Final Exam Review English IV

Central Theme A theme is a philosophical idea found behind the motives, actions, emotions, images, symbols, and language of a text. Themes can be found in either what the reader thinks a text means or what the text itself seems to suggest. A theme may be a universal idea that is a reflection of human experience suggested by the text. A prevailing theme can also be identified by examining the characters' strengths, weaknesses, values, thoughts, and actions, or by the images and events that recur through a text.

Kenning a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning oar-steed = ship, whale-road=sea

Alliteration the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words “His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” -James Joyce

Caesura a break between words within a metrical foot, an interruption or break Dead ! One of them shot by the sea in the east… What art can a woman be good at? || Oh, vain ! What art is she good at, || but hurting her breast With the milk-teeth of babes, || and a smile at the pain ? Ah boys, //how you hurt! || you were strong as you pressed, And I proud, || by that test. -Elizabeth Barrett

Metaphor figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics “She is the sun.”

Assonance when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds “Men sell the wedding bells.”

Dissonance A disruption of harmonic sounds or rhythms Why? That my chaff might fly; my grain lie, sheer and clear. Nay in all that toil, that coil, since (seems) I kissed the rod, Hand rather, my heart lo! lapped strength, stole joy, would laugh, cheer. -Gerard Manley

onomatopoeia a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described “Boom”, “meow”, “clap”

Frame narrative A story within a story Highlights the different perspectives of characters

Direct characterization Tells the reader directly about a person He is tall. She is kind-hearted. They love music.

Indirect characterization Indirectly tells the reader about a person through context clues His head nearly smacked on the top of the doorway when he went through. She spends her weekends volunteering at harvest house in order to feed the poor. They put in their headphones and listened to music for the whole 10 hour plane ride, smiling and nodding along the entire time.

exemplum a rhetorical device that is defined as a short tale, narrative, or anecdote used in literary pieces and speeches to explain a doctrine or emphasize a moral point “The Pardoner’s Tale”-greed is the root of all evil

Allegory figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events writers use allegory to add different layers of meanings to their works “Animal Farm”, written by George Orwell, is an allegory that uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW I. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society

This Year’s Themes Good versus evilAppearance vs. Reality Nature versus nurtureGreed IdentityHubris Isolation/alienation Individual vs. society Revenge