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Elements of Poetry and Fiction

Virginia GrassoProf: Mariana Mussetta

English Literature II Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa

Universidad Tecnológica de Villa María23/02/2013

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• “Poem: A peace of writing arranged in patterns of lines and of sounds which often RHYME, expressing thoughts, emotions, and experiences in words that excite your imagination”*.

• “Poetry: The art of writing poems (beauty, grace, deep feelings)*.

*(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 1084)

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The poem• It gives pleasure.• It has unique value to the fully realized life.• It has spiritual value.• It says more and says it more intensely than

does ordinary language.• It creates new and significant experiences for

the reader.• It is an aid and a mean of living.• It has extra dimensions than does ordinary

language.

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Allegory• The word “allegory” is from the Greek word

«allegoria» which means “speaking otherwise”.• Allegory is a story in verse or prose with a double

meaning a primary or surface meaning, and a secondary or under-the surface meaning.• Since it represents one thing in the guise of

another.

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Allegory

• An abstraction in that of a concrete image, it can be read, understood and interpreted at two levels literal level

political and ethical level religious

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Allegory

• Allegories are effective in teaching, explaining or illustrating some abstract idea or a moral principle.

• It is an essence a figurative representation of some abstract truth by the use of symbolic language (Eg: the fable and the parable can reflect the nature of human beings, they are figurative ways of telling stories about fictional characters and events).

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Allegory

• An allegory also appeals to the imagination more than a metaphor, which tends to have a more rational basis.

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Allegory Example:

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted to explore the world, so, one day she packed up her things and set out on a journey. She walked through the woods that surrounded her hut until she reached a road. Standing on the other side of the road was another traveler, a little boy. When asked, he suggested that she go north, for that was where the big towns and more interesting sights were. So she walked along the road northward until she reached a large town. She spent several days exploring the town and meeting all kinds of strange people. Finally she grew bored, and found a new road along which to travel. Standing at the edge of town was a young woman. When asked, she suggested that the little girl go east, for that was where the small cities and most interesting sights were. So the little girl walked eastward along the road until she came to a small city. She wandered through the city for a few weeks and saw all manner of new inventions. Finally she had seen everything, so she left and found a new road along which to travel. Waiting at an intersection was a man, who, when asked, suggested that the little girl go south, for that was where the big cities were. So the little girl walked along the road going south for quite some time, until she came to a large city. There she talked with people from different countries who spoke different languages and had entirely different cultures. She learned a lot during her stay, but finally she had had enough of the city, so she found another road along which to travel. Resting in a nearby park was an old woman, who, when asked if she could recommend any particular direction for the little girl to travel, exclaimed, “Oh, there is a lovely forest west of here. I love to wander through the trees and enjoy the peace and quiet.” So the little girl went west and after a while, found the very forest in which she lived. She skipped through the trees to her hut, glad to be home.

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Alliteration• It occurs when the initial sounds of a word,

beginning with a consonant or a vowel are repeated in close succession.

Eg: The soft surge of the sea.

• It accentuates the beauty of language in a given context and it unites words or concepts through a kind of repetition.

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Alliteration Examples:

• Athena and Apollo.• He hopped about happily.• Nate never knows.• People who pen poetry. • Sometimes snakes slithered past.• Lovely lady.

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Assonance• If alliteration occurs at the beginning of a word

and the rhyme at the end, assonance takes the middle territory.

Assonance occurs when the vowel sound within a word matches the same sound in a nearby word, but the surrounding consonant sounds are different, Eg: “Tune” and “June” are rhymes “Tune” and “food” are assonant

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Assonance

• It serves to give a sense of continuity or fluidity to the verse.

• It is effective when the rhyme is absent: It gives the poem more flexibility. • Like alliteration it is more ornamental.

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Denotation

It is when you mean what you say, literally.

That is, the dictionary meaning or meanings of the word.

Eg: greasy (like car engines, need to be greasy) home (means only the place where one lives)

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Connotation• It is created when you mean something else,

something that might be initially hidden.• It is based on implication, or shared emotional

association with a word.• It is important in poetry because poets use them

to further develop or complicate a poem’s meaning.

• It is very important for it is one of the means by which he can concentrate or enrich his meaning.

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Connotation examples:

• Greasy is a completely innocent word.

• Greasy contains negative associations for most people if they are talking about food or people.

