Classic English Literature: Research Paper
The writers and poets use different literary devices and literary techniques to convey their message. The literary device is thus a way of conveying a message by the writer. The literary devices interconnect the literary techniques and literary elements with each other as an essential part of the literature. In this research paper, an analysis of the literary devices used in literature shall be carried out with a view to understanding their usage and relevance to the writing of literature.
More often, the writers use the term literary devices for referring to the typical structure in their written work in order to convey their message to the audience in the most simple and understandable manner. The proper use of the literary devices helps the reader to understand, appreciate, interpret and analyze a given literary work. Writers use literary devices in two manners that can be regarded as the literary elements or literary techniques. Both literary elements and literary techniques have definitions that can explain more about them: -
- Literary Elements: Literary elements have a traditional place in any work of literature and are often employed by the writer to write a piece of literature such as narrative structure, plot, mood, setting, theme and moral. The writer uses the literary elements in a professional way to write a professional piece of literature. Different literary elements include: -
- Plot: It is the rational arrangement of proceedings that progress the story and makes it an understandable piece of literature. The plot is the crux of the story and lays down the outline for progress of the literature.
- Setting: It is related to the time and place of the plot or the story. The place and time matters as it connects the reader emotionally and mentally with the particular time and place in the history.
- Antagonist: The character in the literature that has a conflict with the protagonist such as the character of Claudius in the Hamlet by Shakespeare. He is the villain of the story.
- Protagonist: He is the main character of the play, story or the novel such as the character of Hamlet in the Hamlet by Shakespeare. He is the hero of the story who always embraces success and wins the love of life.
- Narrator: He is a person who narrates the story to the reader, and the story is written in the first person from narrator’s point of view. Narrator himself is not the part of the picture being discussed; rather, the narrator sees the picture being developed and narrates the story along with the development of the story.
- Narrative Method: It is the way the narrative is presented to the reader, and it comprises plot and setting. It may be a direct presentation or may be an indirect presentation.
- Dialogue: Dialogue is the part of the literature where different characters of the play or novel speak to one another. Basing on the dialogue, the story develops further.
- Conflict: It is related to the issue or the idea around which the whole story of the novel or play revolves. It may be the love of the lady or the attraction of wealth that creates the conflict and carries the story forward.
- Mood: Mood is the general environment of the narrative of the play or novel and it depicts the condition of characters in the play.
- Theme: Theme is the central concept or idea of the story and the story of the play or novel is built on the theme of the novel or play.
- Literary Techniques: Literary techniques differ greatly from the literary elements. These are the structures comprising a word or phrase as part of the text in the literature that, a writer uses to achieve an artistic end to the sentence or paragraph or literature. It also enhances the reader’s understanding of the literature. Examples of the literary techniques are the allegory, hyperbole, simile and alliteration, etc. The literary techniques are not essential part of the literature and may not form part of the literature. Commonly used literary techniques include allegory, imagery, personification, alliteration, simile and metaphor, hyperbole, irony, tragedy, foreshadowing, assonance and euphemism. Details as under: -
- Allegory: It is a literary technique used for changing an abstract idea into a character, event or action. It is a symbolism mechanism through which the meaning of greater and raw concept is conveyed to the reader through more clear objects or ideas by using them as an example. In the allegory, a rhetoric mechanism is used to present the idea via metaphoric examples. In the novel, “Animal Farm” the writer uses the actions of the animals to describe the overthrow of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and before Second World War, the end of communist revolution.
- Imagery: Imagery is the use of metaphorical language to describe the actions, ideas and objects to the minds of the reader in such a manner that they attract the attention of the reader and appeal to his physical senses. In the literature, imagery is one of the strongest literary devices where the writer uses the phrases and words to make images on the minds of the readers. It helps readers to visualize the description of the writer in a more realistic way and understand the situation in a better way. The use of allusions, metaphors, descriptive words and similes in order to awake the readers mind and make him understand the concept through visualization of the situation is called imagery. Use of imagery is not confined to the visualization, but also includes the gustatory, tactile, thermal and auditory sensations, olfactory and kinesthetic. Examples of imagery, the simile is “as high as the sky” and “as quick as lightening.” Example of metaphor is “He is a race car.” The phrases compare two different things without the use of as and like. These words create the images on the mind of the reader that appeal to the human five senses of touch, see, hear, smell and taste.
