RHETORIC & RHETORICAL APPEALS
1. "The art of speaking or writing effectively." - Merriam-Webster
2. "The undue use of exaggeration or display." - Dictionary.com
3. "Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the capability of writers and speakers that attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations." - Wikipedia
Summary: The art of speaking well to reach people.
Aristotle's rhetorical triangle:
• Logos - fact, reasoning
• Ethos - character, authority
• Pathos - emotion
2. "The undue use of exaggeration or display." - Dictionary.com
3. "Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the capability of writers and speakers that attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations." - Wikipedia
Summary: The art of speaking well to reach people.
Aristotle's rhetorical triangle:
• Logos - fact, reasoning
• Ethos - character, authority
• Pathos - emotion
THE COLONIAL AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD (BEGINNINGS-1830)
Origin myth - a traditional story that explains how life began
ex. Earth was formed from seeds being placed on a turtles shell ("The Earth on Turtle's Back" by the Onondaga)
Themes - insights about life or the human condition
ex. Freedom is the theme of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Archetypes - symbols, patterns, or character types that repeat across cultures
ex. If you don't succeed, try again ("The Earth on Turtle's Back" by the Onondaga)
Political document - defines the structure and practices of a political organization
ex. "The Iroquois Constitution" by the Iroquois Confederacy
Symbol - a person, place, animal, or object that represents something else, often an abstraction
ex. A tree symbolizes the peace established among the tribes, "I am Dekanawidah and with the Five Nations' confederate lords I plant the Tree of the Great Peace ("The Iroquois Constitution" by the Iroquois Confederacy)
Exploration narratives - firsthand accounts of their travels
ex. "Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville" by García López de Cárdenas
Chronological order - describing events in the order in which they occurred
ex. "They set out from there laden with provisions.....accordingly when they marched for twenty days they came to gorges ("Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville" by García López de Cárdenas)
Author's purpose - his or her reason for writing. General purposes for writing are to inform, entertain, or persuade the audience
ex. William Bradford sought to tell the new generation about the Pilgrim's history
Audience - readers
ex. William Bradford wrote for an audience that included the children and grandchildren of the first settlers
Puritan Plain Style - characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to everyday objects and experiences
ex. "If ever two were one, then surely we, If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee." ("To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet)
Syntax - structure of sentences
ex. Anne Bradstreet omitted words, such as the verb "are" after "we" in the first line, that "we" would would include today
Inversion - the placing of sentence elements out of normal position
ex. Instead of "let's so persevere in love," Anne says, "in love let's so persevere."
Metaphor - a figure of speech in which two different subjects are shown to have a point of similarity. A metaphor may liken an abstract idea, such as love or friendship, to a concrete image.
ex. Langston Hughes: "Life is a broken-winged bird."
Conceit / extended metaphor - a metaphor taken to its logical limit. The metaphor does not end in a single line or image, but builds throughout the work
ex. Edward Taylor uses the poetic structure itself to extend the metaphor of the spinning wheel into a conceit in "Huswifery"
Lines - common structure of a poem
ex. "Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete." ("Huswifery" by Edward Taylor)
Stanza - a group of consecutive lines that forms a unit
ex. "Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete.
Thy hold word my distaff make for me.
Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat
And make my soul Thy holy spool to be.
My conversation make to be Thy reel
And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel. ("Huswifery" by Edward Taylor)
Sermon - a speech given from a pulpit in a house of worship
ex. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
Oratory - formal public speaking
ex. sermons, speeches, etc.
Speech - a nonfiction work that is delivered orally to an audience
ex. Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Political Speech - a speech focusing on an issue relating to government
ex. Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Address - a formal speech prepared for a special occasion, such as dedication of a memorial or the inauguration of a new leader
ex. George Washington's Farewell Address
Rhetorical devices - patterns of words and ideas that create emphasis, clarify meaning, and stir listener's emotions
ex. Restatement, Anaphora, rhetorical questions, repetition, parallelism, antithesis, and exclamation
Restatement - expressing the same ideas using different words
ex. Abraham Lincoln: "...we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground."
Anaphora - repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases
ex. Winston Churchill: "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans..."
Rhetorical questions - questions asked for effect rather than answers
ex. Benjamin Franklin: "From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?"
Repetition - restating an idea using the same words
ex. "The war is inevitable-- and let it come! I repeat, sir, let it come! (Patrick Henry)
Parallelism - repeating a grammatical structure
ex. "With malice toward none; with charity for all..." (Abraham Lincoln)
Antithesis - juxtaposition of strongly contrasting words, images, or ideas
ex. "...ask not what your country can do for you-- ask what you can do for your country." (John F. Kennedy)
Exclamation - an emotional statement, often indicated in texts by an exclamation mark
ex. "...as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" (Patrick Henry)
Allusion - references to well-known people or events from history, literature, the Bible, etc.
