Summary sheet for final exam

Elham Aminaei

Azad University, Tehran Markazi

Part one
 Although the main mission of language is to facilitate communication, it can be divided into
different types including scientific language, conversational language, journalistic language,
literary language etc.

literary language is the concern of this course that can be defined as “a verbal art”.

As opposed to visual signs of painting or the tones of music, the medium of literature is
“word”.

• Is this verbal art written or spoken?

this question has been a challenge for the scholars during the last decades and it is still a
white gap in their mind.

NOTICE:

While the scientists consciously avoid multiple or implicit meanings, the literary writers
and poets try to create ambiguity and artistic complexities. But, how?

“Through investing on words”

Take a look at the following concept:

Diction: it refers to the selection of words (word choice) in a work of literature (the kind of
vocabulary)

The diction of a work may be abstract or concrete, simple or elaborative, literal or full
of figurative language etc.

in literature we can study DICTION from various points of view the two important of
which are discussed here:

1. Denotation vs. connotation

a word may be denotative or connotative.

Denotation: Dictionary meaning, that is explicit

Connotation: the shade of meaning acquired through association and use in context (implicit)
* For example, the word home refers to the place where you live—it could be a house, an
apartment, etc. This is the word's denotation. For many people, the word home has a positive
connotation—it's associated with safety, comfort, and a sense of belonging.

In contrast to scientific writers who use words that are totally denotative and rarely
change in different contexts, literary writers and poets usually use connotative suggestive
words to evoke different emotional attitudes.

Example (connotation):

My soul is like an enchanted boat,

Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float

Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing;

And thine doth like an angel sit

Beside a helm conducting it,

Whilst all the winds with melody are ringing.

It seems to float ever, for ever

Upon that many-winding river,

 Between mountains, woods, abysses,

A paradise of wildernesses!

2. Form (shape)

It can also be said that writers and poets take advantage of both form (shape) and intensity
of meaning (contextual meaning).

Formalists (David Hilbert was the most prominent advocate) are those theorists who direct
their attention to external forms of words usually with corresponding de-emphasis of
content.

Hemingway and Shakespear are selective:

Hemingway said that by setting down the real thing, writers leave out the details of its
inherent emotional associations.

On the other hand, Shakespear in one of his sonnets, leaves out a umber of details which
are characteristics of winter but not of the emotional concept of the season he is
presenting.

on the other hand, a group of radical formalists are criticized for seeing the text in isolation.
Sometimes, Formalism ignores the context of the work. It cannot account for allusions. It
tends to reduce literature to little more than a collection of words and sentences.
Part2
 Poetry, Prose, Prose poetry

You are familiar with Poetry and Prose, but what about prose poetry?

Poetry: poetry talks about the target point more intensely and emotionally than does
ordinary language through the use of figurative devices such as metaphor, irony,
allusion and simile. Poetry specially the traditional poetry, follows a rhythmic and
metrical pattern. Poetry tries to transfer a mood, emotion or experience to awaken a
feeling in you, to make you think or to give you a sense of life.

Prose: a combination of sentences and paragraphs without a certain focus on metrical

or rhyming features. It is more straightforward than poetry and follows a natural flow
of patterns. Prose can be fiction and nonfiction:

• Fiction prose: It is a narrative writing created from the imagination of the author,
although it may be based on a true story or situation. This collection of unreal events
invented by the author generally has characters, plot, setting, and dialogue, (short
story, novella, novel). Its main purpose is to entertain but it can make you think about
a significant topic or quicken our sense of life.

• Non-fiction prose: It is based on factual events, people, places, and facts. It is designed
to inform, persuade and sometimes to entertain (Textbooks, newspaper articles,
autobiography, biography).
As it is clear, the second text is considered as a piece of prose that requires no help from
imagery or implied meanings, although it has its special rhythm.
Part three
 Literary language as an artistic and creative tool poses a set of qualities. Let’s consider:

1. Image/imagery:

an important quality of language is its power to produce in your mind an effect/image by

stimulation of sensory organs.

