Literary devices for unis PDF

Preview

Summary

literature devices are effective for studies...

Description

Symbolism Definition of Symbolism

Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may

stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you. Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A chain”, for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where and how it is used. It also depends on who reads them. Common Examples of Symbolism in Everyday Life

In our daily life, we can easily identify objects, which can be taken as examples of symbol such as the following:  The dove is a symbol of peace.

 A red rose or red color stands for love or romance.  Black is a symbol that represents evil or death.  A ladder may stand as a symbol for a connection between the heaven and the earth.  A broken mirror may symbolize separation Examples of Symbolism in Literature

To develop symbolism in his work, a writer utilizes other figures of speech, like metaphors, similes, allegory, as tools. Some symbol examples in literature are listed below with brief analysis:

Example #1

We find symbolic value in Shakespeare’s famous monologue in his play As you Like It: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts,”

The above lines are symbolic of the fact that men and women, in course of their life perform different roles. “A stage” here symbolizes the world and “players” is a symbol for human beings. Example #2

William Blake goes symbolic in his poem Ah Sunflower. He says: “Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler’s journey is done;” Blake uses a sunflower as a symbol for human beings and “the sun” symbolizes life. Therefore, these lines symbolically refer to their life cycle and their yearning for a never-ending life.

Example #3 Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights presents almost every character, house, surroundings and events in a symbolic perspective. The word “Wuthering”, which means stormy, represents the wild nature of its inhabitants. The following lines allow us to look into the symbolic nature of two characters:

“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it; I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but necessary.” The phrase “foliage of leaves” for Linton is a symbol for his fertile and civilized nature. On the contrary, Heathcliff is likened to an “eternal rock” which symbolizes his crude and unbendable nature.

Example #4 Sara Teasdale in her poem Wild Asters develops a number of striking symbols:

“In the spring, I asked the daisies If his words were true,

And the clever, clear-eyed daisies Always knew. Now the fields are brown and barren, Bitter autumn blows, And of all the stupid asters Not one knows.” In the above lines, “spring” and “daisies” are symbols of youth. “Brown and barren” are symbols of transition from youth to old age. Moreover, “Bitter autumn” symbolizes death.

Function of Symbolism Symbolism gives a writer freedom to add double levels of meanings to his work: a literal one that is self-evident and the symbolic one whose meaning is far more profound than the literal one. The symbolism, therefore, gives universality to the characters and the themes of a piece of literature. Symbolism in literature evokes interest in readers as they find an opportunity to get an insight of the writer’s mind on how he views the world and how he thinks of common objects and actions, having broader implications.

Definition of Stanza In poetry, a stanza is a division of four or more lines having a fixed length, meter or rhyming scheme. Stanzas in poetry are similar to paragraphs in prose. Both stanzas and paragraphs include connected thoughts and are set off by a space. The number of lines varies in different kinds of stanzas but it is uncommon for a stanza to have more than twelve lines. The pattern of a stanza is determined by the number of feet in each line and by its metrical or rhymingscheme.

Types of Stanzas in English Poetry On the basis of a fixed number of lines and rhyming scheme, traditional English language poems have the following kinds of stanzas:     

Couplet Tercet Quatrain Quintain Sestet

Let us make ourselves familiar with the above mentioned kinds of stanzas:

Couplet It consists of two rhyming lines having the same meter. Consider the following couplet stanza examples:

Example #1 Alexander Pope wrote his Essay on Criticism in rhyming couplets:

“True wit is nature to advantage dress’d; What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d.” Example #2 Read the rhyming couplet at the end of Sonnet II by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

“Whether or not we find what we are seeking is idle, biologically speaking.”

Example #3 A rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter is known as a heroic couplet. Initiated by Chaucer, heroic couplets are commonly used in epics and narrative poetry. Among the well known examples of stanza, we find Edgar Allan Poe’s sonnet To Science:

“Do not all charms fly At the mere touch of cold philosophy? There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: We know her woof, her texture; she is given” Tercet A tercet comprises three lines following a same rhyming scheme a a a or have a rhyming pattern a b a. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced tercet in 16th century.

Example #1 Read the following tercets from Wyatt’s poem Second Satire with a rhyming scheme a b a:

“My mother’s maids, when they did sew and spin, They sang sometimes a song of the field mouse, That for because their livelihood was but so thin. Would needs go seek her townish sister’s house. Would needs She thought herself endured to much pain: The stormy blasts her cave so sore did souse…” Example #2 Famous Romantic poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson employed tercets in his poem The Eagle with a rhyming scheme a a a:

“He clasps the crag with crooked hands: Close to the sun it lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, it stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.” Quatrain It is a form of stanza popularized by a Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, who called it a Rubai. It has common rhyming schemes a a a a, a a b b, a b a b.

