AP Literature Literary Terms
AP Literature Literary Terms
AP Literature Literary Terms
Dramatic Techniques
Monologue: This is a term used in a number of senses, with the basic meaning of a single person
speaking alone with or without an audience. Most prayers, much lyric verse and all lament are
monologues, but, apart from these, five main kinds can be distinguished.
(a.) Monodrama is a theatrical entertainment in which there is only one character (think Lily Tomlin’s
“bag Lady” or Whoopie Goldb erg’s “crippled lady”)
(b.) Soliloquy (think Othello’s self-revelation s in Othello. In drama, a moment when a character is
alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud. Unlike an aside, a soliloquy is not meant to imply
that the actor acknowledges the audience’s presence. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 3, Scene I “To
be or not to be, that is the question ” is a famous soliloquy.
(c.) Aside: A device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech that is heard by the audience
but not by other characters in the play. (think Iago’s explanation to the audience (in Othello) of
what he is going to do next
(d.) Dramatic monologue is a poem in which there is one imaginary speaker addressing an imaginary
audience (think Browning’s “My Last Duchess”
Satiric Techniques: Satire is a manner of writing that mixes a critical attitude with wit and humor in
an effort to improve mankind and human institutions. Ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and several other
techniques are almost always present. The satirist’s goal is to point out the hypocrisy of his target in the
hope that either the target or the audience will return to a genuine following of the moral code. Thus,
satire is inescapably moral even when no explicit values are promoted in the work, for the satirist
works within the framework of a widely spread value system
Ridicule: the act of making someone or something the object of scornful laughter by joking,
mocking
Hyperbole: SEE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE SECTION
Understatement: SEE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE SECTION
Sarcasm: A sharp, caustic attitude conveyed in words through jibes, taunts, or other remarks. (I
suppose your dog ate your homework again.” “As I fell down the stairs headfirst, I heard her
say, ‘Look at that coordination.’”)
Humor: A term used to denote one of he two major types of writing (humor and wit) whose purpose is to
evoke laughter. A comical mode that is sympathetic, tolerant, and warmly aware of the depths of
human nature.
Wit: primarily intellectual, the perception of similarities in seemingly dissimilar things—the “swift play
and flash of mind” –and is expressed in skillful phraseology, plays on words, surprising contrasts,
paradoxes, epigrams etc.
Irony- A situation or statement characterized by a significant difference between
what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.
Types of Irony
Cosmic or irony of fate: Some Fate with a grim sense of humor seems cruelly to trick a human being.
Cosmic irony clearly exists in poems in which fate or the Fates are personified and seen as
hostile, as in” Oedipus” and Thomas Hardy’s “The Convergence of the Twain” and
Robinson’s “Richard Cory”). Evidently it is a twist of fate for the most envied man in
town to kill himself.
Dramatic: The audience understands something that the character or characters do not realize. It
occurs when a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings
from what he or she thinks it means, though the audience and other characters
understand the full implications of the speech or action. (Ex., Oedipus curses the
murderer of Laius, not realizing that he is himself the murderer and so is cursing
himself. Romeo thinks Juliet is dead.)
Situational: occurs when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect-though
often the twist is oddly appropriate (Ex., a deep-sea diver drowning in a bathtub is
ironic)
Socratic: Adapting a form of ironic false modesty in which a speaker claims ignorance regarding a
question or philosophical problem. The speaker then turns to another "authority" and
raises the question humbly, asking for the expert's answer. When the "authority,"
presents an answer, the "modest" original speaker continues to ask pointed questions,
eventually revealing the limitations or inadequacies of the supposed expert—all the while
protesting his or her own inferior knowledge. The irony comes from the speaker's
continuing presentation of himself as stupid even as he demolishes inferior ideas others
present to him. This is the method Socrates supposedly took regarding philosophical
inquiry, and it is named socratic irony in his honor. (Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and
Punishment)
Verbal: occurs when a speaker or narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite. (Ex., It is easy to
top smoking. I’ve done it many times.)
Absurdity, distortion, and incongruity: In contemporary literature and criticism, a term applied to
the sense that human beings, cut off from their roots, live in meaningless isolation in an alien
universe. Although the literature of the
absurd employs many of the devices of EXPRESSIONISM and SURREALISM, its philosophical base is a
form of EXISTENTIALISM that views human beings as moving from the nothingness from which
they came
to the nothingness in which they will end through an existence marked by anguish and absurdity, but they
must make their own choices and accept responsibility for those decisions.
