Periphrasis

Periphrasis
Definitions: The term ‘periphrasis’ refers to the use of excessive language and surplus words to convey a meaning that could otherwise be conveyed with fewer words and in more direct a manner. The use of this literary device can be to embellish a sentence, to create a grander effect, to beat around the bush and to draw attention away from the crux of the message being conveyed.

Example: Instead of simply saying “I am displeased with your behavior”, one can say, “the manner in which you have conducted yourself in my presence of late has caused me to feel uncomfortable and has resulted in my feeling disgruntled and disappointed with you”.

Periodic Structure

Periodic Structure
Definition: In literature, the concept of a periodic structure refers to a particular placement of sentence elements such as the main clause of the sentence and/or its predicate are purposely held off and placed at the end instead of at the beginning or their conventional positions. In such placements, the crux of the sentence’s meaning does not become clear to the reader until they reach the last part. While undeniably confusing at first, a periodic structure lends a flair of drama and romanticism to a sentence and is greatly used in poetry.

Example: Instead of writing, “brokenhearted and forlorn she waited till the end of her days for his return” one may write, “for his return, brokenhearted and forlorn, waited she till the end of her days”.

Mistakes

Aim at, not on or against. Don't say: She aimed on {or against) the target. / Say: She aimed at the target,
Note Use the preposition at to denote direction, throw at, shout at, fire at, shoot at. Shoot (without the at) means to kill
He shot a bird (= he hit and killed it)

Angry with, not against. Don't say: The teacher was angry against him. / Say: The teacher was angry with him.
note I Was get angry with a person but at a thing He was angry at The weather 'not with the weather) Note Also annoyed with, vexed with, indignant with a person, but at a thing.

Anxious (= troubled) about, not for. Don't say.'They're anxious for his health. ·/ Say: They're anxious about his health. Note Anxious meaning wishing very much lakes for Parents are anxious for their children's success.

Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic Fallacy
Definition: Pathetic fallacy is a type of literary device whereby the author ascribes the human feelings of one or more of his/her characters to non-human objects or nature or phenomena. It is a type of personification, and is known to occur more by accident and less on purpose.

Example: The softly whistling teapot informed him it was time for breakfast.

Paradox

Paradox
Definition: A paradox in literature refers to the use of concepts/ ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet, when placed together they hold significant value on several levels. The uniqueness of paradoxes lies in the fact that a deeper level of meaning and significance is not revealed at first glace, but when it does crystallize, it provides astonishing insight.

Example: High walls make not a palace; full coffers make not a king.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron
Definition: Oxymoron is a significant literary device as it allows the author to use contradictory, contrasting concepts placed together in a manner that actually ends up making sense in a strange, and slightly complex manner. An oxymoron is an interesting literary device because it helps to perceive a deeper level of truth and explore different layers of semantics while writing.

Examples Sometimes we cherish things of little value. He possessed a cold fire in his eyes.

One act play

One act play
Definition: A play in one act, presenting a simple incident involving two or three characters and running for fifty to forty minutes. For example; John Millington Sing’s Riders to the sea is a one act play.

Paradox

Paradox
Definition: A paradox in literature refers to the use of concepts/ ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet, when placed together they hold significant value on several levels. The uniqueness of paradoxes lies in the fact that a deeper level of meaning and significance is not revealed at first glace, but when it does crystallize, it provides astonishing insight.

Example: High walls make not a palace; full coffers make not a king.

Nemesis

Nemesis

Definition: In literature, the use of a nemesis refers to a situation of poetic justice wherein the positive characters are rewarded and the negative characters are penalized. The word also sometimes refers to the character or medium by which this justice is brought about as Nemesis was the patron goddess of vengeance according to classical mythology.

Example: In the popular book series Harry Potter, the protagonist Harry Potter is the nemesis of the evil Lord Voldemort.

Metaphysical Poetry

Metaphysical Poetry
Definition: Metaphysical means beyond physical or something abstract. A metaphysical poem is a poem that consists of abrupt beginning, abstract theme, and use of conceits, bending of passion and arguments and colloquialism. The major theme of this poetry is love, death and religious faith which are all conceptual truths.

Wrong use of preposition

1 Absorbed (- very much interested) in, not at.
Don't say: The man was absorbed at his work. / Say: The man was absorbed in his work.

2 Accuse of, not for.
Don't say: She accused the man for stealing. / Say: She accused the man of stealing.
Note: Charge takes with 1 The man was charged with murder.

3 Accustomed to, not with.
Don't say: I'm accustomed with hot weather. / Say: I'm accustomed to hot weather.
Note: Also used to: He is used to the heat.