• Home suggests security, love, comfort, and family.

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Diction

It refers to the choice and the order of words.• It has been split into vocabulary and syntax.

Vocabulary simple complex

Syntax ordinary unusual

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Diction

• It is possible to use “plain” language in a complicated way (poetry).

• It is equally possible to use complicated

language in a simple way.

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Diction

• Diction is a web rather than a level:

There is something deeper than a surface meaning to consider, so poetic diction is complex.

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Diction examples:

• A) She took an apple from under the tree.

• First, let’s alter the order, or syntax:

1) From under the tree she took an apple. it brings the rhyme (she/tree) close together

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Diction examples:

2) She, from under the tree, took an apple.

It plays on our notion of suspense

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Diction examples:

3) From under the tree, an apple she took.

It sounds like it belongs in a ballad or some other form where the “took” at the end of the sentence either for emphasis or to set up rhyme (crook: steal)

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• Second, let’s alter the vocabulary:1) She picked up a fruit from the ground, where it lay.2) She pilfered an apple that had fallen from its tree. 3) The lovely woman stooped and grabbed the fallen apple. basic elements a woman an apple but different emphasis a tree

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Diction exercises:

• They watched a pretty red sunset.

• Then, without warning, a knock come at the door.

• I wash awash in memories, reliving the innocence of time past.

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Irony As a figure of speech• Verbal irony: saying the opposite of what one

means. • It refers to a difference between the way

something appears and what is actually true.• It is indirect. • It refuses to state something simply as the way

it is.

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Irony

• It allows us to say something but to mean something else, whether we are being sarcastic, exaggerating, or understating.

• Irony is more restrained than sarcasm.

• Irony is easier to communicate in speech than in writing.

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Irony example:

• A child is playing violin and his aunt says, «he is obviously not ready for the youth orchestra» Is the aunt speaking ironically or not?

Is he playing poorly? The tone is straight Is he playing perfectly? The tone is ironic It depends on the way the aunt pronounces

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Sarcasm

• It implies ridicule on the colloquial level.

• Sarcasm is simply bitter or cutting speech, intended to wound the feelings.

• Greek: to tear flesh.

• It is cruel, and means to hurt.

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Satire

• It is a more formal term, usually applied to written literature rather than to speech (on the literary level).

• It implies higher motive: it is ridicule (either bitter or gentle) of human folly or vice, with the purpose of bringing about reform or at least of keeping other people from falling into similar folly or vice.

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Metaphor • It compares two different things by speaking

of one in terms of the other.• It asserts that one thing is another thing, not

just that one is like another.• It is evoked by the to be verb or not.

• It makes abstract concrete unknown familiar

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Metaphor• It enlivens by touching the reader’s imagination.

• It gives connection in the unity between alien things.

• It identifies one object or idea with another, in one or more aspects.

• Is a figure of speech that involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things.

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Metaphor• It seems comparisons between two seemingly

dissimilar things.

• It expands the sense.

• It clarifies the meaning of something.

• It is one of the chief elements that distinguishes poetry from less lofty forms of communication.

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Metaphor examples:

• The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

• the ship ploughs the sea.

• Julie is a gem.

• Rain falls in teardrops from the sky.

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Simile In simile the comparison is expressed by the use of some word or phrase such as:

• Like• As• Than• Similar to• Resembles

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Simile

• It is comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way.

• In formal prose it is a device both art explanation• It compares an unfamiliar thing to some familiar

thing object event known to the reader process

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Simile examples:

Compare a noun to a noun is introduced by like• I see men, but they look like trees, walking.

When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used• They remained constantly attentive to their goal,

as a sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.

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Simile examples:

But a simile can sometimes be implied, or as it is often called, submerged. In such cases no comparative word is needed.

• “When I think of the English final exam, I think of dungeons and chains and racks and primal screams”.

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Simile

• The word like signifies a direct comparison between two things that are alike in a certain way.

• Usually one of the elements of a simile is concrete and the other abstract.

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Meter• It is a kind of rhythm we can tap our foot to

mark the intervals.

• In language that is metrical the accents are so arranged as to occur as intervals of time (equal or not)

• Metrical language is called VERSE. Non-metrical language is PROSE.

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Meter

• It is a rhythm established by the poem.• It is dependent on the number of syllables in the line/foot/stanza the way those syllables are accented• It is often described as a pattern of stressed and

unstressed syllables.• the rhythmic unit is often described as a foot.

