You are expected to be familiar with all of the literary devices covered in this class.
Alliteration – The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words that are close to each other in a line. (A form of consonance.)
Anaphora – a type of parallelism – the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of separate clauses.
Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds within a line.
Bookending – when a poet starts and ends a poem with the same line or stanza.
Clichés – overused expressions, idioms or situations.
Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds within words that are close to eachother in a line.
Double Denotation: (A play on words) When the author purposefully uses two meaningsof a word to add greater depth to a his / her writing.
Foreshadowing: - Hints in the story that give clues as to what will happen. (Often onlyobvious upon a second reading.)
Hyperbole – exaggeration for dramatic effect.
Imagery – sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, movement: all being used to create apicture in the reader’s mind.
Irony: when something doesn’t fit your reasonable expectations. Three types of irony: Verbal irony: sarcasm – when I walk into the school, out of a normal Vancouver rainstorm and say, “What lovely weather we’re having.” (Tone) Verbal Irony can also be communicated through tone. Situational irony: When you can reasonably expect a situation to be true – like, old people are bad at technology, but then have that expectation turned upside down when grandma teaches you how to use the new iPad. Dramatic irony: Is when the audience knows more than the character in the story. For example: When we’re watching a movie and we KNOW that the murder is hiding behind the door, and we’re yelling at the character, “don’t go in there!” but the character is just walking around – La, de, da. That is dramatic irony.
Juxtaposition – putting opposites side by side in order to create contrast.
Metaphor – an indirect comparison used to create a mental picture in the reader’s mind.
Mood – the feeling that the reader has upon reading the story / poem
Onomatopoeia – when the word sounds like what it is describing.
Oxymoron – When two opposing terms are placed side-by-side to create a new meaning. “Global Village”.
Parallelism – the repetition of a grammatical structure.
Anaphora – a type of parallelism – the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of separate clauses.
Personification – imbuing inanimate objects with human characteristics.
Repetition – repeating a line, phrase, or word for poetic effect or emphasis.
Rhyme – when words have a similar end sound – usually at the end of a line of poetry; though you can also have:
internal rhymes – rhymes that occur within a single line of poetry.
Visual rhymes – words that look like they should rhyme, but don’t.
Rhyme Scheme – is the pattern of rhyme a poet follows throughout a poem.
Rhythm – it is the beat behind poetry and most music; created through the use of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Simile – making a comparison using like, as, or than.
Stanza – a poetic paragraph (often repeated in form – depending on type of poem).
Symbolism – when an object has more meaning than simply what it is.
Theme – topic + the author’s opinion on the topic as demonstrated through his poem.
Tone – the feeling that the author tries to set in the story / poem
Vernacular – (as written) matching your spelling to the patterns and accents of the speech you are trying to imitate.
Types of Questions:
You will be asked to identify the type of literary device being used in an example.
You will be asked to analyze the meaning of a poem or quote through your understanding of literary devices.
You will be asked to define the different terms listed above.
Indian Horse:
You should understand all of the basic events of the story:
His family and what happened to them.
His time at residential school.
His time on the Moose.
His time on the Marlboros
The time he spent living and working as an alcoholic
Etc.
Remember the 4 levels of questions:
Literal - cut and paste from the story. Eg. What was the name of Saul's sister?
Reorganizational - cut and paste from different parts of the story and put them together. Eg. Draw a picture of Saul's family tree.
Vocabulary - What is the meaning of the Ojibwey word Zhanagush?
Implied - Think deeper. Consider metaphor and symbolism. What is the author trying to say (theme)? Eg. What did the other boys mean when the referred to Saul as a Zhanagush?
Written Response:
You will be asked to analyze some aspect of Saul's behaviour/choices or his experience and how it relates to Canadian society and/or culture. You will have 3 choice to choose from.