NOTES S4

CLASS: SENIOR FOUR

             COURSE CONTENTS

UNIT 1: REVIEW THE KEY ASPECTS OF PROSE
UNIT 2: INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN LITERARY TRADITIONS
UNIT 3: LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN NOVELS
UNIT 4: THEMES AND MESSAGES IN A NOVEL
UNIT 5: HAIKU AND TANKA
UNIT 6: SONNET AND RHYME
UNIT 7: EPIGRAMS
UNIT 8: DIFFERENT FORMS OF DRAMA
UNIT 9: KEY ASPECTS OF DRAMA
UNIT 10: PERIODS OF AFRICAN DRAMA

          UNIT I: REVIEW THE KEY ASPECTS OF PROSE

          I.0. INTRODUCTION

Prose is the usual or the normal form of written, or spoken language that follows regular grammatical conventions and has no metrical pattern. It applies a natural flow of speech, and ordinary grammatical structure, rather than rhythmic structure. It is also a form of writing that is natural and uses grammatical structure. Most forms of writing and speaking are done in prose. It is the most common form of writing which is usually straightforward and may utilize figurative language. This is what we see in novels, novellas, and short stories. Each of this is made up of a setting, a plot, characters, themes and stylistic devices.

Prose is written in paragraphs and does not rhyme. Other examples of prose include journals, diaries, letters, essays, letters, travelogues, biographies, autobiographies, fairy tales, fables, and speeches.

          I.1. KEY ASPECTS OF PROSE

Key aspects of prose are the basic elements on which the story is built upon. Those key aspects of prose include plot, setting, characters, point of view, subject, themes, messages, audience, atmosphere and purpose.

     A. PLOT

Plot is how a novella, short story or novel progresses. It is also the succession/order/sequence or arrangement of events in a story.  Plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story, or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story.

Plot is known as the foundation of a novel or story, around which the characters and settings are built. It is meant to organize information and events in a logical manner. While writing the plot of a piece of literature, the author has to be careful that it does not dominate the other parts of the story.

Plot refers to the way events or actions of a story are arranged, especially the way they relate to each other in a cause and effect manner. In short, plot is the cause and effect arrangement of the actions or events in a story. The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and an end.

          The parts/elements of a plot

The elements of a plot are also referred to as the plot development/progression. There are five parts of a plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.

Exposition/introduction: It is the opening/beginning of a story where the characters and setting are revealed; and sometimes the main conflict or problem is also introduced.

Rising action: This is where the events in the story become complex. The conflict is revealed at this stage. Rising action occurs when a series of events build up to the conflict. The main characters are established by the time the rising action of a plot occurs, and at the same time, events begin to get complicated. It is during this part of a story that excitement, tension, or crisis is encountered.

Climax: It is the highest point of interest, emotion, tension and suspense and also; the turning point of the story where the reader wonders what is going to happen next. It is at the peak of the story, where a major event occurs: either the main character faces a major enemy, fear, challenge, or other source of conflict.

 Falling action: Falling action, or the winding up of the story, occurs when the events and conflicts/complications begin to resolve. Events show the results of how the characters begin to resolve the conflict. The result of the actions of the main characters are put forward.

Resolution/ denouement: It is the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict. Simply, it is the end of the story which may occur with either a happy or a tragic ending.

Plots, also known as storylines, include the most significant events of the story and how the characters and their problems change over the time.

Examples

Ex1: Marry wants to buy a puppy. She goes to the pound and begins looking through the cages for her future pet. At the end of the hallway, she sees a small, sweet brown dog with a white spot on its nose. At that instant, she knows she wants to adopt it. After he receives shots and a medical check, she and the dog, go home together.

In this example, the exposition introduces us to Marry and her conflict. She wants a puppy but does not have one. The rising action occurs as she enters the pound and begins looking. The climax is when she sees the dog of her dreams and decides to adopt it. The falling action consists of a quick medical check before the resolution, or ending, when Marry and dog happily head home.

Ex2: Jack wants to be on the football team, but he’s worried he won’t make the team. He spends weeks working out as hard as possible, preparing for try outs. At try outs, he amazes coaches with his skill as a quarterback. They ask him to be their starting quarterback that year and give him a jersey. Jack leaves the field, ecstatic!

The exposition introduces Jack and his conflict: he wants to be on the team but he doubts his ability to make it. The rising action consists of his training and tryout; the climax occurs when the coaches tell him he’s been chosen to be quarterback. The falling action is when Jack takes a jersey and the resolution is him leaving the try-outs as a new, happy quarterback.

          The types of plot

a. Linear/chronological plot: It is a plot which starts from a certain point and ends at another point. The events in the story flow a chronological/sequential order, from the beginning, to the middle and then to the end. At the end of a linear plot, the main character finds a solution to his problems or not.

b. Circular plot: It is the plot which ends at the same place where it began. It is the unfolding of events that begin and end in the same place. It is when the story starts with the end and then jumps back in time, to the beginning. Although the starting and the ending points are the same, the character(s) undergo a transformation, affected by the story’s events. In a circular plot the solution to a conflict/problem is never reached

 c. Non-linear plot: At this time the events do not flow a chronological order. Nonlinear plot uses flashbacks or flashforward.

Flashback (analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point. It is the interruption of the normal flow of events to the events that happened earlier. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In literature, internal analepsis is a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative while external analepsis is a flashback to a time before the narrative started.

Flashback is used when:

• The narrator tells another character about past events
• The narrator has a dream about past events
• The narrator thinks back to past events, revealing the information only to the reader
• The narrator reads a letter that prompts back to an earlier time
• The difference between a memory and a flashback is that a memory is brief and does not interrupt the normal flow of a story.

Flash-forward (or prolepsis), on the other hand reveals events that will occur in the future. This means that it is an insertion of a later event into the chronological structure of a story. It is a sudden jump forward in time; which involves the scene that interrupts the present action of plot to shift into the future. Flash-forward is also a scene that takes the narrative forward in time from current point of the story in literature.

 Both flashback and flash-forward are used to cohere a story, develop a character, or add structure to the narrative.

The difference between flash-forward and foreshadowing is that foreshadowing uses clues or hints of the possible outcome in the future, without any interruption. Flash-forward, on the other hand, is an interjected/inserted scene in a narrative, which takes the narrative forward in time. The events presented in a flash-forward are bound/likely/obliged to happen in the story. Foreshadowing predicts the future events, but those events do not necessarily take place in the future.

     B. SETTING

Setting refers to the place, time and the social environment at which a novel, novella or short story is represented as happening. It is the historical period, geographical place and social-cultural context in which the events of a story occur. Setting is simply the place and time of a story. It answers the questions of where and when. The time and place can be real or fictional, or a combination of both real and fictional elements.

The setting may include the environment of the story which can be made up of physical location, climate, weather, or social and cultural surroundings.

Setting as:

Place: – the geographical place where the events of a story take place like inside the house, in the valley, on the mountain, in a garden, in the village, in a sea, in Kigali city, in Rwanda, in Nyungwe Forest, at school, in a prison, in Africa, …

Time: –the actual time in which the events of a story occur, like at 5h00’ A.M, during the night, on Monday, in August, in 2019….

 –the historical period in which the events of a story occur, as Before Christ, in Middle Ages, precolonial period, colonial period, post-colonial period, post-independence era, genocide period…

Weather conditions: In the story, the weather can be rainy, sunny or stormy.

The social-cultural environment: This refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which characters live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the characters’ social interactions, culture, beliefs, among others. Therefore, the story can be set in a traditional society, in urban or rural environment.

The setting can be identified through the names of places, people or items. Some events are also historical and can guide in identifying the time setting of the story. For example, chiefdom was practiced in traditional African communities. This can be used to analyze the setting of the story.

          The types of setting

a. The social setting: It refers to the physical environment in which the events of a story happen. Ex: In a town, a slum, a suburb, upcountry…

b. The historical setting: It is the specific time in which the events in a story happen. Ex:  Before Christ, pre/post-colonial era, colonial period, during WW II,…

c. Cultural setting: It includes the patterns of behaviours and beliefs that dominate the society in which the characters live. It includes the family relations, moral values, gender roles, customs, beliefs…                      

Political setting: It refers to the prevailing political situation around which a story revolves. A story could condemn bad governance or unequal distribution of national resources.

        Context

Context refers to the whole situation, background or environment relevant to a particular event. It also refers to the social, cultural, and historical circumstances and setting at which the author is writing. Therefore, context refers to the background information surrounding a subject.

Context can also be referred to the circumstances forming the background of an event, idea or statement, in a such a way as to enable the audience (readers, listeners, spectators) understand the narrative or a literary piece. Generally, context refers to the whole situation, background or environment relevant to a literary work.

The types of context include:

a. Social context

It refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It is also the reflection of how the characters’ actions and attitudes are affected by events occurring around the time and place where they live. It involves the characters’ interactions in all levels of life.

b. Historical context

It refers to the moods, attitudes and conditions that existed in a certain time. Historical context is also the time period in which a story occurs. Both historical events (like wars) can influence the story.

It is an aspect of setting that pertains to when events and when characters live and interact.

c. Cultural context

It can be described as the sustained conditions, collective expectations and prevailing norms among a group of people or a social network. It includes the values of a society, their beliefs social and moral norms as well as the meanings people give to the human actions and behaviours. It looks at the society in which characters live in and how their culture can affect their behaviours and their opportunities.

d. Political context

This deals with the leadership characteristics and dynamics of a society. It includes the types of leadership (like democracy, monarchy, kingdom, chiefdom), the role of people in determining their leadership, freedoms and rights. It is also referred to the disposition of decision makers surrounding an event or idea.