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Rhythm

• The term rhythm refers to any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.

• In speech it is the natural rise and fall of language.

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Rhyme• It is two words that sound alike.• The vowel sound of two words is the

same, but the initial consonant sound is different.

• It is the most recognizable convention of poetry.

• It helps to unify the poem.

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Rhyme Rhyme is the repetition of a stressed sound, usually the final syllable. • It repeats a sound that links one concept to

another, helping to determine the structure of a poem.

• Rhyme for its own sake is really just decorative.

• It contributes to the poem’s meaning or unity.

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Rhyme examples:

• Internal rhyme: functions within a line of poetry.

His aim was to blame the dame.

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Parallelism

• Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity.• Several parts of a sentence or several

sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance.

• It adds balance, rhythm, and clarity to the sentence.

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Parallelism examples:

• Parallel subject with parallel modifiers: Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by night in the forest of Darkness.

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Parallelism examples:

• Parallel verbs and adverbs:

I have always sought but seldom obtained a parking space near the door.

Quickly and happily he walked around the corner to buy the book.

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Parallelism examples:

• Parallel verbs and direct objects:

He liked to eat watermelon and to avoid grapefruit.

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Parallelism examples:

• Or just the objects:

This Arab owns three pastel Cadillacs, two gold Rolls Royces, and ten assorted Mercedes.

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Parallelism examples:

• Or parallel prepositional phrases:

He found it difficult to vote for an ideal truth but against his own self interest.

The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and into the cockpit, singing “Up, Up, and Away”.

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Antithesis• It establishes a clear, contrasting relationship

between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure.

• It creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas.

Eg: To err is human; to forgive, divine. - A. Pope

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Antithesis examples:

• Antithesis can convey some sense of complexity in a person or idea by admitting opposite or nearly opposite truth.

Eg: Though surprising, it is true; though frightening at first, it is really harmless.

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Anaphora

It is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism.

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Anaphora examples:

To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/To think on the world verily it is,/To think that here man had no perfect bliss. Peacham

In books I find the death as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace. – Richard de Bury

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Rhetorical question

• It is not answered by the writer, because the answer is obvious or obviously desired, and usually just yes or no.

• It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a concluding statement from the facts at hand.

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Rhetorical question examples:

• For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is the good of living on? -Marcus Aurelius

• It leads to further discussion: Is justice then to be considered merely a word? Or is it whatever results from the bartering between attorneys?

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Synecdoche• It is a type of metaphor in which the part stands

for the whole, the whole for the part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus. • The material for the thing made, or any portion,

section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself.

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Synecdoche examples:

• Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands.

• It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.

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Metonymy• It is another form of metaphor.

• It is very similar to synecdoche.

• Some do not distinguish between them.

• The thing chosen for the metaphorical image is closely associated with the subject with which it is to be compared.

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Metonymy examples:

• The orders come directly from the White House.

• You can’t fight city hall.

• This land belongs to the crown.

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Personification• It represents an animal inanimate object ideas abstractions

• as having human attributes of form character feelings behavior• It functions as a device of art to clarify ideas.

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Personification example:

The ship began to creak and protest as it struggled against the rising sea.

Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. – Genesis 4:10b

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Hyperbole

• It deliberately exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect.

• It is not used to mislead the reader.• It is the counterpart of understatement.

Eg: There are a thousand of reasons why more research is needed on solar energy.

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Hyperbole example: • It is used to exaggerate one thing to show how

really different it is from something supposedly similar to which it is being compared.

• This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love.

• She’s said so a million times.

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Oxymoron• It is a paradox reduced to two words, usually

an: adjective-noun “eloquent silence” adverb-adjective “inertly strong”

• It is used for effect complexity emphasis wit

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Oxymoron

• It shows the complexity of a situation where two apparently opposite things are true simultaneously

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Oxymoron examples: scandalously nice sublimely bad darkness visible cheerful pessimist sad joy wise fool tender cruelty despairing hope freezing fire

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Epithet

• It is an adjective or adjective phrase appropriate qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject.

• A transferred epithet is an adjective modifying a noun which it does not normally modify, but which makes a figurative sense.

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Epithet example:

• At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth of

thieves and murders. George Herbert

• Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold/A sheep hook. John Milton

• In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys.

