English 11 Literary Devices

Writing Style: Literary Style: ● The way you write. ● How rather than what you write; how you convey your ideas. ● A writer’s choices to express their personality and/or match their subjects. Style Devices: ● Juxtaposition: contrasting images that emphasize particular features. ○ May suggest a link between two things. ○ Reinforces character traits. ● Connotation vs. Denotation ○ Connotation: the feelings and imagery associated with the word. ○ Denotation: the literal dictionary definition of a word. ● Repetition: reinforces an idea. ○ Increases intensity. ○ Is the word used in a different way when it’s repeated? ○ How close are the words vs. seeing the word scattered? ● Allusion: references another story, recontextualizes the present one. ● Sentence structure: the way the author chooses to form and order the sentences. ○ Does it show balance? ○ Antithesis: balance in a sentence. ○ Gradation. ○ Short sentences contrast against longer ones, emphasizing meaning from the short one. ● Metaphor: framing the story as one of growth. Persuasion: ● Ethos: reputation, credibility, experience, or expertise as an author. ● Pathos: appeals to emotion. ● Logos: logic, science. Rhetorical Situation: The rhetorical situation is used to create context in writing. All aspects of writing are connected by the author’s choices. (Bold: aspects of writing, Italics: author’s choices/devices) Logical Fallacies: When writing, it is important to identify fallacies. Fallacies can take away the intended impact of the ethos, pathos, or logos the author is using in their persuasion or arguments. Dumbing it down: Fallacies of Oversimplification ● Oversimplification: providing the answers to complicated questions. ● Hasty Generalization: providing weak answers or evidence to support large, broad ideas. ● Non Sequitur: a conclusion created off of irrelevant or weak evidence. ● Slippery Slope: arguments that claim that if one thing is allowed or accepted, that it will inevitably lead to a consequence. ● False Dichotomy: an argument that there are only two sides to a debate (also known as black-and-white). ● False Analogies: comparisons between two things that have no similarity. ● “Post hoc ergo propter hoc”: the idea that if one event occurred after another, that the first must have caused the second. (Another interpretation could be, “Correlation doesn’t mean causation.”). ● Fallacy of the Mean: the assumption that the middle ground between two opposing views is the most valid/truthful. ● Ecological Fallacy: the assumption that what is true for one group is true for another group of individuals. Smoke and Mirrors: Fallacies of Misdirection ● Begging the Question: the assumption that the conclusion is true in order to argue that your conclusion is true (also known as circular reasoning). ● Red Herring: bringing in a separate issue/topic that is not relevant to the debate at hand. ● Straw Man Fallacy: in a debate, responding to an opponents’ fake position rather than their real position. ● Personal Attacks (Ad Hominem Fallacy): in a debate where individuals do not prove their views are wrong; attacking an opponent’s “ulterior motives” rather than their outspoken ideas. ● Bandwagon: the assumption that a statement/argument is true because many people accept it. ● Slanting: selecting evidence that is only relevant to a personal argument by downplaying other evidence provided. ● Shifting Burden of Proof: the claim that the opponent has the job of disproving your personal argument; passing off the responsibility to your opponent only. ● Equivocation: using a word with multiple definitions in a secret way; switching which definition of the word is being used without announcing the action. ● Loaded Question: a question that includes an unjustified assumption; no evidence provided/used. ● False Authority/Attribution Fallacy: when an argument or claim is supported by weak, irrelevant, or uncredited source of information. One Meta-Fallacy ● Argument from Fallacy: the claim that a conclusion is false or invalid because an argument used to support the conclusion had a fallacy within. Diction/Word Choice: ● Structure: the way the author creates cohesion; linking all sections of writing and content together. ○ Chronology, plot, order of events ○ Syntax ● Characterization: highlighting important details of characters; usually contributes to the plot. ● Narrative Point-of-View: the author’s choice in who is telling the story; first, second, third person. ● Tone/Mood: the word choices and feeling the author creates. ○ Chiefly rational ○ Pleasure ○ Pain ○ Self-control ○ Friendliness ○ Unfriendliness ○ Comedy ○ Animation ○ Apathy ○ Self-importance ○ Submission and timidity ● Punctuation: contributes to the author’s style; creates breaks and pauses within sentences. ● Figurative Language: language used in a way that strays from original meaning of the word; often used to create complexity, clarity, or comparison. Literary Theory: ● Psychoanalytic Criticism: the application of specific psychological principles; may focus on psyche. ○ Unconscious: the irrational part of the psyche; unavailable to the individual except through dreams or unassociated acts. ○ Freud’s Model ■ Id: complete unconscious part of the psyche that serves as a storage place for desires. ■ Ego: part of the psyche that processes experiences. ■ Superego: one’s conscious. ● New Historicism: thinking about the historic time period when the piece was written or produced. ○ Investigates: ■ Life of the author. ■ Social rules within the text. ■ Manners for revealing historical situations. ■ Ways historical texts can help clarify texts. ● New Criticism: close reading, significance within the text. ○ Methods: ■ Attention to semantic tensions that complicates meaning. ■ Applying correct literary conventions (Ex: imagery, motifs). ● Structuralism: displays the human idea that everything is a part of a system or language. ○ 1st: Repetitions, patterns, and echoes in the people, places, objects, movements. ○ 2nd: Uncover reasoning behind repetitions. Look for metaphors. ○ 3rd: Use observations to come up with claims for the text’s functions, not the meaning of the text. ● Post Colonialism: dives into the issues of power, economics, politics, religion, and culture and how all the elements relate to another. ● Deconstruction: a way of displaying that texts are overflowing with multiple other conflicting messages ● Existential Criticism: views that each person as an isolated being who isn’t in an alien universe. ● Archetypal Criticism: the text and structure of the plot are based on argued archetypes. ○ The journey: a narrative where the protagonist has to overcome obstacles. (Ex: The Odyssey) ○ Symbols: varies more than narratives or character types. (Ex: the Forbidden Fruit) 8