Words to Know
British Literature.
Mon, Aug 17th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Themes: Lit Devices
- Pull your devices from the list below (I’ll give you the handout tomorrow).
- Find an example “in the wild†(song lyrics are okay, but see if you can’t find an example outside of literature)
- Think about your explanation. The objective here is to figure out why something is the way it is, rather than just pointing it out. If your explanation is “This picture of a car wash sign has a bubble that is popping, and it says, ‘Pop!’ That’s onomatopoeia!†you might want to re-think your example.
- You don’t need to write your explanation down at this point, but you should be ready to defend and explain your choice in class.
- Bring it to class tomorrow. If it is online, you can post a link below. If it is in your camera/phone, email it to me.
Example explanation from class:
Stewie’s sarcastic retort to the girl’s insult highlights (and draws out) the fact that it is an old reference (allusion!). By re-stating what she said in a sarcastic tone, he turns her own words against her.
- Allegory—(usually) simple story that portrays some moral through the actions of characters.
- Alliteration—repeating consonant (letters that aren’t vowels) sounds at the beginning of words. (See consonance)
- Allusion—reference to something outside the work being read
- Analogy—comparison between two things using “like†or “as,†often used to make a logical point
- Climax—the point of highest action or development of the plot; the succession of increasingly important words, phrases, or clauses.
- One equal temper of heroic hearts,/Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses
- Conflict—opposition of forces in a work
- [Who is the main character? Who opposes him or her? Are there other forces working against the characters? Types of Conflict: person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. fate, person vs. self, person vs. society]
- Connotation—the meaning of a word within the context of a written work
- Consonance—repetition of consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of words. (See alliteration)
- Couplet—a pair of lines in a poem; if they rhyme, it’s a rhyming couplet
- Ex: I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies/This is the dawning of the rest of our lives (Green Day, American Idiot, “Holidayâ€)
- Denotation—the literal, dictionary definition of a word
- Diction—the author’s word choice
- Ex: The sentence “Adam walked quickly across the yard†seems okay, but if the author changed walked quickly to lurched, hurried, or quick-stepped, it would be a much more precise sentence.
- Flashback—device utilizing a shift in time during a narrative. Usually in order to expose the back story of a character in a way that sheds light on a current situation. We are doing a similar thing in Brit Lit—by “folding†the chronology of or books in half, we can compare current works with older ones.
- Ex: J.D. in Scrubs has a flashback almost every episode. Family Guy also contains many flashbacks, but almost always for absurd comedic effect.
- Foreshadowing—Symbol or reference in a narrative that hints at a future event. Authors use this in a way similar to flashbacks, but it is often less obvious.
- Hyperbole—dramatic overstatement. Allows us to add emotional weight to a statement.
- Ex: Chris knew the whole school laughed at him when he tripped on the first day.
- Imagery—verbal representation of sensory information; can be visual (sight), auditory (sound), tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), or gustatory (taste)
- Irony—usually humorous device in which a character says the opposite of what is intended, or an event’s outcome is the opposite of what is expected. We use irony to highlight the difference between things as they are and the things that could be.
- Metaphor—using one kind of thing to represent another without express indication of the representation
- Meter—poetic rhythm pattern; can be iambic (unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable), trochaic (stressed then unstressed), dactylic (stressed then two unstressed), or anapestic (two unstressed then stressed). As poetry was originally performed for an audience, rhythm allowed the speaker to involve the listeners—think about clapping or dancing at a concert.
- Personification—a figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics.
- Ex: The television stared into the empty living room searching for attention.
- Simile—comparison of two things using “like†or “asâ€
- Symbol—something concrete that stands for something abstract outside the work, or recalls something else inside the work; something that means more than what it is physically used for.
Post questions or links below.
26 Responses to “Words to Know”
August 17, 2009 at 6:04 pm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2004/05/292199.jpg This is the link to an ironic comic about worrying about anarchy.
August 17, 2009 at 6:23 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhdOQ5BnBys
metaphor! & simile i guess
August 17, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Ahh here’s a better one, http://burrellosubmarine.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/soggy-strangelife.jpg , personification.
August 17, 2009 at 7:02 pm
http://tinyurl.com/qf56ey
A mattress’s point of view on a couple breaking up and moving out.
August 17, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I won’t be in class tomorrow as a have to get my wisdom teeth pulled, so I’m posting my example here.
I’ve been reading 1984, and there is a rhyme which is repeated often throughout the book.
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s
“You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney
I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!”
This is an obvious example of personification because the bells are “saying” things.