Burlesque: A form of comedy characterized by ridiculous exaggeration and distortion. A serious subject
may be treated frivolously or a frivolous subject seriously. Burlesque is a travesty of a
literary form unlike parody , which is a travesty of a particular work.
Parody: A composition imitating another, usually serious, piece. It is designed to ridicule a work or its
style or author. The parody is in literature what the caricature and cartoon are in art.
Caricature: Writing that exaggerates certain individual qualities of a person and produces
BURLESQUE. It is more frequently associated with drawing rather than writing. Like satire, it
lends itself to the ridicule of political, religious, and social foibles. (Mr. Collins in Pride &
Prejudice; Rhinehart in Invisible Man)
Coarse mockery: ridicule that contains vulgar or bawdy references and sexual innuendo. (The
conversation between the nurse and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet)
Invective: Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. Vituperative writing. (Ex. The
sermons of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”)
Sardonic statements: bitterly scornful; cynical; expecting the worst; stronger anger than plain
sarcasm
Verisimilitude or Realistic detail: use of specific concrete details to describe persons, places, and
objects. (the description of Miss Havisham’s wedding cake in Great Expectations)
Poetry Terms
Types of Poetry
Narrative Poetry
Epic: a long narrative poem, which in dignified and elevated style, tells of the mighty deeds of a great
hero. The Odyssey, The Illiad
Ballad: simple, narrative verse which tells a story to be sung or recited; the folk ballad is anonymously
handed down, while the literary ballad has a single author. “La Belle Dame sans Merci”
“Richard Cory” “Sir Patrick Spens”
*Pastoral Poem: a poem dealing with shepherds and simple rural life “The Calendar of the Shepherd”
Edmund Spenser
*Idyll: a pastoral poem that presents an incident of natural simplicity in a rustic setting; it is descriptive
and presents a “little picture” of country life.
Dramatic Poetry: poetry written in the form of a play
Dramatic Monologue: poetry that reveals a “soul in action” : through conversation of one character in
a dramatic situation. “My Last Duchess” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Lyric Poetry: poetry which expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of its author; it is
subjective and emotional, imaginative, and melodious.
Lyric: (a specific subdivision of the general category) A short, simple, subjective poem that directly and
forcefully expresses a single emotion.Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes,
Song: a lyric intended to be sung “Eleanor Rigby”
Ode: a lyric poem which treats a serious subject thoughtfully and emotionally and which is marked by a
dignified style and a complex metrical pattern; it is usually a tribute to a person or thing
“Ode to a Nightingale” “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
Sonnet: a fourteen-line lyric poem written in iambic pentameter
English or Shakespearean Sonnet: consists of three quatrains rhymed abab cdcd efef and a
concluding couplet rhymed gg; the three quatrains develop a single thought, and
the couplet usually comments on them. “Shall I Compare Thee?”
Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet: has eight lines (the octave) for the development of a single thought,
and six lines (the sestet) for a comment on, a solution to, or an application of the
thought; rhyme scheme is abbaabba in the octave, and cdecde in the sestet. (any
variation of the cd or cde is acceptable in the sestet. “On His Blindness” “Death,
Be Not Proud” “How Do I Love Thee?” “London, 1802” “Douglass”
*Spenserian Sonnet: consists of nine iambic lines rhymed abab bcbc cdcd ee, all pentameter except last
which is hexameter (6) or alexandrine and is the summary.
*Sonnet Sequence: series or group of sonnets written to one person or on one theme; develops a
relationship but can be examined separately
*Companion Poems: poems by the same author designed to complement each other.
Wordsworth’s “Lucy” poems
Elegy: a poem that laments the dead (elegaic stanza) “To an Athlete Dying Young”
*Cinquain: a five-line poem with two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight
in the fourth, and two again in the fifth (2,4,6,8,2) It is the American counterpart of the
Japanese haiku, a three-line poem with 5, 7, then 5 syllables per line.
