...Analyzing Literary Terms Within Stories Many authors use their own type of writing skills to make their stories flow nicely and to keep the reader entertained. There are so many different literary terms out there that help a story to flow so much better. Some of the things I like to see while reading a story are similes, metaphors and imagery. I like to see these certain styles of writing, because you can compare just about any two things and make the story that much more interesting. When an author utilizes those specific styles of writing, it can give excellent detail to create images inside the reader’s heads while they read. I consider myself a visual reader, and when the text is dull or boring, it is like the words are going in one ear, and out of the other. So, I particularly enjoyed Alice Walkers “The Welcome Table”, because of the authors vivid use of words and comparisons that helped me to envision what I am reading as if it were a movie in my mind. In Alice Walkers “The Welcome Table” she uses a great number of literary terms. The terms that were used engaged me in the story and helped to keep me interested while reading about the elderly woman in the story. The way she described certain things kept me wanting to read more. The author uses such great comparisons to describe how the old lady looks, and walks. One literary term that the author utilized is imagery. Imagery is “a distinct representation of something that can be experienced and understood through the...
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...One’s life story can be written out of two words. In this case it’s precision and persimmons. It’s crazy how two words with different meanings can mean the same thing or paint the same picture. This poem has two words that bring a flurry of memories back to the poet mind beginning with a persimmon. The persimmon shows a loving connection between two people. “Persimmons” is a free verse poem by Li-Young Lee, who tells a narrative that being in elementary school. He didn’t know the difference between precision and persimmon, but throughout the poem he illustrates both words. The poem shows precision in the other words he has trouble with words like fight and fright, also wren and yarn. The poet has a connection with these words too which makes it hard for him to remember the difference. Lines 32-33 make it clear how he relates the words so close to each other. “Fight was what I did when I was frightened, fright was what I flet when I was fighting (Lee, 557).” This poem dramatizes the conflict between good and bad memory. The poet is in class and gets slapped on his head because he doesn’t know the difference between persimmon and precision. The fact that he needs precision to pick a ripe persimmon makes it even harder for the international student. The poet also holds out on the class information about the persimmon that Mrs. Walker has brought to class. He knows that it was unripe, so he doesn’t join in the eating because he feels as that is payback for his mistake with the...
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...Cold Mountain Literary Terms Journal 1.) Alliteration (page 137) “Her mind marked every mantis in a stand of ragweed.” Repetition of “m” at the beginning of words. 2.) Allusion (page 5) “He seldom spoke more than a word or two at a time, and Inman had learned little more of him than that his name was Balis and that before the war he had been to school at Chapel Hill, where he had attempted to master Greek. Connects to The Odyssey and the greek gods and goddesses. 3.) Imagery (page 4) “By now he had stared at the window all through a late summer so hot and wet that the air both day and night felt like breathing through a dishrag, so damp it caused fresh sheets to sour under him and tiny black mushrooms to grow overnight from the limp pages of the book on his bedside table.” This sentence is so descriptive and appeals to my sense of touch and feeling it makes me feel like it’s a hot and humid summer night again. 4.) Metaphor (page 68) “[ . . .] gobs of biscuit dough the size of cat heads cooked in the yellow broth.” The authoru related the size of a cat head and biscuit dough, which are two very different things. 5.) Personification (page 1) “At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring.” The author described the flies’ actions with a humane action. 6.) Simile (page 14) “Every morning after that dream, Inman awoke in a mood as dark as the blackest crow that ever flew.” The author used the word “as” to compare the meaning of a color...
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...avalanches (stones and rocks that fall from the mountain) are symbols of the hardship and consequences of the journey to make it to the top to reach our goals. The fact that Hawthorn does not give the characters names is symbol of futures cut short and ambitions never met. The cozy cottage is the symbol of shelter, warmth and felicity (great happiness). And the smoke on the chimney symbolizes happiness. Simile In lines 97-98 there is a simile. “The Notch is just like the pipe of a great pair of bellows” The Notch is like the instruments to increase the draft of a fire. Metaphor A metaphor is described as "a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically dissimilar." In other words, it describes one thing in terms of another. An artery is one of the tubes in your body that carries blood from your heart to the rest of your body. And the place where the cottage is located is just like an artery. It makes the commerce between Maine and the Green Mountains continue. So here the writer uses metaphor to describe how important the location...