But, I’ll give another example because you said to try to find an example outside of literature.
This is, I think, an example of conflict. In this case JD and Turk’s conflict with the other people, like Dr. Cox and even an internal conflict within themselves about whether it is okay for them to love each other as much as they do because it may not seem manly or right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL4L4Uv5rf0
August 17, 2009 at 8:22 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0j1EHF8Y0
It’s from the movie Toy Story2 and is from the doll’s point of view.
Personification.
August 17, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Irony, because of disgusting and vulgar the human appetite can be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31JNEVHZxO8
August 17, 2009 at 8:51 pm
http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/spinto_band_the_lyrics_8014/nice_and_nicely_done_lyrics_26716/oh_mandy_lyrics_291914.html
and here is a youtube video of the song! <3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYALZWFfPO0
This song is about a girl he likes named Mandy. His feelings about her are driving him crazy, and he isn't sure how she feels about him, and he is metaphorically (metaphor) looking for a map to find her heart.
Where he says "eating the brains right out of the back of my head" (imagery) I think means that she has completely consumed his thoughts and she is all he thinks about.
When he references (allusion) to the WB, as in the television channel, I think he is insinuating that he feels like his "chase" after Mandy is similar to mushy high-school drama's and love affairs.
I chose this song because it has lots of literary examples and because it's a fantastic song (:
August 17, 2009 at 9:53 pm
my word was allegory. the reason i picked it is because when i was listening to my music i remembered about the assignment, and at the time this song was playing and i thought perfect. the artist is Ludo and the name of the song is Go-Getter Greg.
http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/ludo_lyrics_4945/youre_awful_i_love_you_lyrics_75308/go-getter_greg_lyrics_748156.html
to me the song fits perfectly because this nerdy guy is trying to get this girl to like him even though he is a complete stalker.
August 18, 2009 at 12:55 am
Author: Gavin T. Hewitson, UK
Poem The Stars In The Sky
The stars in the sky they call out your name
They ask you to open your heart to all love
They know that everything is just a game
For love allows you to join them high above
They know we are all one and love they do pour
Connecting them to us and everything there is
They cry for us as they see all of our wars
They hope that one day we will all see bliss
The stars in the sky send us love all the time
Radiating beauty bright from such a great height
Telling us that with love we all do shine
Open your heart and let love shine beauty bright
They urge us to be all that we can be
With their love they shine like a flame
Being in the now with love can set us all free
The stars in the sky they call out your name
http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=125463
August 18, 2009 at 9:02 am
The evening had caught cold;
Its eyes were blurred.
It had a dripping nose
And its tongue was furred.
I sat ill a warm bar
After the day’s work;
November snuffled outside,
Greasing the sidewalk.
But soon I had to go
Out into tile night
Where shadows prowled the alleys
Hiding from the light.
But light shone at the corner
Of the pavement where
A man had fallen over
Or been knocked down there.
His legs oil the slimed concrete
Were splayed out wide;
He had been propped against a lamp-post
His head lolled to one side.
A victim of crime or accident,
An image of-fear,
He remained quite motionless
As I drew near
Then a thin voice startled silence
From a doorway close by
Where all urchin hid from the wind:
‘Spare a penny for the guy!’
I gave the boy some money
And hastened on.
A voice called, `Thank you guv�nor!’
And the words upon
The wincing air seemed strange
So hoarse and deep �
As if the guy had spoken
In his restless sleep.
Vernon Scannell
August 18, 2009 at 9:08 am
conflict
http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2007/349/3/4/Batman_vs_Joker_2_0_by_billmeiggs.jpg
Batman is in a conflict with joker. It’s a conflicted because there are two opposite
Forces fighting
August 18, 2009 at 5:43 pm
http://i30.tinypic.com/t0tb2r.jpg
Irony that made me lol.
August 18, 2009 at 6:10 pm
http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/art/animalfarm.jpg
my second Literary device for Wednesday.
it’s an example of allusion toward animal farm.
August 18, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I’m guessing you assigned another literary device for homework today, so here’s another which I stumbled upon.
The part I am referring to is this part ‘The results are outlined in a recent paper (PDF), “P2P: Is Big Brother Watching You?”‘
This is quite obviously an allusion to the novel 1984 by George Orwell.