     C. CHARACTERS

A character refers to the person, animal or an object that the writer of a story or a play uses to advance the plot or theme. He/she is a fictional human being, animal or thing in a story. The character is any person, animal or figure represented in a literary work. Characters are central figures on which the action of the plot happens.

     The types of characters are:

a. Main/major/central characters: They are the leading characters in the story. This means that they play a big role in the story. They form the core of the story and the theme is based on them. Most of the actions in the story happen around these characters. They are central figures in the story and the plot and resolution of the conflict revolves around them.

• Protagonist:  A protagonist is a main character who is faced with problem/conflict he/she must resolve. All action revolves around him/her and he/she is the one that resolves the conflict or problem in the story. The protagonist is also a main character who has good behaviours. He/she is considered as a hero.

• Antagonist: An antagonist is a main character who usually challenges, opposes or tests the protagonist. He/she is a main character who has bad behaviours. He/she is also considered as a villain.

Main characters are well developed which makes us to know more about them and we can relate to them.

b. Minor characters: They are characters that do not play a big role in the story. They are characters that support/help or serve to complement the main ones and help move the plot events forward.

Characters can also be categorized as:

Positive characters: They are characters that show positive /good qualities or behaviours. They can be brave, hardworking, caring, humble, peaceful, …
            Ex: Protagonist

Negative characters: They are characters that show negative/bad qualities/behaviours. They can be wicked, cruel, brutal, lazy, revengeful….
            Ex: Antagonist

Dynamic character is a character who changes over time. He/she portrays different emotions and traits. He/she/it grows or changes his/her/its personality, attitudes, behaviours as the story continues. He/she/it changes according to circumstances; and these changes in character are permanent.

Static character is a character that remains the same throughout the story. He/she doesn’t show changes in the story. The events in the story do not change his/her outlook, perceptions, habits, personality, or motivations.

Round/complex character is a character that has a complex personality. He /she is the one that has a mixture of traits (good and bad) that come from both nature and experience. This character is fully developed and described than a flat one. He/she is viewed as a conflicted and a contradictory character. A round character is a major character in a story and we may relate to this kind of character as a human being since we come to know so much about him or her.

Flat/simple character is a character that shows one or two main personality traits in a story. He/she can’t be a main character. That character is neither conflicted nor contradictory. He/she doesn’t change and the story doesn’t reveal much about him.

Stock characters is a type of flat character that appears so often in fiction and is recognized by more readers. This one doesn’t undergo any development in the story; and he/she represents specific stereotypes. He/she is the type and not individual.

     Characterization

Characterization refers to the author’s representation and development of characters in the story. It is also the act of creating and describing characters in literature. It includes descriptions of a character’s physical attributes, personality, actions and thoughts.

How to identify characters

In studying a short story, novel or novella, we need to identify and know the characters very well. In order to identify them we look at:

• The physical description of a character in terms of size, colour, and general appearance.
• What the character says about him/herself and about other issues affecting the society.
• The character’s actions in his/her interactions with other characters in the society.
• What other characters in the story say about him/her.
• The character’s thoughts, desires, dreams and wishes.

How to identify characters and explain their behaviours

In order to describe characters, we use adjectives. A character may be described in many ways such as: intelligent, loving, naïve, courageous, hardworking, lazy, humorous, good, bad, funny, ugly, rude, polite, beautiful, kind, careless, honest, humble, brave, serious, stubborn, loyal, gullible, selfish, generous, self-confident, cruel,  respectful, brilliant, considerate, mischievous, daring, patriotic, successful, mysterious, hopeful, lucky, ambitious, curious, witty, determined, calm, foolish, miserable, wise, timid, faithful,…

The author creates different characters and has to show what makes a character behave the way he/she does or why he/she behaves in that way and how his/her behaviours affect others.

     D. POINT OF VIEW

Point of view is the narrator’s position in relation to the story being told. It refers to the angle an author uses to tell the reader about the happenings in a literary text. It is also the method the author uses to narrate the story. Simply, it is who is telling the story.

There are three kinds of point of view:

      The first-person narrator

The author tells the story from the I, me, we, us perspective. The narrator is one of the characters in the story. In this instance, the author narrates the story as one of the characters and in this case, he/she takes part in the actions that take place in the story.

Ex: I sat down on the cold floor – lost in thought but very alert to my surrounding – if you could call the small hole of a prison a surrounding. This was going to be my home for the next five years. Every day I regretted disobeying my parents’ warnings. My mother had been especially adamant that she did not like Harriet – the girl I was hanging out with and who I thought was an angel.

      The second-person narrator

It is a type of narration that is told from the you, your perspective. It is not a common way of narration but when it is used, the author wants to draw the attention of the reader to the story by bringing him/her closer to the text and make him/her feel he/she is part of the events happening in the story.

Ex: You are quietly working on your assignments. Your classmates are chatting and shouting. You are trying really hard to concentrate and you wish something would happen to shut the noise out. Then suddenly the class is quiet. You look around to find out why the class is quiet but you see nothing unusual. You notice everybody is seated at their desk pretending to be busy. You are perturbed and scan the class – your eyes meet with Mr Ndayikunda’s – the disciplinary master. He is watching the class from the back window. You hurriedly go back to your assignment and do it by yourself.

      The third person narrator

The story is narrated from a he/she, they or it perspective. The author refers to the characters in third person using the pronouns ‘he’, ‘she’, or by their names.

 We have two types:

*Objective narrator is a third-person narrator that describes characters from the outside only, never revealing their thoughts. The narrator is an observer who describes the character’s appearance, speech and actions in a way that enables us to infer their thoughts. He/she does not know more about the character than what they choose to show. He is also called “a dramatic character”.

*Omniscient narrator is also a third-person narrator who knows what the character thinks and what is happening everywhere. This narrator is like the super hero or eye of God because he/she knows everything. He/she knows every move made by characters, their motives, thoughts and feelings; and he/she is not restricted by time or space. Omniscient narrator can jump from a character’s head to another’s, from a character to another, from scene to scene, from one place to another because he is all knowing.

      E. SUBJECT

A subject or subject matter is a topic which acts as a foundation for a literary work. It is the subject which makes a writer writes something, or what something is about. Subject is also the inspiration that makes you write anything, or something that is being written about, discussed, or shown. Simply, it is what a work refers to.

     F. THEME

This is the central idea in a literary work. It refers to the suggestions the story makes about the life that it depicts. A theme is what the author intends to reveal in relation to the subject of the story. In other words, themes are insights of life that the story exposes to the reader.

In few words, a theme can be explained as:

• a central/ main idea of the story.
• an opinion expressed on the subject.
• what a writer is saying about a certain subject.
• a writer’s opinion or perspective about a certain issue in society.
• a controlling idea which is continuously developed throughout the story.
• a central and unifying concept of a story.
• a main or an underlying meaning of a literary work.

Minor theme: It is an idea that appears in a story briefly or an idea that appears once in a while in a story. It is less important and may appear for a part of the narrative to be replaced by another. It doesn’t cover the whole story.

Major theme: It refers to an idea that a writer repeats in his/her work making it the most significant idea in a literary work. The whole literary work revolves around it.

Examples of themes may include compassion, courage, friendship, love, good vs bad, honesty, loyalty, loneliness, grief, perseverance, benefits of hardworking, importance of family…

     G. MESSAGE

This is the lesson that the author hopes the reader will get after reading a literary work.

In few words, a message can be explained as:

• a lesson the writer wishes to convey to the society through his/her story.
• what an author wants the society to learn from his/her literary work.
• a kind of a lesson that the reader learns after reading the story.
• a moral in the story.
• something the story aims to teach the reader.
• a lesson the writer wishes the society to learn from his/her poem.
  
  Messages can be about respecting elders, not fighting, caring for your loved ones, cooperating …
  
            TYPES OF THEMES AND MESSAGES
  
  The two types of themes and messages are: – Implicit/implied
                                                                          – Explicit

Implicit themes/messages

Implicit themes or messages are the ones which are hidden. They are implied or communicated indirectly or suggested.  To get them, the reader has to use his/her intelligence and analysis. They are also called hidden messages/ themes.

Explicit themes/messages

These are the themes or messages which are stated or communicated directly or clearly. The reader does not have to analyze the story to find them. They are fully and clearly expressed leaving nothing implied. They are also called fully stated messages/themes.

     H. AUDIENCE

Audience is the number of people or particular group of people who watch, read or listen to the same thing. This could be the group of people who have gathered to watch or listen to something (a play, a concert, somebody speaking…). For books, audience refers to people who read that book.

In literature, audience refers to the person for whom a writer writes, or a composer composes. We modify what we say and how we say it depending on who our audience is. Our content, tone and language changes according to what we know about our audience. In writing, audience is whom you are writing for.

In few words, audience refers to the spectators, listeners and intended readers of a writing, performance or speech.

Target audience

Target audience refers to the person or group of people a piece of writing is meant for. It is whom the writer is writing to, or the person whom the author expects will read the book. The audience targeted influences the tone, theme, style, language, and the choice of characters to be used in a story. Therefore, before an author writes a story, he or she considers the age, education level and culture, expectations among other factors of that audience. A target audience could be children, the youth, adults, women or men.

Intended audience

Intended audience of a literary work refers to anyone who will be reached by that work. Intended audience of a book are all categories of people who will read that book. They can be of different ages, regions, culture, sex, races among others.

     I. TONE

It is the attitude or feelings of a writer towards the subject matter or the audience. It is also the manner of writing about the subject, characters and theme by careful choice of words. Tone is expressed by diction, sentence structure, point of view, figurative language and the level of formality in your writing. Therefore, it is the way the author expresses his attitude through his writing.

