DELTA STATE POLYTECHNIC

P.M.B 003,
OTEFE OGHARA, DELTA-STATE, NIGERIA.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY,

SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
(BIOCHEMISTRY OPTION)

GROUP I PRESENTATION

ON

LITERACY APPRECIATION AND ORAL COMPOSITION

USE OF ENGLISH

(GNS 401)

QUESTION

Explain the following literary terms; Criticism,

Denouncement, Dialogue, Didactic, Drama, Enjambment,
Euphemism, Fable, Foil.

JULY, 2024.
i
 GROUP I MEMBERS

S/N NAMES MATRIC NO TEXTBOOK SCORES

NO

1 OJIWETE FAVOUR 17990

RUKEVWE (GROUP
LEADER)

2 UGWUMBA 18258
AUGUSTINA
NNEAMAKA

3 BLOFF BLESSING 17394

OFEJIRO

4 OMOWHO 19747
OGHENEOVO
ANNABEL

5 IDJAGUN OMEJEVWE 20363

JOLLY

6 COLLINS 19941
OGHENEYOLE
PRECIOUS

7 MORRIS BLESSING 17153

8 ONOGHWARE HOPE 17852

9 ONOSADJAYE 17682
RUKEVWE

10 ETEMIRE BLESSING 18460

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page - - - - - - - - - - - i

Group names - - - - - - - - - - ii

Certification - - - - - - - - - - iii

Dedication - - - - - - - - - - - iv

Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - - v

Table of Contents - - - - - - - - - - vi

iii
LITERARY TERMS

Literary terms refer to the technique, style, and formatting used by writers and
speakers to masterfully emphasize, embellish, or strengthen their compositions.
Literary terms can refer to playful techniques employed by comedians to make us
laugh or witty tricks wordsmiths use to coin new words or phrases. They can also
include the tools of persuasion that writers use to convince and drive audiences to
action (Abrams, 2021).

Literary terms also include powerful figurative language that writers use to
summon emotion ranging from guilt to anger to bliss, and to allow us to see the
world in new and magical ways (Iwuchukwu and Chinweikpe, 2021). Words can
be arranged to give poems, songs, and prose alike, rhythm and musicality. They
can animate a story with such wealth of detail, character development,
and action that as readers, we are taken by a story, and feel as if the people on the
page are real. Literary terms have a wide range of application, from the poet’s
beauty, to the speaker’s persuasion, to the novelist’s story development (Abrams,
2021).

Importance of Literary Terms

Literary terms are important in a wide variety of ways which includes;

 They allow writers and speakers to make comments on society, politics, and
trends.
 Rhetorical devices can be used to strengthen arguments which persuade and
convince audiences. Persuasion is an extremely powerful tool, as gaining the
hearts and minds of an audience means gaining their support and action.
Persuasion empowers the writer to change the mind of the audience and to
compel the audience to take action in a certain way (Abrams, 2021).

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  Figurative language can summon emotions and visions of nature and the
world in unique and compelling ways. Figurative language creates
connections between unlike things which have never been considered
before. It encourages complicated, creative, and poetic thought processes
which give rise to beautiful, strange, and unique conceptions. It also allows
writers to transcend logical and typical bounds of thinking in order to
present things in a new and meaningful way.
 Literary terms have the power to create serious, comedic, or whimsical
moods via tools of persuasion, poeticism, and wordplay (Abrams, 2021).

EXAMPLES OF LITERARY TERMS

The following are some of the examples of literary terms;

CRITICISM

Criticism is the study, analysis and evaluation of a literary work. This includes the
classification by genre, analysis of structure, and judgment of value. It asks what
literature is, what it does and what it is worth (Abrams, 2021). Criticism is also a
method used to interpret any given work of literature. This provides us with lenses
which ultimately reveal important aspects of the literary work. Literary criticism
has two main functions: To analyze, study, and evaluate works of literature and to
form general principles for the examination of works of literature (Leitch and
Vincent, 2021).