Example #1 Read the following example from Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

“Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter–and the Bird is on the Wing.” Example #2 Thomas Gray employed Quatrain in his poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.” Quitain Quintain also referred to as cinquain is a stanza of five lines which may be rhymed or unrhymed and has a typical stress pattern. Its invention is attributed to Crapsey.

Example #1 Below is an example of cinquain taken from Crapsey’s November Night:

“Listen… With faint dry sound, Like steps of passing ghosts, The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees And fall.” Sestet Sestet is a kind of stanza that consists of six lines. It is the second division of Italian or sonnets of Petrarch following an octave or the first division comprising eight lines. In a sonnet, a sestet marks a change of emotional state of a poet as they tend to be more subjective in the second part of the sonnet.

Example #1 Read the following lines from Mathew Arnold’s The Better Part:

So answerest thou; but why not rather say: “Hath man no second life? – Pitch this one high! Sits there no judge in Heaven, our sin to see? More strictly, then, the inward judge obey! Was Christ a man like us? Ah! Let us try If we then, too, can be such men as he!” The poet answers the rude inquirer passionately as soon as the sestet commences.

Function of Stanza Stanza divides a poem in such a way that does not harm its balance but rather it adds to the beauty to the symmetry of a poem. Moreover, it allows poets to shift their moods and present different subject matters in their poems.

Post navigation

Definition of Syntax Syntax is a set of rules in a language. It dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought.

Syntax and Diction Syntax and diction are closely related. Diction refers to the choice of words in a particular situation while syntax determines how the chosen words are used to form a sentence. Most often than not, adopting a complex diction means a complex syntactic structure of sentences and vice versa. In combination, syntax and diction help writers develop tone,mood and atmosphere in a text along with evoking interest of the readers.

Examples of Syntax Syntax in Poetry The general word order of an English sentence is “Subject+Verb+Object”. In poetry, however, the word order may be shifted to achieve certain artistic effects such as producing rhythm or melody in the lines, achieving emphasis, heightening connection between two words etc. The unique syntax used in poetry makes it different from prose. Let us consider the following examples of syntax:

Example #1 In casual conversations, we can simply say, “I cannot go out” to convey our inability to go out. P J Kavanagh’s in his poem Beyond Decoration does not rely on merely stating a prosaic “I cannot go out”. Rather, he shifts the syntax and says “Go out I cannot”, which lays a much stronger emphasis on the inability to go out conveyed by the word “cannot”.

Example #2 Similarly, Milton shifts words in his poems frequently. Let us analyze lines from his poem Lycidas:

“Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves,

With wild thyme and the gadding vine o’ergrown, And all their echoes mourn” The modified word order in the above lines is Object+Subject+Subject Complement+Verb. Syntax in Prose Syntax affects the nature of a prose text as well. It enhances its meanings and contributes toward its tone. Quickness, decisiveness and speed are added to a text by using short phrase, clauses and sentences. Whereas, in a text where the subject matter is serious that requires contemplation, long, convoluted sentence are used to slow down the pace of a prose text.

Example #1

“That night I sat on Tyan-yu’s bed and waited for him to touch me. But he didn’t. I was relieved.” (The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan)

Example #2

“They left me alone and I lay in bed and read the papers awhile, the news from the front, and the list of dead officers with their decorations and then reached down and brought up the bottle of Cinzano and held it straight up on my stomach, the cool glass against my stomach, and took little drinks making rings on my stomach from holding the bottle there between drinks, and watched it get dark outside over the roofs of the town.” (A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway) The two syntax examples above show a distinct use of syntax. Amy Tan uses short sentences to communicate in a powerful and concise manner. Ernest Hemingway, on the other hand, uses long and complex structures to emphasize the laziness of his character. Syntax in Shakespeare

Writing all of his plays and sonnets in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare habitually reversed the general order of English sentences by placing verbs at the end of the sentences.

Example #1 In Romeo and Juliet, he writes,

“What light from yonder window breaks?” instead of using a common expression “What light breaks from yonder window?” Example #2 In Richard III, he deliberately reverses the word order of a sentence,

“and all the clouds that lowered upon our house buried in the deep bosom of the ocean.” into “And all the clouds that lower’d upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.” Function of Syntax To convey meaning is one of the main functions of syntax. In literature, writers utilize syntax and diction to achieve certain artistic effects like mood, tone etc. Like diction, syntax aims to affect the readers as well as express the writer’s attitude.

