LITERARY TERMS
Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Examples:
…from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred, Grendal came…
…Up from the swampland, sliding silently …
…He the home of Hrothgar sought, -such hardy heroes…!
…Time was over for peace and parleying, pouring forth…
…By morning; the monster’s mind was hot…
…The tears torn out of Grendel’s taut throat…
Archetype: An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype.
Example:Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Achilles
Assonance: The repetition of vowelssounds. Assonance in final vowels of lines can often lead to half-rhyme.
Examples:
…from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred…
…on this trip to high Herot…
…[T]he portal opened, though with forged bolts,…he burst in his blatant rage, the house’s mouth…
…But never, before norafter that night,…He journeyed, forever joyless
…Burned with a gruesome light…with rows of young soldiers…
…Would soon know…Grendal to gnaw the broken bones of his last human supper…
…Ripped him apart…In his fists till they cracked…
Characterization: The creation of the image of imaginary persons in drama, narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters’ thoughts or words about him.
Example:
…Achilles charged…bursting with rage, barbatric, guarding his chest with the well-wrought blazoned shields, head tossig his gleaming helmet…
Epic:A long narrative poem that celebrates the deeds of a heroic figure; generally written in an elevated style with an episodic structure; often opens in media res, or in the middle of things.Characteristics of the classical epic include:
- The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life, often the source and subject of legend or a national hero
- The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as his virtues
- The action, often in battle, reveals the more-than-human strength of the heroes as they engage in acts of heroism and courage
- The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the universe
- The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people
- The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions
- All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some way to the central theme
Examples: Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Iliad
Epic simile:An extended simile that is used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject.
Examples:
…A swift Achilles kept on coursing Hector, nonstop as a hound in the mountains starts a fawn from its lair, hunting him down the gorges, down the narrow glens and the fawn goes to ground, hiding deep in brush but the hound comes racing fast, nosing him out until he lands his kill. So, Hector could never throw Achilles off his trail,…
…he swooped likea soaring eagle launching down form the dark clouds to earth to snatch some helpless lambor trembling hare. So Hector swooped now, swinging his whetted sword…
Foil: A character who helps to define another character by means of contrast..
Example: Gilgamesh-royalty, king of Uruk, familiar with ruling people and his best friend, Enkidu-wild man of the forest who understands animals
Hyperbole: The use of exaggeration for effect.From the Greek for "overcasting," it is used for emphasis or vivid descriptions.
Example: “…driving strength in his legs and knees to race the wind….”
In medias res: A Latin phrase for “in the middle of things.” The classical tradition of opening an epic is not in the chronological point at which the sequence of events would start, but rather at the midway point of the story. This technique is used to heighten dramatic tension or to create a sense of mystery.
Example: Beowulf comes to Denmark a decade after Grendel began tormenting the people.
Kenning:A form of compounding in Old English, Old Norse, and Germanic poetry. It is often hyphenated, representing a single noun.
Example:
…gold-shining hall/gold-covered boards/sin-stained demon
…hard-hooved horses, high-spirited stallions/heaped-up ancient treasure
…cave-guard/hoard-guard/battle-fume/mound-keeper/battle-fire
…keen-edged sword/hard-pressed king/battle-fire/hand-picked/mound-keeper
… ring-giver/war-gear/arms-bearing thanes/gold-giver’s body/weather-geats/mail-shirt
…The king’s breast-cage/hard-pressed king/keen-edged sword
Metaphor: Acomparison of two unlike things notusing “like” or “as”. A statement is made that says that one thing is something else but, literally, it is not.
Example:
…beg no more, you fawning dog…
…Iron inside your chest, that heart of yours...
…there are no binding oaths between men and lions, wolves and lambs can enjoy no meeting of the minds, they are all bent on hating each other to the death. So with you and me. No love between us...
Mood: The climate or feeling in a literary work.
Example:
…they lived in secret places, windy cliffs,…where mist steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees growing out over the lake, are all covered with frozen spray, and wind down snakelike roots…
…pleasure seemed to grow from fear…as when one comes upon a path in woods unvistited by men, one is drawn near the lost and undiscovered in himself….
Motif: A recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil.
Example:
Beowulf’s armor, weapons
Grendel’s association with the dark
Gilgamesh-fear associated with the dark
Narrative: A collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing.
Example: Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Iliad
Personification: A figure of speech in which human characteristics are assigned to non-human things.
Example:
The mighty sword sang its fierce song, sang Beowulf’s strength.
Quest narrative: In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and frequently as a symbol. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero in overcoming many obstacles.
Example:
Beowulf protects people from Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and the dragon
Gilgamesh fights Humbaba for fame
Achilles kills Hector for revenge of the death of his dear friend
Rhyme: The repetition of word-ending sounds.
Example:
Or weep and in exhaustion from their tears
perhaps find laughter for their fears…”
Rhythm: The arrangement of stressed and unstressed sounds.
Example: Beowulf text, Gilgamesh text, Iliad text
…it came gliding and flexing and racing towards its fate…
…meet me face to face. Now kill or be killed!...
… and then, savage, now, angry, and desperate…
Simile: A comparison of two unlike things, using "like" or "as". They indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things directly.
Examples:
…at night that lake burns like a torch..
…a heavy weight had settled on his chest like a turtle trapped beneath a fallen branch...
…Enkidu slid along the ground like a ram making its final lunge on wounded knees...
Stanza:A group of lines of verse, usually regular in pattern, forming one of the divisions of a poem or song.
Symbolism: Anything that standsfor or represents something else beyond it-usually an idea conventionally associated withit.
Example:
Grendel symbolizes death
Fighting without armor symbolizes purity
Theme: A central idea of a literary work; a common thread or repeated idea.
Examples: Beowulf-courage, Gilgamesh and Enkidu-friendship, Achilles-revenge