Types of Criticism

Criticism is often divided into the following types in literary and critical histories:

 Impressionistic criticism emphasizes how the work of art affects the critic.

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  Historical criticism examines the work against its historical surroundings
and the facts of its author’s life and times.
 Textual criticism attempts by all scholarly means to reconstruct the original
manuscript or textual version of the work.
 Formal criticism examines the work in terms of the characteristics of the
type or genre to which it belongs.
 Judicial criticism judges the work by a definable set of standards.
 Analytical criticism attempts to get at the nature of the work as an object in
itself through the detailed analysis of its parts and their organization.
 Moral criticism evaluates the work in relation to human life.
 Mythic criticism explores the nature and significance of the archetypes and
archetypal patterns in the work.
 Structural criticism studies literature as a series of linguistic structures
whose meanings are made possible through systems of convention.
 Phenomenological criticism makes an existential analysis of the worlds
created in the consciousness by the language of art (Leitch and Vincent,
2021)

Importance of Criticism

 Criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text, its structure,
its context (social, economic, historical) what is written and how the text
manipulates the reader.
 Literary criticism helps us to understand the relationship between authors,
readers, and texts.
 The act of literary criticism ultimately enhances the enjoyment of our reading
of the literary work (Dukore, 2014).

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Advantages of Criticism

 Enhanced Critical Thinking: Engaging with diverse viewpoints

and interpretations within the literature fosters critical thinking skills,
allowing researchers to evaluate, critique, and integrate various perspectives
into their own work.
 Credibility Enhancement: Through criticis m, researchers
enhance the credibility and validity of their own work, grounding their
findings in a robust scholarly foundation.
 Identification of Knowledge Gaps: Through criticis m,
researchers and writers can identify gaps in knowledge, paving the way
for future endeavors and contributing to the advancement of their field
(Dukore, 2014).

Disadvantages of Criticism

 It can be time consuming due to careful analysis and evaluation.

 Language and Accessibility Barriers : Accessing relevant
literature may pose challenges due to language barriers or
restricted access to works and databases (Dukore, 2014).

DENOUEMENT

Denouement in literature is an essential component to telling a story because it

wraps up the plot and resolves any outstanding issues. Denouement occurs at the
very end of a story, usually in the final chapter or epilogue. It happens after the
climax and shows the aftermath, giving the reader an idea about what will come
next even though it will not be written in the story (Abrams, 2021).

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William Shakespeare's classic play, Romeo and Juliet, is about two “star-crossed”
lovers from rival families who ended up falling in love. In the climax of the story,
Romeo mistakenly thinks Juliet has died and decides to drink poison to end his
own life. As he’s dying, Juliet wakes up and when he finally dies, she decides to
take her own life as well.

The denouement begins just after the couple’s death, starting from their discovery
by their families and Friar Laurence. Only one scene long, it begins with a
monologue from Friar Laurence, includes reconciliation between the two families,
and ends with a final monologue from the Prince (Abrams, 2021).

How to write a Denouement

If you’re writing a novel, screenplay, or other narrative, there are tips on how to
write the denouement. These include;

1. Make Sure One Exists: You’d be surprised at how many writers choose to
end their stories at the end of the climax and forego the denouement,
thinking it’s better to end on a high note. It never works. The reader needs
one or two scenes to come down off the action, look around, and see how the
world has changed now past the action of the story.
2. Show the New World Order: The purpose of the denouement is to give the
reader a chance to see the New World Order. When writing a denouement,
think about the structure of narrative you've created. The exposition and
denouement are in many ways mirrors of each other. If you’re stuck on what
to write in your denouement, focus on how the world looks now compared
to how the world looked in the exposition (Abrams, 2021).
3. End with the Subplot: One of the best uses for the denouement is to cap off
the subplot, if you have one. This is especially effective if you have a love

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 story subplot. This is a great way to finish your subplot efficiently while also
ending your main plot effectively.
Importance of Denouement in Literature

Denouement allows the audience to experience the emotions that come with the
resolution of conflicts and clears up any final loose ends. With a skillful
denouement, the audience will feel satisfied and have a natural sense that their time
with that story has ended (Abrams, 2021).

