms exam, you will be responsible for matching the
name with the pattern.
1. Iambic
◦ 1. Write
the pattern.
◦ 2. Write
two words that use the iambic pattern.


2. TROCHAIC
◦ Write the pattern:
◦ Write two words using the trochaic pattern:


3. SPONDAIC
◦ 1. Pattern:
◦ 2. Write two words:


4. ANAPESTIC
◦ 1.
WRITE THE PATTERN.
◦ 2. WRITE


TWO WORDS USING THIS PATTERN.
5. DACTYLIC
◦ 1. PATTERN:
◦ 2. TWO WORDS:


RHETORIC
◦Art of effective communication, especially
persuasive discourse
RHETORICAL QUESTION
◦ A question asked for effect, and not actually requiring an
answer
ROMANCE- popular in Middle Ages
◦In general, a story in which an idealized hero or
heroine undertakes a quest or a challenge
Romances involve
◦ Journeys or pilgrimages
◦ Use the peregrinatus (peregrinations) theme (theme that
life is a pilgrimage and that we are all pilgrims
Additional characteristics:
◦ Involves magic
Involves a willing suspension of disbelief
◦ http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Suspension_of_disbelief.htm
l
◦ Read the definition and Coleridge’s Original Formulation- take notes.
Romance
◦Involves chivalry
In Romances…
◦Women are held in high regard, put up on a
pedestal
Romance
◦Involve courtly love---
Involve unrequited love or lover’s
triangle
Number symbolism- five
◦Known as the five-knot or endless knot
◦Image on the outside of Sir Gawain’s shield
Please read the first stanza from this
excerpt from Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight.
◦Notice all references to the number five.
http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf984b/Text.htm
Number symbolism - three
◦It saluted
Bedivere three
times and then
sank beneath the
surface…
Please read
◦“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury
Tales
◦Find elements of a medieval romance in the story.
◦Answer questions that accompany the story.
Bonus:
◦ The Cleric’s Tale
◦ The Franklin’s Tale
◦ Due date and materials available in the classroom.