Terms Terms FREYTAGS PYRAMID the turning point of

~~~~~ Terms, Terms! ~~~~~

FREYTAG’S PYRAMID

the turning point of the action in a story or play • a hinge; a shift the moment that something happens and there’s no going back • a axis from which the falling action and resolution result • • climax - Grete states that Gregor is no longer human in The Metamorphosis - Gatsby and Tom exchange verbal fisticuffs in The Great Gatsby

Mental images and physical experience evoked by descriptive language (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and kinesthetic) imagery “The artist's life nourishes itself on the particular, the concrete. . Start with the mat-green fungus in the pine woods yesterday: words about it, describing it, and a poem will come. . Write about the cow, Mrs. Spaulding's heavy eyelids, the smell of vanilla flavouring in a brown bottle. That's where the magic mountains begin. ” ~ Sylvia Plath

Suspension of Disbelief Temporarily and willingly setting aside beliefs about reality in order to enjoy the make-believe of a play, a poem, film, or story.

elasticity of time Chronicle of a Death Foretold is told in a non-linear fashion, moving freely from past to present and back again. In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim becomes “unstuck in time. ” He travels between periods of his life, unable to control which period he lands in. • The non-chronological time telling of a tale; when a writer moves plot and characters around in time; past, present, and future. • Think Einstein’s theory of relativity – the claim that space and time are elastic and can be warped and stretched like taffy.

tabula rasa (TAH-boo-lah RAH-sah) http: //dictionary. reference. com/browse/tabula+rasa • a blank slate; a fresh start • what we are comes from what we experience and perceive • this is the “nurture” in nature vs. nurture

She had no room for gaiety and ease. She had spent the golden time in grudging its going. Dorothy Parker, “The Lovely Leave” alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words

…by the name of Annabel Lee… …chilling my Annabel Lee… …the beautiful Annabel Lee… ballad A short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action. Ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination of these. Ballads contain incremental repetition which repeats one or more lines with small but significant variations that advance the action.

tone • Examples: Harper Lee and Gabriel Garcia Marquez both write about justice; however, there is a noticeable difference in their tones: nostalgic and innocent vs. journalistic and neutral. • Tone = the writer's attitude toward his or her subject; the mood or moral view developed. • Tone should be described: formal, playful, sardonic, optimistic, demeaning, etc.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. " 'Tis some visitor, " I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door; Only this, and nothing more. “ -The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, internal rhyme in the middle of a line

“Literary Analysis” = how an author uses language to… … create meaning … … develop character … … express an idea … … reflect an attitude …. . . convey an experience … … affect a reader… … etc …

Remember, language is fluid, flexible, adaptable ~ it can be multiple things at once.

• • 14 lines iambic pentameter 3 quatrains and 1 rhyming couplet rhyme scheme = abab cdcd efef gg English (or Shakespearean) Sonnet

• 14 lines • iambic pentameter • 2 parts: o octave with abba rhyme o sestet with cd cd cd rhyme Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet

The word lyric derives from the Greek word for lyre, a stringed instrument in use since ancient times. lyric poetry Poetry that presents the feelings and emotions of a poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story. Sonnets, odes, and elegies are examples of lyric poems.

ODE a poem in praise of someone or something; expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (excerpt) Mara Mori brought me a pair of socks which she knitted herself with her sheepherder's hands, two socks as soft as rabbits. I slipped my feet into them as if they were two cases knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin, Violent socks, my feet were two fish made of wool, two long sharks sea blue, shot through by one golden thread, two immense blackbirds, two cannons, my feet were honored in this way by these heavenly socks. They were so handsome for the first time my feet seemed to me unacceptable like two decrepit firemen, firemen unworthy of that woven fire, of those glowing socks.

VILLANELLE a short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usually five in number, followed by a final quatrain, all being based on two rhymes; the first and third lines of the first stanza are used, alternatingly, as the final line of subsequent stanzas

haiku • Traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. • Focuses on images from nature, emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression. • Focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination. • This philosophy influenced poet Ezra Pound, who noted the power of haiku's brevity and juxtaposed images. The influence of haiku on Pound is most evident in his poem In a Station of the Metro which began as a thirty-line poem, but was eventually pared down to two: The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.