Tone in writing is not really different from the tone of your voice. Sometimes, it is not what you say but how you say it. This means that the tone can change very quickly or may remain the same throughout the story.

Tone may be described as being formal, informal, cheerful, sentimental, approving, appreciative, sad, comic, abusive, mocking, condescending, sarcastic, critical, happy, romantic, sorrowful, lamenting, ridiculous, serious, sympathetic, bitter, melancholic, ironic, humorous, arrogant, solemn, optimistic, pessimistic, threatening among others.

     Some types of tone

Formal tone: It is the tone which is factual and objective. The words are written as you would find in textbooks and academic writing. This tone shows the writer’s respect for the audience; and it is the one that is used by educated people while communicating.

Informal tone: It is the casual/familiar/occasional/irregular/accidental tone. This is more personal as if you are talking directly to your audience. It is characterized by the use of slang, pidgin, proverbs, abbreviations, contracted words, short sentences, ellipsis, …

Comic tone involves the use of a funny or humorous voice in a literary text.

Sad tone: This involves the use of words that trigger feelings of sadness in the reader.

     J. ATMOSPHERE/MOOD

It is the feeling that a story evokes. This is how you feel after reading a story. Atmosphere refers to the emotions invoked/applied in the readers as he/she reads a piece of writing. It is also the feeling, emotion or mood a writer conveys to a reader through the description of setting and objects. Though the atmosphere is established very quickly but, it can change throughout the whole text.

Although mood and atmosphere are used interchangeably, there is a small difference. Mood is narrow as it concerns with the internal feelings of individual(s), without incorporating the feelings/emotions radiating throughout the venue. On the other hand, atmosphere is usually those feelings/emotions felt by more people or applied to a certain spot or venue.

The feeling could be gloomy, happy, tense, sad, romantic, amused, critical, humorous, cynical, pessimistic, hostile, loving, hopeless, anxious, cheerful, reflective, sorrowful, disgusting, fearful, sarcastic, hopeful, sleepy, sympathetic, peaceful, disappointed, curious, ashamed …

     Some types of atmosphere/mood

• Gloomy mood: It is an atmosphere of great unhappiness/sorrow and loss of hope.
• Happy mood is an atmosphere of joy/happiness.
• Tense mood is an atmosphere of anxiety. You feel nervous/not relaxed because you are worried about what is going to happen.

     K. PURPOSE

In composition, the term purpose refers to a person’s reason for writing, such as to inform, entertain, explain, educate or persuade. In literature, purpose refers to the reasons/motives that make the author write a fictional work. It is the objective of a writer while writing a piece of work. In order to identify the purpose of a writer, we should ask ourselves why a story was written.

The purpose may be:

• To inform: The author aims to enlighten the reader or provide him/her with information about a topic. He gives facts or information about something
• To explain: The author may write to justify/clarify the reason why things are the way they are by providing details or facts.
• To entertain: The author aims to provide with amusement/pleasure or enjoyment.
  
            I.2. SOME PROSE LITERARY WORKS 

A novel

It is along work of narrative fiction normally in prose, and typically published as a book. The novel is also a type of prose; which is a long narrative that describes fictional characters and events in form of a story. A novel contains many characters, conflicts, themes and sub–themes, making the plot much more complicated than other forms of shorter fictional prose. The language of novels is highly figurative and emotive because the writer’s interest must be sustained for a long time. Divisions in a novel are called chapters and the length of these will vary from novel to novel.

       Ex: Weep Not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
             African Child by Camara Laye
             A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
            Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
            Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams

          Features of a novel

• The novel is a piece of fiction. It depicts imaginary characters and situations. It may, however, contain references to real events and people, but this is, in most cases, disguised. Therefore, it is important to note that though its characters and actions are imaginary, these characters and events bear a close resemblance to real life.

• The novel is written in prose form rather than verse. Even though, some novels may contain some poetic elements, it is important to note that much of the novel remains in prose form. This means that as opposed to poetry, the novel is not structured in the form of stanzas. It has sentences that run on, one after the other to form paragraphs.

• The novel is a narrative. It comprises telling rather than acting the story out. This is the aspect that distinguishes it from drama.

• A novel comprises characters whose actions are woven in a plot. In fact, a novel comprises people who do things in a given context created by the author. The characters’ actions are arranged in a logical order of cause and effect. The author ensures the reader understands why or what causes characters behave to the way they do.

• The novel is of considerable length. This is because it focuses on an issue that it investigates in order to arrive at a way of interpreting it. Many critics agree that anything shorter than thirty pages can be classified as a short story. A story that is about thirty to one hundred pages is referred to as a novella, while anything above one hundred pages a novel.

A novella

A novella is a short novel. It is a written, fictional, prose narrative normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. It is also a short novel or a long short story.

Ex: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
      The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
      Animal Farm by George Orwell
      The Pearl by John Steinbeck
      A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens

          Characteristics

• A novella is shorter than a full-length novel. It is about 60 to 120 pages, or 7,500 to 40,000 words in length. It can be read in a sitting.

• Usually, a novella has fewer conflicts and subplots. The main narrative does not veer off into complicated back stories, multiple points of view and meandering plot lines.

• Novellas are sometimes not divided into chapters.

• A novella comprises a single event concentrated on one character or just a few characters.

A short story

 It is a brief fictional work of narrative prose that is shorter than a novella, or a fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novella. It is also an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot.

Ex:  The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Aesop
       Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Wilhelm Grimm and Jacob Grimm
       When the Sun Goes Down by Goro wa Kamau.
       The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.
       The Magic Shop by H.G. Wells.

          Characteristics

• The short story is shorter than the novel and the novella.
• Because of its short length, the short story usually has only one conflict or problem. This makes its plot less complicated than the plot of the novel.
• The short story will mostly have only one setting (that is the place in which the story is set).
• The short story covers a shorter period of time. Novels can span many days, months and years.
• The short story tends to focus on one main character.
• Short stories have fewer characters than novels.

A fairy tale

• It is a story about magic and legendary deeds.
• It is a children’s story involving magical events, imaginary creatures and lands.
• It is a story usually for children, about dwarfs, dragons, elves, fairies, witches, giants, or other magical creatures.              
  
       Ex: The Frog Prince by Paul Friedrich
             The Elves and Shoemaker by Brothers Grimm
             Cinderella by Brothers Grimm
             The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen
  
         Characteristics
• Set in the past
• Use some form or variation of “Once upon a time”
• Fantasy or make-believe elements
• Enchanted setting – can include forests, castles, water or kingdoms
• Clearly defined good and evil characters
• Magical elements
• Characters take on unusual forms (giants, witches, dwarfs, talking animals)
• Groups of 3 (objects, people or events)
• Clearly defined problem, climax and resolution
• Most often they have a happy ending
• Teach a lesson that is important to the culture it came from

A fable

• It is a short story that features animals and conveys a specific moral lesson.
• It is a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.
• It is a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters
• It is a short fictional story that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature, and leads to a particular moral lesson.
  
            Ex: The Fox and the Crow by Aesop
                   The Tortoise and the Hare by Aesop
                   The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop
                   The Fox and the Grapes by Aesop
  
          Features of a fable
• A fable is intended to provide a moral story.
• Fables often use animals as the main characters.
• Fables personify the animal or inanimate characters.
• Fables often have a humorous tone when showing the foolishness of human nature.

A biography

It is an account (story) of a person’s life written by someone else. A biography/bio is simply an account or detailed description about a person’s life. It involves more than just the basic facts like as childhood, education, career, relationships, family, and death. It portrays a person’s experience of these life events. A biography presents a subject’s life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject’s personality.

The majority of biographies are written about famous people, such as politicians, actors, athletes, and so on. However, some biographies can be written about people who lived incredible lives, but were not necessarily well-known. A biography can be labelled “authorized” if the person being written about, or his or her family members, have given permission for a certain author to write the biography.

   Ex: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
         Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.
        Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
        Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.
       The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

An autobiography

It is a story of the author’s own life written by him or a self-written account of the life of oneself. Autobiography is one type of biography, which tells a life story of its author, meaning it is a written record of the author’s life.

In an autobiography, the author attempts to capture important elements of his life. He not only deals with his career, and growth as a person, but also uses emotions and facts related to family life, relationships, education, travels, sexuality, and any types of inner struggles.

      Ex: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
            Family Life at the White House by Bill Clinton
            The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
             The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

A diary

A record (originally in handwriting) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what happened over the course of the day or other period. It is also a daily record of personal activities, reflections, or feelings. A diary can also be a book in which you record your thoughts or feelings or what has happened each day.

     ANALYSING PROSE

When analyzing a novel, novella or short story, you’ll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, tone, writing style, point of view, literary devices, themes, messages,... Remember that a literary analysis isn’t merely a summary or review, but rather an interpretation of the work and an argument about it based on the text.

   We can analyze the novel, the novella and the short story by reviewing:

a.Plot: While reviewing plot therefore, we must ask ourselves if the plot is linear or circular or if it has flashbacks.

• It could be linear. This means the events in the story flow in a chronological or sequential order.

• Plot could also be circular. This is when the story starts with the end and then jumps back in time, to the beginning.

• The plot could have flashbacks. It is when the writer has interrupted the chronological flow of events, by taking the reader to an event that happened in the past.
  
  Example: The plot of the story, Homecoming by Vivienne Ndlovu, is circular. It starts at the end but the narrator goes back to the beginning to explain how the main character met his fate.

b.Setting: Since we already know that setting has to do with the time and place at which the events happen. While reviewing a story,

• We must keenly study the physical details.

• We must also study the story’s social, historical, cultural and political contexts. This way, we will understand the story, the message, themes and the author’s intention better.

