Dr Saheb Sahu
Allegory: An allegory is a story, poem, picture, or other works of art in which the characters, events, and settings symbolize deeper moral, spiritual, political, philosophical meanings.
Example: George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, where the animals and their society symbolize the events of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Soviet Communism.
Allusion: A figure of speech that makes reference, either directly or indirectly, to another work, event, myth, person, or so on.
Example: “He met his Waterloo”. It refers to Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo, meaning he met his ultimate Downfall.
Cannon: The body of literature, music, art, and other significant endeavors that scholars point to as the most influential in the development of a culture.
Example: The Shakespearian cannon – all the plays and poems written by William Shakespeare.
Beethoven’s symphonies belong to the cannon of Western music.
Climax: The most intense or exciting part, or culmination, of a literacy work. Generally, the climax marks a point of no return, in which the character, plot, or setting have been irrevocably changed.
Genre: A type of literary work, romance, mystery, horror, fiction and non-fiction, science fiction etc.
Irony: Irony is a literal device or figure of speech in which there is a strong contrast between appearance and reality or between what is expected and what actually happens.
Example: A police officer gets arrested for breaking the law.
Narrator: The person who tells the story. Sometime the narrator is the main character of the literary work, often giving us “first person point of view”. Often, however, the narrator is not part of the story, nor is the narrator the same as the author. Instead, the narrator may be the voice the author assumes in order to convey the story.
Plot: The plot is everything that happens, and can usually be described as having a beginning, middle, and an end.
Protagonist: The main character or the hero of the story. Sometimes the protagonist is also the narrator. While most novels have only one protagonist, some focus on two or more characters equally.
Satire:A literary genre that seek to ridicule or expose the folly of a particular aspect of society, a government, or an institution. Satires often employ irony.
Symbol: A symbol is a person, object, place or event that represents a deeper meaning, often an idea. The modern emoji are symbols.
Picture of a heart is symbol of love, affection or emotion.
Dove – a symbol of peace, purity.
Serpent – a symbol of temptation, and will.
Scales – symbol of justice, fairness and balance.
Theme: Theme is the central idea, message, or underlying meaning of a story, poem, play, or any other literary works. It tells us what the work is really about. A work may have more than one theme. Themes are often universal meaning they apply to many people or situations.
Example: Love and sacrifice, good vs. evil, man vs. nature etc.
Tone: Tone is the attitude a character, narrator, or writer takes. Tone is conveyed through words, dialogue, rhetorical style, figurative language, and description.
Example: Positive, negative, humorous, playful, reflective, etc.
Conclusion
If you understand the meanings of above mentioned terms, you will be a better reader and you will get more out reading any kind of literature.
Happy Reading!
Source
The Book of Books. PBS – The Great American Read. Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, New York; 2018