Poetic Meter, Part I • When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem, it is called meter. • Metrical patterns are determined by the type and number of feet in a line of verse (poetry). • Combining the name of a line length with the name of a foot concisely describes the meter of the line. Line Length: • 2 feet = dimeter • 3 feet = trimeter • 4 feet = tetrameter • 5 feet = pentameter • 6 feet = sextameter • 7 feet = septameter • 8 feet = octameter

Poetic Meter, Part 2 i-AM (say it like Dr. Martin Luther King) IAMBIC TRO-chee (say it like a tough guy) TROCHAIC a-na-PEST (say it like you are angry at Ann the PEST) ANAPEST DAC-ty-lic (say it like you’ve spotted a hugh dinosaur) DACTYLIC • SPON-DEE (say it like you are a FOOT-BALL quarterbackk barking out a signal) SPONDAIC • pyr-rhic (say it like you are meek and very sor-ry) PYRRIC • am-PHI-brach (croak it or hop like a frog) AMPHIBRAIC • •

If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. (Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare) iambic pentameter • a line of verse (poetry) consisting of five iambs, for a total of ten beats per line • an iamb is one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed, such as "before"

free verse poems with no set meter, rhyme scheme, or defined structure Fog by Carl Sandburg The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.

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) blank verse written in unrhymed, iambic pentameter 10 beats to a line; stressed/unstressed

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity. slant rhyme (bending words) words that almost rhyme farm - yard brow - glow

repetition of vowel sounds assonance “He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

the repeating of final consonants consonance blank and think strong and string lady lounges lazily

I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are; the want of which vain dew Perchance shall dry your pities; but I have That honourable grief lodged here which burns Worse than tears drown. ~William Shakespeare enjambment the continuation of a thought from one line or stanza to the next without a syntactical break

The lizard is a timid thing that cannot dance, fly or sing. He hunts bugs beneath the floor and longs to be a dinosaur. quatrain a stanza or poem of four lines

"They lie together now. They sleep apart". -John Mole, “Coming Home” caesura a strong pause within a line; The pause may come from punctuation or something else such as a phrase or clause.

In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity, And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she. ~ Thomas Hardy tercet a poem or stanza consisting of three lines of poetry

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. ~Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales cadence the rhythm of language; the melodic nature of words; the sound of words on the ear

hamartia tragic flaw • Hamlet=hesitation • Frankenstein=hubris • Frodo=the want of a ring • Gregor Samsa= • Jay Gatsby=

deus ex machina day oos X MAH-kuh-nuh any improbable device that resolves the difficulties of a plot; when some new event, character, ability, or object solves a seemingly solvable problem in a sudden, unexpected way • the secret documents are in Russian, one of the spies suddenly reveals that they learned the language • the writers have just lost funding, a millionaire suddenly arrives, announces an interest in their movie, and offers all the finances they need to make it • the hero is dangling from the edge of a cliff with a villain stepping on his fingers, a flying robot suddenly appears to save him

When a narrative (story) begins somewhere in the middle, usually at some crucial point in the action “into the midst of things” in media res Examples: The Odyssey, Star Wars, Forrest Gump, God of War video game

speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning; speech or writing employing figures of speech figurative language Examples: simile, metaphor, idioms, personification, hyperbole

…I would Love you ten years before the flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews… -Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress allusion a reference to something or someone outside of the text; it broadens and enriches the reader’s experience or understanding

“Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie. ” personification the giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects

“It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped, And whirr when it stood still. I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will. ” Tom Paxton, “The Marvelous Toy” onomatopoeia a literary device in which the sound of a word is related to its meaning

“I hate intolerant people. ” ~ Gloria Steinem oxymoron a figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases: a contradiction in terms

Collateral damage is an unfortunate and inevitable part of war. euphemism an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or harsh

“I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far. ” ~ Mark Twain, “Old Times on the Mississippi” hyperbole deliberate exaggeration for emphasis

“The swiftest traveler is he that goes afoot. ” ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden 1854 paradox a statement that appears to be contradictory but, in fact, has some truth

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room. " Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964 irony a situation or statement in which the actual outcome or meaning is opposite to what was expected

“I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain. ” Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger litotes (lie-tuh-tees) understatement

“…the sound of Griffith’s punches echoed in the mind like a heavy axe in the distance chopping into a wet log. ” ~Norman Mailer simile an explicit comparison between two unlike things with the use of “like” or “as”

You are an intricate mosaic vase, with so many glass pieces to your being. All labeled by various colors and shapes. Reds, blues, oranges, gigantic, small, sharp. Your colors represent who and what you will always be— extended metaphor A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.