Sub menu

Tone Definition of Tone Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. Every written piece comprises a central theme or subject matter. The manner in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes. Consider the following examples of tone:  

“I want to ask the authorities what is the big deal? Why do not they control the epidemic? It is eating up lives like a monster.” “I want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities toward damage caused by an epidemic. If steps were not taken to curb it, it will further injure our community”

The theme of both tone examples is the same. The only way we can differentiate between them is their separate tone. The tone in the first example is casual or informal while, it is more formal in the second.

Example of Tone in Everyday Speech We adopt variety of tones in our day-to-day speech. This intonation of our speech determines what message we desire to convey. Read a few examples below:

Example #1

Father: “We are going on a vacation.” Son: “That’s great!!!” - The tone of son’s response is very cheerful.

Example #2

Father: “We can’t go on vacation this summer.” Son: “Ok. Great! That’s what I expected.”

– The son’s tone is sarcastic in the given response.

Example #3

“You will get good grades like in the previous exams” – The tone is pessimistic in this example.

Example #4

“Can some tell me what the hell is going on here?” -This has an aggressive tone.

Examples of Tone in Literature Tone has a significant place in literature as it manifests writers’ attitude toward different subjects.

Example #1 Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger’s “Catching the Rye” unfolds his personality through the tone he adopts throughout the novel. Let us have a look at some of his remarks:    

“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.” “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late? Nobody.” “Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.” “Catholics are always trying to find out if you’re Catholic.”

Holden’s tone is bitterly sarcastic as he criticizes the nature of things in real life. His character may reveal the attitude of the writer towards life as it is common for writers to use their characcters as their mouthpieces.

Example #2 Observe the tone of a short story “The School” by Donald Barthelme:

“And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So

we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.” The use of adjectives “dead” and “depressing” sets a gloomy tone in the passage. As trees signify life here, their unexpected “death” from an unknown cause gives the above passage an unhappy and pessimistic tone.

Example #3 Robert Frost in the last stanza of his poem The Roads Not taken gives us an insight into the effect of tone:

“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.” Frost tells us about his past with a “sigh”, this gives the above lines an unhappy tone. This tone leads us into thinking that the speaker in the poem had to make a difficult choice.

Function of Tone Tone, in a piece of literature, decides how they readers read a literary piece and how they should feel while they are reading it. It stimulates the readers to read a piece of literature as a serious, comical, spectacular or distressing. In addition, tone lends shape and life to a piece of literature because it creates a mood. Moreover, tone bestows voice to characters and it throws light on the personalities and dispositions of characters that readers understand better.

Definition of Alliteration Alliteration is derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series. Consider the following examples: 1. But a better butter makes a batter better. 2. A big bully beats a baby boy. Both sentences are alliterative because the same first letter of words (B) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence. An important point to remember here is that alliteration does not depend on letters but on sounds. So the phrase not knotty is alliterative, but cigarette chase is not.

Common Examples of Alliteration In our daily life, we notice alliteration in the names of different companies. It makes the name of a company catchy and easy to memorize. Here are several common examples.            

Dunkin’ Donuts PayPal Best Buy Coca-Cola Life Lock Park Place American Apparel American Airlines Chuckee Cheese’s Bed Bath & Beyond Krispy Kreme The Scotch and Sirloin

We also find alliterations in names of people, making such names prominent and easy to be remembered. For instance, both fictional characters and real people may stand out prominently in your mind due to the alliterative effects of their names. Examples are:       

Ronald Reagan Sammy Sosa Jesse Jackson Michael Moore William Wordsworth Mickey Mouse Porky Pig

     

Lois Lane Marilyn Monroe Fred Flintstone Donald Duck Spongebob Squarepants Seattle Seahawks

Examples of Alliteration in Literature Example #1 From Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.” In the above lines we see alliteration (“b”, “f” and “s”) in the phrases “breeze blew”, “foam flew”, “furrow followed”, and “silent sea”.

Example #2 From James Joyce’s “The Dead”

“His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” We notice several instances of alliteration in the above mentioned prose work of James Joyce. Alliterations are with “s” and “f” in the phrases “swooned slowly” and falling faintly”.

Example #3 From Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

“Up the aisle, the moans and screams merged with the sickening smell of woolen black clothes worn in summer weathe...