ex. "Trust it not, sir; It will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss." (Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention")
Persuasion - is writing that presents an argument, or message meant to get readers to think or act in a certain way. Persuasion appeals to: emotion to influence readers' feelings, logic to show that an argument is well reasoned, ethics to show that an argument is just or fair, and authority to show that a higher power supports the ideas
ex. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." ("The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson)
Heroic couplets - a traditional poetic form, or structure. They are written in a sequence of rhyming couplets, or pairs of lines; each couplet expresses a complete thought; they have end rhyme, or full rhyme at the end of each line; they are written in iambic pentameter, a meter in which five unstressed syllables are each followed by a stressed syllable
ex. "The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise. ("To His Excellency, General Washington" by Phyllis Wheatley)
Autobiography - a life history written by its subject
ex. "Autobiography" by Benjamin Franklin
Aphorisms - short saying with a message
ex. "A small leak will sink a great ship." (Benjamin Franklin)
Slave Narrative - an autobiographical account of a person's life as a slave
ex. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oluadah Equiano" by Oluadah Equiano
ex. Earth was formed from seeds being placed on a turtles shell ("The Earth on Turtle's Back" by the Onondaga)
Themes - insights about life or the human condition
ex. Freedom is the theme of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Archetypes - symbols, patterns, or character types that repeat across cultures
ex. If you don't succeed, try again ("The Earth on Turtle's Back" by the Onondaga)
Political document - defines the structure and practices of a political organization
ex. "The Iroquois Constitution" by the Iroquois Confederacy
Symbol - a person, place, animal, or object that represents something else, often an abstraction
ex. A tree symbolizes the peace established among the tribes, "I am Dekanawidah and with the Five Nations' confederate lords I plant the Tree of the Great Peace ("The Iroquois Constitution" by the Iroquois Confederacy)
Exploration narratives - firsthand accounts of their travels
ex. "Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville" by García López de Cárdenas
Chronological order - describing events in the order in which they occurred
ex. "They set out from there laden with provisions.....accordingly when they marched for twenty days they came to gorges ("Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville" by García López de Cárdenas)
Author's purpose - his or her reason for writing. General purposes for writing are to inform, entertain, or persuade the audience
ex. William Bradford sought to tell the new generation about the Pilgrim's history
Audience - readers
ex. William Bradford wrote for an audience that included the children and grandchildren of the first settlers
Puritan Plain Style - characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to everyday objects and experiences
ex. "If ever two were one, then surely we, If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee." ("To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet)
Syntax - structure of sentences
ex. Anne Bradstreet omitted words, such as the verb "are" after "we" in the first line, that "we" would would include today
Inversion - the placing of sentence elements out of normal position
ex. Instead of "let's so persevere in love," Anne says, "in love let's so persevere."
Metaphor - a figure of speech in which two different subjects are shown to have a point of similarity. A metaphor may liken an abstract idea, such as love or friendship, to a concrete image.
ex. Langston Hughes: "Life is a broken-winged bird."
Conceit / extended metaphor - a metaphor taken to its logical limit. The metaphor does not end in a single line or image, but builds throughout the work
ex. Edward Taylor uses the poetic structure itself to extend the metaphor of the spinning wheel into a conceit in "Huswifery"
Lines - common structure of a poem
ex. "Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete." ("Huswifery" by Edward Taylor)
Stanza - a group of consecutive lines that forms a unit
ex. "Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete.
Thy hold word my distaff make for me.
Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat
And make my soul Thy holy spool to be.
My conversation make to be Thy reel
And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel. ("Huswifery" by Edward Taylor)
Sermon - a speech given from a pulpit in a house of worship
ex. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
Oratory - formal public speaking
ex. sermons, speeches, etc.
Speech - a nonfiction work that is delivered orally to an audience
ex. Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Political Speech - a speech focusing on an issue relating to government
ex. Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Address - a formal speech prepared for a special occasion, such as dedication of a memorial or the inauguration of a new leader
ex. George Washington's Farewell Address
Rhetorical devices - patterns of words and ideas that create emphasis, clarify meaning, and stir listener's emotions
ex. Restatement, Anaphora, rhetorical questions, repetition, parallelism, antithesis, and exclamation
Restatement - expressing the same ideas using different words
ex. Abraham Lincoln: "...we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground."
Anaphora - repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases
ex. Winston Churchill: "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans..."
Rhetorical questions - questions asked for effect rather than answers
ex. Benjamin Franklin: "From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?"
Repetition - restating an idea using the same words
ex. "The war is inevitable-- and let it come! I repeat, sir, let it come! (Patrick Henry)
Parallelism - repeating a grammatical structure
ex. "With malice toward none; with charity for all..." (Abraham Lincoln)
Antithesis - juxtaposition of strongly contrasting words, images, or ideas
ex. "...ask not what your country can do for you-- ask what you can do for your country." (John F. Kennedy)
Exclamation - an emotional statement, often indicated in texts by an exclamation mark
ex. "...as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" (Patrick Henry)
Allusion - references to well-known people or events from history, literature, the Bible, etc.