DIALOGUE

Dialogue is a stylized written or spoken exchange between two or more people. It

is a form of communication between characters. This is different from monologue,
which refers to the spoken word of one person aloud (Creswell, 2012).

Dialogue is commonly found in plays, books, or other long-form works with

multiple characters. It can be identified in fiction, nonfiction, and poetic works.

Dialogue is easily identified because it is marked by quotation marks on either side

of the words being spoken. In addition, there is usually a line break that occurs
after a character speaks. Dialogues can also be followed by a dialogue tag such
as: she said. Dialogue tags are not always used and can be redundant when the
conversation is banter between two characters. In this case, it is assumed that every
other line is spoken by the same character (Creswell, 2012).

Dialogue is commonly written in the vernacular language of the characters, as it is

supposed to mirror the true characteristics of a spoken conversation.

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Example of a Dialogue

1. “What did Mr. Walters say to you, boy? I understand you had quite a little
chat.

2. “Yes, we did. We really did. I was in his office for around two hours, I
guess.”

3. “What’d he say to you?”

4. “Oh…well, about Life being a game and all. And how you should play it
according to the rules. He was pretty nice about it. I mean he didn’t hit the
ceiling or anything. He just kept talking about Life being a game and all. You
know.”

5. “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”

Types of Dialogue

 Inner dialogue: Inner dialogue is a conversation that takes place between a

person and their own mind. This is essentially a character talking to his or
herself. This form of dialogue may not have quotation marks around it.
Sometimes, it is italicized rather than using quotation marks to represent its
being spoken internally. Inner dialogue is a useful tool that shows inner
conflict for a particular character (Robert et al., 2018). This often happens
when they are struggling to make a decision or come to terms with their
beliefs or values. For example;

I can't believe it's raining outside! I wonder if we can go skiing this weekend?
Thought Favour (Abrams, 2021).

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  Outer dialogue: Outer Dialogue is a conversation that takes place outside of
a character's head and between two characters (Robert et al., 2018). The
following is an example of outer dialogue:

"I can't wait to go skiing this weekend," said Favour (Abrams, 2021).

Reasons for Dialogue

First, it creates characterization. In fact, it is one of the four main methods of

characterization. The audience learns much about a character through his speech.

Second, dialogue advances the plot interactions within, between, or among

characters, help to give insight to the storyline.

Additionally, well-written dialogue makes a text realistic. In the real world, people
interact and have conversations. This is critical to a successful text (Creswell,
2012).

Importance/Advantages of Dialogue

 Dialogue plays a large role in propelling the plot forward. It is a facet

through which the author can introduce new concepts, characters, and
conflict.
 Dialogue can also help charge scenes with emotion, heightening tension
between characters or building suspense ahead of a key event or turning point
in the plot.
 Dialogue provides valuable information to the reader. It can also be used to
give information about the storyline (Creswell, 2012).

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Disadvantages of Dialogue

 Too much dialogue in a story without relief, however, can slow the story.
All talk can take readers out of the fiction, make them want and look for
something different. The story then begins to drag. Once you’ve lost the
reader’s attention, you’ve got to do something, something different to regain
it.
 A story that’s all talk doesn’t make for an engrossing tale. Readers will
quickly tire of a story that’s all talk or all action or all description or all
exposition, so consider variety and balance as you write scenes with
dialogue. While one story may quite easily lean toward more action and
another toward more dialogue, each should have variety and some kind of
balance among the story elements (Creswell, 2012).

DIDACTIC

The word didactic means instructive. This is when a work is seen to have a moral
purpose; to teach a lesson. Speaking, writing, or showing someone how to do
something is didactic. Didacticism is defined as the type of literature that is meant
to instruct or teach something. Textbooks are, of course, didactic, as are recipe
books, fables, parables, and instructional manuals. Didactic literature can take
many forms, from philosophical to spiritual. Didactic literature is all around us and
has been throughout history (Abrams, 2021).