Villanelle: 19-line French verse form; the three lines in each of the first five stanzas rhyme aba; the final
quatrain rhymes abaa. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
*Complaint: a lyric poem frequent in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in which the poet: laments
the unresponsiveness of his mistress, bemoans his unhappy lot and seeks to remedy it, or
regrets the sorry state of the world a poem expressing great grief
Devices of Sound
Rhythm: the reoccurring rise and fall of sounds in a line of poetry
Meter: the pattern of rhythm in a line of poetry
Foot: a portion of a line of poetry, usually consisting of one accented and either one or two
unaccented syllables
Monometer –one foot
Dimeter – two feet
Trimeter – three feet
Tetrameter – four feet
Pentameter – five feet
Hexameter – six feet
Heptameter – seven feet
Octameter – eight feet
Types of Feet:
Iambus (adj- iambic) unaccented / accented [I am] (Em bark re late “To arms.
To arms”)
Trochee (adj. – trochaic) accented/ unaccented [Tro key] (Frank ly quest ion)
Anapest (adj. – anapestic) [an uh PEST] Unaccented / unaccented / accented (Oh he floats
through the air with the great est of ease)
Dactyl (adj. – dactylic) [Dac till lick] accented/unaccented/unaccented (laugh a
ble)
Spondee (adj. – spondaic) two accented syllables (Blood-red life-like)
Pyrrhic Foot – two unaccented of the in the line “The sail/of the/depart/ing ship.”
Scansion: distinguishing the line length and type of feet; Vertical lines mark the ends of feet; the
metrical pattern is determined by scanning; the pattern is named by the prevailing type of foot
(Trochaic trimeter“Teach me/half the/gladness”
Iambic Pentameter“There is a tide in the affairs of men”/)
****Metrical Variations: If a poem rigidly adheres to a metrical pattern, much of its charm is often lost
in the monotonous recurrence of the same rhythm. Poets vary the meter in different ways. They
will use one foot (spondee or pyrrhic) that is different from the prevailing one.They will use a
truncated or catalectic foot - - one in which a pause is substituted for an unaccented
syllable.“Break/break/break…”
1. They will use one foot (spondee or pyrrhic) that is different from the prevailing one.
2. They will use a truncated or catalectic foot—one in which a pause is substituted for an unaccented
syllable. (break, break, break)
3. They will use a feminine ending, in which two consecutive syllables of the rhyming words
correspond with the accent on the first syllable: flying/dying
4. They will use the caesura (also cesura), which is a “sense” pause in a line that does not affect the
metrical count or timing. It is marked with double vertical lines (//). This method of variation is
frequently found in blank verse. It is conducive to the run-on line as opposed to the end-stopped
line. (“With loss of Eden, /till the greater Man (run-on)
Restore us./ and regain the blissful seat.” (end-stopped)
End-stopped line: break in the meter; meaning; pause in reading
Enjambment or Run-on Line: no pause or stop at the end of the line
*Sprung Rhythm: lots of variations/violations. A term coined by Gerard Manley Hopkins to designate
the meter of poetry whose rhythm is based on the number of stressed syllables in a verse without
regard to the number of unstressed syllables.
Rhyme: the similarity between the sounds of words or syllables; for there to be perfect rhyme:
(a) The vowel sounds must be similar and accented.
(b) The sounds following the vowel must be similar.
(c) The sounds preceding the vowel must be different.
End Rhyme: the correspondence between the sounds of words at the ends of lines
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,”
Internal Rhyme: rhyme of words in the same line or between a word in the line and one with
the next.
“We were the first that ever burst…”
“The trees were black where the bark was wet…
I see them yet, in the spring of the year…”
Exact Rhyme: use of identical rhyming sound
(love / dove)
Slant Rhyme / Imperfect Rhyme: the use, where rhyme is expected, of words that do not strictly
rhyme; Assonance and consonance are forms of imperfect rhyme, but these appear within the
lines. Imperfect rhyme appears where a rhyme scheme has been established in the poem.
Rhyme Scheme: the pattern of rhymes in a stanza. It is usually marked by the use of letters of the
alphabet, beginning with a and using the same letter to denote all lines which rhyme.
“They glide like phantoms, into the wide hall, A
Like phantoms, to the iron porch, they glide; B
……………………………………….sprawl, A
……………………………………side; B
**Masculine Rhyme: the rhyming of a single syllable (run – run ; today – in May)
**Feminine Rhyme: one that is multiple with the first rhyming syllable accented (showers - flowers
impulsively - convulsively)
Assonance: the agreement of vowel sounds without repetition of consonants
“My words l ike silent rain drops fell…”
Alliteration: the rhyme of initial consonant sounds (“The furrow followed free.” Samson saw)
Consonance: the agreement of ending consonant sounds when the vowel sounds differ (gross
– crass/ live – dove
Cacophony /Dissonance: harsh/inharmonious sounds (worse than slant rhymes) a harsh, unpleasant
combination of sounds. May be used for effect as Hardy and Browning did. “Twas brillig, and
the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe”
Euphony: Pleasing sounds; the opposite of cacophony
Refrain: a group of words or lines that recurs regularly at the end of successive stanzas.