ex. "Trust it not, sir; It will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss." (Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention")
Persuasion - is writing that presents an argument, or message meant to get readers to think or act in a certain way. Persuasion appeals to: emotion to influence readers' feelings, logic to show that an argument is well reasoned, ethics to show that an argument is just or fair, and authority to show that a higher power supports the ideas
ex. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." ("The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson)
Heroic couplets - a traditional poetic form, or structure. They are written in a sequence of rhyming couplets, or pairs of lines; each couplet expresses a complete thought; they have end rhyme, or full rhyme at the end of each line; they are written in iambic pentameter, a meter in which five unstressed syllables are each followed by a stressed syllable
ex. "The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise. ("To His Excellency, General Washington" by Phyllis Wheatley)
Autobiography - a life history written by its subject
ex. "Autobiography" by Benjamin Franklin
Aphorisms - short saying with a message
ex. "A small leak will sink a great ship." (Benjamin Franklin)
Slave Narrative - an autobiographical account of a person's life as a slave
ex. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oluadah Equiano" by Oluadah Equiano
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1830-1870)
Characterization - creation and development of a character
ex. "Toms wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm." ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Direct characterization - a writer tells you what a character is like
ex. "not a man to be troubled with any fears" about Tom Walker ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Indirect characterization - the writer reveals a character's personality through the character's speech, thoughts, actions, appearance, and other character's reactions
ex. ""Your grounds!" said Tom with a sneer, "no more your grounds than mine; they belong to Deacon Peabody"" in Tom's reply to the Devil upon being accused of trespassing ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Meter - the systematic arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
ex. "The youth in life's free spring, and he who goes" ("Thanatopis" by William Cullen Bryant)
Foot - the basic unit of meter, which usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables
ex. "To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours" ("Thanatopis" by William Cullen Bryant)
Parable - a story that teaches a moral lesson
ex. "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a parable
Ambiguity - uncertain meaning
ex. ""There is an hour to come," he said, "when all of us shall cast aside our veils." ("The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Symbol - object, setting, or even character that has a meaning as itself but also stands for something greater - often an abstract idea
ex. "Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face... Mr. Hooper had on a black veil." ("The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Single effect - every detail should contribute to one impression
ex. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses Gothic elements to contribute to a single, unified effect
Theme - central message or comment on life
ex. the theme of revenge and man vs. nature in "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville
Figure of speech - language used imaginatively instead of figuratively
ex. "envy is ignorance" ("Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Metaphor - compares two objects/things without using the words "like" or "as"
ex. "...the fiery night that's in your eyes..." (Edward Arlington Robinson)
Synecdoche - the use of a part of something to stand for the whole
ex. "the shot heard round the world"
Imagery - word pictures
ex. "a red wheelbarrow / glazed with rain water" (William Carlos Williams)
Author's style - the unique manner in which he or she puts thoughts into words
ex. "Walden" by David Henry Thoreau
Tone - attitude
ex. as though he is talking to a friends
Analogy - an extended comparison of relationships
ex. "Our life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states." ("Walden" by David Henry Thoreau)
Narrative poetry - tells a story and has the same literary elements as works of prose fiction
ex. ballads and epics such as "The Odyssey" by Homer
Dramatic poetry - uses the techniques of drama to present the speech of one or more characters in verse form
ex. "A Servant to Servants" by Robert Frost
Lyric poetry - expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker
ex. "Sonnet Number 18" by William Shakespeare
Rhyme - the repetition of sounds at the end of words
ex. leaf and brief
Consonance - the repetition of final consonant sounds
ex. speak and break
Assonance - repetition of similar vowel sounds
ex. shade and ray
Alliteration - repetition of initial identical consonant sounds in accented syllables
ex. "What saint strained so much...?" (Theodore Roethke)
Exact rhyme - two or more words have identical sounds in their final stressed syllables
ex. one/begun
Slant rhyme - the final sounds are similar but not identical
ex. one/stone
Paradox - a statement that seems contradictory but actually presents a truth
ex. "The Brain-- Is Wider Than The Sky" (Emily Dickinson)
Epic poetry - tells a long story about a hero whose adventures embody the values of a nation
ex. "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman
Epic theme - that all people of all times are connected by their shared experience of life
ex. "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman
Free Verse - has irregular meter and line length and sound like natural speech
ex. "Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself...." (Walt Whitman)
Long lines - long, sprawling lines for various effects. They may reflect the idea being expressed, capture a broad scene, develop a complex idea, or string together a list of objects.
ex. "I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass." (Walt Whitman)
Catalogues - lists of people, objects, or situations
ex. "Of men that live among cattle....
Of the builders and steerers of ships and the wielders of
axes and mauls, and the drivers of horses...." (Walt Whitman)
ex. "Toms wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm." ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Direct characterization - a writer tells you what a character is like
ex. "not a man to be troubled with any fears" about Tom Walker ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Indirect characterization - the writer reveals a character's personality through the character's speech, thoughts, actions, appearance, and other character's reactions
ex. ""Your grounds!" said Tom with a sneer, "no more your grounds than mine; they belong to Deacon Peabody"" in Tom's reply to the Devil upon being accused of trespassing ("The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving)
Meter - the systematic arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
ex. "The youth in life's free spring, and he who goes" ("Thanatopis" by William Cullen Bryant)
Foot - the basic unit of meter, which usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables
ex. "To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours" ("Thanatopis" by William Cullen Bryant)
Parable - a story that teaches a moral lesson
ex. "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a parable
Ambiguity - uncertain meaning
ex. ""There is an hour to come," he said, "when all of us shall cast aside our veils." ("The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Symbol - object, setting, or even character that has a meaning as itself but also stands for something greater - often an abstract idea
ex. "Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face... Mr. Hooper had on a black veil." ("The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Single effect - every detail should contribute to one impression
ex. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses Gothic elements to contribute to a single, unified effect
Theme - central message or comment on life
ex. the theme of revenge and man vs. nature in "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville
Figure of speech - language used imaginatively instead of figuratively
ex. "envy is ignorance" ("Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Metaphor - compares two objects/things without using the words "like" or "as"
ex. "...the fiery night that's in your eyes..." (Edward Arlington Robinson)
Synecdoche - the use of a part of something to stand for the whole
ex. "the shot heard round the world"
Imagery - word pictures
ex. "a red wheelbarrow / glazed with rain water" (William Carlos Williams)
Author's style - the unique manner in which he or she puts thoughts into words
ex. "Walden" by David Henry Thoreau
Tone - attitude
ex. as though he is talking to a friends
Analogy - an extended comparison of relationships
ex. "Our life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states." ("Walden" by David Henry Thoreau)
Narrative poetry - tells a story and has the same literary elements as works of prose fiction
ex. ballads and epics such as "The Odyssey" by Homer
Dramatic poetry - uses the techniques of drama to present the speech of one or more characters in verse form
ex. "A Servant to Servants" by Robert Frost
Lyric poetry - expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker
ex. "Sonnet Number 18" by William Shakespeare
Rhyme - the repetition of sounds at the end of words
ex. leaf and brief
Consonance - the repetition of final consonant sounds
ex. speak and break
Assonance - repetition of similar vowel sounds
ex. shade and ray
Alliteration - repetition of initial identical consonant sounds in accented syllables
ex. "What saint strained so much...?" (Theodore Roethke)
Exact rhyme - two or more words have identical sounds in their final stressed syllables
ex. one/begun
Slant rhyme - the final sounds are similar but not identical
ex. one/stone
Paradox - a statement that seems contradictory but actually presents a truth
ex. "The Brain-- Is Wider Than The Sky" (Emily Dickinson)
Epic poetry - tells a long story about a hero whose adventures embody the values of a nation
ex. "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman
Epic theme - that all people of all times are connected by their shared experience of life
ex. "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman
Free Verse - has irregular meter and line length and sound like natural speech
ex. "Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself...." (Walt Whitman)
Long lines - long, sprawling lines for various effects. They may reflect the idea being expressed, capture a broad scene, develop a complex idea, or string together a list of objects.