Writing in a didactic mode or style requires the right tone. In fictional literature,
the didactic tone is recognizable typically when the characters learn an explicit
lesson. For example, in Aesop's Fables, the moral or lesson is clearly stated. When
the tortoise beats the hare, the tortoise explains, "slow and steady wins the race."

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The lesson is not taught only through the outcome but by an explicit, matter-of-fact
statement.

Advantages of Didactic

 Readers are exposed to real language.

 Textbooks do not include inaccurate language.

 There is a wide choice of styles, genres and formality in authentic texts.

 They can motivate students to read for pleasure (Abrams, 2021).

Disadvantages of Didactic

 The vocabulary may be not exactly what the reader need.

 Preparation of the texts and activities is often demanding and time
consuming
 There are many various accents and dialects in listening (Abrams, 2021).

DRAMA

Drama is defined as a form of performance that involves conflicts, emotions, and

the portrayal of human experiences through dialogue and action. It typically
presents a story or situation that engages the audience's emotions, evoking intense
feelings such as tension, excitement, or empathy. Words such as theater, dramatics,
and theatrical performances are often synonymous with drama (Iwuchukwu and
Chinweikpe, 2021).

Drama has a long and rich history, dating back thousands of years. Its origins can
be traced to ancient Greece. Greek drama set the foundation for Western theater,
and its influence can still be seen today. In the middle Ages, drama became
intertwined with religious rituals, with performances based on biblical stories.
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During the Renaissance, playwrights like William Shakespeare revolutionized the
form, creating enduring works such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth.
These examples of drama explored a wide range of themes and emotions, capturing
the essence of human drama (Iwuchukwu and Chinweikpe, 2021).

Drama is an imitation of life. Drama is different from other forms of literature

because of its unique characteristics. It is read, but basically, it is composed to be
performed, so the ultimate aim of dramatic composition is for it to be presented on
stage before an audience. This implies that it a medium of communication. It has a
message to communicate to the audience. It uses actors to convey this message.
This brings us to the issue of mimesis or imitation. We say that drama is mimetic
which means that it imitates life. You may have heard people say that drama
mirrors life. Yes, it is the only branch of literature which tries to imitate life and
presents it realistically to the people. It is this mimetic impulse of drama that
makes it appeal to people (Iwuchukwu and Chinweikpe, 2021).

Characteristics of Drama

 Drama is meant to be acted on stage.

 Action is involved in drama.
 Drama is written in Acts and Scenes.
 Drama is watched by audience (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Types of Drama

 Tragedy: Tragedy is one of the oldest forms of drama; however, its meaning
has changed since the earliest days of staged plays. In ancient times, a
tragedy was often an historical drama featuring The downfall of a great man.
In modern theater, the definition is a bit looser. Tragedy usually involves

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 serious subject matter and the death of one or more main characters. These
plays rarely have a happy ending (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).
 Comedy: When we talk about comedy, we usually refer to plays that are
light in tone, and that typically have happy endings. The intent of a comedic
play is to make the audience laugh. In modern theater, there are many
different styles of comedy, ranging from realistic stories, where the humour
is derived from real-life situations, to outrageous slapstick humour.
 Tragic-comedy: Tragic comedy is a play that starts with a tragedy and end
with happy ending (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).
 Farce: Farce is a sub-category of comedy, characterized by greatly
exaggerated characters and situations. Characters tend to be one dimensional
and often follow stereotypical behaviour. Farces typically involve mistaken
identities, lots of physical comedy and outrageous plot twists. Examples of
farce include the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and the hit 1980
movie Airplane!, written by Jim Abrahams.
 Melodrama: Melodrama is another type of exaggerated drama. As farce, the
characters tend to be simplified and one-dimensional. The formulaic
storyline of the classic melodrama typically involves a villain heroine, and a
hero who must rescue then heroine from the villian. Sometimes called
“tearjerkers,” examples of melodramas include the play The Glass
Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and the classic movie of love during the
Civil War, Gone with the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel.
 Docudrama: A relatively new genre, docudramas are dramatic portrayals of
historic events or non-fictional situations. More often presented in movies
and television than in live theater, popular examples of docudramas include
the movies Apollo 13 and 12 Years a Slave, based on the autobiography
written by Solomon Northup.
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  Opera: This versatile genre of drama combines theater, dialogue, music, and
dance to tell grand stories of tragedy or comedy. Since characters express
their feelings and intentions through song rather than dialogue, performers
must be both skilled actors and singers. The decidedly tragic La Bohème, by
Giacomo Puccini, and the bawdy comedy Falstaff, by Giuseppe Verdi are
classic examples of opera.
 Playlet: A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually
consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical
performance rather than just reading. Plays are performed at a variety of
levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to community
theatre, as well as University or school productions.