"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art" ~John Keats apostrophe An address to the dead or unborn as if living; to the inanimate as if animate; to the absent as if present

a word or phrase associated with a person that denotes traits of his or her character or personality epithet Examples: Richard the Lion-Hearted” is an epithet of Richard I Poseidon = the earthshaker

Elements of Shakespearean Tragedy: • the action revolves around a tragic hero • • • hero has internal and external conflicts humor is used to relieve the dark mood supernatural incidents occur hero’s motivation is desire for revenge chance happenings precipitate tragic catastrophes

Romeo & Mercutio House & Wilson Batman & The Joker Jay Gatsby & Tom Buchanan Holmes & Watson Dumbledore & Voldemort Squidward & Spongebob Hamlet & Forbinbras foil characters who contrast with each other in order to highlight particular qualities

To be or not to be That is the question… soliloquy ~ Hamlet a character, alone on stage, thinking out loud; allows a playwright to directly reveal the character’s private thoughts and emotions

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and awhile, you could miss it. ~Ferris Bueller’s Day Off aside Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play.

An example of this is the dueling scene in Act V of Hamlet in which Hamlet dies, along with Laertes, King Claudius, and Queen Gertrude. catastrophe The action at the end of the falling action of a tragedy that initiates the denouement of a play.

Moments thereof: • Oedipus gouges his eyes out after learning he’s killed his father and married his mother. • The final fight scene in Hamlet. catharsis The release or purging of emotions at the end of a play; a welcome release from tension and anxiety. It is the result of understanding that, despite tragedy, suffering is an affirmation of human values rather than a despairing denial of them.

excessive pride or self-confidence, coupled with a lack of humility; arrogance; it’s the kind of pride that comes before a fall hubris Examples: Hitler, Oedipus’ father, Victor Frankenstein, Penn State Assistance Coach Jerry Sandusky

The Byronic Hero (named after poet Lord Byron) Examples: Batman The Phantom of the Opera Dr. Gregory House Capt. Jack Sparrow Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) Severus Snape (Harry Potter) Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre) Edward Cullen (Twilight) Tyler Durden (Fight Club) • a melancholy and rebellious young man, distressed by life’s pains and injustices • extremely charismatic but may act reprehensibly • passionate; dark; attractive; brooding

verisimilitude The sense that what one reads is "real, " or at least realistic and believable. The believability of a narrative; the extent to which a story appears realistic, likely, or plausible. Note that even fantasy novels and science fiction stories that discuss impossible events can have verisimilitude if the reader is able to read them with suspended disbelief. veritas = truth similis = similar

epistolary fiction • A novel written as a series of letters, documents or diary entries.

And, of course, you could never forget these friends from last year…

"Our transportation crisis will be solved by a bigger plane or a wider road, mental illness with a pill, poverty with a law, slums with a bulldozer, urban conflict with a gas, racism with a goodwill gesture. “ ~ Philip Slater, The Pursuit of Loneliness parallelism a set of similarly structured words, phrases or clauses

“I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to live. I'm not afraid to fail. I'm not afraid to succeed. I'm not afraid to fall in love. I'm not afraid to be alone. I'm just afraid I might have to stop talking about myself for five minutes. ” Kinky Friedman, When the Cat's Away anaphora repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row: this is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent

“…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” ~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities antithesis the placing of opposing words within the same sentence to emphasize their disparity

“All books from that store are new. These books are from that store. Therefore, these books are new. ” syllogism a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them

While pondering the stars and deciding never to fall in love again, nor even date, our heroine fell asleep and dreamed. periodic sentence a long sentence where your main point is at the end

“There’s no stigmata connected with going to a shrink. ” ~Little Carmine in The Sopranos malapropism absurd or humorous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound

“Take thy face hence. ” ~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth synecdoche using part of a thing to represent the whole thing

"I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me. " ~Ovid "Fair is foul, and foul is fair. " ~William Shakespeare, Macbeth chiasmus a type of antithesis; the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed A B B A pattern

The White House asked the television networks for air time on Monday night. metonymy a figure of speech that uses the name of an object, person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated, such as using “the crown” to refer to a monarch

"Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war--not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government--not any other thing. We are the killers. " Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, 1968 polysyndeton the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses

“Anyway, like I was saying, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That--that's about it. ” Bubba in Forrest Gump, 1994 asyndeton the omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses

“For no government is better than the men who compose it, and I want the best, and we need the best, and we deserve the best. ” Senator John F. Kennedy, speech at Wittenberg College, Oct. 17, 1960 epistrophe the repetition of a group of words at the end of successive clauses

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you. ” ~ Frank Oz as Yoda in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menance anadiplosis repeats the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next