ex. "I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass." (Walt Whitman)
Catalogues - lists of people, objects, or situations
ex. "Of men that live among cattle....
Of the builders and steerers of ships and the wielders of
axes and mauls, and the drivers of horses...." (Walt Whitman)
THE PERIOD OF REALISM AND NATURALISM (1870-1910)
Point of view - the perspective or vantage point, from which a story is told
ex. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is told from Peyton Farquhar's point of view.
Omniscient point of view - the narrator is an observer who can relate everything that happens, as well as the private thought and feelings of all characters
ex. "A man stood on a railroad bridge in Northern Alabama..." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Limited third-person point of view - readers' info is limited to what a single character feels, thinks, and observes
ex. "A piece of driftwood caught his attention..." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Stream of consciousness - a character's thoughts are presented as the mind experiences them--in short bursts without obvious logic
ex. "The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Diaries/Journals - personal records, thoughts, feelings, and observations. These are usually written in a series of dated entries, express the writer's immediate responses to events, and use the first-person pronouns I and we.
ex. Mary Chesnut's "Civil War"
Naturalism - a literary movement that developed in reaction to Romanticism. Many Naturalist questioned Romantic ideas about human goodness and nature after the Civil War. Naturalist felt that people's lives were controlled by forces beyond their control or understanding. These forces include heredity, people's surroundings, sheer chance, and fate. In Naturalistic works, characters are often victims of their own instincts or of a violent world, and they endure suffering with a quiet dignity.
ex. "He wore the look of one who knows he is the victim of a terrible disease and understands his helplessness." (An Episode of War by Stephen Crane)
Historical narrative - a work that relates historical events that the writer may or may not have experienced firsthand
ex. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
Memoir - an autobiographical work that focuses on a particular time period or aspect of the author's life
ex. The Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank
Narrative essay - a short work that explores ideas while relating a story
ex. A Confederate Account of the Battle of Gettysburg by Randolph McKim
Diction - the types of words an author favors. Diction may be ornate, plain, familiar, formal, technical, or any combination thereof.
ex. "Why did that free goose Anderson go into Fort Sumter?" (Mary Chesnut)
Telling details - precise details that reveal important information about the characters, setting, or situation.
ex. "...she had two shopping bags full of canned peaches, real peaches, beans wrapped in taro leaves, cookies, Thermos bottles, enough food for everybody..." (Maxine Hong Kingston)
Spirituals - folk songs that were often sung by enslaved African Americans
ex. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
Refrain - a word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals. A refrain emphasizes key ideas, sets a rhythm, and makes a song easier to remember. They also allowed spirituals to have a call-and-response format in which a leader sang the verses and the rest of the group acted like a chorus and sang the refrain.
ex. "Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home." ("Swing Low, Sweet Chariot")
Biblical allusions/allegory - references to people, places, and events from the Bible. These allusions often have allegorical meanings. An allegory is a story in which all the literal elements are also symbols.
ex. "Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go." ("Go Down, Moses")
Humor - writing intended to amuse. Humorists use a variety of devices and techniques to achieve that goal: incongruity, or differences in logic, hyperbole, or the exaggeration of details or embellishment of events beyond what is logical, or comic uses of language, including funny names.
ex. "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctively native American criminal class except Congress." (Mark Twain)
Social commentary - critique of society
ex. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dialect - ways of speaking that are specific to a particular area or group of people.
ex. "...there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and take ary side you please...." (Mark Twain)
Internal conflict - occurring within the mind of a character
ex. The man battles whether or not to kill his dog.
External conflict - occurring between a character and society, nature, another person, God, or fate. (To Build A Fire by Jack London)
ex. The man battles the freezing weather. (To Build A Fire by Jack London)
Setting - the time and place of the action
ex. To Build A Fire, by Jack London, is set in Alaska during the Gold Rush.
Irony - involves a discrepancy between what is stated and what is meant. Irony is a contradiction between appearance and reality, between expectation and outcome, or between meaning and intention.
ex. A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
Dramatic irony - a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader knows to be true
ex. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged state and he thinks she is dead. He kills himself. When Juliet wakes up she finds Romeo dead and kills herself.
Verbal irony - occurs when someone says something that deliberately contradicts what that person actually means.
ex. Soft like a brick
Situational irony - occurs when something happens that contradicts readers' expectations
ex. A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry.
Formal verse - poetry that follows a fixed structure. They may require a specific number of lines in a stanza, a set of stanzas, or the use of repeated sounds.
ex. "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Petrarchan sonnet - has fourteen lines separated into one stanza of eight lines and one of six lines.
ex. "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Rhyme scheme - pattern of rhyming words at the ends of lines. When notating rhyme scheme, the same sounds are indicated with lower case letters.
ex. Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days,
Such days as thou, not even thou didst know,
When thee, the eyes of that harsh long ago
Saw, salient, at the cross of devious ways... ("Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Plot - a related sequence of events, driven by a conflict or problem
ex. Many date movies follow a similar simple plot. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back in the end.
