Literary Terms Project

Elizabeth SchnolisAP Language and Composition – A4

Imagery • The use of vivid or figurative language to represent

objects, actions, or ideas.• “There is a willow grows askant the brook, That

shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream…” (4.7.165-166)

• “…It was a nasty place, There was a mess wherever you stepped. Where chaos reigned and earthquakes and volcanoes never slept. And then along came Zeus. He hurled his thunderbolt, He zapped, Locked those suckers in a vault; They're trapped. And on his own stopped chaos in its tracks And that's the gospel truth.” (The Muses from Hercules)

Simile• A figure of speech in which two essentially

unlike things are compared, often in a phrase using like or as

• “Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres…” (1.5.17)

• “We must be swift as a coursing river, With all the force of a great typhoon, With all the strength of a raging fire, Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!” (Be a Man from Mulan)

Metaphor• A figure of speech in which a word or

phrase that ordinarily describes one thing is used to describe another; making a comparison

• “…’tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed: things rank and gross in nature possess it merely…” (1.2.135-136)

• “This vampire bat, thisinhuman beast..” (Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians

Personification• A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or

abstractions are endowed with human qualities• “Haste me to know it, that with wings a swift as

meditation or the thoughts of love may sweep to my revenge” (1.5.29-31)

• “Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! They can sing, they can dance, After all, Miss, this is France…” (Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast)

Apostrophe• the act of addressing some abstraction

or personification that is not physically present

• “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (1.2.146)

• “Fate! Why have you forsaken me?” (Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Symbol• A word, place, character, or object that means

something beyond what it is on a literal level• “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I

know not how oft…” (Yorick’s Skull symbolizes that everyone must die) (5.1.178-179)

• Books are used as a symbol in Beauty and the Beast; they represent a way to escape from the lives Belle and Beast do not want.

Allegory• Any writing in verse or prose that has a

double meaning• “There's rosemary, that's for

remembrance; pray, love, remember, and there is pansies. That's for thoughts” (4.5.174-176)

• Lion King is an allegory for Hamlet

Paradox• The use of a contradiction in a manner

that oddly makes sense on a deeper level

• “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” (1.2.65)

• “Why is my reflection someone I don’t know…” (Mulan

from Disney’s Mulan)

Hyperbole• An extreme exaggeration or

overstatement• “O, my offence is rank, it smells to

heaven..” (3.3.36)• “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole

elephant” (Rolly from 101 Dalmatians)

Understatement• The opposite of exaggeration• In comparison to the rest of Hamlet’s

Soliloquy these lines are an understatement, “It is not nor it cannot come to good. But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue” (1.2.158-159)

• “I don’t know, he looks kind of hairy and slobbery to me.” (Scuttle from The Little Mermaid)

Irony• One thing that means another; a situation in

which the audience knows something that the characters don’t; events that accidentally occur, but turn out to be appropriate

• “…I am too much i’ the sun.” (1.2.67)

• Prince Phillip and Briar Rose meet in the forest and fall in love, but neither one of them knows that they were set to be married to each other

Chiasmus• A literary scheme in which the author

introduces words or concepts in a particular order, then later repeats those terms in reversed or backwards order

• “The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body...” (4.2.26-27)

• “I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad.” (Ralph from Wreck-it Ralph)

Metonymy• Using a vaguely suggestive, physical

object to embody a more general idea• “My crown, my own ambition, and my

queen…” (3.3.55)• “I’m all ears…” (Meg in

Disney’s Hercules)

Synecdoche• A rhetorical trope involving a part of an

object representing the whole, or the whole of an object representing a part

• “O, that this is too too solid flesh would melt…” (1.2.129)

• “All hands on Deck!” (Mr. Smee from Peter Pan)

Repartee• A number of plays an acting company had

prepared for performance at any given time• The Murder of Gonzago is an example of a

Repartee that the Players knew in Hamlet• In Disney’s Tangled, directly before a

song starts a character summons another to start playing music. Because the character playing the music is playing by memory, the song they are about to sing must be a repartee. (can be viewed at this address within the first 20 seconds of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KuD8z5AatN8

Stichomythia• Dialogue consisting of one-line speeches designed

for rapid delivery and snappy exchanges• “Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.” “Go,

go, you question with a wicked tongue.” (3.4.11-12)• “It’s Pink!”

