Literary Terms Project By Eric Getz - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Literary Terms Project

By Eric GetzSlide2

Figurative LanguageSlide3

Imagery

Vivid

and descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste)

Slide4

In

Hamlet

Ophelia’s description of

Hamlet in

Act II,

Scene

1, lines 87-94“My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.”Slide5

In George Orwell’s 1984

“The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a

coloured

poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a

metre

wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features.”Slide6

Simile

A

figure of thought involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, explicitly using the word “like” or “as”Slide7

In Hamlet

“The knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand an end, Like quills upon the fearful

porpentine

.” (Act 1. sc. 5.

ll

24-26) Slide8

In Forrest Gump

In the movie

Forrest Gump

, Forrest uses a simile when he says," Life is a like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”Slide9

Metaphor

A

figure of thought in which a word or phrase is applied to another object or action to which it is not literally applicable, without asserting an explicit comparison

Slide10

In Hamlet

In Act I, Scene 2, Line 146, Hamlet says, “Fie

on't

! ah fie! 'tis an

unweeded

garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature”

Hamlet compares the world to an unweeded garden that produces things "rank and gross in nature.” Slide11

In The Kite Runner

The line “eyes are windows to the soul” from

Khaled

Hosseini’s

novel

The Kite Runner is clearly a metaphor.Slide12

Personification

A figure of thought in which a personal nature or human characteristics are attributed to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human formSlide13

In Hamlet

In Act 1, Scene 1, Line 166, Horatio says, "But look the morn in russet mantle clad / Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill." Slide14

In Ender’s Game

"He imagined the ship dangling upside down on the undersurface of the Earth, the giant fingers of gravity holding them firmly in place." Slide15

Apostrophe

An address to a dead or absent person or to an inanimate object or abstract concept.Slide16

In Hamlet

In Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 135-136, Hamlet uses an

apostrophe

, speaking directly to "frailty.”

“ Let me not think

on't

—Frailty, thy name is woman!”Slide17

In Star Trek

In Star Trek, Captain Kirk uses an apostrophe when he, frustrated because of the work of his arch nemesis Khan, shakes his fist at the air and screams, "KHAAAAAN!" Slide18

Symbol

An object, action, or event that represents something, or creates a range of associations beyond itself Slide19

In Hamlet

When Ophelia loses her mind in Act IV, Scene V , she directly discusses the symbolic meaning of many of the flowers she hands out

“There's rosemary, that's for remembrance;

pray,
love

, remember, and there is pansies. That's for thoughts […]. There's fennel for you, and columbines: there's rue 
for you; and here's some for me: we may call it 
herb-grace

o

' Sundays: O you must wear your rue with 
a difference. There's a daisy: I would give you 
some violets, but they withered all when my father died.” Slide20

In The Kite Runner

In

The Kite Runner

, a kite symbolizes Amir’s happiness as well as his guilt over what happened to Hassan. Slide21

Allegory

A symbolic narrative in which the surface details imply a secondary meaning Slide22

In Hamlet

A cosmic allegory?

Some scholars speculate that Hamlet can be viewed as cosmic allegory with different characters representing different views of the solar system with Copernicus’ Heliocentric theory eventually triumphing over the competing geocentric models

This allegory is reinforced by the theme of the way things seem versus the way they really areSlide23

In Animal Farm

George Orwell’s

Animal Farm

is a powerful allegory of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent Stalinist totalitarian regime. Slide24

Paradox

A trope in which a statement that appears on the surface to be contradictory or impossible turns out to express an often striking truth Slide25

In Hamlet

Hamlet, in Act 3, Scene 4, Line 181, says “I must be cruel only to be kind.” Slide26

George Orwell’s Animal Farm

A common paradoxical phrase used in the novella is “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” Slide27

Hyperbole

A trope in which a point is stated in a way that is greatly exaggerated Slide28

In Hamlet

In Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 589-590, Hamlet uses hyperbole in his second soliloquy

“He would drown the stage with

tears
And

cleave the general ear with horrid speech….”Slide29

In The Sandlot

In the movie

The Sandlot

Ham Porter clearly uses hyperbole when he says," You're killing me smalls!”

Slide30

Understatement

A form of irony in which a point is deliberately expressed as less, in magnitude value or importance, than it actually is. Slide31

In Hamlet

In Act I, Scene 2, Line 158, Hamlet uses

understatement, to end his soliloquy, stating that “

It is not nor it cannot come to good”

This is quite mild compared with the rest of his speech.Slide32

In Shakespeare’s

Romeo and Juliet

In

Romeo and Juliet

,

Mercutio refers to his fatal wound as “a scratch.”Slide33

Irony

A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In

verbal irony

, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In

irony of circumstance

or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In

dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters. Slide34

In Hamlet

A great example of dramatic irony in

Hamlet

is when Hamlet is right behind Claudius as Claudius, thinking he is alone, confesses his crimes in Act 3 Scene 3.