Characters - people who participate in the action
ex. Capt. James T. Kirk and Spock are characters in Star Trek.
Speaker - voice that tells the story
ex. The speakers in Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, are characters buried in the cemetery of the fictional town of Spoon River.
First-person point of view - the narrator is part of the action and uses the pronouns I, me, and we.
ex. “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
ex. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is told from Peyton Farquhar's point of view.
Omniscient point of view - the narrator is an observer who can relate everything that happens, as well as the private thought and feelings of all characters
ex. "A man stood on a railroad bridge in Northern Alabama..." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Limited third-person point of view - readers' info is limited to what a single character feels, thinks, and observes
ex. "A piece of driftwood caught his attention..." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Stream of consciousness - a character's thoughts are presented as the mind experiences them--in short bursts without obvious logic
ex. "The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream." (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce)
Diaries/Journals - personal records, thoughts, feelings, and observations. These are usually written in a series of dated entries, express the writer's immediate responses to events, and use the first-person pronouns I and we.
ex. Mary Chesnut's "Civil War"
Naturalism - a literary movement that developed in reaction to Romanticism. Many Naturalist questioned Romantic ideas about human goodness and nature after the Civil War. Naturalist felt that people's lives were controlled by forces beyond their control or understanding. These forces include heredity, people's surroundings, sheer chance, and fate. In Naturalistic works, characters are often victims of their own instincts or of a violent world, and they endure suffering with a quiet dignity.
ex. "He wore the look of one who knows he is the victim of a terrible disease and understands his helplessness." (An Episode of War by Stephen Crane)
Historical narrative - a work that relates historical events that the writer may or may not have experienced firsthand
ex. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
Memoir - an autobiographical work that focuses on a particular time period or aspect of the author's life
ex. The Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank
Narrative essay - a short work that explores ideas while relating a story
ex. A Confederate Account of the Battle of Gettysburg by Randolph McKim
Diction - the types of words an author favors. Diction may be ornate, plain, familiar, formal, technical, or any combination thereof.
ex. "Why did that free goose Anderson go into Fort Sumter?" (Mary Chesnut)
Telling details - precise details that reveal important information about the characters, setting, or situation.
ex. "...she had two shopping bags full of canned peaches, real peaches, beans wrapped in taro leaves, cookies, Thermos bottles, enough food for everybody..." (Maxine Hong Kingston)
Spirituals - folk songs that were often sung by enslaved African Americans
ex. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
Refrain - a word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals. A refrain emphasizes key ideas, sets a rhythm, and makes a song easier to remember. They also allowed spirituals to have a call-and-response format in which a leader sang the verses and the rest of the group acted like a chorus and sang the refrain.
ex. "Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home." ("Swing Low, Sweet Chariot")
Biblical allusions/allegory - references to people, places, and events from the Bible. These allusions often have allegorical meanings. An allegory is a story in which all the literal elements are also symbols.
ex. "Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go." ("Go Down, Moses")
Humor - writing intended to amuse. Humorists use a variety of devices and techniques to achieve that goal: incongruity, or differences in logic, hyperbole, or the exaggeration of details or embellishment of events beyond what is logical, or comic uses of language, including funny names.
ex. "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctively native American criminal class except Congress." (Mark Twain)
Social commentary - critique of society
ex. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dialect - ways of speaking that are specific to a particular area or group of people.
ex. "...there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and take ary side you please...." (Mark Twain)
Internal conflict - occurring within the mind of a character
ex. The man battles whether or not to kill his dog.
External conflict - occurring between a character and society, nature, another person, God, or fate. (To Build A Fire by Jack London)
ex. The man battles the freezing weather. (To Build A Fire by Jack London)
Setting - the time and place of the action
ex. To Build A Fire, by Jack London, is set in Alaska during the Gold Rush.
Irony - involves a discrepancy between what is stated and what is meant. Irony is a contradiction between appearance and reality, between expectation and outcome, or between meaning and intention.
ex. A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
Dramatic irony - a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader knows to be true
ex. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged state and he thinks she is dead. He kills himself. When Juliet wakes up she finds Romeo dead and kills herself.
Verbal irony - occurs when someone says something that deliberately contradicts what that person actually means.
ex. Soft like a brick
Situational irony - occurs when something happens that contradicts readers' expectations
ex. A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry.
Formal verse - poetry that follows a fixed structure. They may require a specific number of lines in a stanza, a set of stanzas, or the use of repeated sounds.
ex. "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Petrarchan sonnet - has fourteen lines separated into one stanza of eight lines and one of six lines.
ex. "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Rhyme scheme - pattern of rhyming words at the ends of lines. When notating rhyme scheme, the same sounds are indicated with lower case letters.
ex. Ah, Douglass, we have fall'n on evil days,
Such days as thou, not even thou didst know,
When thee, the eyes of that harsh long ago
Saw, salient, at the cross of devious ways... ("Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Plot - a related sequence of events, driven by a conflict or problem
ex. Many date movies follow a similar simple plot. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back in the end.
Characters - people who participate in the action
ex. Capt. James T. Kirk and Spock are characters in Star Trek.
Speaker - voice that tells the story
ex. The speakers in Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, are characters buried in the cemetery of the fictional town of Spoon River.