Elements of Drama

Role and character: The identification and portrayal of a person’s values,

attitudes, intentions and actions as imagined relationships, situations and ideas in
dramatic action; role focus on type and stereotype; characters are detailed and
specific (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Imitation: Imitation to some extent is a reflection of an action in real life. It is

close to reality but not reality. In imitation you assume a role and not pretend. You
take on or claim the personality of the person you are imitating. An imitation
therefore involves an illusion of the reality and a willing suspension of disbelief.
The actor creates an illusion of reality to make his action credible. The audience in
order to believe him suspends its doubt (disbelief) and believes that what it is
watching is real. This explains why sometimes you are moved to tears as you
watch the suffering of a particular character when you are watching a home video
or any other dramatic presentation. This is called empathy, according to Aristotle,

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mimesis (imitation) entails some copying but not verbatim copying (Scholes and
Klaus, 2021).

Plot: The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines plot as a “plan or line of
events of a story especially of a novel or a story”. In dramatic plot, unlike in the
novel where the author describes the characters and incidents they are involved in,
the playwright presents the characters in action. This means that plot in drama
develops through what the characters do or say, what is done to them, and or what
is said about them or to them. This is why in his opinion, Grebanier describes plot
as “a matter of action of deeds that are done during the course of the story”.

Plot is the structure of the actions which is ordered and presented in order to
achieve particular emotional and artistic effects in a play. It helps to give the play
an organic unity and a coherence that makes the play easy to understand. A good
play should therefore possess a unified plot. Plot in simple terms is the
arrangement of a story in such a way that there will be a sequential, logical and
chronological order.

Action: In simple terms, action is the process of doing something or the

performance itself. If somebody slaps you and you retaliate, there is an action. The
series of events that constitute the plot in any literary work is referred to as action
It includes what the characters say, do, think and in some cases, fail to do. Action
involves activity. This activity becomes more pronounced in drama where the
action is presented in concrete form as the actors present the story to the audience
for entertainment and education. In drama, especially during performance, you see
the characters moving around to perform certain tasks, talk to one another, laugh,
cry, fight, shoot or do anything according to the needs of the moment. All these are
dramatic actions (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

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Dialogue: Dialogue is a discussion between two or more people. In literary works,
it refers to a composition in a conversational form. In the novel it is incorporated in
the story, that is, as the story progresses, the novelist gives two or more characters
the opportunity to discuss or comment on certain issues and the story continues in
prose form. However, in drama, the entire story is presented in dialogue. This
explains why some people find it difficult to read plays because you see the name
of a character, then, what the character says, the name of another character and the
response as seen below (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Setting: Setting is the location of a play. It is the time and place when and where
the action of the play takes place. Setting is very important in a play because it
helps us to appreciate the background of the play. Also in productions it helps the
designers to design appropriate locale, atmosphere, and costume for the play.
Prologue: This is the introductory part of the play. It could be an opening scene, a
speech or an address. In most cases, it introduces the action and makes a statement
on what the audience should expect in the play. In many plays the prologue
foreshadows the events in the play and sometimes gives a background to the play.

Epilogue: This is the direct opposite of the prologue. It is presented at the end of
the play. It sums up the action of the play and in some cases, makes a statement (an
advice or a lesson to be learnt) on the action or events presented in the play.

