ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

1. FORM

2. CONTENTS

FORM;

Consists of; setting, title, Style, Plot, Diction, Linguistic techniques and Characterization NB: Other elements of form like setting and title have been discussed before, the rest are explained as follows;

i.                    STYLE In a normal sense, style is a method of doing or performing something especially in the arts or science. In a literary work, technique/style refers to the way the work has been structured. There are many styles being used in presenting literary works, some of them are as discussed below;

v  Flashback/analepsis, is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Not only that but also flashback can be defined as an achronological movement back in time, so that a chronologically earlier incident is related later in the text. Generally, flashback is referred to as the insertion of an earlier event into the chronological structure of a novel, motion picture, play and films.

v  Oral traditional style/straight forward: this is the style in which a story is told from the beginning, middle and to its end. It is a commonly and older used literary technique unlike others.

v  Overshadowing/prolepsis: it is a literary technique which involves showing a little insight of what the work of art is comprised and then giving detailed information as the work is developed

ii.                  PLOT This refers to an arrangement (organization) of events in a narrative or play. It is clearly reflected through conflicts, physical, moral or personal conflict. A story is what happens, a plot is the actions.

Plot is an interplay and sequence of events in a story artfully arranged so that the author may attain the desired aesthetic or artistic effect. It is built through the following;

1. Exposition: is the point that involves defining the setting and characterization. Also imposing problem/conflict, the point where the writer starts to develop the story using conflicting ideas of two characters/sides.

2. Rising action: this involves developing actions/events from the problem/conflicting ideas to other new developed problems.

3. Climax: the highest point of interest that the story centers. Or it is the turning point in a story, at which the end result becomes inevitable, usually where something suddenly goes terribly wrong; the “dramatic high point” of a story.

4. Falling actions: the point where the interest of the reader starts to go/drop down.

5. Resolution/denouncement: the point in which solutions of the problem are found and suggestions are given out.

iii. CHARACTERIZATION

This is the artistic technique which refers to the creation of imaginary persons so that they exist for the reader as life-like.

How do we determine characters?

Behavior, trait or features

a) His/her words, what he/she speaks/says

b) His/her actions/deeds, what he/she does

c) His/her name

d) What is said by other characters to another

e) His/her own monologue

f) What he/she thinks in armchair

g) Physical movement h) Psychological set up/background which is the mental pictures of that character

i) Moral aspects

TYPES OF CHARACTERS

1. Protagonist character; these are characters that carry the burden/side of the majority as they are used on behalf of the society interests.

2. Antagonist characters; are those characters that tend to go against the protagonist characters and they are selfish, defending their personal interests.

3. Main characters; these are characters that are seen throughout the work whether pro or antagonist and are used to send/convey the intended message to the society through their conflicting ideas.

4. Minor characters; are helping characters who help the main characters to carry a message.

5. Round characters; are those characters that change their personality in the work of art. They develop from one stage to another. In another way they are known as developing characters.

6. Flat characters; are those characters that do not change as throughout the entire work of art as they are static in nature. However, they can sometimes be called static characters.

7. Stock characters; are borrowed characters from another field like from oral tradition.

IV. Language or diction

The language of literature always is not direct. It is a connotative language which implies indirect meaning/literary meaning rather than direct/literal or denotative meaning. And it is that language which is referred to as figurative language/literary meaning.

Figurative language includes the following;

v  Imagery

v  Figures of speech

v  Proverbs

v  Riddles

v  Sayings

v  Idioms  etc.

IMAGERY:

It is the figurative language that when it is used, it paints a mental picture in the mind of the reader/listener. Or Imagery refers to the use of language to represent descriptive things, actions or even abstract ideas. On the other hand, imagery is Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual imagery and sound imagery. Also refers to specific and recurring types of images, such as food imagery and nature imagery.

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Is the use of language that one thing refers in terms of another which it symbolically resembles. There are many figures of speech in literature, below are some of them;

Metaphor: is the figure of speech which implies direct comparison of two unlike things without using conjunctions. For example;

·         He is a lion.

·         She is a green snake in the green grass.