Indeed, at the end of the scene Claudius admits that he, despite what Hamlet thought (Hamlet did not kill him because he wanted him to die unholy), never actually prayed, which is another example of dramatic irony as Hamlet was wrong and only the audience knew.Slide35

In Final Destination

The plot of the movie series

Final Destination

revolves around irony because the characters in trying to avoid death end up dying an even worse death they had originally imagined. Slide36

Chiasmus

A rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect Slide37

In Hamlet

Polonius uses chiasmus with the line “'tis true 'tis pity, And pity 'tis, 'tis true-a foolish figure.” (Hamlet 2.2.98-99) Slide38

In Voltaire’s Writings

“The instinct of a man is to 

pursue

 everything that 

flies from him

, and to 

fly from all that pursues him.”  (Voltaire) Slide39

Metonymy

A trope which substitutes the name of an entity with something else closely associated with it. Slide40

In Hamlet

In Hamlet, Old

Fortinbras

, the King of Norway, is often referred to as just Norway such as in Act 1 Scene 1 Line 61, “When he the ambitious Norway combated.” (Below is Young

Fortinbras

)Slide41

In White Collar

In the television show

White Collar,

Mozzi

often refers to Peter, an FBI agent, simply as “suit”. Slide42

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which the term for part of something is used to represent the whole, or vice versa Slide43

In Hamlet

Hamlet says in Act 1, Scene 2, Line 129 ,“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt”

In this synecdoche flesh represents Hamlet’s physical life. Slide44

In Percy Shelley’s poem

Ozymandias

“Tell that its sculptor well those passions

read
Which

yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them.”

The “hand” refers to the sculptor Slide45

Repartee

A conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies.

A repartee is like a verbal fencing match.Slide46

In Hamlet

In Act 5, Scene 1, Hamlet engages in repartee with the grave digger

HAMLET I think it be

thine

, indeed, for thou

liest

in ’t. GRAVEDIGGER You lie out on ’t, sir, and therefore it is not yours. For my part, I do not lie in ’t, and yet it is min HAMLET Thou dost lie in ’t, to be in ’t and say it is thine. 'Tis for the dead, not for the quick. Therefore thou liest.GRAVEDIGGER ’

Tis

a quick lie, sir. 'Twill away gain from me to you.

HAMLET What man dost thou dig it for?

GRAVEDIGGER For no man, sir.

HAMLET What woman, then?

GRAVEDIGGER For none, neither.

HAMLET

Who is to be buried in ’

t

?

GRAVEDIGGER

One that was a woman, sir, but, rest her soul, she is

dead.Slide47

In Good Will Hunting

A great example of repartee is in the movie

Good Will Hunting

during the scene at the bar across from Harvard where Will engages in a witty argument with a student at the bar.Slide48

Stichomythia

A technique in drama or poetry, in which alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters, voices, or entitiesSlide49

In

Hamlet

In Act 3 Scene 4 the back and forth dialogue between Hamlet and his mother is an example of stichomythia.

QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much

offended.
HAMLET

: Mother, you have my father much

offended.
QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. QUEEN: Why, how now, Hamlet? HAMLET: What’s the matter now?Slide50

In Richard III

Shakespeare also uses stichomythia in Richard III

LADY ANNE: I would I knew thy

heart.
GLOUCESTER

: '

Tis

figured in my tongue.
LADY ANNE: I fear me both are false.
GLOUCESTER: Then never man was true.
LADY ANNE: Well, well, put up your sword.
GLOUCESTER: Say, then, my peace is made.
LADY ANNE: That shall you know hereafter.
GLOUCESTER: But shall I live in hope?
LADY ANNE: All men, I hope, live so.
GLOUCESTER: Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
LADY ANNE: To take is not to give.
Slide51

Stock Characters

Someone based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics Slide52

In Hamlet

Polonius is the stock character in Hamlet of an irascible old man who provides some comic relief by, as a man of former wisdom, acting as comical meddler who does not recognize his own age.Slide53

In Star Wars

C-3P0 from the

Star Wars

movie series is a great example of the stock character of a heroic coward. Slide54

Musical DevicesSlide55

Alliteration

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Slide56

In Hamlet

In Act I, Scene 5, Line 43 the ghost uses alliteration with the phrase,”

W

ith

w

itchcraft of his

wit”Slide57

In V for Vendetta

The movie V for Vendetta contains a great example of alliteration when V says,’’

V

oilà

! In

v

iew, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate….”Slide58

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds often to set the mood or add to the meaning of the word Slide59