4 Afraid of, not from.
Don't say: Laura is afraid from the dog. / Say: Laura is afraid of the dog.

Melodrama

Melodrama
Definition: "Melos" is Greek for song, and the term "melodrama" was originally applied to all musical plays, including opera. In early nineteenth- century London, many plays were produced with a musical accompaniment that (as in modern motion pictures) served simply to fortify the emotional tone of the various scenes; the procedure was developed in part to circumvent the Licensing Act, which allowed "legitimate" plays only as a monopoly of the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters, but permitted musical entertain­ ments elsewhere. The term "melodrama" is now often applied to some of the typical plays, especially during the Victorian Period, that were written to be produced to musical accompaniment.

Myth

Myth
Definition: In classical Greek, "mythos" signified any story or plot, whether true or invented. In its central modern significance, however, a myth is one story in a mythology a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain (in terms of the intentions and actions of deities and other supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the sanctions for the rules by which people conduct their lives. Most myths are related to social rituals set forms and procedures in sacred ceremonies but anthropologists disagree as to whether rituals generated myths or myths generated rituals. If the protagonist is a human being rather than a supernatural being, the traditional story is usually not called a myth but a legend. If the hereditary story concerns supernatural beings who are not gods, and the story is not part of a systematic mythology, it is usually classified as a folktale.

Motif and Theme

Motif and Theme

Definition: A motif is a conspicuous element, such as a type of incident, device, reference, or formula, which occurs frequently in works of literature. The "loathly lady" who turns out to be a beautiful princess is a common motif in folklore, and the man fatally bewitched by a fairy lady is a motif adopted from folklore in Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci" (1820). Common in lyric poems is the ubi sunt motif, the "where-are" formula for lamenting the vanished past ("Where are the snows of yesteryear?"), and also the carpe diem motif, whose nature is sufficiently indicated by Robert Herrick's title "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." An aubade—from the Old French "alba," meaning dawn—is an early-morning song whose usual motif is an urgent request to a beloved to wake up. A familiar example is Shakespeare's "Hark, hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings." An older term for recurrent poetic concepts or formulas is the topos (Greek for "a commonplace"); Ernst R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (1953), treats many of the ancient literary topoi. The term "motif," or else the German leitmotif (a guiding motif), is also applied to the frequent repetition within a single work of a significant verbal or musical phrase, or set description, or complex of images, as in the operas of Richard Wagner or in novels by Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner. Theme is sometimes used interchangeably with "motif," but the term is more usefully applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or as­ serted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make per­ suasive to the reader. John Milton states as the explicit theme of Paradise Lost to "assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men"; see di­ dactic literature and fiction and truth. Some critics have claimed that all non- trivial works of literature, including lyric poems, involve an implicit theme which is embodied and dramatized in the evolving meanings and imagery; , for example, Cleanth Brooks, The Well Wrought Urn (1947). And archetypal critics trace such recurrent themes as that of the scapegoat, or the journey underground, through myths and social rituals, as well as literature.

Motif

 Motif

Definition: The literary device ‘motif’ is any element, subject, idea or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature. Using a motif refers to the repetition of a specific theme dominating the literary work. Motifs are very noticeable and play a significant role in defining the nature of the story, the course of events and the very fabric of the literary piece.

Example: In all the famed fairytales, the motif of a ‘handsome prince’ falling in love with a ‘damsel in distress’ and the two being bothered by a wicked step-mother/ evil witch/ beast and finally conquering all and living ‘happily ever after’ is a common motif. Another common motif is the simple, pretty peasant girl or girl from a modest background in fairytales discovering that she is actually a royal or noble by the end of the tale.

Mood

 Mood

Definitions: The literary device ‘mood’ refers to a definitive stance the author adopts in shaping a specific emotional perspective towards the subject of the literary work. It refers to the mental and emotional disposition of the author towards the subject, which in turn lends a particular character or atmosphere to the work. The final tone achieved thus is instrumental in evoking specific, appropriate responses from the reader.

Example: In Erich Segal’s Love Story, the relationship of the two protagonists is handled with such beauty, delicateness and sensitivity that the reader is compelled to feel the trials and tribulations of the characters.

Metonymy

Metonymy
Definition: Metonymy in literature refers to the practice of not using the formal word for an object/subject and instead referring to it by using another word that is intricately linked to the formal name/word. It is the practice of substituting the main word with a word that is closely linked to it.

Example: When we use the name “Washington D.C” we are talking about the U.S’ political hot seat by referring to the political capital of the United States because all the significant political institutions such as the White House, Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol and many more are located her. The phrase “Washington D.C.” is metonymy for the government of the U.S. in this case.