Interlude: An interlude in a play is a short piece of entertainment that is presented

between the acts or major scenes in a play. It is believed that the term came into
drama during the Renaissance Period to describe the dramatic form of early Tudor
Period. It was then referred to as Tudor Interlude. Queen Elizabeth loved
entertainment, funfair and ceremonies so much that she was accompanied by
extravagant display of affluence each time she made public appearance. These

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displays included some dramatic shows among which the interlude was most
popular (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Soliloquy: Soliloquy is a speech made by a character when he is alone. The

audience hears it but the other characters are not expected to hear it. It is very
common in Renaissance plays. Shakespeare in particular made use of soliloquies in
his play a lot. Playwrights use this device to reveal the thoughts or the feelings of
specific characters in reaction to certain events or situations.

Aside: Aside is a dramatic convention in which a character speaks to himself or

makes a comment in the presence of another character. However, that other
character is not expected to hear the comment but the audience hears it.

Chorus /Narrator: In any play that has a chorus/narrator, the playwright uses it to
supply the information that could not be woven into the dialogue. In many cases it
serves as the authorial voice. The chorus is not usually part of the main cast so
does not participate actively in the action of the play. In most cases they stand or
sit by the side of the stage and make their comments at the appropriate time.

Props: These refer to the items used on stage by the characters.

Script: Script is the written pages of a play. Scripts are divided into acts and
scenes. Scripts for stage and screen have strict but very different formats.

Acts: Acts are long sections of a play, made up of multiple scenes, usually
designed to separate the play into its main parts and to give the audience a “break”
from the performance (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Scenes: Scenes are shorter sections of a play; usually each scene occurs in one
location at a specific time. Multiple scenes make up an act.

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Audience: Individuals or groups of people who experience the arts in a range of
settings and contexts (formal, informal, virtual or interactive) through intellectual,
emotional and social engagement. The artist is audience to their own artwork.

Theme: Theme refers to what a play is about (often the central idea), while what
specifically happens on stage is the plot. Through the dramatic action of the plot,
the deeper meaning of the play is revealed. A single play can consist of multiple
themes. Extracting a theme from a play involves viewing it with a wider lens and
seeing the bigger picture (Scholes and Klaus, 2021).

Sound/Music: Contemporary theatre relies on sound and music in a number of

ways. While theatre has traditionally used lighting to create an atmosphere in
performance, sound and music is being increasingly manipulated to create mood.
Actors and their bodies can also construct effective sound in performance.

Functions of Drama

 Drama teaches us to reflect on life’s actions and experience.

 Drama is used to entertain, inform and educate people. You can see that it is
the most effective tool for mass mobilization by the government and private
agencies. For instance, most campaigns against AIDS, DRUG ABUSE,
CHILD ABUSE and so on, are presented in form of drama to educate,
enlighten while at the same time entertain the people.
 It serves as a means of communication which creates awareness and
sensitizes people to understand themselves in the society.\
 Therapeutic: It helps or enables patients to release tensions and also
provides therapist with valuable information on and insight into the patient’s
state of mind (Abrams, 2021).

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  Co-operation: Working together as a team can be easily achieved by
watching or acting drama.

ENJAMBMENT

Enjambment is a line of poetry in which the grammatical and logical sense run on,
without pause, into the next line or lines. Enjambment is continuing a line after
the line breaks.

Many poems end lines with the natural pause at the end of a phrase or with
punctuation as end-stopped lines, enjambment ends a line in the middle of a
phrase, allowing it to continue onto the next line as an enjambed line. Enjambment
is derived from the French phrase enjambment meaning to “straddle something,” as
the sentence extends to a next line. The opposite of an enjambed line of poetry is
an end-stopped line: a sentence or clause whose end does fall at the end of a line of
poetry (Abrams, 2021).

How to tell if a line, stanza or paragraph is enjambed

Sometimes, whether or not lines of poetry are enjambed or end-stopped will be

obvious because the punctuation (or lack of punctuation) will make it obvious. But
punctuation is not always a good guide to enjambment: it's better to judge whether
a line is enjambed by its syntax (Lyle, 2013).

