Literary Terms

Sarah CaseyMs. Curtis

AP English, Period 330 September 2011

Didactic

Didactic words are meant to teach; often times a moral or ethical lesson. Could also be known as a theme of a story if it teaches a lesson.

A majority of fables are didactic stories that have a moral lesson at the end of each one.

Didactic Examples Example #1: The book Fredrick’s Fables is composed of

many didactic short stories by Leo Lionni, such as “Fish is Fish” which has a moral lesson to be satisfied with who you are and where you are from (Lionni).

Example #2: A second short story, “The Biggest House in the World” by Leo Lionni has a didactic message that one should be satisfied with what they have and to not waste time chasing the bigger and better things (Lionni).

Example #3: Finally, a third didactic message from Frederick’s Fables by Leo Lionni is from the short story “Swimmy” where the message in the story is to teach people how to work together for the greater good of a group (Lionni).

Euphemism

A euphemism is a more appropriate or agreeable and politically correct way of mentioning a usually unpleasant phrase or subject.

Euphemism Examples

Example #1: Telling someone that something has “gone to a better place” is a euphemism for if something has died.

Example #2: “Chronologically challenged is a euphemism for being, in other words, old” (Euphemism List).

Example #3: “Homefun” can be used as a euphemism for homework, especially on the weekends.

Extended Metaphor

An extended metaphor is a metaphor that extended to be longer than a sentence or phrase. An extended metaphor could also be the use of a single metaphor that occurs frequently throughout the text.

Extended Metaphor Examples Example #1: In Booker T. Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise

Speech” “cast down your bucket” is an extended metaphor (Washington).

Example #2: Emily Dickinson wrote an extended metaphor about hope and comparing it to a bird. "Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune--without the words,And never stops at all…” and it continues throughout the passage (Nordquist).

Example #3: In Martin Luther’s “I Have A Dream” speech, he uses an extended metaphor that involves checks and balances that states that there are “insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation” (King).

Figurative Language

Language that is not meant to be taken literally and uses figures of speech, to get across a point. Figurative language can be expressed through similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, personification, hyperbole, understatement, allusions, etc.

Figurative Language Examples Example #1:The vase fell with a crash! Is an

example of an onomatopoeia. It is a sound that is expressed as a word and is a device of figurative language.

Example #2: The “Atlanta Compromise Speech” uses figurative language with it’s use of metaphors, and similes such as “as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand” (Washington).

Example #3: “It’s raining cats and dogs” is an example of figurative language. Cats and dogs can’t literally rain from the sky.

Figure of Speech

• An expression of speech where words are not used in their literal sense. Figures of speech are used in figurative language.

• Metaphors, similes, personification, and antithesis are all examples of figures of speech.

Figure of Speech Examples

• Example #1: “The trees danced in the wind” is an example of personification because trees cannot literally dance. Personification is an example of a figure of speech.

• Example #2: In King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” the quote “ quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood” represents a figure of speech because it is a metaphor (King).

• Example #3: “Separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand” is an example of a figure of speech as a simile in “The Atlanta Compromise Address” (Washington).

Works Cited Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at

Dictionary.com. Web. 27 Sept. 2011. <http://dictionary.com>. Euphemism List — Examples & Meanings of Euphemisms. 2009.

Web. 30 Sept. 2011. <http://www.euphemismlist.com/>. King Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have A Dream." Washington, D.C. 28 Aug.

1963. Speech. Lionni, Leo. "Fish Is Fish." Frederick's Fables: a Treasury of 16

Favorite Leo Lionni Stories. New York: Scholastic, 1997. Print. Nordquist, Richard. "Extended Metaphor - Definition and Examples

of Extended Metaphor - Glossary of Rhetorical Terms." Grammar and Composition - Homepage of About Grammar and Composition. Web. 30 Sept. 2011.

Washington, Booker T. "Atlanta Compromise Address." International Exposition. Atlanta. 1895. Address.

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