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Hyperbaton

• It includes several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order.

For example: She had a personality indescribable. His was a countenance sad.

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Onomatopoeia• It is the use of words whose pronunciation

imitates the sound the word describes. «Buzz», for example, when spoken is intended to resemble the sound of a flying insect.

For example: The flies buzzing and whizzing around their ears kept them from finishing the experiment at the swamp.

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Apostrophe• It interrupts the discussion or discourse and

address directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent.

• Its most common purpose in prose is to give

vent or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back.

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Apostrophe example:

• O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Luke 13:34

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Climax

• It consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis.

• Parallelism usually forms a part of the arrangement, because it offers a sense of continuity, order, and movement-up the ladder of importance.

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Climax example:

To have faults is not good, but faults are human. Worse is to have them and not see them. Yet beyond that is to have faults, to see them, and to do nothing about them. But even that seems mild compared to him who knows his faults, and who parades them about and encourages them as though they were virtues.

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Analogy

• It compares two different things by identifying points of similarity.

• It is created for the purpose of conceptual clarity.

• An example is comparing the physical details and functioning of the human heart to a mechanical pump.

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Periphrasis

• It is substituting a descriptive phrase made up of a concrete adjective and abstract noun , for a precise word, such as «fringed curtains of thine eye» for eyelashes.

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Allusion

• It is an indirect reference outside the current literary work. The reference may be to something in literature, history, modern culture, or another area.

Eg: He was a veritable Hercules.

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Elements of fiction

A fiction writer uses plot character setting point of viewformal elements style tone theme imageryTo create artistic symbol effects

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Fiction

• The formal elements divide the story into parts.• This elements blend to create a whole.• They are necessary for most critical discussion. • They provide a basic vocabulary and set of

critical tools that can be used in conjunction with many other critical approach.

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Plot

• It refers to a series of events that give a story its meaning and effect.

• In most stories, these events arise out of conflict experienced (main character).

• Conflict external overbearing mother internal jealousy, lost of identity overconfidence

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PlotThe sequence of events is called the narrative order:

• Chronological: The events are told in the order they happen.

• Flashback: An event that took place before the current time of the story.

• Flashforward: The opposite effect.

• Timelapse: Occurs when the story skips a period of time.

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Plot • Conflict: The basic tension, challenge that

propels a story’s plot.

• Complications: Plot events that plunge the protagonist into conflict.

• Rising action: The part of the plot in which the drama intensifies, rising towards the climax.

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Plot

• Climax: The most dramatic moment, the turning point of the story.

• Falling action: When the conflict is resolved, and leads quickly to the story’s end.

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Character• In fiction character refers to a textual

representation of a human being or another creature.

• It is the key element in the story’s creation.• It is the central agent in generating its plot. • Authors achieve characterization with many

techniques: using the narrative voice to describe the character (showing actions, thoughts, dialogue, etc).

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Character • Protagonist: A story’s main character (person,

animal, or personified object).• Antagonist: The character or force in conflict

with the protagonist (society, nature, fate, another person).

• Round character: A complex, fully developed. • Flat character: It is not central to the story. • Characterization: The author presents and

develops a fictional character.

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Setting Setting includes the place, the time period in which the story takes place. It has:

• Simple attributes climate wall decor

• Complex dimensions historical moment social context

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Setting

• Places and times have their own personality emotional essence

• It is often developed with narrative description action dialogue character’s thoughts

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Setting• Social context: The significant cultural issues

affecting a story’s setting or authorship.

• Mood: The underlying feeling or atmosphere produced by a story.

• Setting can clarify conflict, illuminate character, affect the mood, and act as a symbol.

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Point of viewEvery story is told by a narrator, who is created by the author. The narrator controls the story by talking from a particular point of view and how much he or she knows • First person: uses I – A character is telling the

story. • Second person: uses you- the authors speaks

directly to the reader.• Third person: uses he, she or it.

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Point of view• Point of view in fiction refers to the source and

scope of the narrative voice.

• First person uses the pronoun “I” does the narration, and may be a major character and is often its protagonist.

• A first person narrator may also be a minor character, no centrally involved.

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Point of view

• Narrative voice: The voice of the narrator telling the story.

• Point of view character: The character focused on most closely by the narrator; in first person.

• Point of view: The narrator himself.