Simile: is a comparison of two unlike things using conjunctions. It is an indirect relationship where one thing or idea is expressed as being similar to another. Similes usually contain the words “like” or “as,” but not always. For example;

ü  He looks like a dog

ü  She is as slow as a snail

Symbolism: is the use of specific symbols, ideas, objects or events to represent/suggest or stand for something else. For example

Blood-sacrifice, relationship

Rain/water-life/hope

Personification: this is a figure of speech that gives or endows objects, animals, ideas or things the ability to do thing like human beings. Or Is the giving of attributes to inanimate that they do not deserve (inanimate means non-animals e.g. stones, trees etc.). For example;

ü  Hyena said, let me eat

ü  The mountain rose majestically

ü  All the birds sang sorrowfully

Hyperbole/overstatement: is a figure of speech that involves exaggeration of things, ideas or events. For example

§  Mr. John invited billions of people to his party

§  Ayoub always eats ten dishes of food

Euphemism: is a figure of speech that is used to reduce harshness of words that could be spoken in the public. For example;

§  Passed away instead of died

§  Family way instead of pregnant

Vagina/female reproductive organ instead of cunt

 Metonymy: is a figure of speech characterized by the substitution of one item closely related to another. For example;

Ø  Crown-king/queen

Ø  State house- president

Ø  Chair-leadership

 Irony: is the figure of speech that tells/speaks opposite of what is meant to be. It is where an event that occurs is unexpected, and which is in absurd or mocking opposition to what is expected or appropriate. For example;

  A man of the people-enemy

  An enemy of the people-friend

 Satire: it is a figure of speech/literary term that use humour or wit to ridicule human vices, follies or weakness. It is used for the purpose of improving human institutions or humanity.

 Sarcasm: this is a figure of speech that uses language and inflicting, wounding as well as tormenting a person. For example;

Ø  Despite your richness but you have no even a single child!

Ø  Do you think you are so special? If so, you are deducing yourself!

Ø  No one can marry such kind of a person like you!

 Onomatopoeia: refers to the formation of words referring to the sounds produced by the originator of the words. For example

§  The hissing of a snake

§  The bang of the door

 Personification: this is a figure of speech which gives a human being the inanimate (non-human) characteristics or behavior. For example;

v  He barked like a rabid dog

v  She has as a long neck as a giraffe

 Apostrophe: an explanation in which a person is addressing an absence or dead human being or a non-human creature, as if they can hear or reply. For example;

  They visit us in dream

  The dead never comes back

Paradox: this is a contradictory statement which has some truth when interpreted, where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it cancel each other out.

Ø  You will kill him with your kindness

Ø  Let us develop a dangerous habit of unselfishness

 Allusion: the comparison of an ordinary person or event with a past famous or notorious person or event. For example

Ø  The use of a passion week

Ø  The use of biblical/Quranic terms

 Synecdoche: the substitution of a meaning where a part of an entity is mentioned to mean the whole entity or the whole entity is mentioned to mean its part. For example;

v  I employ many hands because I have many mouths to feed

v  Tanzania won a gold medal in the Marathon

 Oxymoron: a statement in which elements of opposite meanings are used. For example;

  Let us agree not to disagree

  feather of lead  sick health

  cold fire

 Allegory: a story that has two meanings, one open and direct meaning, and another indirect, hidden but intended meaning, where every aspect of a story is representative, usually symbolic, of something else, usually a larger abstract concept or important historical/geopolitical event

Understatement/litotes: this is a figure of speech which describes or represents something being smaller or less significant than it really is. Consider the examples below;

  She is becoming thinner and thinner than a mosquito body.

  He is shorter that he is able to sit on a paracetamol tablet.

 TONE This is the fundamental attitude which the poet takes towards his subject or audience and to his entire understanding so as to communicate his feeling. Tone can be expressed in the following ways;

i.                    Ironical tone

ii.                    Satirical tone

iii.                  Sarcastic tone

iv.                  Humorous tone

v.                    Wit tone

vi.                  Happiness, anger, seriousness, sorrowful, sadness, regretful etc.

STANZA Is a poetic unit made up of a number of lines. Stanzas also are categorized according to a number of lines/verses it contains. They include;

 Couplet-2lines

  Triplet-3lines

  Quatrain-4lines

  Quintent-5lines

  Sestet-6lines

  Septet-7lines

 Octave-8lines  Etc