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LITERARY ELEMENTS

LITERARY ELEMENTS. PLOT. The story line Plot Structure Exposition – background information or setting up the story Complication – When the first external conflict/problem develops – begins the Rising Action

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LITERARY ELEMENTS

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  1. LITERARY ELEMENTS

  2. PLOT • The story line • Plot Structure • Exposition – background information or setting up the story • Complication – When the first external conflict/problem develops – begins the Rising Action • Crisis – When the main character is faced with an internal dilemma – continues the Rising Action • Climax – When the main character makes his/her decision and acts upon it – the Turning Point • Resolution – tying up the loose ends

  3. PLOT DEVICES • flashback • flash-forward • time lapse • suspense • foreshadowing • cliffhangers • surprise endings • closed endings • open endings

  4. THEME • The message or idea behind the story or poem. • Examples • The essence of humanity • Change versus tradition • Evils of racism • The destruction of beauty • Gender roles • What it means to be “other” • Love • Family • Friendship

  5. CONFLICT • What people, forces, ideas, interests, values, and/or institutions oppose each other? • What decisions must the characters make? Between what two things is he/she deciding? What do these things represent?

  6. CHARACTERIZATION • What kinds of people are the character(s)? • What are their beliefs, hopes, dreams, ideals, values, morals, fears, strengths, weaknesses, vices, virtues, talents? • How do they conduct themselves? • What do they say and do to reveal themselves? What do others say about them? • What are your opinions or feelings about them? • Classifications of types of characters include: protagonist, antagonist, foil, stereotype, flat, round, static, dynamic.

  7. SYMBOLISM • What concrete, specific objects have been used to represent abstract ideas? • What colors, names, settings, or recurring objects have been referred to? What ideas do these represent? • Common Examples: • The rose as a symbol of love • The dove as a symbol of peace • The cross as a symbol of faith and spirituality • Bread as a symbol of life

  8. SETTING • Refers to the time and place • Time: of day, year, era/age? Place: city, country? Outside, inside? Rich and opulent or poor and simple? Stark and barren landscape? Rainy or sunny? Beautiful or adversarial? Dark or light? Dangerous or safe? The weather? • How does all this affect meaning? What feelings (atmosphere) are evoked just by the setting?

  9. STYLE • The way the writer chooses to arrange his sentence structure (syntax) as well as the words (diction) he chooses. • What is the overall effect of the way he writes? Simple, involved, poetic, colloquial, humorous, pedantic, child-like? • How does it contribute to the author’s message and the overall effect the author wishes to create?

  10. TONE • The author’s attitude towards what (s)he is writing that affects your attitude: or -what is the feeling of the whole work and the writing/artist's craft? • Example: • "I shall be telling this with a sigh/ Somewhere ages and ages hence:/ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,/I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all the difference.“ (Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”) • To an extent, reading literature is a subjective process because different pieces of writing can be interpreted in different ways by the reader. In this example, Frost is commonly interpreted as looking back on his experience with joy. That is true, if he were to speak those lines cheerfully. However, imagine that he actually sighs when he says "sigh" and he appears sullen when he says "And that has made all the difference." The entire meaning of the poem is changed, and Frost is, indeed, not thrilled with the choice he made in the past.

  11. MOOD • The atmosphere that saturates the literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or attitude from the reader. In a play, mood may be created by sets and music as well as words. In poetry and prose, mood may be created by a combination of such elements as SETTING, VOICE, TONE and THEME.

  12. MOOD EXAMPLE • 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.‘ (excerpt from “The Raven” – Edgar Allan Poe)

  13. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE • What kinds of comparisons are made that add layers to the meaning of the poem or story? • Examples: • A metaphor is a direct comparison: my love is a rose, or he was a snake. • A simile is indirect, mediated by "like" or "as": my love is like a rose, or he was as mean as a snake. • An allusion is a reference to another literary or artistic work or cultural icon/event.