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...eng 125 introduction to literature instructor erin schwartz | Literary terms and concepts to define. | Literary | | Amanda Manley | 11/6/2013 | [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.] | LITERARY TERMS AND CONCEPTS TO DEFINE Allusion- An allusion is reference from one literary work to another. Most people use allusions in every day conversations, although they may not be aware of it. For example, Shakespeare’s famous line, “To be or not to be” has been used and reused in many different contexts. An example of an allusion from Week one’s reading assignments comes from The Hack Driver by Sinclair Lewis. During the story, the author makes reference the express man. He comments on how this man will probably get to Heaven’s gate and call St Peter “Pete” (LA Rocco & Coughlin, 1996, p. 59). Connotation- Connotation is the meaning or implication that the author gives, and the reader receives while reading a literary work. Connotations are not difficult to spot, because they are usually presented in the form of an opinion or assumption. For example, To Be of Use, by Marge Piercy, refers to workers becoming natives to the elements of their work environment (LA Rocco & Coughlin, 1996, p. 248). The entire poem places much emphasis on the positive aspects of good workers...
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...THESIS STATEMENTS IN LITERARY ANALYSIS PAPERS *The thesis statement is one of the (if not the) most important parts of your paper—think of it as the foundation of a house—if your foundation is weak and poorly constructed, what do you think happens to the house? *The thesis statement is the announcement of your analytical argument that you intend to make and prove in the duration of your paper. It is a road map for the paper—it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. *It should be placed somewhere in the Introduction of your paper—Many like to put it as the last sentence(s) of their Intro which is fine. *Successful thesis statements provoke thought and should read beautifully. *Your thesis statement should include two parts: WHAT and WHY. *WHAT: What claim are you making about the text? *WHY: Why should we care? Why is your claim important? Your thesis should answer the “so what?” question. *A thesis statement is usually, but can be more than, one sentence long. Examples of Literary Thesis Statements: * “Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.” *What’s wrong with this thesis statement? *An opinion about the book, not an argument. * “In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.” *Better? How so? What is still missing? *Doesn’t answer the “so what?” question—what is the point of the contrast? What does the contrast signify? * “Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry...
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...Marxist literary criticism has, as the name indicates, its basis in the theories of Karl Marx and his associates. The main idea of Marxism is that “instead of making abstract affirmations about a whole group of problems such as man, knowledge, matter, and nature, he examines each problem in its dynamic relation to the others and, above all, tries to relate them to historical, social, political, and economic realities” (BO). Marx argued that the real foundation of society was the economic structure, that political and legal superstructures rose from this base, and that “[i]t is not the consciousness of men which determines their existence; it is on the contrary their social existence which determines their consciousness” (BO). The most fundamental argument of Marxist literary and cultural theories is that they do not see art as something that is separate from society – art is, as Eagleton says, “part of the ‘superstructure’ of society” (5) – and the central concern of Marxist literary criticism is the relationship between the economy and the literature. Marxist critics argue that art is social because it is produced and received in concrete contexts, and because the creator is someone with a class, gender and racial identity – the author is, unavoidably, “part of her own context” (Haslett 8). Art, in Marxist readings, “is interpreted as a material practice, perhaps because it relies on ‘technology’… is concretely realised in situations which themselves are material… ...
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...polemical issues in the application of literary theories to the field of literature and literary criticism. Out of the several modern approaches to literary criticism as employed by the critics, four literary theories are strategically chosen for analysis in this paper; Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism/Deconstruction and Marxism. This work is objectively carried out by consulting articles, journals and books written on the literary theories. The opportunity of information technology via the internet is also utilized. It is established in the course of writing this paper that literary theories are indispensable tools for literature to achieve its goal of sensitizing its audience towards literary awareness. The application of literary theories to literature, that enhance better and detail insight into text or literary works, would continue to be relevant and make literature more enjoyable and meaningful to its readers and users. Further research and enquiry into the relationship between the two (literature and literary theory) is open and should further be exploited. Keywords: literary theory, literary criticism, Marxism, Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism Introduction Literary criticism is the study, evaluation and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have...
