Literary Devices Test – Flashcards

- The stated or implied attitude toward a subject - Specific words or phrases help us determine the tone of a piece - the tone can be positive, negative, humorous, ironic, etc. - In literature, tone is the attitude or approach that the author takes toward the work's central theme or subject. - Works of literature can have many different types of tone, such as humorous, solemn, distant, intimate, ironic, arrogant, condescending, sentimental, and so on. - Any emotion that humans can feel can be an example of tone in literature.

- Highlights and explain the details about a character in a story. - It is in the initial stage where the writer introduces the character with noticeable emergence and then following the introduction of the character, the writer often talks about his behavior; then as the story progresses, the thought-process of the character. - The next stage involves the character expressing his opinions and ideas and getting into conversations with the rest of the characters. - The final part shows how others in the story respond to the character's personality.

- Angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. - In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers "hear" and "see" what takes place in a story, poem, essay etc. - Point of view is a reflection of the opinion an individual from real life or fiction can have. 1. First person point of view involves the use of either of the two pronouns "I" and "we". - Example: "I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace." 2. Second person point of view employs the pronoun "you". - "Sometimes you cannot clearly discern between anger and frustration." 3. Third person point of view uses pronouns like "he", "she", "it", "they" or a name. - "Mr. Stewart is a principled man. He acts by the book and never lets you deceive him easily."

- Use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. - it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. - Sometimes, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. - For instance, "smile" is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you. - Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. "A chain", for example, may stand for "union" as well as "imprisonment". - Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. -It also depends on who reads them. - In our daily life, we can easily identify objects, which can be taken as examples of symbol such as the following: - To develop symbolism in his work, a writer utilizes other figures of speech, like metaphors, similes, allegory, as tools.

- Thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text's form, craft, meanings, etc - You observe facts and details about the text - May focus on a particular passage - Important b/c it's the building bloc for larger analysis - Thoughts evolve not from someone else's truth about the reading, but from your own observations - A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.

- Word choice - Refers to the choice of words and style of expression that an author makes and uses in a work of literature. - Diction can have a great effect on the tone of a piece of literature, and how readers perceive the characters. - One of the primary things that diction does is establish whether a work is formal or informal. - Choosing more elevated words will establish a formality to the piece of literature, while choosing slang will make it informal. - The diction in a piece establishes many different aspects of how we read the work of literature, from its formality to its tone even to the type of story we are reading.

- Simile is an explicit comparison between two unlike things through the use of connecting words, usually "like" or "as." - The technique of simile is known as a rhetorical analogy, as it is a device used for comparison. - The other most popular rhetorical analogy is metaphor, which shares some traits and is often confused with simile. - Simile can be an excellent way for an author either to make an unusual thing seem more familiar or a familiar thing seem more unique - In this way, similes can help the reader imagine the fictive world of a piece of literature. - Simile can help to make new connections for the reader.

- Figurative language is any figure of speech which depends on a non-literal meaning of some or all of the words used. - There are many types of figurative language, including literary devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, and many pun examples, to name just a few. - Figurative language usually requires the reader or listener to understand some extra nuances, context, allusions, etc. in order to understand the second meaning. - However, figurative language is such a common part of regular speech that adult native speakers of a language can just as easily interpret figurative language as literal language. - Many studies have shown that figurative language comes naturally to children and that it helps them understand new concepts. - When authors use examples of figurative language, they are trying to provide fresh or unique new ways of explaining things.

- to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. - Usually imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. - The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. - Imagery needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia etc. in order to appeal to the bodily senses.

- A typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. - May be a character, a theme, a symbol or even a setting. - Many literary critics are of the opinion that archetypes, which have a common and recurring representation in a particular human culture or entire human race, shape the structure and function of a literary work. - Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist, argued that the root of an archetype is in the "collective unconscious" of mankind. The phrase "collective unconscious" refers to experiences shared by a race or culture. This includes love, religion, death, birth, life, struggle, survival etc. These experiences exist in the subconscious of every individual and are recreated in literary works or in other forms of art.

- Main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly. - A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his work, making it the most significant idea in a literary work. - A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly and gives way to another minor theme. - A writer presents themes in a literary work through several ways. - A writer may express a theme through the feelings of his main character about the subject he has chosen to write about. - Similarly, themes are presented through thoughts and conversations of different characters. - Moreover, the experiences of the main character in the course of a literary work give us an idea about its theme. - Finally, the actions and events taking place in a narrative are consequential in determining its theme.

- Motif is an object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work. - In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme. - Motif and theme are linked in a literary work but there is a difference between them. - In a literary piece, a motif is a recurrent image, idea or a symbol that develops or explains a theme while a theme is a central idea or message. - Motifs are images, ideas, sounds or words that help to explain the central idea of a literary work i.e. theme. - Moreover, a symbol may appear once or twice in a literary work, whereas a motif is a recurring element.

-Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. - It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. - It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text. - Their occurrence is fairly common in our daily speech.

- Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are in close proximity to each other. - This repetition of sounds brings attention to the lines in which it is used, and creates more aural rhythm. - In poems, alliteration can also refer to repeated consonant sound in the stressed syllables of a line.

- The connotation of a word refers to the emotional or cultural association with that word rather than its dictionary definition. - The connotation definition is therefore not the explicit meaning of the word, but rather the meaning that the word implies. - Connotation plays a role in almost every type of communication, as it adds nuance and more subtle meaning. - Authors use connotation to allow the readers to infer more meaning than there is explicitly written on the page, making the readers more active parts of the interpretive process.

- The denotation of a word is the actual definition of the word rather than the nuances of its meaning or the feelings it implies. - The denotation of a word does not carry the associations, emotions, or attitudes that the word might have. - Authors may make very specific diction choices based on the denotations and connotations of words. - The process of separating out the dictionary definition from the nuances and associations of a word asks the reader to do more critical thinking and therefore involves the reader more in the reading experience. - While every word has a definition, many philosophers and literary theorists question whether a word can ever really represent the thing it refers to. - When we talk about the "literal definition" of a word we must use other words to define that original word, requiring the reader to conjure up those other words and their own definitions.

- Synecdoche is a a word or phrase that refers to a part of something is substituted to stand in for the whole, or vice versa. - Some literary theorists have posited that synecdoche is not merely ornamental, but instead one of the chief ways to describe and discover truths via literature. - Along with metonymy, metaphor, and irony, synecdoche displays and creates new connections in the way that humans understand concepts. - Whether or not authors use synecdoche intentionally, any connection between previously unassociated concepts creates new cognitive links. - By exploring the usage of synecdoche in literature, we are able to better understand the human mind.

Definition: The practice of interchanging the first letters of some words in order to create new words or even to create nonsensical words in order to create a humorous setting. - While they are often unintentional and known as a "slip of the tongue", in literature they are welcomed as witty wordplay. - Example: The phrase "flesh and blood" being spoken as a character as "blesh and flood" in urgency and heightened emotion.

Definition: Puns are a very popular literary device wherein a word is used in a manner to suggest two or more possible meanings. - This is generally done to the effect of creating humor or irony or wryness. Puns can also refer to words that suggest meanings of similar-sounding words. - The trick is to make the reader have an "ah!" moment and discover 2 or more meanings. - Example: Santa's helpers are known as subordinate Clauses.

Definition: This literary device involves creating a fracture of sorts within a sentence where the two separate parts are distinguishable from one another yet intrinsically linked to one another. -The purpose of using a caesura is to create a dramatic pause, which has a strong impact. - The pause helps to add an emotional, often theatrical touch to the sentence and conveys a depth of sentiment in a short phrase. -Example: Mozart- oh how your music makes me soar!

- Set expression or a phrase comprising two or more words. - The phrase is understood as to mean something quite different from what individual words of the phrase would imply. - Phrase is interpreted in a figurative sense. - Vary in different cultures and countries. - The purpose behind this vast use of idioms is to ornate their language, make it richer and spicier and help them in conveying subtle meanings to their intended audience. - help in making the language beautiful, they also make things better or worse through making the expression good or bad. - They are also said to be exact and more correct than the literal words and sometimes a few words are enough to replace a full sentence. - They help the writer make his sense clearer than it is, so that he could convey maximum meanings through minimum words and also keep the multiplicity of the meanings in the text intact. - Convey a phenomenon that is not being conveyed through normal and everyday language and also they keep the balance in the communication. - Provide textual coherence, so that the reader could be able to piece together a text that he has gone through and extract meanings the writer has conveyed.

- Set of rules in a language. - It dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought. - To convey meaning is one of the main functions of syntax. In literature, writers utilize syntax and diction to achieve certain artistic effects like mood, tone etc. - Like diction, syntax aims to affect the readers as well as express the writer's attitude.

- Which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. - Useful device for writers to portray their characters in great detail to create suspense and achieve a rhetorical effect. - It is a human quality to comprehend one thing easily by comparing it to another. - Writers employ t juxtaposition in order to surprise their readers and evoke their interest by means of developing a comparison between two dissimilar things by placing them side by side. - The comparison drawn adds vividness to a given image, controls pacing of poem or a narrative and provides a logical connection between two various vague concepts.

- Emphasizes the civil rights of citizens, representative government, and the protection of private property. - Popular among the property-owning middle classes. - Advocates the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions - Assures unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties. - A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity.

- Economic development that calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade - Free market is the main mechanism for ensuring economic growth, with a severely restricted role for government - Control of economic factors is shifted from the public sector to the private sector.

- Concept presented by the Marxist geographer David Harvey - The policies in many western nations as resulting in a centralization of wealth and power in the hands of a few by dispossessing the public of their wealth or land. - The policies are guided by four practices: privatization, financialization, management and manipulation of crises, and state redistributions.