Imagery is a literary device that evokes the five senses to create a mental image.

why do we use it? to decorate our poems?

of course it is not the first reason.

we use imagery to make our subject appear to the reader exactly as it appears to me,

In the other words, to present the subject as it is, as it looks, smells, tastes, feels and sounds.

Although most of the image making words appeal to sight (visual images), there are always
images to touch (tactile), sound (auditory), taste (gustatory), and smell (olfactory).

An image can be a single word or a complete sentence:

✓ sharp
✓ Through the sharp trees blows the cold wind.

2. Figurative language: simile and metaphor

❖ Simile: it compares two different objects or entities which have a common point. For
example, when you compare a flower with a little girl, since these two different entities share
the feature of beauty. This little girl is as beautiful as a flower. this little girl is like a flower
Note: the common feature is usually rooted in the individuals' collective memory In short, it
compares two entities using like or as Signs: • a common point • using comparative items
such as like, as, etc.
❖ Metaphor: Again, a common feature between two entities attracts your attention. But it is
more direct, intense and effective to the extent that a word is used in place of another to
suggest a likeness ('you are a summer's day').
3. Figures of thought: Allegory, symbolism, Allusion

❖ allegory (‫)تمثیل‬:
a narrative in which characters, action, or sometimes setting represent moral qualities.
Figurative representation of an abstract subject not mentioned.
to convey a meaning other than the literal meaning that is apparent.
o the author achieves his goal through storytelling
o fables are short allegories.
example: the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. it uses animals as main characters
with human characteristics to depict human oppression.

❖ symbolism: a symbol is something (object, statement, action, character or scene) relatively

concrete which signifies something (concept, idea) relatively abstract.
the poet says something on the literal level, but she is suggesting something else, indirectly.

examples
object: the ocean
The ocean is a powerful symbol. Throughout history, it has been seen as a symbol of power
and strength. Today, it is often seen as a symbol of mystery, endlessness, calmness, hope,
and even truth.
So, it can be claimed that the symbols vary from culture to culture and from time to time.
Indeed, symbols are culture-sensitive and dynamic to somehow.

statement:
washed in the blood of the lamb: an inspiring and hopeful symbol of Jesus's Atonement
which refers to Jesus' shedding of his blood to take away the sins of the world.
Most of the time, Symbols come from cultural, social or religious traditions.
There are a wide range of symbols drawn from nature:
Rose: a symbol of beauty
Fire: Physical passion
water: life-giving power
Iron: mechanisation

The Sick Rose

By William Blake

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

*it is fairly obvious that although on the literal level the poem purports to be about an actual
rose and actual worm, these items can stand for something else.
symbolism occurs at different levels of difficulty. some symbols are easy to grasp, for they
are part of the traditional culture. But some other are hard to discover.

Notice:
symbols may be precise, but they may also remain vague.
symbolism is present in other figures of speech such as metaphor.
Most symbolic words are also in themselves, part of the imagery of the poem.
 Simile, metaphor, symbolism; how do they interrelate?
in both metaphor and symbolism there is a correspondence between the two terms, but:
In metaphor the correspondence is because of similarity, while in symbol there is no
similarity, except that constructed by the mind.
a symbol may be regarded as a figure that goes two steps beyond a simile and one step
beyond the metaphor:
My love is like a star
My love is a star, and
“My star” in the right context could be a symbol of “My Love”.

Allusion: a reference to a fictional or actual character or event.

Point: it is a means of achieving consciousness, since much can be suggested by a single
reference.
Point: it must be appropriate to the dominant atmosphere of the work.
Point: it can be used in both poetry and prose.
Notice: Some writers include in their own work passages from other writers in order to
introduce implicit comparison.
example:
Eliot alludes to John Day’s The Parliament of Bees:
when of a sudden, listening, you shall hear
A noise of horns and hunting, which shall bring
Actaeon to Diana in her spring
where all shall see her naked skin ….

Eliot hopes that his own lines will be enriched by the readers’ memory of Day’s work.