Example: The setting for Viviene Ndlovu’s homecoming is a home – actually a bedroom – in an African country. This story takes place between 1984 and the 90s, as there is talk of HIV/AIDS. However, there is no mention of a mobile phone. Actually, the main character goes through the company switchboard in order to talk to Sibongile. This is a historical setting.

c.Characters: The characters as any people, animals or figures represented in a literary work.

 While analyzing characters, you have to identify:

• major or main characters (protagonist & antagonist)
• minor characters
• positive characters
• negative characters
• simple/flat characters
• complex/round characters
• static characters
• dynamic characters
  
  Example: In Vivienne Ndlovu’s story, Homecoming, the main character is a complex/ round character – he develops as the story progresses. At one time he is unfaithful, but changes this habit.

d.Theme(s): This is the central idea in a piece of fiction. Themes are insights of life that the story exposes to the reader.

• To understand the theme, it is important to look at the main conflicts or events.

• We must ask the question: what is the purpose of the story and what is it all about?

• We can know a theme by how often the author or characters repeat a certain idea. We should also look at the link between events. Events in a story do not just occur; there is always cause and effect. One thing causes another to happen.

• A story can one major theme and other supporting or minor themes. For example, a story that has love as the major theme may also have hate as a minor theme.

Example: The main theme in Vivienne Ndlovu’s story, Homecoming, is unfaithfulness. The main character is unfaithful to his wife. On the other hand, Sibongile and the main character have negative character traits – they both cheat on their spouses.

e.Messages: These are the lessons that the author hopes the reader will get by engaging with the themes. Messages can be implicit or explicit.

Example: The message in Vivienne Ndlovu’s story, Homecoming is that being unfaithful can destroy families. The main character might lose his family because of being unfaithful to his wife. He and the wife might die. This message is implied – it is not given to the reader directly.

f.Point of view: This is the narrator’s position in relation to the story being told. It could be:

• First person narrator: It is when the writer is among the characters. This means that he uses ‘I’ or ‘we’.

• Second person narrator: The author uses the pronoun ‘you’ in addressing the reader.

• Third person narrator: The author refers to the characters in third person using the pronouns ‘she’ or ‘he’ or by their names. He/she can be objective or omniscient.

g.Audience: To know the audience, we should ask ourselves:

• who is supposed to read this book?

• who should get the message from this story? The audience of prose is a reader or intended target.

h.Atmosphere/mood: This is the feeling that a story evokes. It is how you feel after reading a story. The atmosphere could be gloomy, happy, or tense.

i.Purpose: We should ask ourselves why a story was written in order to understand its purpose. Some stories are written to inform, others entertain or explain.
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               UNIT II. INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN LITERARY TRADITIONS

          II.1. DEFINITION OF LITERARY TRADITIONS

A literary tradition refers to some common features or characteristics which define the literature of a group of people at a certain period of time. These characteristics relate to the form and meaning of the literature of the particular place or time period.

Literature tradition can also be referred to the passing down of stories which give meaning to human experience, according to literary articles. It may be also a sharing of stories between generations. Every linguistic group has a literary tradition which is transmitted either orally or through writing.

Therefore, literary texts from one literary tradition will have themes and features, which distinguish it from texts of a different literary tradition. This means that literary traditions differ from one place to another and they keep changing across time. For example, ancient Greek literature is different thematically and stylistically from medieval European literature. Similarly, African and American literary traditions are different from Asian literary traditions.

          II.2. AFRICAN LITERARY TRADITIONS

It is not very easy to define African literary traditions. This is because Africa is a very diverse continent. Scholars of African literature do not always agree on when written literature first appeared in Africa. Even the real meaning of the term ‘African literature’ is controversial: questions about this term are many. Does it mean literature written by Africans living on the continent? What about the literature of Africans living outside the continent? Is it literature written about Africa or produced in Africa? Should it embrace the whole continent or south of the Sahara, or just black Africa? What about language? Even though the answers to these questions are not clear, some people tried to define it.

• African literature refers literary works of the African continent which consist of a body of works in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages.

• African literature is the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages together with works written by Africans in European languages.

• African literature is a body of literary works of African people concerned about their culture, language as well as about their way of life.

• African literature is literature of or from Africa and includes oral literature.

• African literature deals with literary works of the African continent written in diverse African languages and deeply enriched by genres such as oral literature.

• Nevertheless, African literary traditions can generally be divided into three. These are the pre-colonial, the colonial and post-colonial traditions.

Pre-colonial literature

The pre-colonial literature is the literary works done before the coming of the white men to the African continent. Before the colonisation of Africa, the continent had a long history of literature. Most of the literature of this period was oral in nature. It was unwritten literature, which was passed down from generation to generation through memory and word of mouth. The literature of this period includes folk tales, myths, legends, epics, animal stories, songs, oral poems, proverbs, riddles and tongue twisters. This literature was very interesting to children, and the youths were entertained as well as educated by them.

The epic is a good example of popular oral forms of literature in Africa. Some of the best known African epics include the Mwindo and Sundiata epics. In Rwanda, the Ubwiiru is a popular form of praise poetry.

The following is quoted from a praise poem to Shaka, the Zulu warrior and king:

Shaka went and erected temporary huts
Between the Nsuze and the Thukela,
In the country of Nyanya son of Manzawane;
He ate up Mantondo son of Tazi,
He felt him tasteless and spat him out,
He devoured Sihayo.
He who came dancing on the hillside of the Phuthiles,
And he overcame Msikazi among the Ndimoshes.
He met a long line of hah-de-dahs [ibis birds]
 When he was going to destroy the foolish Pondos;
Shaka did not raid herds of cattle,
He raided herds of buck.

Although the oral literature tradition belongs to the pre-colonial times, it must be remembered that oral literary forms continue to flourish in Africa today. For example, performances of oral tales are featured on radio, television, and in films. African schools continue to teach oral literature, and students often engage in storytelling and oral performances in their schools.

In addition, the oral literature tradition has been carried over into contemporary written African literature. Writers such as Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong’o rely heavily on oral forms of literary expression in their novels and short stories.

Different forms of oral literature play the role of educating and entertaining the children of the African descent through learning the heroic deeds of the founding fathers (ancestors) of their community. This also acted as a reminder of their origin thereby aiding the sustenance of their cultural heritage.

The colonial literature

Colonial African Literature is that which is written during the colonial period or that speaks about the colonial period in Africa. It is usually from the point of view of Africans. This could be written by the Africans or the colonialists. When it is written by the colonialists, it focuses more on placing the African in the inferior position and projects justification for the West’s colonial enterprise. On the other hand, when this Literature is written by Africans, it sets out to respond to the colonial master. Its tries as much to show the colonialists that the African too can write.

The colonial period in African literature is often associated with literacy. However, you must note that written literature existed in parts of Africa before colonialism. For example, written works of literature discovered in Ethiopia are older than medieval European literature. The spread of Islam in North and West Africa also established a written tradition in these regions.

Along the East African Coast, narrative poetry in Swahili has been recovered from as early as the Eighteenth Century. In West Africa, literature in Arabic verse has been dated to the Fourteenth Century.

In addition, in the 18^th Century Olaudah Equiano, who was a slave published his book titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. This was one of the earliest forms of African written literature to be known in Europe.

With increased literacy in Africa during the colonial period, many writers emerged on the continent. These include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Sembene Ousmane, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Okot p’Bitek, Ferdinand Oyono and Amos Tutuola.

African literature of the 1950s was characterized by its focus on the disruptive effects of European colonialism on traditional African society. As African nations began to emerge from centuries of colonial rule, writers reflected on the imposition of Western values on the African people and examined the new conflicts that accompanied independence.

A number of Nigerian authors writing in English achieved international fame during the 1950s and early 1960s. The first was Amos Tutuola, in The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952). In his powerful first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), Chinua Achebe depicted the clash of cultures resulting from the appearance of European missionaries in an Ibo community at the turn of the 20th century. The Nobel prizewinning playwright Wole Soyinka wrote the cautionary drama A Dance of the Forests (1963), first performed in 1960, for celebrations of Nigeria’s independence. Using his characteristic satirical style, Soyinka suggested that the nation still faced difficult problems even after the end of colonial rule.

White South Africans also made significant literary contributions dealing with the plight of blacks during the late colonial era. Alan Paton wrote lyrically about apartheid in his novels Cry the Beloved Country (1948) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953). Nadine Gordimer, winner of the 1991 Nobel prize for literature, began writing of the injustice of apartheid in the 1950s as well.

African literature during this late colonial era diverted slightly by dealing with themes of liberation, independence, Negritude (rejection of the white man’s imposition of his culture on the black man through the policy of total assimilation by the French in areas of Africa they colonized) the writers of this era suffered directly and deeply even at the hands of their own governments.

    Characteristics of literature of the colonial period

• The texts reacted against colonial oppression and expressed African nationalism.
• The texts sought to praise and glorify Africa’s past.
• The texts depicted the clash between African cultures and Western/European cultures.
• The texts expressed optimism in Africa’s future.
• Stylistically, the texts incorporated African forms of expression; that is, they used oral literature features.

The post-colonial literature

After the end of colonialism in Africa, many African writers continued to write about the issues that concerned the continent. As explained earlier, most African writers continued to use oral forms of literature in their texts. Thematically, most post-independent African writing expresses disillusionment with African countries and leadership. Their writing expresses the betrayal of the dreams that African people had at independence.

Postcolonial literature, then, refers to:

• literature written in a postcolonial period, generally by members of the colonized community.
• writings produced after the political independence of various African states which were formerly subject to European colonial rule.
• literature by people from formerly colonized countries.
• African literature written in the postcolonial era by authors of African descent.

