SOLD BY: WHAT IS LITERATURE?
Generally speaking, literature encompasses all written and unwritten compositions that contain information about the culture, history, way of life and literary expressions of a people. More specifically, the term is used to embrac6niaiñly works that express emotions in a unique style and beauty of expression. A literary text can be distinguished from other forms of spoken or written texts through its particular style and language.
In traditional African societies for instance, literature is mainly oral. Dirges, eulogies, praise poetry (oriki) hunters’ chant (ijala), bride’s song (ekun iyawo) and several others are largely unwritten, hence they are referred to as oral literature. Every language group has its own peculiar literary forms hence we talk of American literature, English literature. Urhobo literature. Fulani literature, Kanuri literature and many more. Literature is therefore the sum of both the written and unwritten literary works of a people.
Literature mirrors life. It expresses both pleasant and unpleasant experiences of a people. It employs the imagination and the resources of language to present important facts of life to both the present and the future generations. Literature, like language, cannot be divorced from the culture of a people. Even when many African experiences and works of literature are recorded or translated in foreign languages such as English or French, African elements still abound in such works. This is why the works of writers such as Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta or Wole Soyinka are regarded as African literature.
FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE
1. Preservation of culture
The well-known literary classic, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe ranks among the most translated African literary texts. It is currently being used in schools and colleges in several countries all over the world. It has been translated into over twenty different languages and several million copies of the book have been sold. The unique selling proposition of Things Fall Apart lies in its unraveling of the Igbo culture. The foremost functions of literature include the preservation of the language, the culture, the civilizations and the ways of life of a people.
2. Didactic
Literature sometimes teaches morals. When it does this we say it is didactic. Positive human values such as generosities, kindness, hospitality, and good neighbourliness make up the theme of many a children’s literature. Most of the stories in Tales from Yoruba land by Kemi Morgan or The Drummer Boy by Cyprian Ekwensi are didactic. Most of the works of pioneer Yoruba writers such as J. F. Odunjo, Alawiye and D.O Fagunwa are didactic. It is almost impossible for an avid reader not to be influenced positively by the message of a well-written didactic literary text.
3. Social Change
Literature is a potent weapon of social change. For instance, literature played a leading role in the dismantling of apartheid. Literary works such as Animal Farm by George Orwell; Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens; Cry the beloeved country by Alan Paton; A walk in the Nigh by Alex La Guma, Let my people go by Albert Luthuli are classic examples of literary works in the frontline against man’s inhumanity to man. Orators such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X lost their lives in the struggle for the emancipation of the black race from oppression in the hand of the white American establishment in the days of racial segregation. Likewise Ken Saro Wiwa was executed mainly for his struggle against the apparent injustices and degradation of the people of the Niger Delta in general and the Ogonis in particular.
The struggle was originally against slavery; later segregation in America, and more recently; apartheid in South Africa. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the world today is poverty and evil governance in Sub Saharan Africa. Several poems, novels and plays have already been written and many more are still being published daily on this important subject matter.
4. A Window to the World
Literature exposes people to experiences and realities of life in other lands. Through literature, we are no longer in the dark about the good and unsavoury aspects of life in the Western world and other African civilisations like Ghana, Mali, Egypt and Kenya. We are better informed about cultural differences and ways of life, which include occupations, climate, race and language, religions, dressings, family life, system of government, and many more. Literature texts that enlighten us and contain vital information about peoples of the world, their traditions, languages and ways of life can be classified as educative.
5. Entertainment
Entertainment cannot be divorced from literature. In addition to the didactic or educative function, many novels and drama pieces are entertaining. Many of us engage in reading or watching movies as a means of relaxation. At such times, we appreciate excellent use of language such as play on words, use of imagery, metaphors, and descriptions. Literary lexis is not expected to be hard and unexciting like textbooks. Hence it is always a welcome departure to students and young minds.
6. Communication Skills
Perhaps the best way to improve our communicative competence in English is through reading literary texts. It is impossible for an English teacher to make an appreciable impact in the teaching of communication skills unless the student has a healthy reading habit. Literature is about the best way by which you can be exposed to new words, idioms and current usages. Literature enables the student to develop the intuition for correctness so that when he writes a report or correspondence. The instinctively knows when a sentence deviates from the norm in English. As we have pointed out earlier in this book, one thing most prolific users of the English language have in common is an insatiable appetite for reading.