First-person point of view - the narrator is part of the action and uses the pronouns I, me, and we.
ex. “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
THE MODERNIST PERIOD (1910-1945)
Dramatic monologue - a poem or speech in which a character addresses a silent listener
ex. O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name--
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. (Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare)
Imagism - a literary movement that began in the early 1900s and was started by Ezra Pound and other poets. Imagist poetry evokes emotion and sparks the imagination through vivid presentation of a limited number of images, or words and phrases that appeal to the senses.
ex. "An 'Image' is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." ("A Few Don'ts" by Ezra Pound)
Flat characters - one dimensional, with few character traits.
ex. Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Round characters - have many character traits and are usually the main characters.
ex. Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Allegory - a narrative in which every literal element has a symbolic meaning.
ex. The Joads, a farm family struggling to survive the devastating effects of the Great Depression in Oklahoma, in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. In the chapter, "The Turtle," the hardships the turtle faces represent the Joad's struggles.
Photograph - a visual image created when lights falls on a sensitive surface, such as film or an electronic imager.
ex. In the twenty-first century, many people can take photograph's with their cell phones.
Ballad - a song or song-like poem that tells a story--often a story about adventure or love. Most ballads use simple language, regular meter, rhyme, and a refrain.
ex. "You're Still The One" by Shania Twain is a ballad.
Satire - writing that ridicules or exposes the faults of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity at large.
ex. “Weekend Update” from Saturday Night Live
Personification - a figure of speech in which a nonhuman idea or thing is given human qualities.
ex. The flowers talked to each other with each delicate motion.
Simile - a figure of speech comparing two seemingly different things and using the words like and as.
ex. The wind was like a gentle kiss.
Short story - a brief work of fiction.
ex. "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a short story.
Conflict - struggle the main character places.
ex. The conflict in Star Wars is between the Rebels and the Empire.
Exposition - beginning of the story where the characters, setting, and conflict are introduced.
ex. The Lord of the Rings begins in the Shire where Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf are introduced.
Rising action - the conflict intensifies.
ex. The rising action in The Lord of the Rings begins when they leave the Shire.
Climax - the point of highest tension.
ex. The climax of The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo throws the ring into the lava.
Falling action - the conflict lessens.
ex. The falling action in The Lord of the Rings is when the eagles come save Frodo.
Resolution - the conflict ends.
ex. The resolution in The Lord of the Rings is when the new king is crowned and everyone is back home.
Flashback - interruptions in which earlier events were described.
ex. Granny Weatherall went from talking to her daughter to recalling her past husband.
Archetype - a plot structure, character type, symbol, or idea that recurs in the literature or mythology of many different cultures across the world.
ex. A hero is an archetype.
Hero's quest - one archetypal plot structure. Usually: the hero is on a journey to obtain something of value, encounters obstacles along the way that test his or her character, overcomes these obstacles, with help from other, often at great cost, receives a boon, or benefit, that is used to help others, and his journey usually symbolizes the larger journey of life.
ex. Star Wars is a hero's quest.
Humorous essay - a short, funny work of nonfiction.
ex. Advice to Youth by Mark Twain.
Hyperbole - exaggerations or outrageous overstatement.
ex. “It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets.”
Understatement - the opposite of hyperbole; downplaying a dramatic event, or saying less than what is meant.
ex. It is an understatement to say “He is not too thin” while describing an obese person.
Idioms - expressions in which the literal meanings do not add up to the actual meanings.
ex. "raining cats and dogs" = downpour
Apostrophe - a literary device in which a speaker directly addresses a thing, concept, or person who is dead or absent.
ex. "They tell me you are wicked and I believe them...
They tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes..." ("Chicago" by Carl Sandburg)
Blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter, which mimics the sound of natural speech.
ex. "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;" (Mending Walls by Robert Frost)
Pastorals - poems that deal with rural settings.
ex. "Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield." ("The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe)
Roots and history - from African origins the era of slavery to freedom within a particularly white society
ex. "I built my hut near the Congo..." (Langston Hughes)
Language - the use of specific speech patterns and idioms.
ex. "I have stored up tales for you my children..." ("For My Children" by Colleen McElroy)
Values - the importance of family, history, and cultural pride.
ex. "On my heart-strings freedom sings/ All day everyday." (Langston Hughes)
Stanza structure - Types of sonnets are identified by the number of lines they contain: two lines = couplet, four lines = quatrain, six lines = sestet, and eight lines = octave.
ex. "Sonnet 1 - From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase" by William Shakespeare
Sonnet - a fourteen line lyric poem that follows one of two stanza structures. A Petrarchan sonnet, such as "From the Dark Tower" by Countee Cullen, is divided into an opening octave followed by a sestet. A Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a final couplet.
ex. "Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?" by William Shakespeare
Social context - the attitudes, customs, and beliefs of the culture in which the writer lived.
ex. Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida. This was the first fully incorporated African American community. This influenced her writing.
ex. O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name--
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. (Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare)
Imagism - a literary movement that began in the early 1900s and was started by Ezra Pound and other poets. Imagist poetry evokes emotion and sparks the imagination through vivid presentation of a limited number of images, or words and phrases that appeal to the senses.
ex. "An 'Image' is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." ("A Few Don'ts" by Ezra Pound)
Flat characters - one dimensional, with few character traits.
ex. Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Round characters - have many character traits and are usually the main characters.
ex. Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Allegory - a narrative in which every literal element has a symbolic meaning.
ex. The Joads, a farm family struggling to survive the devastating effects of the Great Depression in Oklahoma, in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. In the chapter, "The Turtle," the hardships the turtle faces represent the Joad's struggles.
Photograph - a visual image created when lights falls on a sensitive surface, such as film or an electronic imager.
ex. In the twenty-first century, many people can take photograph's with their cell phones.
Ballad - a song or song-like poem that tells a story--often a story about adventure or love. Most ballads use simple language, regular meter, rhyme, and a refrain.
ex. "You're Still The One" by Shania Twain is a ballad.