Repetition: the repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis; the same phrase, however, is not repeated
regularly throughout the poem as in the refrain
“Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea.
Onomatopoeia: the imitation of sounds by words either directly or suggestively
Directly: buzz, moo
Suggestively: “silken sad unce rtain rustling of each purple curtain” (Here the alliteration produces the
sound of the curtain.)
Units of Verse
Verse: a single line of poetry
Stanza: a unit of poetry consisting of a group of related verses generally with a definite metrical
pattern and rhyme scheme.
Canto: a division of a long poem, comparable to chapters in a book (The Inferno)
Book: a major division of a long poem, usually an epic; books can be divided into cantos and cantos into
stanzas. (The 3 books of The Divine Comedy)
Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter (Shakespeare’s plays)
*Alexandrine: a line of iambic hexameter
Free Verse (Vers Libre): poetry with irregular meter and usually without rhyme, but definitely not the
regular rhythm of traditional poetry
Couplet: a pair of successive verses which rhyme (often at the end of Shakespeare’s sonnets)
Tercet: a stanza of three lines, usually all rhyming
Quatrain: a stanza of four lines; the most common in English
*Ballad Stanza: a quatrain in which the first and third lines are iambic tetrameter and may rhyme: the
second and fourth lines are iambic trimeter and must rhyme.
*Quintain (Quintet): a five-line stanza
Sestet: a six-line stanza or the last six lines of an Italian sonnet
Octave (Octet): a stanza of eight lines, probably the second most common in English. It is also the
name given to the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet.
*Heptastich; seven line stanza
*Rhyme Royal: seven-line iambic pentameter stanza rhyming ababbcc: Chaucer used this; derived
from use by Scottish King James I (also Wyatt; Shakespeare)
Terza rima: three-line stanza with interlocking rhymes that connect stanza to stanza (aba bcb cdc ded)
Dante’s Inferno is written in terza rima.
*Ottava rima: eight iambic pentameter lines that rhyme abababcc; Lord Byron in “Don Juan”
and Yeats
Other Terms
*Prosody: The theory and principles of versification, particularly as they refer to rhythm, accent,
and stanza.
*Metaphysical Poetry: Usually refers to the work of seventeenth-century poets who used similar
methods and revolted against the romantic conventionalism of Elizabethan love poetry. They
tended toward psychological analysis of the emotions of love and religion. They had a penchant
for the unusual and shocking, used metaphysical conceits. They intended to express honestly, yet
unconventionally, the poet’s sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. (John Donne,
George Herbert) The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or Neo-Classic
Periods, and echoes the words and cadences of common speech. The imagery is drawn from the
commonplace or the remote. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet’s lover,
with God, or with himself.
Modes of Discourse/Organization :
Argument: This traditional form of discourse functions by convincing or persuading an audience or by
proving or refuting a point of view or an issue. Argumentation uses induction, moving from
observations about particular things to generalizations, or deduction, moving from
generalizations to valid inferences about particulars, or some combination of the two as its
pattern of development.
Cause and Effect: One of the traditional rhetorical strategies, cause and effect consists of arguing from
the presence or absence of the cause to the existence or non-existence of the effect or result or,
conversely, in arguing from an effect to its probable causes.
Classification/Division: Classification identifies the subject as a part of a larger group with shared
features; division breaks the subject into smaller segments
Comparison/Contrast: Comparison is pointing out the similarities between another subject or idea;
contrast is pointing out difference between another subject or idea
Definition: A traditional pattern of thought which places a subject into an appropriate group and then
differentiates the subject from the other sections of the group, The first step limits the meaning of
the subject; the second step
specifies its meaning. In prose, definitions are often extended by illustrations and examples.
Description: The traditional classification of discourse that depicts images verbally in space and time
and arranges those images in a logical pattern, such as spatial or by association.
Types of Description
Slice of Life: a term that describes the type of realistic or naturalistic writing that accurately reflects
what life is like.