Postcolonial literature often addresses the problems and consequences of the decolonization of a country, especially questions relating to the political and cultural independence of formerly subjugated people, and themes such as racialism and colonialism. This literature is also a reaction to colonization. Often, postcolonial literature turns established narratives upside down by responding to or reinterpreting popular colonial texts. The literature of this era also dealt with the endemic corruption in government circles, conflicts and economic disparities as well as the rights and roles of women. Feminist movements also became rampant and more female writers emerged and gained more recognition. Some of them are Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Ama Ata Aidoo, Aminata Sow Fall and Flora Nwapa etc.

Most of this literature written by African authors in their home countries or in diaspora deals with issues of colonial experience or decolonization. They are really interested in nationhood and nationalism, and a lot of these writers are very patriotic. They write books on behalf of their nations. Their work is often nationalist, because postcolonial writers like to highlight and valorize their nation’s cultural, political and social identity.

Many authors writing during this time, and even during colonial times, saw themselves as both artists and political activists, and their works reflected their concerns regarding the political and social conditions of their countries. As nation after nation gained independence from their colonial rulers, beginning in the mid-twentieth century, a sense of euphoria swept through Africa as each country celebrated its independence from years of political and cultural domination. Much of early postcolonial writing reflects this sense of freedom and hope. In the years that followed, as many African nations struggled to reinvigorate long-subservient societies and culture, writers of postcolonial Africa began reflecting the horrors their countries suffered following decolonization, and their writing is often imbued with a sense of despair and anger, at both the state of their nations and the leaders who replaced former colonial oppressors.

With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western academic curricula and on “best of” lists compiled at the end of the 20th century. African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in traditional African languages such as Hausa.

Ali A. Mazrui and others mention seven conflicts as themes: the clash between Africa’s past and present, between tradition and modernity, between indigenous and foreign, between individualism and community, between socialism and capitalism, between development and self-reliance and between Africanity and humanity. Other themes in this period include social problems such as corruption, the economic disparities in newly independent countries, and the rights and roles of women. Female writers are today far better represented in published African literature than they were prior to independence. In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first post-independence African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Previously, Algerian-born Albert Camus had been awarded the prize in 1957.

Other famous writers of this period include Chinua Achebe, Kofi Awoonor, Camara Laye, Francis Imbuga, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Ferdinand Oyono, Alan Paton, Okot p’bitek, Léopold Sédar Senghor….

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               UNIT III: LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN NOVELS

          III.0. INTRODUCTION

As we know, the novel is one the major genres of prose fiction. It is defined as a long work of narrative fiction normally in prose, and typically published as a book. The one who writes a novel is a novelist. The goal of a novelist is to communicate a given message and to express this in a beautiful way. In order to achieve beauty, novelists use language in a unique manner to make their works artistically rich. This unique use of language is referred to as style in literature. Style is the quality that gives a work of literature its individual personality. It entails the use of various literary techniques, which include figurative language, symbolism, irony, contrast and dialogue.

          III.1. REVIEW OF LITERARY TECHNIQUES

Literary devices or literary techniques (narrative techniques) are the methods the writers use to convey/deliver their messages properly. They are the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey their messages in a simple manner to their readers. Literary techniques are also structures, usually words or phrases in literary texts that writers employ to not only achieve artistic ends but also help readers to have a greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. This is what we refer to style.

The literary techniques help the readers to visualize what an author is saying. When employed properly, the different literary devices help readers to appreciate, interpret and analyze a literary work. They include repetition, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, metonymy, synecdoche, paradox, oxymoron and onomatopoeia.

     REPETITION

It is the repeating of a word, a phrase, sentence or idea within a story. It is used to add more emphasis to an idea and make it clearer and more memorable. Due to this definition, repetition is a common technique used by orators. There are many types of repetition both used in prose and poetry.

          Examples 1

• If you think you can do it, you can do it.

• The boy was a good footballer, because his father was a footballer, and his grandfather was a footballer.

• The bird said, “I don’t sing because I am happy, I am happy because I sing.”

• The politician declared, “We will fight come what may, we will fight on all fronts, we will fight for a thousand years.”

• The judge commanded, stamping his mallet on the table, “Order in the court, order in the court.”

• The refugees were crossing into the neighboring country when they saw blood all around — blood on the passageways, blood on the fields, blood on the

• When they came out of the cinema hall, they all agreed, the film was a waste of money, it was a waste of time and energy.

• The boy was terrified when he was taken to the hospital; he shuddered at the least sound, and he shuddered at the least breath of air into the room.

• The president said, “Work, work, and work,” are the keys to success.

• The orator said, “Good morning to the old, good morning to the young, good morning to each and every one present.”

• The team captain reiterated his resolve to win the match, win the tournament, and win the hearts of his people.

• The general said to his army, “Men — You must fight for the life of your people, your family, and your ”

• The boss repeated his routine advice, “Don’t come late, don’t leave early, and don’t delay your work.”

• The students chanted to raise the spirits of their team during the match, “We will win, we will win.”

• The new boss says: “In this organization, the wrong person was appointed for the wrong job, following the wrong procedure, but this will not happen again.”
  
            Examples 2:1940 Speech to House of Commons by Winston Churchill
  
  “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
  
         Examples3: I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  
  “ I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
  
  I have a dream today.
  
  I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

     IMAGERY

Imagery entails the use of words that create mental pictures in the reader’s mind. It helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. This makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. Imagery enables us to see, taste, hear, smell and touch what the author says – in our minds. This one needs the aid of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, hyperbole and onomatopoeia in order to appeal to the bodily senses.

Imagery consists of descriptive language that function as a way for the reader to better imagine the world of a literary work. This means that it can pertain to details about movement or a sense of body in motion or the emotions/sensations of a person such as fear or hunger. The use of imagery helps the reader to develop a more fully realized understanding of the imaginary world that the author has created.

   Examples

In A Man of the People (by Chinua Achebe):

• The descriptions of Chief Nanga’s house with seven self-contained rooms, water closets each, private doors, the gate, double beds, beautiful furniture, gleaming bathrooms, etc.

• Description of the ministerial vehicle, Odo’s house, Josiah’s evil/action towards Azoge,…

In The Pearl (by John Steinbeck):

• There are descriptions of the morning, Kino’s house, their village and the city. The narrator has described the city, beach, the pearls and their formation under water, the nights, the forests, the mountains, the sky…

In the novella Animal Farm (by George Orwell):

• Moses the raven describes Sugarcandy Mountain: It was situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds. In Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges.

Other examples:

• The night was black as ever, but bright stars lit up the sky in beautiful and varied constellations which were sprinkled across the astronomical landscape.

• Silence was broken by the peal of piano keys as Shannon began practicing her concerto.

• She smelled the scent of sweet hibiscus wafting through the air, its tropical smell a reminder that she was on vacation in a beautiful place.

• The candy melted in her mouth and swirls of bittersweet chocolate and slightly sweet but salty caramel blended together on her tongue.

• After the long run, he collapsed in the grass with tired and burning muscles. The grass tickled his skin and sweat cooled on his brow.

     SIMILE

It is a comparison between two unlike things by using the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’. It is also a figure of speech which uses the words ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘than,’ or ‘as if’ to show the resemblance between two things which are different. Sometimes the verbs ‘appear’, ‘resemble’ or ‘seem’ are also used to compare.

       Examples

• Xuma looked around. He had never seen a place like that before.
• Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan.
• He was as slippery as a fish in water.
• She is beautiful like an angel.
• He swims like a fish in the lake.
• We have changed the plan as it was instructed.
• It was a morning like other mornings.
• He is as strong as a lion.
• The earth was like iron, and nothing could be done in the fields.
• They work as hard as their parents.
• All that year the animals worked like slaves.
• He hisses at her like a snake.
• I felt like a fish out of water.
• Kino edged like a slow lizard down the smooth.
• It shines bright like a diamond.
• Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as a dog.
  
  METAPHOR

Metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two unlike thinks without using ‘as’, ‘like’ or ‘than’. It says that one thing is another. It is a comparison that show how two things, that are not alike, in most ways, are similar in one important way.

The metaphor consists of two parts: the tenor and vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the subject from which the attributes are borrowed. For example: in “Amalinze the Cat” Amalinze is the tenor on which qualities of a cat are attributed.

A metaphor can either be implicit or explicit.

Explicit metaphor: It is a metaphor which is clear about the two things being compared.

            Examples

• The stars were diamonds in the sky.
• Agnes’s smile was a ray of sunshine.
• His strength, his movement and his speed were a machine
• They couldn’t stand because their legs were rubber.
• The coming election would be a life and death fight.
• He is a night owl.
• Jamal was a pig at dinner
• The snow is a white blanket
• You are my sunshine
• The sun is a golden ball.
• Books are the keys to your imagination

Implicit/implied metaphor: It is a metaphor which compares two unlike things without mentioning one of them.

 Examples

• Andrew’s anger grew until it erupted. (compares anger to a volcano)
• John barked at the girl. (compares John to a dog)
• She flies at him. (compares her to a bird)
• The ants orbited the snail before attacking it. (they are being compared to planets)
• The boy hisses to his young brother. (he is compared to a snake)
  
  The use of metaphors makes the writing vivid. We are made to see what is being described as if it is a picture. Metaphors reveal aspects of people, objects and situations. Generally, a metaphor describes one subject as being equal to a second object.
  
  Both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison. The difference between a simile and a metaphor is that similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of the similarity. But metaphors equate two ideas despite their difference.

     PERSONIFICATION

It is a literary device which gives human traits or qualities to animals or things. It is when the non-humans are given human characteristics. By here a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes.  The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.

