FORMS&GENRE Flashcards
form
structure, how it is constructed and organized
genre
specific style or category fo writing
meaning
the writer’s message
4 major literary forms
nonfiction prose, fiction prose, poetry, and drama
nonfiction prose
ordinary, non-metrical language and communicates facts or opinions about reality
example of nonfiction prose
text books, how-to articles
fiction prose
ordinary, non-metrical language, but is product of the write’rs imagination
examples of fiction prose
novels, short stories
poetry
metrical language with lots of rhythm and rhyme to create word pictures often with an obscure message
drama
combines elemtns of prose and poetry into plays that are usually intended to be performed on stage.
Examples of nonfiction genre
biographies, authobiographies, history texts, science books, how-to manuals, dictionaries
Examples o ffiction genres
fairy tales, fables, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure, romances
poetry genres
epics, elegies, lyrics, sonnets, odes and hymns
epics
long poems that tell teh action packed storeis of great heroes
elegies
thoughtful, sad poems that reflect on someone’s death
lyrics
quite short poems and focus on the speaker’s emotion
sonnets
14 lines long and follow strict patterns of rhym
odes
formal poems that usually celbrate someoen or soemthing
hymns
offer praise to God
drama genres
plays: comedies, morality, mystery, bible, or problem
fiction categories
short stories, novellas, and novels
novels
the longest of the three fiction categories:often have many characters and complicated plots
novellas
shorter than novels and tend to have less characters and less complicated plots than novels
short stories
range in length from a few pages to 30 pages or more
fables
short tales that feature animals given human-like qualities to deliver a lesson
folktales
stories with people as main characters that sometimes include feats of strength
myths
stories told to explain the world around us
legends
grounded in reality, but aren’t necessarily true
meter
term we use to describe organizing poetry around how words are emphasized to produce a rhythm
feet
iams, trochees, dactyls, anapests
iamb
two syllavles, second more pronounced than the first
trochee
two syllables, first emphasized and the second isnt
dactyl
three syllables, first is emphasized and second two are not
anapest
three syllables, first two are not emphasized but the last is
what is a couplet
when one line immediately follows another lien and rhymes with it and shares the same meter
how many stanzas are usually in a sonnet
usuallly in one stanza
what meter is used in haikus
there is no rhyme scheme or meter in the haiku, just a specific number of syllables in each of hte three lines
what does plot structure consist of
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution
american romantic period
1830-1870
five characteristics used to identify american romantic literature
imagination, individuality, nature as a source of spirituality, looking to the past for wisdom, seeing hte common man as a hero
American Romantic Period
1830-1870
characteristics that identify the American Romantic literature
imagiantion, individuality, nature as a source of spirituality, looking to the past for wisdom, and seeing the common man as a hero
American Romantic period Authors
washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Fireside poets, james fenimore cooper
American Renaissance period
1840-1860;end of the romantic period dark romantics and transcendentalists- used creepy symbosl and horrific themes to look at hte ineer-workings of hte mind
Dark Romantic Writers
Edgar allen poe, nathaniel hawthorne
transcendentalism
American literary and phylosophiscal movemet that lasted from the 1830s-1850s; eternal one, intuitive thought, imagination
transcendentalist authorss
ralph waldo emerson (essay: nature) henry david thoreau (the dial), walt whitman (poet- free verse, leaves of grass)
realism
movement that followed romanticism; typical authentic settings, believable characters, and very relatable plotlines
realism authors
mark twain (huckelberry fin), william dean howells, rebecca hardin davis, and henry james
modernism
1914-1945; post war world time of change, confusion, discovery, invention, and war
modernism authors
f scott fitzgerald (the great gatsby) William faulkner (the sound and the fury, as I lay dying) Ernest hemingway (a farewell to arms, the sun alwasy rises)
modern poetry
more pessimistic poetry and abandoned previous expectatiosn about meter and rhyme
Harlem Renaissance
1920-1930s introduced voices of African-American artists and writers inot the mainstream of the United STates.
Harlem Renaissance authors
web dubois (NAACP), alain locke, zora neale hurston, countee cullen, langston hughes, and claude mckay
contemporary period
continues the modernist trend to explore human consciousness. post WWII unable to deal with horrors of war
simile
comparison between two things using like or as
metaphor
direct statement that oen thing is another
personification
thing or an animal or an aspect of it is described as though it were a person
symbolism
someone or something stands for somethign else
secular vs. religious politics
Religious political writing blended politics adn religion and includes sermons as well as other forms of writing; secular political writing looked at politics as a separate entity from religion
contemporary writer techniques
character on a quest for idenity, expressionism, use of rhythm and tone, juxtaposition
countercultural movement in the comtemporary period
the underground
What characteristics of the romantic movement were expressed through a focus on nature
escapism and spirituality
characteristics of modernism
breaking from tradition, differing ways of processing the changing times (thoughtful and self reflective or an overwhelming sense of alienation)
modernist period explored the ways that truth is not_____ but______
modernist period explored the ways that the truth is not straightforward, rational, or clearly defined, but rather how it is completely influenced by human perception
victorian literature
literature written in England during the reign of queen Victoria 1837-1901
major events that took place during the victorian era
huge growth in population, improvements in technology, changing world views (theory of evolution- distancing from the church), poor conditions for the working class
most well-known victorian writer
charles dickens- oliver twist
notable poets from the victorian era
lord alfred tennyson, robert browning, elizabeth barrett browning, and Matthew Arnold
characteristics of the victorian era
vivid characters, good people who fall into bad circumstances that they don’t deserve, characters get the ending they deserve, strong character development
characteristics of victorian poetry
strong desire to connect with the past, skepticism about religion, stronger sense of humor
the english renaissance
late 14th century- shakespeare’s time
romantic prose
1800-1840
british literature in chronological order
Early and High middle ages, Old English, Middle English, The Enlighs Renaissance (shakespeare), romantic prose, literary modernism
characteristics of romantic prose in British literature
departure from reason, focus on nature, an element fo the supernatural, and a focus on the individual
examples of british literature in romantic period
Mark Shelley’s Frankenstein, Jane Austen, Teh Bronte Sisters
literary modernism in british literature
between ww1&ww2; it doesn’t always make sense
4 ways to describe literary modernism in british literature
nonlinearity of plot, irony and satire, voices and the idea of stream of consciousness, and allusions
what is neoclassicism marked by
the rise of the novel
historical modern era
began in the 16th centure; heroes going on an epic adventure