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/10/p2p-researchers-use-a-blocklist-or-you-will-be-tracked-100-of-the-time.ars
August 18, 2009 at 9:20 pm
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5Br1OsxrvV4/SLKE4xgTMbI/AAAAAAAAAgU/LK_DvwdHz20/s400/new+years+resolution,+more+time+on+treadmill.bmp
This is an example of Irony
August 18, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This is an example of hyperbole
August 18, 2009 at 10:19 pm
http://i5.tinypic.com/20j5ve9.jpg
August 18, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Conflict
an unstoppable force meets an immovable object
http://api.ning.com/files/kT*ZpXY15-HD7Vhs8AA6UDUXKz4Mgc-XXOR5bALULuLvAnRDAs1Nekf7nBSP-DaVkm9THJd*m9HGJk0CTxPsm5BBSzonIFSC/Superman_VS_Goku_by_mikemaluk.jpg
August 19, 2009 at 12:34 am
I’m going to use two words, for yesterday and today’s work.
“Thr3e” by Ted Dekker
Irony- “Extracting punishment involves making someone suffer, and death ends that suffering, cheating the true pain of suffering. At least this side of hell. Slater shivers with the excitement of it all. A small whimper of pleasure. The ice hurts now. Like fire in his eyes. Interesting how opposites can be so similar. Ice and fire” (59).
How this is ironic is because first, it is unusual to hear that ice “burns” anything; secondly, in context with the novel, the characters, Slater and Samantha, are persona’s created by one man named Kevin. Samantha was created for good and Slater was created to express evil. These two personalities represent two a opposing forces, much like fire and ice. The fire and ice both give a “burning” sensation much like Sam and Slater are actually from the same place–one man’s imagination.
Foreshadowing- “‘I would say man chooses evil rather than creates it. Human nature’s saturated with evil as a result of the Fall. We are all evil.’ ‘And we are all good,’ Kevin said, tapping his foot. ‘The good, the bad, and the beautiful.’ Dr. Francis nodded at the use of the phrase he’d coined, which referred to the man created in God’s nature, the beautiful man, struggling between the good and the bad. ‘The good, the bad, and the beautiful. Indeed.’ He stepped for the door. ‘Walk with me, Kevin.'” (3).
Considering it was concluded that Kevin had three different persona’s, it is quite obvious as to what it is foreshadowing to–the good (Samantha’s character), the bad (Slater’s character) and the beautiful man struggling between the two opposing forces. The strange thing is that Kevin is the one who presents this theory of the three different men “created in God’s nature.” He foreshadowed his own future unknowingly. Also, refers back to the fact that one of his alternative personalities is trying to convince Kevin to confess his secret of having multiple personality disorder.
August 19, 2009 at 1:19 am
OWL CITY
-Early birdie
Good evening, shuttle bus! Tell me where you’re going to take us
Someplace that I have never been
It’s chic transportation to new destination where I leave my reflection on the glass
I’d ask but we don’t know how far these interstates go
Or how deep the city roots go down
In chilly sub-depth railways, the weathered concrete stairways provide me with a means of getting home… if I ever leave
On crystal sand, we sleep hand-in-hand
While soothing words hover like hummingbirds
So many sights to see so wake up like an early birdie
And we’ll get a head start on the day
Stained-glass skyways and crowded 6 lane highways
If I look back when I begin to leave, will they remember me?
Circuit flights bend the lights when I am spent
And tour guides make happy brides feel heaven-sent
August 19, 2009 at 1:21 am
Affection, the gifted architect
Is making a draft and beautiful design
The options and possibilities
Are endless when we connect and re-align
Collections of books and documents
Arise and parade around my cluttered desk
Reworking the math and measurements
Until I’m convinced these plans are picturesque
Like mountains in the Midwest
Reaction creates the columns dark
And wide like the roads around Fort Lauderdale
The structures begin to take their shape
Before I’ve designed the public monorail
The turnpike and high-speed motorway
Connect and enclose the quaint suburban streets
OWL CITY
-Designer Skyline
The airport, the broad suspension bridge
The lake and the beach where several rivers meet
Compounded from the spreadsheet
A city sparkles in the night
How can it glow so bright?
The neighborhoods surround the soft florescent light
Designer skyline in my head
Abstract and still well-read
You went from numbered lines to buildings overhead
August 19, 2009 at 6:01 pm
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Bqey93-bcB8/SW0UoGw8GbI/AAAAAAAAAV4/BjxwLnm1Grg/s400/IMG_0070.JPG
Hyperbole!
August 20, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Allusion
http://www.alterati.com/blog/?p=243
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy-mRFnBWiI
August 25, 2009 at 3:39 pm
This is, obviously, quite late. I am not doing this as homework or anything of the sort. I just found a great example of hyperbole — The Boston Massacre!
August 25, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Andrew: Nice! A great example of overstating something to incite emotion (or riots, in this case).