             Examples

• The leaves waved in the wind.
• The town lay on a broad estuary, its old yellow plastered building hugging the beach.
• The door protested as it opened slowly.
• The moon played hide and seek with the clouds.
• A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet.
• The wind of the morning ruffled the water of the estuary and whispered through the mangroves.
• The car complained as the key was roughly turned in its ignition.
• My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
• The evil was hidden behind the brush fence.
• A wounded boat does not heal.
• The sky was brushed clean by the wind.
• The approaching car’s headlights winked at me.
• The camera loves her since she is so pretty.
• The stairs groaned as we walked on them.
• The coyotes cried and laughed in the forest.
• Beware of the tree that bleeds!
• My flowers were begging for water.
• The thunder was grumbling in the distance.
• The wildfire ran through the forest at an amazing speed.
• The moon smiled at the stars in the sky.
• Tears stood in his eyes.

     HYPERBOLE

 It is a deliberate exaggeration which is not intended to deceive but rather to create a special effect. It involves the exaggeration of ideas in order to express strong emotions or create a comic effect. Hyperbole is used to create a strong impression and add emphasis.

             Examples

• An engineer claimed to have built Kigali City Tower within one night.
• My teacher has given me a million of questions.
• He can run faster than a cheetah.
• The girl told the people that she can leave Kigali and arrive in New York within one minute.
• The man told the King that he could move the mountain from one place to another.
• All the people around the world have come to watch the match.
• He’s as thin as a needle.
• I ate so much on Christmas that I weighed more than a whale.
• His stomach is a bottomless pit.
• If my father doesn’t buy me a smartphone, I will die.
• My mom is going to kill me once she finds out.
• These shoes are killing me.
• It was so cold I saw polar bears wearing jackets.
• I will always stay by your side.
• It feels like my birthday will never come.
• I had a ton of chores to do.
• I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse.
• When I was sick, you could knock me down with a feather.
• The church was decorated with a billion flowers.
• His heart stopped beating the whole day.
• He said that he has never eaten food since childhood. He lives on drinking beer.
• That grandmother is older than dirt.
• My dad is always working.
• When Okonkwo slept, his wives and children in their houses could hear him breathe.
• The crowd raised a deafening shout of welcome.
• It is a mammoth crowd

     METONYMY

It is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something which is closely associated with that thing or concept. It is a figure of language where instead of using the actual name of something, we use the name of something else which is closely related to it or which resembles it. A metonymy is simply a substitution where a word or phrase is used in place of another word or phrase.

        Examples

• “The pen is mightier than the sword.” “Pen” stands for “the written word and “sword” substitutes violence or military force.
• Crown – in place of a royal person /government/authority.
• The White House or The Oval Office – used in place of the American President or White House staff.
• Suits – in place of business people
• Heart – to refer to love or emotion
• Washington – to refer to the US government
• Ears – for giving attention, listening
• Hand – for help
• Tongue – used in place of language.
• Hollywood – to refer to the film industry
• New blood – used in place of new people, fresh ideas
• The chair has called of the meeting. Chair=person
• The bench usually refers to the judges
• Dish to refer to an entire plate of food
• The big house – to refer to prison
• Silicon Valley – to refer to the technology industry

     SYNECDOCHE

 It is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing or the whole thing is used to refer to the part of that thing. This means that the part of something represents the whole or the whole is used to represent the part. Synecdoche may also use smaller groups to stand for larger ones or vice versa.

A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole.

Ex: Bread can be used to represent food in general or money.
Sails is often used to refer to a whole ship.
Hired hands can be used to refer to workmen.
Wheels refers to a vehicle.

It may use an entire whole thing to represent a part of it.

Ex: The “world” is not treating you well-some people.
The word “society” is often referred to a specific sector of society.
“Police” can be used to represent one or several officers.
“Rwanda” attended the UN conference in New York. Rwanda: president

Synecdoche and metonymy resemble one another because they both use a word or phrase to represent something else. They are both considered as forms of metaphor. Either metaphor, or metonymy or synecdoche involves the substitution of one word for another that requires conceptual link. Synecdoche can also be a form of personification when the non-human thing substitutes a human element.

The main difference is that synecdoche uses the part of the thing it represents or the whole thing to mean its part. On the other hand, metonymy doesn’t use the part for the whole or the whole for the part, but rather uses a term that is related to the thing it means.

     OXYMORON

Oxymoron is derived from the Greek oksús which means “sharp, keen, pointed” and mōros which means “dull, stupid, foolish”. Once those meanings are put together, they can be “sharp-dull”, “keenly stupid”, or “pointedly foolish”.

Oxymoron is then a figure of speech in which two words or phrases with opposing meanings are used together for effect. Most of them are made by adjectives preceding nouns with contrasting meanings. Oxymoron allows the author to use contradictory, contrasting concepts put together in a manner that actually ends up making sense in a strange, and slightly complex way. Sometimes the contrasting words or phrases are not always put together, which means that the contrasting ideas may be spaced out in a sentence.

         Examples:

• Fireless fireplaces.
• Sad joy
• Dark light
• Clearly confused
• Wise fool
• Cruel kindness
• Open secret
• Foolish wisdom
• Small crowd
• Plastic glasses
• Sad smile
• Tragic comedy
• Original copies
• Hell’s angels
• Living dead
• Free trade
• Nice death
• Student teacher
• Seriously funny
• Found missing
• Cold fire
• Sweet sorrow
• Smart idiot
  
  
• There was a love-hate relationship between those neighbours.
• Paid volunteers were working for the company.
• During the last meeting, some of the politicians agreed to disagree.
• There was a deafening silence in the village.
• The radio station is broadcasting the old news.
• In friendly fire, many soldiers have died.
• Some of my employees have been regularly irregular.
• Since he was not interested in their conversations, he was alone in a crowd.
• The heads of state gathered to determine an approximate solution to the war.
• The drivers were asked to give their unbiased opinion on the transport issue.
• When the people found out that he had invited unpopular celebrities, they started to leave.
  
  In literature, oxymoron is used for many reasons. At times an oxymoron may call attention to the dual nature of an object or concept; and may also be used to create a humorous effect.

     PARADOX

The term paradox is from Middle French paradoxe. It also comes from the Greek word paradoxon which means “contrary to expectations, existing belief, or perceived opinion”, and directly from Latin paradoxum “paradox, statement seemingly absurd yet really true,”

Paradox is a phrase/statement that appears to be self-contradictory or absurd, but which is actually expressing some truth when it is closely examined. It is a statement which seems untrue at first sight but proves valid on closer inspection. The uniqueness of paradoxes lies in the fact that a real and deeper meaning and significance is not revealed at first glance, but when it crystallizes, it provides astonishing insight.

                Examples

• You can save money by spending it.
• Truth is honey, which is bitter.
• I close my eyes so that I can see.
• They have congratulated them for losing the match.
• This is the beginning of the end.
• People eat too much while they are poor.
• Your enemy’s friend is your enemy.
• Here are the rules: Ignore all rules.
• I only message those who do not message.
• He was glad to finally be punished for his crimes.
• War is peace.
• Freedom is slavery.
• Ignorance is strength.
• “It’s weird not to be weird”-John Lennon
• Love puts in when friendship is gone.
• It was the best mistake he ever made.
• Good fences make good neighbours.
• I am nobody.
• The child is father of the man.
• I know one thing: that I know nothing. –Socrates
• “I can resist anything but temptation.” – Oscar Wilde
• “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it very important that you do it”. –Mahatma Ghandhi.
• “The most corrected copies are commonly the least correct”. – Francis Bacon.
• “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – in George Orwell ’s Animal Farm.
  
  In literature, paradox is used to attract attention by making a reader think over an idea in innovative way. It is also used to give pleasure and enjoyment to readers. This is because readers enjoy more when they extract the hidden meanings out of the writing rather than something presented clearly to them.
  
  The difference between an oxymoron and a paradox is that a paradox may consist of a sentence or a group of sentences while an oxymoron is a combination of two contradictory/opposite words. A paradox seems absurd and contradicts itself, but contains a hidden truth. An oxymoron, however, may produce a dramatic effect, but does not make literal sense.

     ONOMATOPOEIA

 The word onomatopoeia comes from two Greek words: onoma, meaning “name,” and poiein, meaning “to make”, so onomatopoeia means “to make a name/or a sound”.

Onomatopoeia as a literary device includes words that imitate, resemble or suggest the sound of the things they describe. It is referred to a word which imitates/duplicates or sounds like the natural sounds of objects. Onomatopoeia words help the readers to hear the sounds of the words they reflect, and the writers use them to bring their stories to life in the readers’ minds.

   Categories of onomatopoeic words

Sounds of animals: Meow, moo, tweet, oink, baa, arf, bleat, bark, buzz, coo, click, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, croak, growl, gibber, hiss, howl, hum, maa, neigh, quack, trumpet, roar, snort, snarl, shriek, squeal, squawk, squeak, tweet, whistle, whine, whimper, woof, yowl, …

Sounds made by people: achoo, ahem, argh, bawl, blab, blurt, brrr, burp, chomp, chortle, chuckle, chatter, cough, clap, eek, gag, gargle, gasp, giggle, guffaw, groan, grumble, growl, grunt, ha-ha, hiccup, huh, hum, hush, humph, munch, murmur,  mutter,  mumble, moan, mmm, phew, slurp, snore, snort, sob squeal sniff, tsk, whisper, yawn,..

