Elements of Literature Essay

Many lit students atomic number 18 expected to be familiar with the basic terms listed below (and discussed in more depth in your text). Keep this demand guide with your text. At the beginning of each narration assignment, write the elements of literature pertaining to the particular type of literature at the beginning of the short story or poem. After reading, define them in your text for split up discussion, quizzes, and test preparation. To agnise literature, it is necessary that you ask yourself certain questions, such(prenominal) as what is the theme of this story? or why does the author use this particular type of imagery? You ar not necessarily reading for pleasurealthough it is sincerely hoped you will derive pleasure from your assignmentsbut for the development of critical analysis skills, so observe the authors style and intent c arfully. Short Stories/Novel ThemeThe idea or full stop of a story formulated as a generalization. In Ameri contribute literature, several themes are evident which reflect and define our society. The dominant ones might be innocence/experience, life/death, appearance/reality, justify will/fate, madness/sanity, love/hate, society/individual, kn avouch/unknown.Themes may have a single, instead of a dual nature as well. The theme of a story may be a mid-life crisis, or imagination, or the duality of humankind (contradictions). CharacterImaginary people created by the writer. Perhaps the most authorised element of literature. ProtagonistMajor character at the center of the story. AntagonistA character or force that opposes the help. Minor character0ften provides support and illuminates the protagonist. Static characterA character who remains the same. active characterA character who changes in some important way. CharacterizationThe means by which writers discontinue character. Explicit JudgmentNarrator gives facts and interpretive comment. Implied JudgmentNarrator gives description reader make the judgment. sort for Connections, links, and discriminative stimuluss surrounded by and about characters. Ask yourself what the function and significance of each character is. Make this determination found upon the characters history, what the reader is told (and not told), and what other characters say about themselves and others. PlotThe arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story.CausalityOne event go bys because of another event. ForeshadowingA shadow of what is going to happen. SuspenseA horse sense of worry throwed by the author. ConflictStruggle mingled with opposing forces. ExpositionBackground information regarding the setting, characters, plot. Complication or Rising ActionIntensification of conflict. CrisisTurning point moment of great tension that fixes the action. Resolution/DenouementThe way the story turns out. StructureThe design or form of the completed action. Often provides clues to character and action.Can even philosophically mirror the authors intentions, especially if it is unusual. Look for Repeated elements in action, gesture, dialogue, description, as well as shifts in direction, focus, time, place, and so forth viewThe place or location of the action, the setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters. Point of ViewAgain, the point of view can sometimes indirectly establish the authors intentions. Point of view pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. NarratorThe person telling the story. First-personNarrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision. ObjectiveNarrator is unnamed/unidentified (a set-apart observer). Does not assume characters perspective and is not a character in the story. The cashier reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning. OmniscientAll-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator takes us into the character and can evaluate a character for the reader (editorial omniscience). When a narrator allows the reader to make his or her own judgments from the action of the characters themselves, it is called neutral omniscience. Limited omniscientAll-knowing narrator about one or 2 characters, but not all. Language and StyleStyle is the verbal identity of a writer, oftentimes ground on the authors use of diction (word superior) and syntax (the order of wrangling in a sentence). A writers use of language reveals his or her note, or the attitude toward the subject matter. railleryA contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another. Verbal ironyWe understand the opposite of what the speaker says. Irony of Circumstance or Situational IronyWhen one event is expected to occur but the opposite happens.A discrepancy between what seems to be and what is. Dramatic IronyDiscrepancy between what characters know and what readers know. Ironic VisionAn overall tone of irony that pervades a work, suggesting how the writer views the characte rs. Poetry legendA form of narrative in which people, places, and events seem to have hidden meanings. Often a retelling of an onetime(a) story. ConnotationThe implied meaning of a word. DenotationThe dictionary definition of a word. DictionWord choice and usage (for example, formal vs. informal), as determined by considerations of audience and purpose.Figurative LanguageThe use of words to suggest meanings beyond the literal. There are a number of figures of speech. Some of the more common ones are MetaphorMaking a comparison between remote things without the use of a verbal clue (such as like or as). SimileMaking a comparison between unlike things, using like or as. HyperboleExaggeration PersonificationEndowing inanimate objects with human characteristics tomographyA concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea which appeals to one or more of our senses.Look for a pattern of imagery. Tactile imagerysense of touch. Aural imagerysense of hearing. Ol factory imagerysense of smell. Visual imagerysense of sight. Gustatory imagerysense of taste. cycle and MeterRhythm is the pulse or beat in a barrier of poetry, the regular riposte of an accent or stress. Meter is the measure or patterned count of a poetry line (a count of the stresses we feel in a poems rhythm). The unit of poetic standard in English is called a foot, a unit of measure consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables.Ask yourself how the rhythm and meter fall upons the tone and meaning. SoundDo the words rhyme? Is there alliteration (repetition of consonants) or assonance (repetition of vowels)? How does this affect the tone? StructureThe pattern of organization of a poem. For example, a sonnet is a 14-line poem normally written in iambic pentameter. Because the sonnet is strictly constrained, it is considered a closed or fixed form. An unfold or free form is a poem in which the author uses a looser form, or perchance one of his or her own invention. It is not necessarily formless.SymbolismWhen objects or actions mean more than themselves. phrase structureSentence structure and word order. Voice Speaker and ToneThe voice that conveys the poems tone its implied attitude toward its subject. Elements of belles-lettres Literature is a reflection of the society. A writer appeals to our feelings, emotions through various elements of literature, such as plot, character, theme, etc. Read more to know about the elements of literature. We can summarize literature in the words of Ezra Pound that great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost contingent degree.Every race has its own literature, for example, English literature, American literature, German literature, etc. Various types of literaturesuch as story, myth and drama delight us through the elements of literature. In literature, theme is important to reveal the story. An author depicts the ups and downs of the protagonist with the help of characterization. The story progresses through various plots. There are prologues and epilogues in Shakespearean drama. Facts on Elements of Literature Elements of literature denote the things that are used to make up a work of literature.There are different types and forms of literature. They are novel, drama, poetry, biography, non-fictional prose, essay, epic and short story. All these types of literature have some elements. To complete a piece of literature, a writer, dramatist or a novelist need to use certain elements like plot, character, theme, etc. However, elements of fiction and elements of drama differ from elements of poetry. These elements are discussed below Elements of Fiction and Drama Literary types such as fiction drama and short story have some elements.