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Additional Notes 21st

This document defines and provides examples of various literary devices and techniques, including metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, paradox, parallelism, personification, repetition, simile, symbolism, and verbal irony. Shakespeare is given as an example using light as a metaphor for Juliet. Remarque uses onomatopoeia to describe a dying soldier's last breath. Romeo describes love using oxymorons like "cold fire." In 1984, doublethink is presented as a paradox.

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52 views

Additional Notes 21st

This document defines and provides examples of various literary devices and techniques, including metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, paradox, parallelism, personification, repetition, simile, symbolism, and verbal irony. Shakespeare is given as an example using light as a metaphor for Juliet. Remarque uses onomatopoeia to describe a dying soldier's last breath. Romeo describes love using oxymorons like "cold fire." In 1984, doublethink is presented as a paradox.

Uploaded by

Chesca Garibay
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Metaphor: A direct relationship where one thing or idea substitutes for another.

Shakespeare often uses light as a metaphor for Juliet; Romeo refers to her as the sun, as “a rich jewel in
an Ethiop’s ear”, and as a solitary dove among crows.

Onomatopoeia: Where sounds are spelled out as words; or, when words describing sounds actually
sound like the sounds they describe.

Remarque uses onomatopoeia to suggest the dying soldier ’s agony, his last gasp described as a
“gurgling rattle.”

Oxymoron: A contradiction in terms.

Romeo describes love using several oxymorons, such as “cold fire,” “feather of lead” and “sick health,”
to suggest its contradictory nature.

Paradox: Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it
cancel each other out.

In 1984, “doublethink” refers to the paradox where history is changed, and then claimed to have never
been changed.

A Tale of Two Cities opens with the famous paradox, “It was the best of times, it was the best of times, it
was the worst of times.”

Parallelism: Use of similar or identical language, structures, events, or ideas in different parts of a text.

Hobbs ‘ final strikeout parallels the Whammer’s striking out against him at the beginning of the novel.

Personification(I) Where inanimate objects or abstract concepts are seemingly endowed with human
self-awareness; where human thoughts, actions and perceptions and directly attributed to inanimate
objects or abstract ideas. (Not to be confused with the anthropomorphism.)

Malamud personifies Hobbs’ bat, giving it a name, Wonderboy, referring to it using personal pronouns,
and stating that “he went hungry” during Hobbs’ batting slump.

Personification (II) Where an abstract concept, such as a particular human behavior or a force of nature,
is represented as a person.

The Greeks personified natural forces as gods; for example, the god Poseidon was the personification of
the sea and its power over man.

Repetition: Where a specific word, word, phrase, or structure is repeated several times, to emphasize a
particular idea.

The repetition of the words “What if…” at the beginning of each line reinforces the speaker’s confusion
and fear.

Simile: An indirect relationship where one thing or idea is described as being similar to another. Similes
usually contain the words “like” or “as,” but not always.
The simile in line 10 describes the lunar eclipse: “The moon appeared crimson, like a drop of blood
hanging in the sky.”

The character’s gait is described in the simile: “She hunched and struggled her way down the path, the
way an old beggar woman might wander about.”

Symbolism: The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. This term is commonly
misused, describing any and all representational relationships, which in fact are more often
metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it
symbolizes must be something abstract or universal.

Golding uses symbols to represent the various aspects of human nature and civilization as they are
revealed in the novel. The conch symbolizes order and authority, while its gradual deterioration and
ultimate destruction metaphorically represent the boys’ collective downfall.

Verbal irony: Where the meaning is intended to be the exact opposite of what the words actually mean.
(Sarcasm is a tone of voice that often accompanies verbal irony, but they are not the same thing.)

Orwell gives this torture and brainwashing facility the ironic title, “Ministry of Love.”

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