For instance, take these lines from Romeo and Juliet, where the second and fifth
line are end-stopped, and lines one, three, and four are third are enjambed:

When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine

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That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Here the second and fifth lines are clearly end-stopped, as they conclude phrases or
sentences. (Although the sentence continues after line 2, line 2 ends on a
concluding note for that phrase and line 3 begins a new part of the sentence).
Meanwhile, the first, third, and fifth lines are enjambed, as the flow of the
sentence continues across the line breaks.

However, in some poems it may be difficult to tell whether a line is enjambed

based only on punctuation. Many poets use punctuation in idiosyncratic ways (or
not at all). More important, punctuation only inconsistently indicates the end of a
phrase or sentence. In the first line quoted from Romeo and Juliet, for example, the
comma at the end of the line divides two parts of a sentence. Even though there's a
punctuation mark, the first line doesn't make sense without the line that follows it,
which makes it enjambed. For those reasons, a reader must pay attention to
the phrasing of the poem: how the poet uses line breaks and punctuation to push
the poem forward or to create pauses (Abrams, 2021).

Examples of enjambment in Poems

Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116"

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love
That alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

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It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Four of the first eight lines of this sonnet by Shakespeare are enjambed.

Importance of Enjambment

 Constantly end-stopped (lines that end with punctuation) poetry is rhythmic

but ultimately dull. Enjambment allows lines to move more complicatedly
than they would if simply end-stopped.
 Enjambment also allows lines to move more quickly as the eye hops to the
next line to follow the thought or meaning of the poem. Whereas end-
stopped lines can feel relaxed, expected, and direct, enjambed lines can feel
more chaotic, nervous, flowing, or fast.

 Choosing to end-stop or enjamb can help better communicate a poem’s

overall mood and theme through lineation (the way lines are broken in
poems).
EUPHEMISM

A euphemism is a word or phrase used to obliquely describe something unpleasant,

impolite, or taboo. Euphemisms are used in daily speech as well as in literature,
and in some cases they are so prevalent that people may not even notice that a
euphemism is being used at all (Abrams, 2021). For example, there are many
euphemisms that people use to say that they need to go to the bathroom

 Go to the restroom
 Use the powder room
 Visit the little girls' or little boys' room
 Go number 1 or number 2

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Reasons for using Euphemism

There are many different reasons why an author might use a euphemism in writing,
just like there are reasons for people to use euphemisms in everyday speech. These
reasons can include the following:

 Euphemisms are polite

 Euphemisms add colour to writing
 Euphemisms can create ambiguity
 Euphemisms can provide emotional charge.

Examples of Euphemism in Literature

 The Principal has gone the way of his father (died)

 Anwuli is put in the family way (impregnated)
 Hezekiah is a gentleman of the road (a highway armed robber).
 Augustina is feeling under the weather today (fallen ill).

FABLE

In literature, a fable is a short fictional story that has a moral or teaches a lesson.
Fables use humanized animals, objects, or parts of nature as main characters, and
are therefore considered to be a sub-genre of fantasy. The word fable comes from
the Latin fābula meaning discourse or story (Abrams, 2021).
Elements of a fable
Although there are some similarities, fables differ from other literary genres such
as fairy tales and parables. Traditionally, a fable is extremely short, perhaps only
three or four sentences long. Most fairy tales are a bit longer than this and typically
feature magical elements. Fables do usually include talking animals, but this was

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not always seen as a magical quality. Also, beyond talking animals, fables do not
need to include magical elements to be considered part of the fable genre. Fairy
tales and fables are both known for having a moral or lesson to teach the
reader/listener, however, a fable's moral (or the ethical problem that it explores) is
often even more neatly spelled out for the reader than it is in a fairy tale. For
example, the fable The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing is meant to teach the reader that
people are not always what they seem from the first appearance. Sometimes, the
moral of a fable is even clarified and directly stated at the end of the story itself,
but not always. For example, the fable The Man and the Lion ends with the
conclusion, ''There are two sides to every question.''

