LITERARY DEVICES A TALE OF TWO CITIES HONORS

LITERARY DEVICES A TALE OF TWO CITIES HONORS ENGLISH 9

TERMS YOU SHOULD KNOW

SYMBOLISM • The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities

PERSONIFICATION • the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form

FORESHADOWING • Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

SETTING • The literary element setting includes the historical moment in time and geographic location in which a story takes place, and helps initiate the main backdrop and mood for a story.

MOOD • a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions.

TONE • An attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience

THEME • A main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly.

SIMILE • A comparison of two unlike things using the comparative terms “like” or “as”

METAPHOR • A comparison of two unlike things without using “like” or “as” “It’s raining cats and dogs outside!”

ALLUSION • an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference (esp. to history, culture, literature, religion, etc. )

TERMS YOU MUST LEARN

PARADOX • a statement that is self contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time.

MOTIF • Motif is an object or an idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work. • In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action or other figures that have a symbolic significance and contributes toward the development of theme. Motif and theme are linked in a literary work, but there is a difference between them. In a literary piece, a motif is a recurrent image, idea or a symbol that develops or explains a theme while a theme is a central idea or message. • Example: Books are a motif throughout Beauty and the Beast that highlight Belle’s personality and the relationship she has with the Beast.

ALLEGORY • a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

DOUBLES • Two characters, settings, ideas, etc. in literature made purposefully similar to one another or used to highlight similarities and differences between the two.

DRAMATIC IRONY • Dramatic irony is a form of irony that is expressed through a work’s structure: an audience’s awareness of the differs substantially from that of the characters’, and the words and actions of the characters therefore take on a different—often contradictory—meaning for the audience than they do for the work’s characters. • The audience is aware of more than other characters on stage which changes the interpretations or words and actions based on that awareness.