FEATURES OF THE LITERARY GENRE
Literature can he expressed in three major forms: poetry, prose and drama. Each genre has unique distinguishing characteristics which shall be discussed in greater derails in the next three sub-sections.
POETRY
Poetry has been described as the genre of literature that predates the two others. This assertion can be verified with the African experience where most traditional literature is basically oral and mainly poetic. Poetry expresses the emotion and feelings of the poet. It is expected to be read aloud to an audience. Even when read modern poems from a collection, we are expected to appreciate it as a spoken text; hence the study of sound effects in poetry texts. Traditionally, there are two main types of poem: lyric and narrative poems.
1. Lyric Poem
Lyric poems are basically short and simple with a single theme or message. Traditionally, they are short musical poems with rich and expressive language meant to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre (a musical instrument) hence the adjective ‘lyric’. A lyric poem does not narrate or tell a story; it is simply an expression of a poet’s emotions and feelings, which may be of joy, sorrow or anger.
Most lyric poems are divided into verses and stanzas. Words and verses are often repeated for musical effects. They do not usually have plots, characterisation and dialogue like narrative poems. The following are the main types of lyric poems:
· Sonnet: The sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines and it is quite common in English literature. It has its own unique stylistic features such as versification, rhyme and rhythm. The first eight lines which is known as the octave usually introduces the problem while the sestet, the Last six lines resolves the human problem or dilemma in the octave. For instance, the octave of Spenserian Sonnets have specific rhyme patterns of a b b a, a b b a, exemplified by John Donne’s ‘Death be not Proud’. The sestet usually has the rhyme pattern d c d, e e. Like many other poems, the sonnet mainly addresses human issues.
· Ode: – An ode is a meditative poem addressed to a person or thing. It usually expresses the strong feelings of the poet about the subject matter. It is usually meditative as it is more often than not composed during moments of deep incitation. The mood could be sorrowful or joyful. Famous examples of odes are John Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Ode to a Grecian Urn’. Examples of odes in Yoruba include ‘ijala’ and ‘ewi iwoyi’.
· Elegy:– An elegy is a lyric poem written to express grief or lamentation over the death of a person. It often deals with issues of life and death. Famous examples are ‘Lycidas’ by John Milton and ‘Elegy written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray. Most Nigerian cultures have traditional poems chanted during funeral ceremonies. A very good example is ‘Rara’ in the Oyo-Yoruba culture.
· Eulogy: – Eulogy is a poem written in praise of a person. It normally describes the virtues and the sterling qualities of the person being praised. It is also referred to as praise poetry or panegyric. In the Yoruba culture for instance important dignitaries like traditional rulers, chiefs and illustrious Sons are usually praised by professional praise singers. In Malian or many other West African cultures, Griots, in addition to being a repository for History are renowned for praise singing.
2. Narrative Poem
Narrative poems are generally much lengthier than lyric poems. They were quite popular in English literature before the advent of the novel as a literary genre. A classic example is John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. Types of narrative poem include the mock epic/mock heroic. A good example of mock heroic narrative poem is ‘Absalom and Achitophel’ by John Dryden. The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a good example of an epic narrative poem.
i. Epic.
An epic is a lone elaborate narrative poem with a serious purpose. It deals with persons of heroic qualities and actions of great significance. The epic is usually written in specially elevated style known as epic style. Examples of epic poems are: ‘Paradise Lost’ by John Milton, ‘Iliad and Odyssey’ by Homer and ‘Ulysses’ by herd Alfred Tennyson.
ii. Ballad
A ballad is a narrative poem with incidents usually taken from the supernatural, folklore, political and family histories. The heart of the ballad is the story.