A fable is different from a parable because, although a parable is also a very short
story meant to convey a moral, parables usually have human characters rather than
animals. Otherwise, fables and parables are both brief allegories, and stories meant
to teach a lesson (Abrams, 2021).

Importance of Fables

Fables are timeless literary devices because of their ability to deliver moral
messages in a simple way that can be understood and enjoyed by readers of all
ages. In fact, the fable is one of the oldest and most lasting methods of both written
and oral storytelling. They can be found in the literature of almost all countries and
languages, and are a fundamental part of the folklore of must cultures. Morals and
lessons that would normally be difficult for children or even adults to understand
are easily communicated through the fictional examples that fables provide, which
makes them an extremely valuable way to of teaching through storytelling.

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Examples of a Fable

An ugly, warty frog sat on his lily pad enjoying the sunshine. Another frog hopped
along and said, “wow, you are hideous! There is no way you will ever find a
mate!” Just then, a beautiful princess came to the pond, scooped up the ugly frog,
and planted a big kiss on his warty nose. He instantly turned into a tall, handsome
prince, and walked off hand in hand with the princess as the other frog watched
with his mouth wide in astonishment. Never judge a book by its cover.

This short story constitutes a fable for two key reasons: first, its
main characters are anthropomorphic frogs (frogs that have been given human
qualities); they have been given the ability to speak for the story. Second, the story
ends with a lesson—“never judge a book by its cover”—which is relayed to the
audience when the ugly frog turns into a prince (Abrams, 2021).

FOIL

A foil is a character that exhibits opposite or conflicting traits compared to another

character, usually the protagonist. Foils are used by authors to highlight important
attributes of the main character and help the reader understand their traits and
motivations more clearly.

The “foil character” is a literary device that is usually used to define

the protagonist’s more positive character traits. They draw attention to the main
character’s strengths as well as their weaknesses. For example, if the protagonist
spends time caring for small children while the foil character, in this case,
the antagonist, spends time trying to take money away from daycare centers. This
makes the protagonist’s caring attitude all the more obvious. To push this example
further, the protagonist’s kind heart might also be revealed as a weakness if he/she
is too pacifistic to fight back against the antagonist’s attempts.
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Purpose of a foil

The literary elements of foil characters serves several important purposes in

storytelling and character development. First, they contrast with the protagonist,
throwing the main character’s attributes into sharper relief.

Second, foils allow a writer to illuminate certain qualities of a character without

having to exaggerate them. The writer doesn’t have to give the characters
superpowers in order to make them stand out.

Finally, a foil helps readers understand the protagonist by showing who they are
not. The contrasts reveal the essence of the main character.

Example of a foil is the quick-tempered, defiant Tybalt who foils Romeo’s

tenderness and romantic worldview in the play Romeo and Juliet (Abrams, 2021).

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 REFERENCES
Abrams, M.H. (2021). A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.

Creswell, J. (2012). Experience and socio-cultural psychodynamics: Comment on

Larrain and Haye’s “The discursive nature of inner speech”. Theory and
Psychology 23(1), 123–130.

Dukore, B.F. (2014). Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greek to Grotowsky. New York:
Holt Reinhart and Winston.

Habib, A.B and Rafey, M.D. (2018). Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A
History. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub 23(1), 20-48

Iwuchukwu and Chinweikpe (2021). Mastery of Literature Vol 3. Lagos: Macckho

Ricckho Press.

Leitch, and Vincent B. (2021). The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New
York; Norton.

Lyle, J. (2013). Stimulated recall: A report on its use in naturalistic research. British
Educational Research Journal, 29(6), 861–878.

Rober, P., Elliott, R., Buysse, A., Loots, G., and De Corte, K. (2018). Positioning in the
therapist’s inner conversation: A dialogical model based on a grounded theory
analysis of therapist reflections. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 34(3),
406–421.

Scholes, R. and Klaus, C. H. (2021). Elements of Drama. New York: Oxford University
Press, pg 47-48

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