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...Beginning theory An introduction to literary and cultural theory Second edition Peter Barry © Peter Barry 1995, 2002 ISBN: 0719062683 Contents Acknowledgements - page x Preface to the second edition - xii Introduction - 1 About this book - 1 Approaching theory - 6 Slop and think: reviewing your study of literature to date - 8 My own 'stock-taking' - 9 1 Theory before 'theory' - liberal humanism - 11 The history of English studies - 11 Stop and think - 11 Ten tenets of liberal humanism - 16 Literary theorising from Aristotle to Leavis some key moments - 21 Liberal humanism in practice - 31 The transition to 'theory' - 32 Some recurrent ideas in critical theory - 34 Selected reading - 36 2 Structuralism - 39 Structuralist chickens and liberal humanist eggs Signs of the fathers - Saussure - 41 Stop and think - 45 The scope of structuralism - 46 What structuralist critics do - 49 Structuralist criticism: examples - 50 Stop and think - 53 Stop and think - 55 39 Stop and think - 57 Selected reading - 60 3 Post-structuralism and deconstruction - 61 Some theoretical differences between structuralism and post-structuralism - 61 Post-structuralism - life on a decentred planet - 65 Stop and think - 68 Structuralism and post-structuralism - some practical differences - 70 What post-structuralist critics do - 73 Deconstruction: an example - 73 Selected reading - 79 4 Postmodernism - 81 What is postmodernism? What was modernism? -...
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...Literary Standards Universality Literature - appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time which are all considered significant. Artistry Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus possesses a sense of beauty. Intellectual Value It stimulate critical thinking that enriches mental processes of abstract and reasoning, making man realize the fundamental of truths of life and its nature. Suggestiveness It unravels man’s emotional power to define symbolism, nuances, implied meanings, images and messages, giving and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience. Spiritual Value Literature elevates the spirit and the soul and thus has the power to motivate and to inspire. Permanence Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor: Timeliness – occurring at a particular time. Timelessness – remaining invariable throughout time Importance of Literature • •Studying literature is like looking at the mirror of life where man’s experiences, his innermost feelings and thoughts are reflected. • Through literature, we learn the culture of people across time and space•We understand not only the past life of a nation but also its present. • Moreover, we become familiar not only with the culture of neighboring countries but also with that of others living very far from us Literary Approaches Literary Approaches Moral or Humanistic Approach • Literature is viewed to discuss man and its nature. • It presents...
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...v (первый семестр) STYLISTICS Expressive means of the language Language can be neutral and expressive. Expressiveness can be distinguished at all levels of the language. The expressive means of the language are phonetic, morphological, word-building, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms that exist in the language as a system for the purpose of logical and emotional intensification of the utterance. expressive means exist on all the levels of the language. The most powerful are phonetic expressive means including stress, whispering, high/fall alliteration. Morphological expressive means include the use of second and third persons. Word-building expressive means - the use of deminuative suffixes, such as -y (frequently used). On the lexical level we distinguish neutral vocabulary and exressive vocabulary. [to die - to go West, to work - to labour, fear - horror]. Proverbs also belong to the expressive vocabulary. On the syntactical level we distinguish between the inversion and repetition. A stylistic device is a conscious and intentional intencification of some typical structural or semantic property of a language unit (word, word combination or sentence) promoted to a generalised stater and thus become a generative model. stylistic devices are built according to a fixed model [a nice table, a tasty table, an angry table; a tasty table - a case of metonomy, an angry table - a transfered epithet]. Expressive means are trite and frequently employed. Stylistic...