Local color: the use of details that are common in a region of the country. (“Mama said I was no-count
and shiftless and why hadn’t I gathered eggs and…Cold Sassy Tree)
Chiaroscuro: contrasting light and shade. Originally applied to painting, the term is used in discussion
of contrasts in light and dark. (Hawthorne, Nabokov, Faulkner, Ellison)
Exposition: One of the traditional classifications of discourse that has as a function to inform or to
instruct or to present ideas and general truths objectively. Exposition can use any of the following
organizational patterns.
Narration: The classification of discourse that tells a story or relates an event.
Process analysis: either gives directions about how to do something (directive) or provides
information on how something happened (informative).
Style analysis: Spoken or written analysis or discourse about literature. It tries to help us better
understand a work, not just evaluate the work. The ten critical approaches to literature are:
Formalist criticism; Biographical criticism; Historical criticism; Psychological criticism;
Mythological criticism; Sociological criticism; Gender criticism; Reader-response criticism;
Deconstructionist criticism; Cultural studies
Synthesis: an argument in which the writer argues his/her point using various sources to
support a position
Elements of Argumentation
Purpose: the specific reason or reasons for the writing. The objective or goal that the writer wishes to
establish. Possible purposes: support a cause; promote a change; refute a theory; stimulate
interest; win agreement; arouse sympathy; provoke anger
Audience: The writer’s targeted reader or readers. The relationship between the writer and the audience
is critical. Writers should consider the kind of information, language, and overall approach that
will appeal to a specific audience.
Appeals of Logic, Emotion, and Ethics:
Types of Logical Appeals (Logos): inductive or deductive reasoning, common beliefs, allusions to
history, religious texts, great literature; style manipulation; various modes of discourse;
testimony; analogies; evidence; cite authorities; facts, cause and effect; precedent.
Types of Emotional Appeals (Pathos): language involving the senses; include bias or prejudice;
anecdotes; connotative language; euphemisms; description; figurative language; tone;
informal language
Types of Ethical Appeals (Ethos): show written voice in the argument; use a reliable narrator; use
logical evidence; show respect for the audience; show concern; show evidence of
trustworthy research
Logical Reasoning: an orderly progression of ideas.
Inductive Reasoning—A process in logic that involves moving from a number of particular cases to a
general conclusion that all instances of the type investigated will conform to that type.
Deductive Reasoning-A process in logic that involves reasoning from stated premises to the formally
valid conclusion; reasoning from the general to the particular.
Syllogism—An argument or form of reasoning in which two statements or premises are made and a
logical conclusion drawn from them. The formula for deductive reasoning (Major premise, minor
premise, conclusion) e.g., All mammals are warm blooded. Whales are mammals. Therefore
whales are warm blooded.
Arguments: Assertions made based on facts, statistics, and logical reasoning.
Analogy—A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things
***Literary Movements
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period (428-1100) Beowulf
Anglo-Norman Period (1100-1350) Magna Charta, Dante’s Divine Comedy
Middle English Period (1350-1500) Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Renaissance Classicism—(1500-1600) A movement or tendency in art, music, and literature during
the Renaissance to retain the characteristics found in works originating in classical Greece and
Rome. Classicism concerns itself with form, discipline, self-control, decorum, and
tradition. Pastoral poems, sonnets. It suggests the unlimited human potential. (Donne, Bacon,
Marlow, Shakespeare)
Neoclassicism—or Restoration Age (1660-1700), Augustan Age (1700-1750), Age of Johnson
(1750-1798) is that period from about 1660 to the late 18th century.that saw humankind as
limited, dualistic, and imperfect. Order, concentration, logic, retrained emotion, moral
instruction. Comedy of Manners, satire, odes, parody, essays were popular. Neoclassical poets
chose their classical models from the Greek and Roman tradition, (Milton, Pope, Dryden, Austen,
Swift, Defoe)
Romanticism--was a literary and artistic movement of the nineteenth century, one that arose in reaction
against eighteenth-century Neoclassicism and that placed a premium on fancy, imagination,
emotion, nature, individuality, and exotica. Gothic novels are a sub-genre. (Bronte, Poe,
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats,
Transcendentalism--Transcendentalism was an American literary and philosophical movement of the
19th century. The Transcendentalists, who were based in New England, believe d that intuition
and the individual conscience “transcend ” experience and thus are better guides to truth
than are the senses and logical reason. Transcendentalists respected the individual spirit and the
natural world and believed that divinity was present everywhere, in nature and in each person.