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Point of view

• The author’s choice of point of view has a significant effect on the story’s voice and on the type of information given to the reader.

• In first person narration what can be shown is limited to the character’s observation and thoughts, and skewed perception in the narrator will be passed on the reader.

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Point of view • Third person point of view when the narrator

does not take part in the story.• Third –person three types: 1) Omniscient: the narrative voice can render information from anywhere, thoughts, feelings of the characters. 2) Limited: called sympathetic, the narrative voice relate what is in the minds of only few characters, often only one.

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Point of view

3) Objective or dramatic: the narrator renders explicit details and does not have access to the internal thoughts, or background information about the setting or situation. His thoughts are inferred only by what is expressed openly, in actions or in words.

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Style In fiction refers to the language conventions used to construct the story. A fiction writer can manipulate: • Diction: the author’s choice of words • Sentence structure, • Phrasing, • Dialogue, • and other aspects of language to create style

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Style

A story style could be described as:• Richly detailed • Flowing• Barely controlled• or sparing and minimalist to reflect the simple

sentence structures and low range of vocabulary

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Style

• Predominant styles change through time. • Time period in which fiction was written often

influences it style.

• The story voice is the communicative effect created by the author’s style.

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Style

The communicative effect created by the author’s style can be referred to as the story’s voice.The story’s voice may be:

serious and straightforward rambunctiously comic dramatic tense

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Tone

• Tone: It refers to the attitude that the story creates toward its subject matter.

• A story’s style and voice contributed to its tone

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Tone

• It is the author’s attitude toward what he or she writes, but it may be easier to understand if you think of it as the attitude that you (the reader) get from the author’s words.

• The easiest tone to recognize is humor.

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Describing Tone, use adjectives• humorous • mysterious • creepy • straight-forward • exciting • boring • depressing • exhilarating • Serious,• dramatic way.

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Tone• The tone of a poem is roughly equivalent to

the mood it creates in the reader.• It depends on the interpretation, the poem

gives clues about how to feel about it.• It may be based on a number of other

conventions that the poem uses (meter or repetition).

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Tone

A story may convey: • Earnest and sincere tone (characters, events).

• Humor or sarcasm (created through subtle language and content manipulation).

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Theme Theme is the meaning or concept we are left with after reading a piece of fiction. What did you learn from this?• It may be unmistakable or more elusive

Theme is an important element of story construction, providing the basis for many valuable discussions.

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Imagery

• It is the representation through language of sense experience.

• Poetry appeals directly to our sense, through its music and rhythm, which we actually hear when it is read aloud.

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Imagery

• Literal images appeal to our sense of realistic perception.

• Figurative images also appeal to our imagination.

• A poetic imagery alters or shapes the way we see what the poem is describing.

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Imagery

• Visual imagery: imagery of sight

• Aural imagery: imagery of sound

• Olfactory imagery: imagery of smell

• Tactile imagery: imagery of touch

• Gustatory imagery: imagery of taste

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Imagery examples:

• A city seen from the airplane.

• A feather floating on a pond.

• A red balloon, bobbing uncertainly.

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Symbol

A symbol is an image in a story that is used repeatedly and carry multiple layers of meaning. Symbols are often objects toy windmill rose landscape (river) water (cleansing)

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Symbol

• A symbol is something-a person, object, situation, or action- which operates on two levels, the literal and the symbolic.

• Metaphors are comparisons between two seemingly dissimilar things.

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Symbol

• A symbol works two ways: something itself suggest something deeper.

• Symbols associate two things, but their meaning is both literal figurative

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Symbol

• Some symbols have widespread, commonly accepted values.

• No symbols have absolute meanings, all of them depend on the culture and time.

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Symbol examples:

• A dove• A river• A bird• An owl• A sea• A raven• A fruit

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Imagery and symbol

• A normal image is generally used once to complete a scene or passage.

• A symbol is often referred to repeatedly and

carries meanings essential to the story.

• Some symbols are universal but others are more culturally.

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Work cited

Summers, Della. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Printed in Spain by Cayfosa, Barcelona. 2001. Print.

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Work consulted

Elements of poetry http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/elements.html

Elements of fictionhttp://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/fiction/elements.asp

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Work consulted

Mc Guigan, Brendan. Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Prestwick House, Inc. Printed in United States of America. 2008. Print. English Rhetoric. Tsinghua University Press. Japan. 2005. Print.