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...Fall 2010 ------------------------------------------------- Catalogue Description: This course examines the literary traditions of sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean through an intensive study of selected works. Negritude is explored in its own right but also in its relationship with the literature of Europe and the Harlem Renaissance. Particular emphasis is placed on the socio-cultural and political forces that shaped this literature as well as the mode of presentation. General Education Goals: ENG 232 is affirmed in the following General Education Foundation Categories: Humanistic Perspective and Global and Cultural Awareness of Diversity. The corresponding General Education Goals are respectively as follows: Students will analyze works in the field of art, music, or theater; literature; and philosophy and/or religious studies; and will gain competence in the use of a foreign language; and Students will understand the importance of global perspective and culturally diverse peoples. Course Goals: Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to do the following: 1. discuss the universality and the diversity of literary thought; 2. apply critical and analytical approaches to the study of African and Caribbean literature to compose critical and analytical essays about such literary works and, specifically, about literary elements; 3. write a fully documented, multiple...
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...Some definitions of literary devices, techniques and style from searching via http://www.ferretsoft.com/ LITERARY DEVICES http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/lit.htm Literary devices refers to any specific aspect of literature, or a particular work, which we can recognize, identify, interpret and/or analyze. Both literary elements and literary techniques can rightly be called literary devices. Literary elements refers to aspects or characteristics of a whole text. They are not “used,” per se, by authors; we derive what they are from reading the text. Most literary elements can be derived from any and all texts; for example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc. In order to be discussed legitimately, literary elements must be specifically identified for that text. Literary techniques refers to any specific, deliberate constructions of language which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements, literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text. Literary terms refers to the words themselves with which we identify and describe literary elements and techniques. They are not found in literature and they are not “used” by authors. Allegory:...
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...A study of reader-response theories, and some views on how the objectivity of the literary text is or is not distinguished from the subjectivity of the reader's response by Clarissa Lee Ai Ling In the academic study of literature very little attention has been paid to the ordinary reader, the subjective individual who reads a particular text. David S. Miall and Don Kuiken, in their paper The form of reading: Empirical studies of literariness state. Almost no professional attention is being paid to the ordinary reader, who continues to read for the pleasure of understanding the world of the text rather than for the development of a deconstructive or historicist perspective. The concerns that an ordinary reader seems likely to have about a literary text, such as its style, its narrative structure, or the reader's relation to the author, the impact on the reader's understanding or feelings - such concerns now seem of little interest. In this paper I should like to study a few kinds of reader and the subjectivity of their responses to the objectivity found within literary texts, quoting some views found within reader-response criticism. Before I begin, I should like to consider what is meant by the term 'literary text', and what is meant by the objectivity of it. According to Terry Eagleton, [1] the definition of 'literary', as advanced by the Russian formalists, (who included in their ranks are Viktor Shklovsky, Roman Jakobson, Osip Brik, Yury Tynyanov, Boris Eichenbaum...
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...The Decline and Fall of Literature November 4, 1999 ANDREW DELBANCO E-mail Print [pic]Share [pic] [pic]In Plato’s Cave[pic] by Alvin Kernan A couple of years ago, in an article explaining how funds for faculty positions are allocated in American universities, the provost of the University of California at Berkeley offered some frank advice to department chairs, whose job partly consists of lobbying for a share of the budget. “On every campus,” she wrote, “there is one department whose name need only be mentioned to make people laugh; you don’t want that department to be yours.”1 The provost, Carol Christ (who retains her faculty position as a literature professor), does not name the offender—but everyone knows that if you want to locate the laughingstock on your local campus these days, your best bet is to stop by the English department. The laughter, moreover, is not confined to campuses. It has become a holiday ritual for The New York Times to run a derisory article in deadpan Times style about the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, where thousands of English professors assemble just before the new year. Lately it has become impossible to say with confidence whether such topics as “Eat Me; Captain Cook and the Ingestion of the Other” or “The Semiotics of Sinatra” are parodies of what goes on there or serious presentations by credentialed scholars.2 At one recent English lecture, the speaker discussed a pornographic “performance artist”...
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