This last notion of an omnipresent divinity, or Over-Soul, shows the influence on
Transcendentalism of the Hindu religion and of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swendenborg.
(Emerson, Thoreau)
Realism—is the presentation in art of the details of actual life. Realism was also a literary movement
that began during the 19th century and stressed the actual as opposed to the imagined or the
fanciful. The Realists tried to write truthfully and objectively about ordinary characters in
ordinary situations. (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Miller, O’Neill)
Naturalism—was a literary movement among novelists at the end of the nineteenth century and during
the early decades of the twentieth century. The Naturalists tended to view people as hapless
victims of immutable natural laws. (Thomas Hardy, Stephen Crane, Jack London)
Existentialism: “pertaining to existence”; or, in logic, “ predicting existence.” Philosophically, it now
applies to a vision of the condition and existence of man, his place and function in the world, and
his relationship, or lack of one, with God.
Christian Existentialism: It is generally agreed that existentialism derives from the thinking of Soren
Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Kierkegaard was for the most part re-stating and elaborating upon the
belief that through God and in God man may find freedom from tension and discontent and
therefore find piece of mind and spiritual serenity. (Dostoyevsky’ s Crime and Punishment).
Atheistic Existentialism: After Kierkegaard, existential thought was greatly expanded at the beginning
of the 20th century by Heidegger and Jaspers (German philosophers), whose ideas in turn
influenced a large number of European philosophers. An important feature of atheistic
existentialism is the argument that existence precedes essence (the reverse of most traditional
forms of philosophy) for it is held that man fashions his own existence and only exists by so doing,
and, in that process, and by the choice of what he does or does not do, gives essence to that
existence. Jean-Paul Sartre is the epitome of modern existentialism and his version, expressed
through his novels, plays and philosophical writings, is the one that has caught on and been the
most widely influential. For example, in No Exit, man is born into a kind of void, a mud. He has
the liberty to remain in this mud in a semi-conscious state in which he is scarcely aware of
himself. However, he may come out of his subjective, passive situation, become increasingly
aware of himself and conceivably, experience angst (metaphysical and moral anxiety). If so, he
would then have a sense of the absurdity of his predicament and suffer despair. The energy
deriving from this awareness would enable him to “drag himself out of the mud,” and begin to
exist. By exercising his power of choice, he can give meaning to existence and the universe. Thus,
in brief, the human being is obliged to make himself what he is and has to be what he is (Samuel
Beckett and Albert Camus)
Modernism—Modernism attempted to capture the essence of modern life in the 20th century in both
form and the content of their wok. The uncertainty, bewilderment, and apparent
meaninglessness of modern life are common themes in literature. These themes are generally
implied, rather than directly stated, to reflect a sense of uncertainty and to enable readers to draw
their own conclusions. Stories and novels are structured to reflect the fragmentation and
uncertainty of human experience. The typical modern story or novel seems to begin arbitrarily
and to end without resolution, leaving the reader with possibilities and ambiguities, not solutions.
Subgroups include: Symbolism, impressionism, post-impressionism, futurism, constructivism,
imagism, vorticism, expressionism, dada and surrealism) (Ellison’s Invisible Man; Joyce’s
Ulysses; Conrad’s Heart of Darkness; Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying)
Post-modernism—refers to the collection of literary movements that have developed in the decades
following WWII. Many post-modernists have attempted to capture the essence of contemporary
life in the form and content of their work. Others, however, have focused on creating works that
stand apart form the literature of the past. To accomplish these purposes, writers have
experimented with a variety of different approaches and used a wide range of literary forms and
techniques. Many writers have continued to develop the fragmentary approach of the
Modernists, omitting expositions, resolutions, and transitions, and composing stories in the form
of broken or distorted sequence of scenes, rather that in the form of a continuous narrative.
Possessing the belief that reality is to some extent shaped by our imaginations, some writers have
turned away from writing realistic fiction and begun writing fantasy or “magical realism”--fiction
that blends realism and fantasy. Other writers have radically departed from traditional fictional
forms and techniques, composing works from dialogue alone, creating works that blend fiction
and nonfiction, and experimenting with the physical appearance of a work. Some Postmodernists
have confronted the problems they perceive in modern society through the use of satire and black
humor. (Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5; Nabokov’s Pale Fire; magical realism=Marquez’s One
Hundred Years of Solitude)