Definition of Nature of Literature

A. Definition of Literature
B. Functions of Literature
C. Language of Literature
1. Sensory Language
2. Figures of Speech

Definition of Literature

- imaginative or creative writing

- Distinguished writing, with deep sublime
- is an art expressing beauty through the medium of language

Functions of Literature
 Enjoyment
 Imagination and Inspiration
 Vicarious Experience
 Understanding and Empathy
 Heritage
 Moral Reasoning
 Literary and Artistic Preferences

Language of Literature

Metaphor – it makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share
some common characteristics.

Metonymy

- Her voice is music to his ears.

- The assignment was a breeze.
- My brother was boiling mad.

Sensory Image

- images that appeal to the senses

- sensory language is a way for a writer to help the reader see or connect with an image, description,
action, or scene

Hyperbole – is an exaggerated statement employing inflated language

Literary Imagery

1. Allusion 7. Oxymoron
2. Apostrophe 8. Paradox
3. Hyperbole 9. Personification
4. Litotes 10. Simile
5. Metaphor 11. Synecdoche
6. Metonymy 12. Irony
1. Allusion – is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or
political significance.
 “Stop acting like my ex-husband please.”
 “Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.”
 “Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is?”

2. Apostrophe – is an address to an inanimate object, a muse, God, or deceased person.

 “Death be not proud, though some have called the Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For,
those, whom thou think’s, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.”
 “Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation
and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness.”

3. Hyperbole – is an exaggerated statement employing inflated language.

 “I had to wait in the station for ten days-an eternity.”
 Your suitcase weighs a ton!

4. Litotes – it employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other words, positive statement is
expressed by negating its opposite expressions.
 They do not seem the happiest couple around.
 The ice cream was not too bad.
 New York is not an ordinary city.
 Your comments on politics are not useless.

5. Metaphor – it makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but
share some common characteristics.
 Her voice is music to his ears.
 The assignment was a breeze.
 My brother was boiling mad.

6. Metonymy – is a one word or image is used to represent another with which is closely associated.
 England decides to keep check on immigration.
 The pen is mightier than the sword.

7. Oxymoron – is a Contradiction that seemingly cannot be resolved.

 Farting is such a sweet sorrow.
 This is another fine mess you have got us into.
 There is a real love hate relationship developing between the two of them.

8. Paradox – is a contradictory statement that turns out to be partly true.

 “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.
 “I must be cruel to be kind.”
 “Child is father of the man”

9. Personification – is in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human
objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.
 Look at my car. She is a beauty, isn’t it so?
 The wind whispered through dry grass.
  The flowers danced in the gentle breeze.

10. Simile – it compares two things that are alike in some way. To help you identify a simile versus a
metaphor, know that the words “like” or “as” are typically used in a simile.
 “as busy as a bee”
 "as black as coal"

11. Synecdoche – it use larger groups to refer to smaller groups or vice versa.
 “His eye met hers as she sat there paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces
about her.”

12. Irony – is a words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning
of the words.

3 types of irony

1. Situational irony

 A plumber spends all day working on leaky faucets and comes home to find a pipe has burst in his
home.

2. Verbal Irony

 Looking at her son's messy room, Mom says, "Wow, you could win an award for cleanliness!"

3. Dramatic Irony

 The audience knows that a killer is hiding in the closet, but the girl in the horror movie does not.

Figures of Speech

1. Anadiplosis 8. Enallage 15. Paralepsis

2. Anaphora 9. Epigram 16. Paronomasia or
3. Antithesis 10. Epizeuxis Punning
4. Antonomasia 11. Euphemism 17. Pleonasm
5. Apostrophe 12. Hyperbaton 18. Prothesis
6. Asyndeton 13. Interrogation 19. Syllepsis
7. Catachresis 14. Mimesis

1. Anadiplosis
 “The mountains look on Marathon – And Marathon looks on the sea…”
 “For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
 Young Lycidas and hath not left his peer.”
 “The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an
emperor. Striking story!”
2. Anaphora
 “Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better”
 “My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My life is my inspiration.”
 “Buying nappies for the baby, feeding the baby, playing with the baby: This is what your life is when
you have a baby.
 “I want my money right now, right here, all right?”

3. Antithesis
 Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit.
 Money is the root of all evils: poverty is the fruit of all goodness.
 You are easy on the eyes, but hard on the heart.

4. Antonomasia
 “Oh, look! The Philosopher has arrived!”
 Aristotle as “The Philosopher”
 Winston Churchill as “The Great Commoner”
 William Shakespeare as “The Bard”

5. Apostrophe
 Oh, rose, how sweet you smell and how bright you look!
 Car, please get me to work today.
 Oh, trees, how majestic you are as you throw down your golden leaves.

6. Asyndeton
 This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you
completely…….”
 “Consciousness of place came ebbing back to him slowly over a vast tract of time unlit, unfelt,
unlived…..”

7. Catachresis
 His complexion is perfect gallows.
 A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green.

8. Enallage
 They is happy. (vs. they are happy)
 Look at you! She who is beautiful. (vs. you are beautiful)
 It was done by myself. (vs. I did it)
 We was robbed! (vs. We were, or I was)

9. Epigram

 Both robb’d of air, we both lie in one ground

Both whom one fire had burnt, one water drown’d.
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
10. Epizeuxis

 There’s little in taking or giving,

There’s little in water or wine;
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea

11. Euphemism
 You are becoming a little thin on top (bald).
 Our teacher is in the family way (pregnant).
 He is always tired and emotional (drunk).
 We do not hire mentally challenged (stupid) people.
 He is a special child (disabled or retarded).

12. Hyperbaton
 Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall….
 “The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his
tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was….”

13. Interrogation
 When you went into the back of the shop, where was Jimmy standing?
 What did Jimmy do as you were going back there?

14. Mimesis
 is the imitation of life in art and literature. You know your painting exhibits mimesis when the
viewer’s try to pick the flowers from the canvas.

15. Paralepsis

 The music, the service at the feast,

The noble gifts for the great and small,
The rich adornment of Theseus’s palace
All these things I do not mention now.

16. Paronomasia or Punning

 Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends....
 You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless you play bass...

17. Pleonasm

Types of Pleonasm

1. Syntactic Pleonasm
2. Semantic Pleonasm

18. Prothesis
 Tearing of paper, breaking rings a-twain, storming her world with sorrows wind and rain..
  What though that light, through storm and night, so trembled from "afar". What could there be more
purely bright in truth’s day star?

19. Syllepsis
 "The ice trays show deep claw marks, where people have tried to pry them free, using can openers
and knives and screwdrivers and petulance."