VWO 4 literary terms

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You need to study these literary terms and you have to be able to use them on the various stories

 

Literature test 1

 

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. It gives an extra effect to the story and makes it easier to remember when telling it.

 

Tragedy: Tragedy is a type of drama. The word ‘drama’ refers to plays in general. Tragedy is a type of play meant for theatre, film or television, that is serious and sad and often ends with the death of the main character. In modern tragedies the main characters do not always die in the literary sense of the word, but they will be destroyed spiritually in the end. The main character ​is often a good person at heart, who has a flaw in his or her character; some very human and understandable weakness, such as jealousy or ambition. Fate plays an important role in tragedy: circumstances are such that the flaw in the main character can become apparent.

 

Main Character: The character that has the most importance in the story and does the most to support the plot. Most of the action should follow the main character.

 

Setting: The setting of a story is a combination of the time when and the place where a story takes place. The setting gives you the background of the characters. You get a general impression of the surroundings, the period and the social class in which the story takes place. If you describe the setting of a story you give a complete answer to the question where and when.

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Theme: The main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.  Het thema is de hoofdgedachte die een schrijver verwerkt in zijn gedicht of verhaal. De schrijver gebruikt de personen en de verhaallijn om het thema op de lezer over te brengen.

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Ballad:

A ballad usually:

• Tells a tragic story about love, death or betrayal in simple language.

• Does not contain any comment by the author

• Contains a dialogue

• Has repetition

• Consists of four-line stanzas (rhyme scheme abcb)

 

Haiku:

• It contains three lines. It has five moras (syllables) in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the last line. It contains 17 syllables in total.

• A Haiku poem does not rhyme.

• Haiku poems frequently have a kigo, or seasonal reference.

• Haiku poems are usually about nature or natural phenomena.

• It originated in Japan

 

Irony: There are 3 types of Irony

• Verbal irony: the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

• situational irony: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result

• Dramatic irony: a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character

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Stanza:  A stanza (Dutch: strofe, couplet) is a group of lines which form a division of a poem.​

 

Foreshadowing: is a literary device by which an author hints what is to come. Foreshadowing is a dramatic device in which an important plot-point is mentioned early in the story, and will later return in a more significant way. It is used to avoid disappointment. It is also sometimes used to arouse the reader. 

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Narrator

The narrator of a story is the one who is ‘telling’ the story to the reader. The narrator determines the perspective or point of view, which is the position from which the story is presented. Here are three types of narrator.

• The all-knowing narrator knows everything about the characters, down to what they think and feel and knows not only the present and the past but also the future.

• The I-narrator plays a part in the story as one of the characters. The perspective is subjective, because everything is described the way the I-narrator sees it.

• The third-person narrator is one of the characters in a he/she-story. The reader is not aware that there is a narrator. The perspective is subjective; everything is described the way one character sees it.

 

Symbol or symbolism :

A symbol is an image that means not only what it is, but something else as well, and perhaps many things. Part of the meaning of a symbol is emotional and subconscious. A symbol is often a means of making concrete a meaning that otherwise would remain inexpressible. Example: a red rose is a traditional symbol for love.

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Epic writing: In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem, which is usually related to heroic deeds of a person of an unusual courage and unparalleled bravery. In order to depict this bravery and courage, the epic uses grandiose style. The hero is named in different names. He is physically the strongest.

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Major and minor themes:

Major and minor themes are two types of themes that appear in literary works. A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his literary work, making it the most significant idea in the work. A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly, giving way to another minor theme. Examples of theme in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” are matrimony, love, friendship, and affection. The whole narrative revolves around the major theme of matrimony. Its minor themes are love, friendship, affectation etc.

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Frame story: A frame story contains either another tale (a story within a story) or a series of stories. Well-known examples are Arabian nights and Chauser’s Canterbury Tales (late 14th century). When there is a story within a story the focus can be on either of the stories, but usually the focus is on the ‘inner story’. The frame device was common in Romantic novels as it gave credibility to otherwise implausible events and it also absolved the narrator (or the author) from responsibility for them.

 

Middle English literature: ​Middle English was the language spoken in England from about 1100 to 1500. Five major dialects of Middle English have been identified this tells us that the language was rich in dialect diversity". Major literary works written in Middle English include Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The form of Middle English that's most familiar to modern readers is the London dialect, which was the dialect of Chaucer and the basis of what would eventually become standard English.

 

Foreshadowing: is a literary device by which an author hints what is to come. Foreshadowing is a dramatic device in which an important plot-point is mentioned early in the story, and will later return in a more significant way. It is used to avoid disappointment. It is also sometimes used to arouse the reader.

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