- Personification: The personification is one of the most commonly used literary devices. It gives an idea, a thing or an animal the human qualities. It attaches the human characteristics and traits with non-living phenomenon, animals and objects. The examples of personification are the wise owl, the comforting fire, the dancing flowers.
- Alliteration: It refers to the creation of the same sound by the rhyming words coming out together such as she sells sea shells at the shore. It is a literary device where words are used one after the other in quick succession and starts with the letters that create the same sound. It may be a permanent sound or a vowel group as it involves the repetition of words with a similar sound in the same sentence. Alliteration happens when all words in a sentence begin with the same alphabet. Purpose of using alliteration is the addition of character and fun to the literature.
- Simile and Metaphor: Simile and metaphor represent two different objects and compare them by drawing similarities between the two objects. Simile uses the words of as and like whereas the metaphor does not use any such words. Simile is one of the most used literary devices and refers to the practice of drawing comparisons between two different objects, people, places, concepts or things. A simile can add a lot of meanings to a simple word, and the reader understands the writer’s sentiments in a better way. Examples are, “James is an old fox very cunning” and “my love for you is the fragrance of the roses.”
- Hyperbole: It is referred to like the extra exaggeration of incidents, events and actions so as to lay more emphasis on the action such as your bag weighs a ton, and I have got millions of problems to look after by myself.
- Irony: It is a literary technique that uses words in a way which conveys the meanings totally opposite to their actual meaning, such as the bread are as soft as a stone, and it is so great of you to break my cup.
- Tragedy. It is a part of the drama or play where the main character is brought to ruin or suffer extreme sorrows as a result of tragic flaw or moral weakness or the character’s inability to cope with the unfavorable circumstances in the play.
- Foreshadowing: It regards the giving away of clues of incidents that will happen in the future as the story develops. The concept of foreshadowing creates anxiety and anticipation in the reader’s mind and, thus, brings further interest to the literature.
- Assonance: It is the repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase or the line of poetry.
- Euphemism: It is resorting to the substitutions in order to avoid writing a blunt, harsh and offensive comment. Euphemism’s purpose is to make the statement politically acceptable to the audience.
The literary devices are an assortment of collective creative structure used by the writers in writing of literature. The function of literary devices is to assist the writer in giving meanings and logical framework to their work through use of language. The readers while reading such literature automatically recognize the literary devices. The reader appreciates the use of literary devices at the right places for the depiction of the desired situation. The correct use of these literary devices absorbs the reader in the literature throughout the story and maintains the interest from the start till end. The universal use of these literary devices enables the reader to compare the work of different writers and thus grade them as per their standards of writing. The use of literary devices beautifies the literature and adds to the meaning and depth of the literature. It also tests the understanding and comprehension of the reader and keeps his mind busy in visualizing the situation depicted by the writer through use of subject literary devices.
The literary devices used in a piece of literature help motivate the reader in continuing with the study of literature by attraction all his attention and keeping him tied with the book until finishing the piece of literature or the book. The success of a writer depends upon the maximum use of literary devices in the literature, and more use of literary devices enhances the standards of the literature and makes the writer more authentic and popular. The audience of the literature is always interested in reading something that fascinates their mind and keeps them busy mentally; therefore, the literature work with the use of literary devices will automatically attract more readers, and will sell more numbers of books.
The literary devices add to the beauty of the literature. The more the numbers of literary devices used in a piece of literature, the more success the literature will have in attracting the number of readers. The literary devices are like additional beauty tips to the real piece of literature that increases its value and weight. The successful and well-read literature around the world is the one with maximum numbers of literary devices used by the author.
Literary devices are an important part of the literature and are a big help to the writer in making the literature interesting. It is important for the upcoming writers to understand the correct use of literary devices if they want to be successful and famous writers. Understanding the correct use of literary devices by the readers is also important in order to assess the quality of the literature.
Works Cited
Village Christian. Literary Terms for AP English Literature.2014. Print.
Literary Devices. Home of Literary devices. Definition and Examples of Literary Terms. 2014. Web. 14 August. 2014.
Peter Childs and Roger Fowler. The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. 1987. Print.
M. H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 1999. Web. 14 August. 2014.
Roan Estate. Literary Analysis: Using Elements of Literature. 2014. Web. 14 August. 2014.