3. Modern Poetry
Modem poetry is relatively free of the kind of classifications that dominated old English Literature. Poets do not necessarily follow the rules of any particular school of thought. Hence it is not very common for modern African poets like J. P. Clark or Wole Soyinka to write sonnets or use end rhymes in their poems. Consider the following poem written by one of the authors of this book:
Never You Marry a Waka bout
(For Yewande and Motilade)
If you want to many a husband,
Never you marry a walkabout,
If you marry a walkabout oh,
Na so so trouble, trouble, trouble.
Who tells you Mr. Wakabout is searching for a wife?
Even if he is, do you think You can marry?
Does your Dad have an old jalopy to pass on to him,
Money for tokunbo fringe and deposit for mini-flat?
Mr Wakabout can be more than a little scruffy
But he is about the only man available these days
Others are too old and already married with children
Most of whom were probably like him years ago.
Watch it if you are dating a Wakabout:
He drinks a glass too many and bangs out
Too long with friends and acquaintances.
He’s got a short fuse, so never ever cross him.
When he tire, oh oh oh,
Gbosah for his wife!
Even when he drink, oh oh oh
Gbosah for his wife
Na so so calavab, oh oh oh
Gbosah for his wife.
Mr. Wakabout left university ten years ago
No one wants to hire him and even when
They do, he is offered peanut as wages.
On pay day, they ask him to wait a little.
He is ever so patient and he obeys.
Three months, four months, he keeps waiting.
At Iast Mr. Wakabout is tired of waiting.
He quits in anger and frustration to start
Searching all over again for another job.
Mr. Wakabout never stops dreaming
He perpetually applies for American visa lottery;
He is ever on the queue at European visa offices;
His only hope is to check out of town
If only he can be catapulted into a foreign land!
He dreams, dreams and dreams.
If you want to marry a husband,
Never you marry a wakabout
If you marry a walkabout oh
Na so so trouble trouble trouble
4. Appreciating Poetry
You probably found the above poem a little funny. Lt is probably not your idea of an excellent poem, but it’s a poem nonetheless. Thu will be required to analyse more difficult poems written by either African or non-African poets in the course of your study. Your lecturer will most certainly expect a little more than laughter from you when you study poetry. Literary appreciation entails a systematic analysis of the theme and style of a poem. You must be able to identify the message(s) of a poem and critically- evaluate the components of language and style employed by the poet to get his message across to you. The following are the usual things to look out for when asked to analyse a poem.
· Verse
A verse is a rhythmic or musical composition: it is a line of poetry. Modem poets employ what is known as blank verse, which gives them the latitude to avoid being tied down by the kind of rules and conventions that bound earlier poets. Modern African poets, like Niyi Osundare or Okot p’Bitek for instance, do not use regular verse lengths or rhythm, neither do they use cud rhyme patterns such as alternate or rhyme couplers common in English literature,
· Rhyme
This is the similarity of sounds between the endings of two or more syllables at the end of verses of poetry. E.g. down town; tow sow; give thieve. Popular rhyme schemes are either rhyme couplets or alternate rhymes. In English Literature (writings by English people or about English people) it is usual for end rhymes to either conform to the pattern a a, b b; or a b, a b. While the former is known as rhyme couplets, the latter is called alternate rhymes.
· Rhythm
Rhythm is the alternation of stress and unstressed syllables in poetry. Generally speaking, English is a stress-timed language and this important feature is inevitably reflected in English poems.
· Stanza
Stanza is a term used to describe a collection of verses in a poem. It is quite common to have four, five or six lines being grouped together as a stanza. In many traditional poems, the poet maintains a regular grouping of verses throughout the poem. Modem poets have freed themselves from this tradition. The common trend is that they do not always have the same number of verses in a stanza. Some stanzas have many lines; others have just a few (like the poem cited above).
· Mood/Tone
Mood Tone expresses the feeling or state of mind of the poet when he was composing his poem. The tone maybe argumentative, meditative, somber or elated. The tone of the poem is better assessed after a careful reading nft1ne poem.
· Diction
Diction refers to the vocabulary or choice of word in a poem. Words used in a poem are bound to reveal the period, setting (place anti time), age or sex of the poet or narrator, educational background, occupation and many more. A good analyst must be able to read between the lines and see why certain important words are used by the poet. Some words might have been used more than once, while others have antonyms (opposites), synonyms (same meanings) or other lexical relationships. Generally speaking, you should be able to identify words that have been used by the poet to project his subject matter.