Sounds of things: of water such as -plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip. Sounds of wind include swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whisper.  Others are bam, bang, beep, boom, bubble, bump, clang, clash, clatter, click, clink, crash, croak, ding dong, drip, flick, honk, jingle, poof, pop, pow, puff, ring, rumble, slap, smash, splatter, squish, sputter, thud, thump, thwack, tick, tock, vroom, whack, wham, whip, whir, whiz, whoop, zap, zip, zoom,…

            Examples

• They can hear the buzzing as they live near the hives.
• Ssh! I told you to keep quiet.
• I couldn’t hear the words; he just murmured a lot.
• “I’m getting married in the morning! Ding dong! The bells are going to chime.”
• Ahem! I can hear everything you are saying about me.
• The snakes in the pit hissed
• The loud boom of the fireworks scares many people.
• I couldn’t sleep. All I could hear was the drip, drip, drip of the faulty faucet.
• The sack fell into the river with a splash.
• The books fell on the table with a loud thump.
• He looked at the roaring
• The water gushed down the stream to the waterfall.
• We heard the tlot –tlot of the horse’s hooves.
• The robbers’ car screeched around the corner as they attempted to escape the police.
• The rustling leaves kept me awake.
• I was awoken by the cock-a-doodle-do of the neighbouring rooster.
• You scared me when you shouted, “boo.”
• Drink some water to help stop your hiccups.
• Ticktock, ticktock … the sound of the clock was all that could be heard in the hospital waiting room.
• I knew we had finally left the city when I heard the moo of the cows in the field.
• Ding, dong, there was someone at the door.
• Ouch! You just stepped on my toe.
• I didn’t see the warning sign and bumped my head on the low doorframe.
• The lion let out a loud roar as the ringmaster cracked his whip.
• Quack, quack went the ducks as we threw them our stale bread.
• The dog barked as the postman approached the gate.
• Shh! No talking in the library please.
• Zip! My dress was fastened and I was finally ready for the wedding.
• I squashed the snail when I stood on it by accident.
• The wolf howled at the moon.
• My teeth were chattering as we waited in the freezing cold for the bus to arrive.
• Tsk, tsk, tsk, you shouldn’t be shouting in class.
• Please do not beep your horn after dark.
• The pig squealed.
• I trembled as the door slowly creaked

     III.2. TONE

It is the attitude or feelings of a writer towards the subject matter or the audience- how the author approaches what he or she is talking about. It is also the manner of writing about the subject, characters and theme by careful choice of words. Tone is conveyed through diction, sentence structure, point of view, figurative language and the level of formality in your writing. Therefore, it is the way the author expresses his/her attitude through his/her writing.

Tone in writing is not really different from the tone of your voice. Sometimes, it is not what you say but how you say it. This means that the tone can change very quickly or may remain the same throughout the story.

Tone may be described as being formal, informal, cheerful, sentimental, approving, appreciative, sad, comic, abusive, mocking, condescending, sarcastic, critical, happy, romantic, sorrowful, lamenting, ridiculous, serious, sympathetic, bitter, melancholic, ironic, humorous, arrogant, solemn, optimistic, pessimistic, threatening among others.

     Some types of tone

Formal tone: It is the tone which is factual and objective. The words are written as you would find in textbooks and academic writing. This tone shows the writer’s respect for the audience; and it is the one that is used by educated people while communicating.

Informal tone: It is the casual/familiar/occasional/irregular/accidental tone. This is more personal as if you are talking directly to your audience. It is characterized by the use of slang, pidgin, proverbs, abbreviations, contracted words, short sentences, ellipsis, …

Comic tone involves the use of a funny or humorous voice in a literary text.

Sad tone: This involves the use of words that trigger feelings of sadness in the reader.   

       III.3. FURTHER LITERARY DEVICES

We have seen that literary techniques are structures, usually words or phrases in literary texts that writers employ to not only achieve artistic ends but also help readers to have a greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. Further literary devices are irony, satire and symbolism.

     IRONY

The word “irony” comes from a Greek comic character Eiron, a clever underdog who by his wit repeatedly triumphs over the boastful character Alazon. Eiron was weaker and used his wit to overcome a stronger character. This word therefore means “hypocrisy”, “deception”, or “feigned ignorance”.

Therefore, irony is the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to create a humorous effect, or it is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words.

In irony, there is a difference between what one says or does and what one means. For example: A man is found by a woman, urinating in public and the woman says, “You are such an intelligent man.”

There are three types of irony: verbal irony, dramatic irony and situational irony.

Verbal irony refers to a situation where an author says one thing and means something else. In other words, verbal irony is saying something different from what you mean.

           Examples

• In A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, when Nanga says: “teaching is a very noble profession. Here he meant otherwise

• When Chief Nanga tells Odili that “if someone wants to make you a minister run away” He meant the opposite.

• When Chief Nanga calls Odili his friend, he meant its opposite.
• “I can swear to God that I am not as happy as when I was a teacher”.
• In response to a foolish idea, he says: “What a great idea!” 
• The doctor is as kind hearted as a wolf.
• His friend’s hand was as soft as a rock.
• The student was given ‘excellent’ on getting zero in the exam.
• The roasted chicken was as tender as a leather boot.
• He was in such a harried state that he drove the entire way at 20 miles per hour.
• My friend’s children get along like cats and dogs.
• Their new boss was as civilized as a shark.
• The new manager is as friendly as a rattlesnake.
• A vehicle was parked right in front of the no-parking sign.
• The CEO of a big tobacco company said he did not smoke.

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that is going on in a situation but the characters are unaware of what is going on. This means that the audience has more information than one or more characters in a work of literature. Simply, it is when the audience knows something that the characters don’t. We have the dramatic irony when the writer allows a reader to know more about a situation than a character does. This creates a discrepancy between what the character says and thinks and what the reader knows is true.

            Examples

• A woman thinks her boyfriend is acting strangely because he’s about to propose, but the audience knows that he is planning to run away with another woman, intensifying emotions.

• In a scary story, the character goes into a house he thinks is empty, but the audience knows the killer is in the house. This increases the suspense.

• In the novella Animal Farm, the reader knows that the pigs are up to no good when they take extra rations, but the common animals believe that the pigs are trying to do good.

• Sometimes a person is in disguise and the other character talks with him as if he is someone else. Since this is known by the audience, it adds to the humor of the dialogue.

• The Greek myth of Oedipus, as told in Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus wants to expose the killer of the former king, Laius. The audience knows that Oedipus is the killer, but Oedipus does not realize that he killed the king.

• In Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, we know that the old woman bringing the apple is the wicked queen who wants to kill Snow White, but she does not. She purchases the apple, takes a bite, and falls.

Situational irony is detected where there is contradiction between the expected result and actual results, or what appears and what is true. It involves a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected. Therefore, it is a situation in which the outcome is very different than what was expected.

Examples

• In Animal Farm when the animals overthrow Mr Jones we think that they are going to be free but their freedom has become do no freedom.

• In the same novel, the reader may suspect that the second time the animals build the windmill will be successful, but in the end, it was destroyed by humans.

• In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, when a poor man Kino finds the Pearl of the World he expects that the life is going to be better, but instead the life ends up being very worse.

• In Peter Abraham’s Mine Boy, Though the reader is led to believe that Leah has taken the necessary precautions to avoid arrest, the Fox and his police force catch her red-handed as she and the others are burying the barrels of beer in her yard. Both Leah’s and the reader’s expectations are undermined.

• While Odili is at Chief Nanga’s house, he notices that the Minister’s personal library is incredibly sparse. Additionally, the library only features works of American literature. This is ironic because as the Minister of Culture, it is Chief Nanga’s job to embrace and support works that support and bolster his nation’s art scene. Although Chief Nanga ostensibly fights against Western influence in an effort to preserve African cultural autonomy, we find that he does not “practice what he preaches.”

• Odili and Elsie accompany Chief Nanga to the Writers’ Society to hear him give the speech at a book exhibition for the novel The Song of the Black Bird.Odili realizes that he knows the author from his time at the University. Soon, Odili also realizes that the Minister of Culture is ignorant of the author and his body of work. Chief Nanga quickly starts criticizing the author for his flippant attitude and unusual physical appearance. During his speech, Chief Nanga forgets the name of the author’s book. However, the audience cannot believe that the Minister of Culture would make such a mistake, and his error is treated as an intended joke. Through these situations, it becomes clear that Nanga is unfit for his position.

• In “The Gift of the Magi,” by O. Henry, the husband sells his watch to buy his wife combs for her hair and the wife sells her hair to buy her husband a chain for his watch.

• In the Rime of the Ancient Marinerby Coleridge, the men are surrounded by an ocean of water, but they are dying of thirst (“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”)

• “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin tells of a wife who learns that her husband is dead. She feels a sense of freedom as she thinks about a life without restriction. Then, he returns (he wasn’t dead after all) and she dies of shock.

• In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, a woman borrows what she thinks is a costly necklace from a friend and loses it. She and her husband sacrifice to replace it, only to learn years later that the necklace was a fake.

     SATIRE

Satire is the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. It is a presentation of human folly (weaknesses) in a light, humourous or ridiculous way. Satire involves the treatment of serious societal issues in a comical way.

Satire is also a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society, by using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles. A writer in a satire uses fictional characters, which stand for real people, to expose and condemn their corruption or foolishness.  It is expected that as the reader or audience laughs, they can learn something and correct the wrong. This means that the writer provokes the readers into changing their opinions. By attacking what they see as human folly, satirists usually imply their own opinions on how the thing being attacked can be remedied.

A writer may point a satire toward a person, a country, or even the entire world. Usually, a satire is a comical piece of writing which makes fun of an individual or a society, to expose its stupidity and shortcomings. In addition, he hopes that those he criticizes will improve their characters by overcoming their weaknesses.

For instance, the narrator in Things Fall Apart says: “He always said that whenever he saw a dead man’s mouth, he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one’s lifetime.” This is a rebuke to the lazy. We laugh as we read because we know Unoka was a debtor, therefore he and his family never had enough to eat. This is clearly stated in Chapter One, thus: “He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.” Achebe is basically saying that if you want the good life you must work hard and earn it.