  14. IRONY • The writer’s meaning is DIFFERENT (often the opposite)from what is literally stated or is actually happening? • Examples: • Iceland is mostly green, and Greenland is mostly icy? • "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."(Peter Sellers as President MerkinMuffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964) • "Alanis Morissette's 'Ironic,' in which situations purporting to be ironic are merely sad, random, or annoying (a traffic jam when you're late, a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break) perpetuates widespread misuse of the word and outrages irony prescriptivists. It is of course ironic that 'Ironic' is an un-ironic song about irony. Bonus irony: 'Ironic' is widely cited as an example of how Americans don't get irony, despite the fact that Alanis Morissette is Canadian."(Jon Winokur, The Big Book of Irony. St. Martin's, 2007)

  15. TYPES OF IRONY • Verbal- What is SPOKEN or said (the words) is different/opposite from what is meant: • Overstatement (Hyperbole), • Understatement (Litotes), • Double Entendre (pun) • Dramatic- • Does the reader or other characters know more than another character? Is one or more character(s) speaking/acting without knowledge others have, thus creating a double meaning?

  16. TYPES OF IRONY cont. • Situational • Do the events have a double meaning...the meaning of the situation as it actually happened versus the situation that we expected to happen or would normally happen? Does a set of circumstances turn out differently from what is anticipated or considered appropriate? Is the action/situation surprising or unexpected? Is there unexplained coincidence in the story? A surprise ending?

  17. TYPES OF IRONY cont. • Cosmic or “irony of fate” • a form of situational irony – Is the universe itself, the cosmos, ironic? Is the situation unjust to a person or group of people in a manner beyond their control? Is a good person in a bad situation due to circumstances beyond his/her control in such a way unfair/inappropriate that this person must suffer? Is this person a victim of fate?

  18. POINT OF VIEW • Who is the narrator? A story has an author, a narrator and characters. Don’t confuse them with each other. • How does the vantage point of the narrator affect the meaning of the story? How would the story change if the narrator changed? • First Person – told through the point of view of "I” – may or may not be the main character • Third Person Omniscient – Use of third person pronouns (he/she/they), no "I" except in dialogue. All knowing, like God • Third Person Limited Omniscient – third person pronouns again, but perspective is limited to ONE character's thoughts, feelings, vantage point.

  19. POINT OF VIEW cont. • Third Person Dramatic/Objective (as in play/drama). The only information we receive is what the characters say and do; cannot read anyone's mind, thoughts, feelings. • Unreliable Narrator – this narrator is not limited to one type (1st or 3rd), but is unreliable and conveys information to the reader of which he/she (the narrator) is not aware. This could be because the narrator is a young child, going insane, naïve, old and senile, or other reason.

  20. ALLITERATION • The repetition of the same consonant sound – usually occurs at the beginning of the words • Example : Carrie’s cat clawed her couch, creating chaos.

  21. ASSONANCE • The repetition of the same vowel sound – also called an Internal Rhyme • Example: “Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dark fox gone to ground” (Pink Floyd)

  22. IMAGERY • The use of a group of words used to create a mental picture • Example: “She wears a long fur coat of mink/ Even in the summertime/ Everybody knows from the coy little wink/ The girl's got a lot on her mind/ She's got big thoughts, big dreams/ And a big brown Mercedes sedan/ What I think this girl, she really wants/ Is to be in love with a man”-Sheila E., “Glamorous Life”

  23. ONOMATOPOEIA • Words that when spoken sound like the sound they are referring to • Examples: boom, cuckoo, meow, or honk

  24. PARADOX • a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. • Examples: • You can save money by spending it. • I'm nobody. • "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young."-George Bernard Shaw • Wise fool • Bittersweet • "I can resist anything but temptation."-Oscar Wilde

  25. PERSONIFICATION • Giving “people” characteristics to inanimate objects or animals • Examples: • The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow. • The flowers waltzed in the gentle breeze. • My computer hates me. • The baseball screamed all the way into the outfield.

  26. SATIRE • Human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule through use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like. The purpose of satire is to denounce vice and folly. • Examples: • “Weekend Update” from Saturday Night Live • The Daily Show • the movie Scary Movie • the movies of Austin Powers • most political cartoons in newspapers and magazines • the songs of Weird Al Yankovic

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