· Figures of Speech
Old and modern poets often employ figures of speech like metaphor, simile, personification, irony, euphemism, oxymoron, onomatopoeia and several other figures of speech. These are the resources of language that give poetry its beauty and differentiate it from everyday use of language. A good student of poetry must be able to identify these important literary features in a poem (or any literary piece for that matter). You will find a list of the most common literary terms and their definitions in the next few pages.
PROSE
1. Prose Fiction
This term is used to describe a literary work bone out of the author’s imagination. Most novels fall under this classification as the author goes out of his way to distort real life experiences to create literature. The content of the story, the names of people, places and situations in the story rarely ever agree perfectly with factual details, hence it becomes hard for any disgruntled reader to complain that the author has invaded his privacy. The novels Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Second Class Citizens by Buchi Emecheta or The Concubine by elechi Amadi Fall under this description.
2. Non Fiction
Unlike prose fiction, this term refers to literary works based on factual events or information that are verifiable in time and space. Biographical works like The Autobiography of Malcoin X by Alex Haley; MANDELA: The Authorised Biography by Anthony Simpson or The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher fall under this category. The content of most manuals textbooks, reference books, newspaper reports and editorials, features and columns in magazines, communiqués issued by organizations, public speeches, political manifestoes and declarations, etc. fall under this category.
3. Plot
The first major element of prose fiction is the plot, which refers to the story / content of the novel. It is a term that encompasses the interconnectedness of events, sequence, actions and reactions in a particular story. Most stories follow a logical or sequential order while others rely on the use of flashback, chapters and other narrative techniques. When a novel has more than one story line, the major event is the main plot while other events are referred to as sub-plots or minor plots. Organic plot is when two episodic sequences makes up a. single whole, linear plot refers to when the story follows a chronological order while complex plot is a story that has a main plot and a sub-plot.
4. Setting
Good stories have elements of time and place such as: economic and historical background, socio-political situation, geographical location, period, etc. Such elements are referred to as the setting of the story. There are two types of setting namely: spatial and temporal setting. While the former can be substantiated and identified in the real world, the latter cannot be traced beyond the literary text. For instance, features of a story set in medieval England will defer markedly from another set in post independence Africa.
5. Subject Matter / Theme
This refers to the central focus or concern on issues of life (love, adventure, crime detection, etc.) The author uses his subject matter to pass on his views and bias about some aspects of life or to address salient moral issues in the society. Many of the works of Charles Dickens for instance, focus on the ills of materialism in pre-modern England. The subject matter of a novel could be broken into several corollaries which are taken as themes. For instance, most of the works of the South African Nobel laureate, Nardine Gordimer, for instance, centre on the ills of Apartheid, but prominent themes in her works include police brutality, racial prejudice/inequality, and sub-urban poverty.
6. Characterisation
Characterisation has to do with the portrayal of individual human traits in the story in a way that enhances the overall message of the novel. A character is easily accessed by what he does and says, what other characters say about him and his interaction with other characters in the story. A character must select from two binary features namely:
(i) Major.-Minor
A major character is one who plays a key role in the unfolding of the plot and around whose personality the plot/subject matter is woven. He/she is sometimes referred as the hero / heroine or the protagonist in the novel. On the other hand, a minor character is a figure that features less frequently in the story; he appears briefly for a specific purpose and vanishes early in the course of the story.
(ii) Round – Flat
A round character is often referred to as a dynamic character one that undergoes spiritual or psychological transformation in the course of the story. A classic example of this kind of character is Pip in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. A flat character is one that does not experience any significant change in the course of the narrative. He is static, usually predictable and he is often referred to as a stereotype character.
7. Style
Style encompasses form, technique and overall beauty of the literary piece as a work of art. An analysis of style makes it possible for the reader to distinguish the methods and approaches found in one literary work from another. Aspects of style include point of the structure, flashbacks, suspense, language, etc.
