Literary Terms and Text Analysis
Literary Terms Defined
Imagery: It is the representation through language of sense experience. An image most often suggests a mental picture (sight), but an image may also represent a sound, smell, taste, or tactile experience.
Similes: A comparison between two things which are essentially dissimilar. The comparison is directly stated through words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘than’, or ‘resembles’.
Metaphor: A comparison between two things which are essentially dissimilar. The comparison is implied rather
Read MoreKey Literary Terms, Rhetorical Devices, and Classic Examples
Foundational Literary and Rhetorical Knowledge
Part 1: Basic Dramatic and Narrative Terms
Foil: A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story (like Sancho Panza and Doctor Watson).
Stichomythia: Line-by-line conversation, usually an exchange of “one-liners” between two characters in a play.
Enjambment: The running on of the sense of one verse line to the next, without a pause.
Denouement: After the climax, the falling action is a part in which events and conflicts
Read MoreMiddle English Period History (1066-1485)
Middle English Period (1066-1485)
Some people refer to this era as the Pre-Renaissance period.
11th Century (1066-1100)
1066: Following the death of Edward the Confessor, Harold, the queen’s brother, was proclaimed king. However, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England. Harold was killed in the Battle of Hastings, leading to William becoming king of England (reigned 1066-1087), known as William the Conqueror.
William ordered the publication of the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of land holdings.
Read MoreSpanish Neoclassical Literature: Reason, Rules & Key Authors
Neoclassicism: Reason and Rules in Literature
Neoclassicism considered Greek and Latin writers as role models. It represented a return to Greco-Roman classics, which is the origin of the term ‘neo-classicism’. Neoclassicism gave preference to reason over feelings and imposed rules to which literary works must conform. As a result, lyrical production was largely abandoned. It rejected the imaginative and fantastic, as writing was intended not to educate, but to entertain. Neoclassical literature has
Read MoreQuevedo’s El Buscón: Picaresque Masterpiece
Quevedo’s El Buscón
El Buscón: The life of a con man named Don Pablos was first printed in 1626. It was a great success. Quevedo tested his pen as a writer within the genre of the picaresque novel, but rather than simply following generic models, he wrote a very original text.
Influences and Structure
El Lazarillo provides the overall structure of the work. It coincides with both novels (Lazarillo and Guzmán de Alfarache) in its epistolary form and features the protagonist’s zeal for social mobility,
Read MoreRomanticism and Modernism in Literature
Romanticism
After the Napoleonic War (War of Independence), many romantics had to go into exile. But with the death of Fernando VII, Romanticism was officially proclaimed in Spain, influencing Romantic writers. Spanish Romanticism drew from English sources (more auditory and externalizing) and German sources (more intimate and spiritualized).
General Issues
- The Romantic spirit suffers from the limitations imposed by the outside world on its desires, living in a constant feeling of incompleteness and