Note-taking DirectionsNote-taking Directions All of the following literary techniques may appear on your upcoming King Lear Pre-AP tests, so take thorough.

King Lear Literary Techniques

“Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!You cataracts and hurricanoes, spoutTill you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!        You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,Strike flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once         That make ingrateful man!” (III.ii).

Note-taking Directions

All of the following literary techniques may appear on your upcoming King Lear Pre-AP tests, so take thorough notes.

In your notebook, write down the term, definition and example.

You may or may not choose to write down repeated techniques that you have already in your notebook.

Annotate for these techniques while reading the play.

Euphemism

a mild or pleasant word or phrase that is used instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive Ex: using “eliminate” as a euphemism for “kill”

Paradox

a statement or situation that appears to be false or self-contradictory, but that proves to be true upon reflection Ex: It was the best of times, it was the worst of

times

Aphorism

a short pithy saying expressing a general truth; maxim Ex: “Art is long, life is short.”

Anecdote

a short account of an interesting or humorous incident

Tautology

needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy Ex: Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain

tomorrow.

Chiasmus

a reversal in the order of words in two parallel phrases Ex: He went in, out went she. Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike”

(Coleridge).

Metonymy

a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated Ex: the use of

Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.

Ellipsis

the omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding Ex: “Begin when ready” for “Begin when you

are ready”

Apostrophe

the direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition Ex: Carlyle's “O Liberty, what things are done

in thy name!”

Allegory

the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form Ex: The blindfolded

figure with scales is an allegory of justice

Rhetoric

The composition of words to achieve a desired result.

Authors/speakers use the following to create their desired affect: Repetition (of sounds, words or phrases, or structure) Omission (of words or phrases; or in the form of an understatement) Addition (of grammatically superfluous words or phrases; in the

form of an overstatement or exaggeration; or of description, elaboration, or correction)

Direction (in the form of inversion or rearrangement; by arranging a series, building, or diminishing; by arranging contrast; or by redirecting the focus or object of speech)

Substitution (of parts of words, full words, phrases, or structure; or conceptually-based)

Remember the acronym R.O.A.D.S to Rhetoric