8. Point of View/Narrative Technique
This refers to the perspective adopted by the author to tell his story. A story could be told from the point of view of a child or an adult: a woman am man; an educated person of an illiterate; etc. There are three major points of view: the first person, third person and omniscient narrative techniques. The first person narrative technique is a technique in which the author use the pronoun “I” or “We” to indicate personal involvement of the narrator in the story. In the third person narrative technique, the narrator is not an active participant in the sequence of events. The author refers to his characters in the third person “he” or “she”, “they” or “them”. The omniscient narrative technique is more sophisticated than the previous trio and allows for greater versatility in narration in that it portrays the narrator as an all-knowing and all-seeing narrator who is able to report the thought, feelings and goings on in the mind of the characters through a device known as stream of consciousness.
9. Flashback
Flashback is used to refer to instances when the author deviates from the logical order of the story to relate an incident or experience that predates the story. This practice is very common in novels. It is often used in television movies to show a previous experience that impinges on the present in the unfolding of the plot. It is a very useful device that enables the reader to form a more informed opinion of the major character or his circumstances.
10. Suspense
Most skillful authors use suspense to create tension and sustain interest in their work in a manner that makes it hard for the reader to abandon or put down the book until he has finished reading it. This device is popular with thriller writers.
11. Language
Both the linguistic and cultural background of the author and those of his characters have a bearing on the syntax, diction and meaning (semantics) of a novel. In English for instance, there are regional varieties such as American English, British English, Ghanaian or Nigeria English. In novels written by Africans,
it is quite common to encounter code mixing which conic in the shape of native words like the names of local food items, objects and places, exclamations, and slang. Local/regional varieties of Pidgin English are often used by lowly characters for important thematic and stylistic functions. Several English translations of words, riddles, proverbs and expressions with local colourations are often used by many African authors to enhance the African setting of their literary works.
DRAMA
Drama is a recreation of life on stage through action and dialogue. Dialogue and action give life to drama; they help create an illusion of reality by making the storyline real and convincing. A play script is a mere representation of drama. It cannot be regarded as drama until it has been fully interpreted by professionals and acted on stage before an audience. The people involved in drama production include, the playwright, tile producer, the actors and actresses, the stage crew and the audience. Drama predates’ the television. Today in Nigeria, it is rare for people to go to the theatre to watch plays as home movies have completely taken over. In London for instance, this is not so. It is still considered quite chic to visit the theatre. Indeed you have to book well in advance to get seats in many of the theatres of international repute in central London. Indeed people come from all over the world to watch premiers of drama productions in London.
Forms of drama include opera (musical), mime (action without words) and pantomime. African actors like other actors elsewhere, use costumes, music, ritual, and other contemporary African practices to depict the African experience on stage. Likewise the distant past could be recreated on stage through similar devices. Imagine the dramatisation of Macbeth by Shakespeare or Death and the King Horseman by Wole Soyinka for instance.
I. Tragedy
Tragedy usually involves the interplay of cosmic forces in which mortal man is pitted against the supernatural in an unending struggle which sometimes results in physical or spiritual destruction of the hero or heroine. A very good example of tragedy is The Gods are not to Blame by Ola Rotimi. Other examples are Death and the Kings Horseman by Wole Soyinka and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. A tragedy does not always end in death, but the endings are usually undesirable. Endings such as exile, prison, slavery and dispossession are human situations that are comparable to death and are no less tragic.
The tragic hero is usually an ordinary individual well endowed with positive values like industry, fear of God and love for mankind. A good example of a tragic hero can be found in Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart or Brutus in Julius Caesar. It is obvious that the cruel hands of fate or destiny played a major role in the catastrophic end of the two heroes referred to above. A common characteristic of tragic heroes is the tragic flaw. A tragic flaw is a human frailty or weakness through which the tragic hero meets his ultimate downfall. Such flaws include over confidence, promiscuity, stubbornness or bad temper. In most tragedies, be it Greek or African, we observe that when there is a conflict of interest between the supernatural and the human, the supernatural almost always prevails. Vie the audience often identify with our kind, the mortal human character and leave the theatre at the end of the performance with the feeling of sadness.