Satire - writing that ridicules or exposes the faults of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity at large.
ex. “Weekend Update” from Saturday Night Live
Personification - a figure of speech in which a nonhuman idea or thing is given human qualities.
ex. The flowers talked to each other with each delicate motion.
Simile - a figure of speech comparing two seemingly different things and using the words like and as.
ex. The wind was like a gentle kiss.
Short story - a brief work of fiction.
ex. "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a short story.
Conflict - struggle the main character places.
ex. The conflict in Star Wars is between the Rebels and the Empire.
Exposition - beginning of the story where the characters, setting, and conflict are introduced.
ex. The Lord of the Rings begins in the Shire where Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf are introduced.
Rising action - the conflict intensifies.
ex. The rising action in The Lord of the Rings begins when they leave the Shire.
Climax - the point of highest tension.
ex. The climax of The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo throws the ring into the lava.
Falling action - the conflict lessens.
ex. The falling action in The Lord of the Rings is when the eagles come save Frodo.
Resolution - the conflict ends.
ex. The resolution in The Lord of the Rings is when the new king is crowned and everyone is back home.
Flashback - interruptions in which earlier events were described.
ex. Granny Weatherall went from talking to her daughter to recalling her past husband.
Archetype - a plot structure, character type, symbol, or idea that recurs in the literature or mythology of many different cultures across the world.
ex. A hero is an archetype.
Hero's quest - one archetypal plot structure. Usually: the hero is on a journey to obtain something of value, encounters obstacles along the way that test his or her character, overcomes these obstacles, with help from other, often at great cost, receives a boon, or benefit, that is used to help others, and his journey usually symbolizes the larger journey of life.
ex. Star Wars is a hero's quest.
Humorous essay - a short, funny work of nonfiction.
ex. Advice to Youth by Mark Twain.
Hyperbole - exaggerations or outrageous overstatement.
ex. “It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets.”
Understatement - the opposite of hyperbole; downplaying a dramatic event, or saying less than what is meant.
ex. It is an understatement to say “He is not too thin” while describing an obese person.
Idioms - expressions in which the literal meanings do not add up to the actual meanings.
ex. "raining cats and dogs" = downpour
Apostrophe - a literary device in which a speaker directly addresses a thing, concept, or person who is dead or absent.
ex. "They tell me you are wicked and I believe them...
They tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes..." ("Chicago" by Carl Sandburg)
Blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter, which mimics the sound of natural speech.
ex. "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;" (Mending Walls by Robert Frost)
Pastorals - poems that deal with rural settings.
ex. "Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield." ("The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe)
Roots and history - from African origins the era of slavery to freedom within a particularly white society
ex. "I built my hut near the Congo..." (Langston Hughes)
Language - the use of specific speech patterns and idioms.
ex. "I have stored up tales for you my children..." ("For My Children" by Colleen McElroy)
Values - the importance of family, history, and cultural pride.
ex. "On my heart-strings freedom sings/ All day everyday." (Langston Hughes)
Stanza structure - Types of sonnets are identified by the number of lines they contain: two lines = couplet, four lines = quatrain, six lines = sestet, and eight lines = octave.
ex. "Sonnet 1 - From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase" by William Shakespeare
Sonnet - a fourteen line lyric poem that follows one of two stanza structures. A Petrarchan sonnet, such as "From the Dark Tower" by Countee Cullen, is divided into an opening octave followed by a sestet. A Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a final couplet.
ex. "Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?" by William Shakespeare
Social context - the attitudes, customs, and beliefs of the culture in which the writer lived.
ex. Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida. This was the first fully incorporated African American community. This influenced her writing.
THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (1945-PRESENT)
Perspective - the point of view from which he or she lives. With an objective perspective, the narrator expresses feelings about the events without obvious emotion or bias. With a subjective perspective, the narrator expresses feelings about the events.
ex. Hersey: A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb.
Grotesque character - one who has become bizarre or twisted, usually through some kind of obsession.
ex. Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet; they are both grotesque characters, because they are both ruled by obsession. (Flannery O'Connor)
Inciting incident - this event establishes the central conflict.
ex. In Star Trek the inciting incident is when Capt. Pike asks James Kirk to enlist in Starfleet.
Epiphany - moment of insight.
ex. In Star Wars, Luke's epiphany is when he meets Obi Wan Kenobi.
Extended metaphor - sustained comparison
ex. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” (Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Puns - words or phrases with double meanings
ex. The acrobat/poet performs "above the heads" of his audience
Figurative language - language used imaginatively rather than literally. Two examples are simile and metaphor.
ex. "Your courage was a small coal"
Imperatives - mild commands invite readers to do or feel certain things
ex. "Lose something every day"
Exclamations - Statements endings in an exclamation point inject an emotional intensity
ex. Oh, but it is dirty!"
Questions - questions cast the reader in the role of the speaker's confidant
ex. "Why, oh why, the doily?"
Eulogy - a literary work written to pay tribute to someone who has died
ex. "That is the astonishing gift of your art and your friendship. You gave us ourselves to think about, to cherish.
Mood - emotional quality
ex. The girl cried when her balloon popped.
Organizational structure - adds to its persuasive appeal. An argument/support structure, which consists of a series of arguments supported with evidence.
ex. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses a argument/support structure in his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail."
Tragedy - a dramatic form that was first developed in Ancient Greece.
ex. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy.
Tragic hero - the main character is involved in a struggles that usually ends in disaster. This character is a person of high rank who has the respect of the community.
ex. Romeo is an example of a tragic hero.