4. Rhetorical devices (to imply underlying assumptions):

❖ Hyperbole/ overstatement vs. Understatement: A poet makes an overstatement
(hyperbole), when he exaggerates, not to deceive the reader (I was waiting for you for more
 than 10 hours) but to create a special effect. Look at the following poetry by Whilliam
Wordthworth:
“She dwelt among the untrodden ways”
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!
—Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
On the other hand, understatement is when something is intentionally represented as less
than in fact it is, again to affect you. Look at the last line of the abovementioned poetry.
Discussion: The poet could talk and literally “she lived in a very remote place”, but she
didn’t. He said “She dwelt among the untrodden ways”. Why?
To exaggerate, to affect you in a single word, to let you know how remote and lonely
Lucy’s dwelling-place was.
Another example by Shakespear:
… There lies more peril in thin eyes
than twenty of their swords …;

❖ Metonomy: A figure of speech, in which one term is substituted for another closely
associated with it, usually a part or a single attribute for the whole.
In the other words, the target thing is not called by its own name, but by the name of a
thing resembling it or closely related to it.
 Point: it is common in everyday speech (the use of figurative device in everyday speech)
example: give me the light
Literally means: I want some fire.
He is studying Shakespear
means: He is studying Shakespear’s plays, not the man himself

Look at the first stanza of a fantastic work by Thomas Carew

Disdain Returned

By Thomas Carew

He that loves a rosy cheek,

Or a coral lip admires,
Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires;
As old Time makes these decay,
So his flames must waste away.

❖ Personification: to bestows human traits on anything nonhuman (animals, objects,

phenomena and ideas may be personified).
Point: It compares the nonhuman with human, thus, it is a kind of metaphor, in which one
member is always a human being.
Point: In personifying car, storm …, nobody visualizes them as people. similarly, poets do
not expect you to visualize their personification, but they sometimes do.
❖ Apostrophe: the interruption of the course of speech or writing, in order to address briefly
a person(s) (present or absent, real or imaginary)
example:
All things to end are made
the plague full swift goes by
I am sick, I must die
 Lord! have mercy on us!

How to identify an apostrophe in literature?

Identifying apostrophe is relatively easy, especially if you watch for these signs:

1. Look for “Oh” or “O,” which often signal the speaker is talking to someone or something
out of sight.
2. Notice when the speaker addresses someone or something by name that has not been the
audience in the rest of the work.

❖ Paradox: an apparent contradiction that is nevertheless true

In literature, a paradox is a statement that seems contradictory upon the first glance but its
intended underlying meaning will be revealed by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox
is to arrest attention and force the reader to take a deeper look in order to fully understand
the meaning.
example: failure is success.
example: “a lame beggar” by John Donne
“i am unable” yonder beggar cries
to stand or move, if he says true, he lies
❖ Ambiguity: this occurs when double or multiple meanings attach to a word or to a situation.
example of ambiguity in poetry: the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by
Dylan Thomas.
The line: "And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse, bless me now with your fierce
tears, I pray"
It can be interpreted in different ways. how do you interpret it?
It is not the matter of accident, but the rich poets do it to convey two or even more
meanings simultaneously.
Point: Ambiguity in prose is either comic or puzzling or both.
“My old uncle has a hearty appetite, and he is very fond of babies”
All figures of speech in poetry transmit a kind of ambiguity. what do you think?
5. Tone: Irony vs sentimentality
Irony is to mask your real intention.
verbal irony: Verbal irony is when a character says something that is different from what he
or she really means, or how he or she really feels.
A statement that says the opposite of what is really implied.
irony of situation: a happening contrary to that which is appropriate.
In the other words, it occurs when there is a difference between what is usually expected to
happen and what actually happens. For example, a fire station burning down is a case of
situational irony or a police station being robbed is another example

Characterization: The artistic representation of human character. It includes both

descriptions of a character’s physical attributes as well as the character’s personality. • Direct
characterization: to tell explicitly what a character is like • Indirect characterization:
Highlighting the target character’s thought and acts or using other figurative devices for
describing the target character to tell implicitly what the character is like. While it takes more
time to develop a character through indirect characterization, it often leaves a deeper
impression on the reader than direct statements. Here, it is worth talking about two related
devices personification and dehumanization