2. Comedy
A comedy is intended to amuse and it usually ends on a happy note, Life is sometimes trivialised and ridiculed in such a way that we laugh at our collective folly as a people. Comedy is sometimes used to criticise the ills in the society such as illiteracy, lust for money, inhumanity and religious bigotry. Characters like Aluwe, Boy Alinco, Zebrudaya and Papa Ajasco are popular Nigerian television comedians.
3. Features of Drama
Just like the two other genres, poetry and especially prose, there are some important literary features common to all genres of literature. Aside from the last element, most of the features highlighted below, have already been dll5cussed in our treatment of prose above:
· Theme: This refers to the subject matter(s) of the play as a literary work. What message(s) is the playwright trying to get across to us the reader/audience?
· Plot: These refers to classifications such as main/sub plot.
· Structure:This entails an analysis of the Parts and divisions of the play traditionally referred to as ‘Acts’ and ‘Scenes. Some modern playwrights use other terms such as ‘situations’ or ‘parts’.
· Setting:These include rural/urban; traditional/modern; African / Western; pre/post colonial; etc.
· Characterisation:Features to look out for include major / minor; round/flat; protagonist/antagonist; loyal/traitor; hero/foil; old/young; educated/illiterate; noble/evil; tragic/comic; etc.
· Language: Features of language include diction (choice of word); sentence structures/types namely, declarative, interrogative, rhetorical questions exclamations, simple/compound/complex sentence types etc.; Figures of speech such as metaphor, irony, personification etc.
· Stage directions: This is peculiar to drama and will be discussed extensively in the next paragraph.
Any student of drama must pay attention to the above features, as they are the parameters by which the examiner assesses a student’s understanding of a drama text.
Stage Directions
Stage directions are usually written in italics in a drama text. They indicate non-verbal clues emanating from the characters. Such information include: gestures, movement, postures, facial expressions, costumes, physical handicap, and many more. Stage directions give information about the stage layout and the setting of the play. We are able to imagine whether the setting is rural or modern, African or Western. Most African drama involves the use of musical instruments like the talking drum or the flute. Stage direction draws our attention to the use of a particular musical instrument in such a way that we associate it with particular nuances of meaning in the play.
Prologue and Epilogue
Prologue has its origin in Greek literature. It could be an introductory speech made at the commencement of a play, a brief performance by two or more characters, or a combination of both. It serves as a preview of the story and it is used to prepare the audience for the main conflict in the play about to be watched. This device is used in Femi Euba’s The Gulf and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame. Epilogue is the speech that comes at the end of the play It normally summarizes what has been watched and sometimes contains some moralising remarks.
Application Exercise
Answer only the questions that apply to the genre you are studying.
2489. Select a poem written by an African and another written by a non African, and compare and contrast the literary features in them.
2490. With the aid of examples from the poems in your anthology, identify five important features or poetry, which you find remarkable or interesting.
2491. Literature is a minor of life. To what extent can this be said of a novel you recently read?
2492. Identify five literary features of prose fiction in an African novel you recently read.
2493. Many African dramatists use their works to criticise some aspect of our culture. To what extent is this true of a play you recently read?
2494. Prominent features of drama texts include: setting, the use of stage directions and characterization. Discuss any TWO of the features identified above and continent on their general effectiveness in the drama text you studied.
A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS
I. Allegory
This refers to a poem, story or drama sketch in which characters, actions or places are identifiable as representing people, actions and places in real life. Allegory is often employed by writers of prose fiction who are concerned with pointing out the ills in the society. It is also a popular device with didactic writers. Classic examples can be found in Homer’s Odysseus and John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress. –
2. Alliteration
This is an important poetic feature in which the poet deliberately uses words with the seine consonant sounds in the same verse. Once a consonant sound appears more than once in the same verse, it can be analysed as alliteration. For example:
That made the mountains move
Make me stay by your side
The earth is ours to plough and plant
3. Allusion
This is a unique metaphor in which reference is made to a well-known person, thing, event or situation. Allusions are quite common in ordinary conversations and literary texts. Common examples of allusion include: contemporary, mythical, biblical, historical, and literary. The underlined in the following are examples of different kinds of allusion:
The New Millennium Park in Abuja is destined to be a tourist Mecca.