Tragic flaw - The tragic hero's tragic downfall is usually the result of some combination of fate, an error in judgement, and a personality weakness often called a tragic flaw.
ex. Romeo's tragic flaw is that he loves Juliet.
Allegory - a story with more than one layer of meaning: a literal layer and one or more symbolic meanings.
ex. The Crucible is an example of an allegory.
Review - a persuasive nonfiction article in which a writer states an opinion about a work or art.
ex. Reviews about movies and television shows can be found in Entertainment Weekly.
Feature article - a work of nonfiction about a general-interest topic . Unlike news articles that focus on current events, feature articles explore trends, events, or personalities.
ex. Feature articles can be found in any major magazine such as People or Entertainment Weekly.
In medias res - Latin for "the middle of things"
ex. "For the first time since Yolanda had reached the hills, there was a shoulder on the left side of the narrow road." ("Antojos" by Julia Alvarez)
End-stopped lines - lines that complete a grammatical unit, often (although not always) with a punctuation mark at the end.
ex. "'Repent, ye sinners!' he shouted,
waving his hand-lettered sign."
Enjambed - lines that do not end with a grammatical break and do make full sense without the line that follows:
ex. "...They never heard me steal
into the stairwell hall and climb
the ladder to the fresh night air."
Expository essay - a writer explains a topic or process, or discusses ideas
ex. "Onomatopeia" by William Safire
Comparison-and-contrast essay - a writer analyzes similarities and differences between two or more people, topics, or events.
ex. "One Day, Now Broken in Two" by Anna Quindlen
Reflective essay - the writer describes a personal experience, condition, or event and reflects on its larger meanings
ex. "...always, I have been passionate about
books...I loved to feel their heft in my hand..." ("For the Love of Books" by Rita Dove)
Memoirs - nonfiction narratives that recount events in which the writer was a participant or eyewitness
ex. "These new immigrants had it easy. On Ellis Island
the people were thin after forty days at sea..." (The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston)
ex. Hersey: A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb.
Grotesque character - one who has become bizarre or twisted, usually through some kind of obsession.
ex. Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet; they are both grotesque characters, because they are both ruled by obsession. (Flannery O'Connor)
Inciting incident - this event establishes the central conflict.
ex. In Star Trek the inciting incident is when Capt. Pike asks James Kirk to enlist in Starfleet.
Epiphany - moment of insight.
ex. In Star Wars, Luke's epiphany is when he meets Obi Wan Kenobi.
Extended metaphor - sustained comparison
ex. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” (Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Puns - words or phrases with double meanings
ex. The acrobat/poet performs "above the heads" of his audience
Figurative language - language used imaginatively rather than literally. Two examples are simile and metaphor.
ex. "Your courage was a small coal"
Imperatives - mild commands invite readers to do or feel certain things
ex. "Lose something every day"
Exclamations - Statements endings in an exclamation point inject an emotional intensity
ex. Oh, but it is dirty!"
Questions - questions cast the reader in the role of the speaker's confidant
ex. "Why, oh why, the doily?"
Eulogy - a literary work written to pay tribute to someone who has died
ex. "That is the astonishing gift of your art and your friendship. You gave us ourselves to think about, to cherish.
Mood - emotional quality
ex. The girl cried when her balloon popped.
Organizational structure - adds to its persuasive appeal. An argument/support structure, which consists of a series of arguments supported with evidence.
ex. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses a argument/support structure in his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail."
Tragedy - a dramatic form that was first developed in Ancient Greece.
ex. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy.
Tragic hero - the main character is involved in a struggles that usually ends in disaster. This character is a person of high rank who has the respect of the community.
ex. Romeo is an example of a tragic hero.
Tragic flaw - The tragic hero's tragic downfall is usually the result of some combination of fate, an error in judgement, and a personality weakness often called a tragic flaw.
ex. Romeo's tragic flaw is that he loves Juliet.
Allegory - a story with more than one layer of meaning: a literal layer and one or more symbolic meanings.
ex. The Crucible is an example of an allegory.
Review - a persuasive nonfiction article in which a writer states an opinion about a work or art.
ex. Reviews about movies and television shows can be found in Entertainment Weekly.
Feature article - a work of nonfiction about a general-interest topic . Unlike news articles that focus on current events, feature articles explore trends, events, or personalities.
ex. Feature articles can be found in any major magazine such as People or Entertainment Weekly.
In medias res - Latin for "the middle of things"
ex. "For the first time since Yolanda had reached the hills, there was a shoulder on the left side of the narrow road." ("Antojos" by Julia Alvarez)
End-stopped lines - lines that complete a grammatical unit, often (although not always) with a punctuation mark at the end.
ex. "'Repent, ye sinners!' he shouted,
waving his hand-lettered sign."
Enjambed - lines that do not end with a grammatical break and do make full sense without the line that follows:
ex. "...They never heard me steal
into the stairwell hall and climb
the ladder to the fresh night air."
Expository essay - a writer explains a topic or process, or discusses ideas
ex. "Onomatopeia" by William Safire
Comparison-and-contrast essay - a writer analyzes similarities and differences between two or more people, topics, or events.
ex. "One Day, Now Broken in Two" by Anna Quindlen
Reflective essay - the writer describes a personal experience, condition, or event and reflects on its larger meanings
ex. "...always, I have been passionate about
books...I loved to feel their heft in my hand..." ("For the Love of Books" by Rita Dove)
Memoirs - nonfiction narratives that recount events in which the writer was a participant or eyewitness
ex. "These new immigrants had it easy. On Ellis Island
the people were thin after forty days at sea..." (The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston)
Information gathered from: Poet.org, Transcendentalism-legacy.tamu.edu, and Wiggins, Grant P. Prentice Hall Literature. Common Core ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2012. eBook.