In Hamlet

In, Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 50-51 Assonance is used when the Ghost says to Hamlet, "With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,-- O wicked wit and gifts,” with the repetition of the short ”

i

"Slide60

In Top Gun

In the movie

Top Gun

Tom Cruise uses assonance when he says, “I feel the n

ee

d, the n

eed for speed”Slide61

Consonance

The repetition of the final consonant sounds of wordsSlide62

In Hamlet

In line 38 of act 3 scene 4, when Hamlet had just killed Polonius, consonance is used with the repetition of an “

r

” sound : “Thou

wr

etched,

rash, intruding fool, farewell”Slide63

In It

Stephen King uses consonance in his novel

It

with the sentence, “He thru

sts

his fi

sts against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts."Slide64

Rhyme

The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more wordsSlide65

In Hamlet

Many lines in Hamlet rhyme such as the following

“Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will

rise

, Though all the earth

o'erwhelm

them, to men's eyes.” (Act I.ii.257-258)Slide66

In

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost’s poem

The Road Not Taken

is a great example of rhyme

Two roads diverged in a yellow

wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; Slide67

Rhythm

The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verseSlide68

In Hamlet

Most of Hamlet is in the rhythm of iambic pentameter like the following line from Act 3 scene 1, “to BE or NOT to BE, that IS the

QUEStion

”Slide69

In A Psalm of Life

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem

A Psalm of Life,

he uses the rhythm of trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables) as seen in the line

Tell

me |

not in | mournful | numbersSlide70

Meter

The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poemsSlide71

In Hamlet

Most of Hamlet is in iambic pentameter like the following line from Act 3 scene 1, “to BE or NOT to BE, that IS the

QUEStion

”Slide72

In A Psalm of Life

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem

A Psalm of Life

he uses the meter trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables) as seen in the line

Tell

me |

not in | mournful | numbersSlide73

End-stopped line

An end-stop occurs when a line of poetry ends with a period or definite punctuation mark, such as a colon. When lines are end-stopped, each line is its own phrase or unit of syntax.Slide74

In Hamlet

In Act 3 Scene 2, line 73 is an end stopped line since it ends with a period

“Which I have told thee, of my father’s death.”Slide75

In The Raven

In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem

The Raven,

Poe uses an end stopped line with the line “Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. “Slide76

Run-on line

Also known as enjambment, which is a run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next Slide77

In Hamlet

In Act 3 Scene 2, line 66 is a run on line since does not end with any punctuation

“They are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger

To sound what stop she please. Give me that” Slide78

In The Raven

In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem

The Raven,

Poe uses a run-on line with the line “Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking” Slide79

Caesura

(Latin “cutting off”) is a pause in the midst of a verse line, indicated by a mark of punctuation, such as a comma, a question mark, a period, or a dash. Slide80

In Hamlet

In Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 3 scene 1 Shakespeare uses many caesura

Devoutly to be wished.

//

To die to sleep,Slide81

In An Essay on Criticism

In Alexander Pope’s famous poem, An Essay on Criticism, he makes use of a caesura with the line “To err is human;

//

to forgive, divine”Slide82

Free verse

Also called open form verse, unlike traditional verses its rhythms are not organized into the regularity of meter; most free verse lacks rhyme Slide83

In Hamlet

One Hamlet’s speeches from the play is entirely in free verse

‘’I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave

o’erhanging

, this

majestical

roof fretted with golden fire – why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.’’ (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)Slide84

IN THE PSALMS

Psalm 23 (KJV)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 

He

maketh

me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.Slide85

Iambic pentameter

The name given to a line of verse that consists of five iambs (an iamb being one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed)Slide86

In Hamlet

Many lines in Hamlet are written in iambic pentameter including the opening line of Hamlet’s monologue in Act 3 Scene 1, “to BE or NOT to BE, that IS the

QUEStion

”

(the capital letters are the stressed syllables and the lowercase the unstressed)Slide87

In Sonnet 73

Shakespeare also uses iambic pentameter in many of his sonnets such as Sonnet 73

“That

time

of

year

thou mayst in me behold”Slide88

Grammatical PAuse

A pause introduced into the reading of a line by a mark of punctuationSlide89

In Hamlet

In Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1 Shakespeare uses many grammatical pauses

To be,

//

or not to be,

//

that is the questionSlide90

In If

In Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem

If

he uses many grammatical pauses such as in the line “If all men count with you,

//

but none too much;”Slide91

Rhetorical pause

A natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntaxSlide92

In Hamlet

In Act 3 Scene 1 during Hamlet’s

soliloquoy

, Hamlet uses a rhetorical pause between two words between which there is no punctuation

But that

the dread / of something after death,Slide93

In John F. Kennedy’s Speech

At the beginning of many of John F. Kennedy’s speeches after he says ,”Ladies and gentleman” he often uses a rhetorical pause before going into his speech. Slide94

Concluding couplet

Two successive lines, usually in a verse of a poem or a song, that are rhymed and have the same meterSlide95

In Hamlet

“Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth

o'erwhelm

them, to men's eyes.” (Act I.ii.257-258)

Hamlet uses this concluding couplet at the end of his dialogue Slide96

In The Canterbury Tales

In Chaucer’s

Canterbury Tales,

he uses this concluding couplet “Singing he was, or fluting all the day; /He was as fresh as is the month of May”Slide97

The End!