Shade’ husband is a reincarnation of Abacha.
He is a Judas.
Helms Sango’s temper.
Ndidi is the MD’s first lady.
4. Anti Climax
This is the opposite of climax. The actions and events are arranged in descending order of importance. It is a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous. For example:
In the accident, Mr. Jingo lost his wife, his only son and his purse.
5. Assonance
Unlike alliteration, assonance is concerned with the repetition of vowel sounds in a verse of poetry.
Fill me with music.
All flesh as grass shall pass away,
6. Climax
Climax refers to the point of greatest intensity’ or interest in a literary piece. The term is often used in literature to refer to the culmination of a sequence of events. The assassination of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s ‘classic, Julius Caesar; can be taken as the climax of the play. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of words and actions in ascending order of importance. A good example is the famous quote:
“I came, I saw and I conquered.”
7. Dramatic Irony
This is a technique often employed by the playwright to make the audience understand the ironic implication of what a character does or says. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, an apparition (a supernatural being) predicts that’… none of woman born shall harm Macbeth. The same apparition further predicts that:
Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
Macbeth anchors his hope on this prediction throughout the play. The audience knew the ironic implications of the above predictions long before Macbeth, the tragic hero.
8. Dramatic Monologue
Dramatic monologue is often used in drama and poetry. It is a relatively long speech delivered by a character and accompanied by appropriate gestures and facial expressions to make it appear as if the character is talking to an imaginary being. It is motto be confused with soliloquy (which is the voicing of the thoughts in a character’s mind and is not often dramatised. This device is used in John Donne’s ‘Death be not Proud’ and Wole Soyinka’s Abiku’
9. Denouement
This refers to the final unravelling of a plot or complicated situation in drama. For instance, the denouement in the popular television drama The Staff is when Adewale enters the palace with the staff, saves Baale Adebisi from certain death and effectively takes over the throne from his brother Adereti, the usurper.
10. Epigram
This is a short witty shying that is pregnant with meaning. It usually expresses apiece of proverbial wisdom. It is a form of writing which makes a satiric, complimentary or aphoristic observation with wit, extreme condensation and above all, brevity For example:
· True ease in writing comes from art not change
· Every poet is a fool, but not every fool is a poet Mathew Prior Speech is silver, silence is golden.
11. Euphemism
Euphemism entails the substitution of a mild expression for a harsh one. For example: ‘Highway manager’ for road sweeper; ‘gone to be with the lord for die; and ‘one who takes his time’ for a laggard.
12. Hyperbole
This is when the truth is exaggerated usually for emphasis. For example:
Cattle, goats, pigs, dogs, egrets, vultures, men and women all worked together like a team. Mankind bent down on all fours in search of something to eat… A man snatched a half eaten wrap of hard pap from a hen; a he-goat and a woman engaged in a tugof-warovera1oafofbread….
13. Imagery
Imagery refers to the detailed representation of what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelt. It entails a graphic illustration of experience in a literary piece. Examples of this literary device abound in prose fiction:
My husband’s house is like a rotten little sausage sandwiched between two delectable loaves…. In the raining season, poodles of water formed in which mosquitoes bred in their thousands… Our bedroom walls exhibited hundreds of red spots, thick dry blood of crushed bedbugs….
14. Irony
It is common occurrence in language for users to say one thing, but mean the exact opposite. This practice is referred to as irony in literature.
How I love when I’m utterly penniless!
Well done (to a child who just broke a china ware).
15. Innuendo
Innuendo is an oblique remark or expression with a double meaning. It usually contains a hint about something disparaging. It resembles irony in the sense that it is often a subtle way of expressing an unpleasant remark.
There is no love lost between the couple.
Hunger and disease are his faithful companions.
16. Litotes
This is the opposite of hyperbole. 1t often refers to an understatement in which the negative of the intended meaning is used. For instance:
He’s not a bad looking fellow.
Bill Gates has enough to last his family more than a few weeks.
John was involved in a minor accident (his car was written off).
17. Metaphor
Metaphor is an implicit comparison between persons or things without the use of like or as.
No comments:
Post a Comment