Unit 5: Additional Literary Terms

Opening invocation to the Muse: The speaker of the poem asks the Muse for inspiration.

Lofty style: Elegant language stresses the nobility of the subject.

Objective tone: By keeping an emotional distance, the poet focuses attention on the story.

Meter, or a fixed rhythmic pattern: A strong meter helps the oral poet remember the lines.

Epithet, a characterizing phrase for a person, place, or thing: Recurring epithets are easy to remember and can help fill out the meter.

Epic simile, a long comparison over many lines: Such similes were another way to fill out the meter and aid the poet's memory.

In addition, the hero's adventures are often recounted in a flashback, a scene that interrupts a narrative to relate earlier events.

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses.

Write a retelling of the Odyssey set in modern times.

With two classmates, write and deliver a conversation among ordinary Greeks discussing Odysseus' exploits.

Write a short biography of Odysseus based on details presented in the Odyssey.

Conduct a debate to decide whether Odysseus should be prosecuted for the murders of Penelope's suitors.

A contemporary interpretation of a literary work is a new piece of writing that a modern-day author bases on an older text.

An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work of literature or art.

An idiom is an expression that is characteristic of a language, region, community, or class of people.

Many fields of study, work, and play have technical terms. These are words that may be familiar in general use but also have specialized meanings in a particular field.

Like technical language, jargon refers to the specialized words and phrases used in a specific field.

An autobiographical narrative describes real events in the writer's life and shares the lessons or wisdom the writer gained from the experiences.

An archetype is a character, image, situation, or type of plot that appears in the literature of all cultures and eras.

Characterization is the art of portraying a character.

In direct characterization, the author tells the reader what a character is like.

In indirect characterization, the author gives clues about a character.

Archetypal narrative patterns are storytelling structures that appear in literature from around the world.

Share your findings in a multimedia presentation.

Write a persuasive essay in which you explain whether you think motherhood meets Campbell's definition of the heroic journey.

Share your findings in an informal presentation.

Write an article or blog post in which you discuss altruistic behavior you may have observed in your school, your community, or another setting.

Write a reflective essay about a real person whom you consider to be a hero.

Write an argumentative essay in which you state and defend a claim about the concepts of heroism and responsibility.