“Oh, lovely shade, isn’t it.”“But I wanted it blue.” “Now, dear, we decided pink.”, “You decided!” (Argument between Flora and Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty)

Stock Characters• A character type that appears repeatedly

in a particular literary genre, one which has certain conventional attributes or attitudes.

• Horatio is a Stock Character in Hamlet because his actions and character are related to that of a sidekick

• Mike Wazowski is a classic Stock character of sidekick as well

Alliteration• Repeating a consonant sound in close

proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound.

• “With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts…” (1.5.43)

• “I can show you the world, Shining, shimmering, splendid…” (Aladdin from Disney’s Aladdin)

Assonance• Repeating identical or similar vowels in

nearby words• “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that

the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar…” (2.2.115-117)

• “Reminiscin’, this ‘n’ thatn’ Havin’ such a good time Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally Golly what a day.” (Oo-de-lally from Disney’s Robin Hood)

Consonance• The recurrence or repetition of consonants

especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels

• “Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.” (1.2.227-228)

• “Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got her, boys…” (Ursula from the Little Mermaid)

Rhyme• Correspondence of sound between words

or the endings of words• "The time is out of joint, O cursed spite

That ever I was born to set it right!” (1.5.190-191)

• “No matter how your heart is grieving, If you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true” (Cinderella in Disney’s Cinderella)

Rhythm• A strong, regular, repeated pattern of

movement or sound.• “…And lose the name of action” (3.1.88)

- / - / - / -

• “Like a bolt out of the blue Fate steps in and sees you through When you wish upon a star Your dreams come true” (When you Wish Upon a Star

from Disney’s Pinocchio)

Meter• A recognizable though varying pattern of stressed

syllables alternating with syllables of less stress.• “O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw,

and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!” (1.2.129-132)

• “This heart of mine is in the heart of DixieThat's where I belongSinging a song, a Song of the South.” (Song of the South from Disney’s Song of the South)

End-Stopped Line• A line ending in a full pause, often indicated by

appropriate punctuation such as a period or semicolon• “I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student. I think it

was to see my mother’s wedding.” (1.2.177-178)• “Alice in Wonderland, how do you get to Wonderland?

Over the hill or underland, or just behind the tree? When clouds go rolling by, they roll away and leave the sky. Where is the land beyond the eye, that people can not see, where can it be? Where do stars go, where is the crescent moon? They must be somewhere in the sunny afternoon. Alice in Wonderland, where is the path to Wonderland? Over the hill or here or there, I wonder where.” (From Disney’s Alice in Wonderland)

Run-on-line• A line having no pause or end punctuation but

having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line

• “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” (1.3.78-80)

• “And ready to know what the people know, Ask 'em my questions, And get some answers, What's a fire and why does it, (What's the word?) burn?” (Ariel from the Little Mermaid)

Caesura• A pause separating phrases within

lines of poetry• “The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural

shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep…” (3.1.62-64)

• “Look there he goes! Isn’t he dreamy? Monsieur Gaston! Oh, he’s so cute!

Bestill my heart! I’m hardly breathing!” (Trio of girls from Beauty and the Beast)

Free Verse• Poetry based on the natural rhythms of phrases and

normal pauses rather than the artificial constraints of metrical feet

• But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,So far from cheer and from your former state,That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must. (3.2.152-155)

• “It started with a dream. A dream to make dreams. It’s a tale as old as time. A magic place where pirates and princesses stand side by side.” (A Free Verse Poem by Rachel E.)

Iambic Pentameter• A recognizable pattern of a lightly stressed

syllable followed by a heavily stressed syllable. (A basic measure of English poetry, five iambic feet in each line)

• “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!” (1.2.129-130)

• “Take the straight and narrow path and if you start to slide…” (Jiminy Cricket from Disney’s Pinocchio)

Grammatical/Rhetorical Pauses

• A natural pause, unmarked by punctuation, introduced into the reading of a line by its phrasing or syntax

• “Save me and hover o'er me with your wings, You heavenly guards!” (3.4.103-104)

• “Sweet princess if through this wicked witch's trick, a spindle should your finger prick... a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee.” (Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty) (the pause is marked with ellipsis)

Concluding Couplet• Two successive lines, usually in a verse of a

poem or a song, that are rhymed and have the same meter.

• “But I have that within which passeth show; These but the trappings and the suits of woe.” (1.2.85-86)

• “And when our journey is throughEach time we say "Goodnight"We'll thank the little star that shinesThe second from the right” (Second Star from the Right from Disney’s Peter Pan)

The End!