Another example of satire is Animal Farm. It is a satirical novel in which Orwell attacks what he saw as some of the prominent follies of his time, like communism in Russian under Stalin’s rule.

Other examples from A man of the People by Chinua Achebe

• When Chief Nanga admits that he does not know the meaning of book exhibition, as in: “Book exhibition?

• When Chief Nanga tells Odili that he can bring him six girls and Odili will have sex with them till he gets tired, as in: “If you like can bring you six girls this evening”

• When Odili rides a bicycle (with Edna) and fail to breathe properly so when he is told something he puffs out the question, why?

• When Chief Nanga says Julio has composed a song instead of a book, as in: “I believe Mr. Julio himself has composed a brilliant song called…erm… what is it called again?”

• When Chief Koko discovers that the coffee was not poisonous and Chief Nanga starts teasing him, as in: “But S.I you fear death…”

     SYMBOLISM

A symbol is a sign, a colour, a figure or object that is used to signify something else. Symbolism therefore is the use of symbols in stories to represent ideas, qualities or concepts. A literary symbol (a thing/event/character/quality/relationship…) is something that stands for something else other than itself. This symbol does not exist for itself but rather points to something different from itself. Symbolism involves the use of something to stand for/represent something else.

A literary symbol functions in two ways:  -as itself
                                                                -as a sign of something else

  Ex: “blood” may mean just that (as itself), but it may also mean war (as a sign of something else).

             Examples

• When Unoka died, he had taken no title. A title in this case is a symbol of achievement.
• The dove is a symbol of peace
• The cross symbolizes Christianity.
• A ring on a finger can mean marriage.
• A red rose stands for love/romance.
• White represents life and purity.
• Black is a symbol of evil or death
• Red can symbolize blood, danger, …
• A chain may mean union or imprisonment
• A broken mirror may symbolize separation
• Smile symbolizes happiness.
  
  Examples from different literary texts

In the novella Animal Farm by George Orwell:

• Manor Farm/Animal Farm symbolizes Russia and Soviet Union under Communist Party rule.
• The pigs symbolize the government
• The dogs symbolize security force (police and army)
• The Windmill symbolizes industrialization, technology, development and the pigs’ manipulation of other animals for their own interests.
• The Battle of the Cowshed represents Russian Civil War.
• The Battle of the Windmill represents World War II, specifically Stalingrad Battle.

In The Pearl by John Steinbeck:

• The pearl firstly symbolizes wealth, hope and a better future, but as the novella progresses it symbolizes evil, greed, corruption and death.
• The scorpion is a symbol of the evil that is yet to come into Kino’s life.
• Kino’s canoe symbolizes means of making a living—both pearls and food.
• The rifle that Kino said that he would buy symbolizes protection.
• Juana’s shawl symbolizes Juana’s femininity.

In A Man of the People written by Chinua Achebe:

• Chief Nanga symbolizes selfish persons and irresponsible leaders.
• Cadillac, gold chains: symbolize wealth
• Guns and gunpowder: symbolize power and intimidation
• Money: symbolizes wealth and influence
• Azoge’s walking stick: symbolizes small remained resources or properties of the poor people which is stolen or exploited by the rich one
• Odili’s marriage with Edna: represents victory of good against evil
• Maxwell’s death: represents the beginning of liberation
• Love between Chief Nanga and Elsie: symbolizes immoral behaviour
• The refusal of the villagers to buy things in Josiah’s shop: symbolizes unity.
• The journey to the hospital on a bicycle stands for struggle.
  
    III.4. FURTHER ASPECTS OF PROSE

     PLOT

We know that plot refers to the unfolding of events in a piece of prose. It refers to the way events or actions of a story are arranged, especially the way they relate to each other in a cause and effect manner. In short, plot is the cause and effect arrangement of the actions/events in a story. This means that one thing causes the other, and this one causes the other. The result of the cause and effect is what creates conflict and as the main character tries to solve the conflict, the story moves forward.         

If you read Chapter Two and Chapter Three of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, you will see what causes Okonkwo to become who he is. However, in Chapter One, we can see that Okonkwo became famous because he defeated Amalinze in a wrestling match. On the other hand, Unoka died poor without a title because he was lazy.

          Plot structure

Dramatic/progressive plot: This is a chronological structure which establishes firstly the setting and conflict, then follows the rising action towards a climax, and concludes with a denouement. Most of the book is spent establishing settings, characters, and conflicts. One main conflict and one main rising action dominate, and the characters ride this action to the climax; after comes the denouement, then the writer closes the story.
                                                       
Episodic plot: This plot also follows a chronological structure, but consists of a series of loosely related incidents/events, usually chapter-by-chapter, tied together by a common theme and/or character. Episodic plots work best when the writer wishes to explore the personalities of the characters, the nature of their existence, and the flavor of an era. This means that the writer wants to show many different angles of an event, place, time, idea or even characters.

The plot in Things Fall Apart is made up of episodes. An episode is a single event or a group of related events. For example, Chapter One opens with the wrestling action, which introduces Okonkwo to the reader and explains why he, Okonkwo, was famous. This flows into the next episode, which introduces Unoka and gives reasons Okonkwo was impatient with him.

Some military fictions use episodic plots. Each chapter highlights a different member in the military, tackling a different aspect of the battle or war. Finally, these stories join to show a much larger understanding of the conflict.

Parallel plot: It is a plot structure by which the author weaves multiple dramatic plots (usually two or three), and run them at the same time. Those dramatic plots/narratives are usually linked by a common character or a similar theme. With parallel plots, all the multiple arcs usually crash together at the climax. Because the reader has followed multiple rising actions, they might be more emotionally involved in the climactic moment. Parallel stories enrich a work and have been used by novelists and playwrights for centuries.

The essential characteristic of a novel with parallel stories is that it is nonlinear. A linear plotline follows one or more protagonists from the introduction of a conflict to its resolution in chronological order. A nonlinear plotline jumps around, skipping between timelines and protagonists. The specific pattern will vary depending on the purpose of the parallel narratives, which may include building tension, creating dramatic irony, unraveling a mystery, revealing character motivation, or showing multiple perspectives. 

The episodes in Things Fall Apart are parallel. Parallel episodes are events that have something in common. For example, we are introduced to Okonkwo the famous man in the first episode. Thereafter, we are introduced to Unoka – the father to Okonkwo – who is a lazy man.

Flashback: This structure conveys information about events that occurred earlier. It allows authors to begin the story in the middle of a high point of the action, but later insert in the background information that lead up to full understanding of the present events. By here, the writer gives the reader all the backstory and then moves them back to the high-action moment. Flashbacks can occur more than once and in different parts of a story.

     CHARACTER

Character refers to traits or manners and at the same time to the fictional human being, animal or thing in a story. For instance, Okonkwo is a character in Things Fall Apart. At the same time, Okonkwo exhibits a certain character – he behaves in a particular way. Characterization refers to the author’s creation, representation and development of characters in the story. Remember that character traits can be presented directly or indirectly.

Direct or explicit presentation/characterization: It is where the author or other character within the story describes or reveals traits of a character through the use of descriptive words.  In other words, it is when the author displays the character’s traits straightforwardly, or through the comments made by another character involved with him/her in the story. For example, the character of Unoka: “In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.”  In Animal Farm written by George Orwell, Old Major is described: “He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance”

Indirect or implicit presentation/characterization: It is when we get hints that make us think about a character and make conclusions about his/her character. It is when the writer shows the character’s personality through his/her speech, thoughts, actions, appearance and interaction with other characters. For instance, “Having spoken plainly so far, Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs.” This makes the reader think of Okoye as being persuasive. Another example is “After working for one hour, he left others by saying that he is tired.” This can show the readers that the character is lazy.”

  In order to identify the character, we look at:

• The physical description of a character in terms of size, colour, and general appearance.
• What the character says about him/herself and about other issues affecting society.
• The actions of a character in his/her interactions with other characters.
• What other characters in the story say about him/her.
• The character’s thoughts, desires, dreams and wishes.

Characters are usually described by single adjectives such as loving, cruel, intelligent, naïve, hardworking, lazy, humorous and so on. This means that one does not say character A cares about people but rather, character A is caring. One should also avoid ambiguous words when describing a character. For example, rather than say character B is not disciplined, one should be more specific and say he or she is rude or dishonest. Characters can have both positive and negative traits.

     PURPOSE

Purpose refers to the reason for writing a novel. The reason can be to inform, entertain, explain, educate or persuade. In literature, purpose refers to the motives that make the author write a fictional work. It is the objective of a writer while writing a piece of work.

        We can have:

Persuasive purpose: It is used to convince, or persuade the reader that the opinion, or assertion, or claim, of a writer is correct or valid. Persuasive writing is primarily concerned with convincing the reader at any cost. Due to its goal, persuasive purpose is the main purpose in a piece of writing. 

Manipulative purpose: This intends to push, move or influence readers’ minds, so that they take a certain move or action

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          UNIT IV. THEMES AND MESSAGES IN A NOVEL

          IV.0. INTRODUCTION

As you have noted, novels are stories about life. They are stories about human experience. Novels are written in different contexts or situations. It could be a historical, economic or social context. The context or existing environment, affects the themes that an author chooses to address. One could choose to write about love, war or independence, depending on the existing situation. For example, Things Fall Apart is set in pre-colonial Nigeria – this is the historical context. Umofia is a conservative African village where tradition and belief in deities is expected of all Umofians – this is the social context. These contexts enabled Chinua Achebe to talk about yams, wrestling matches, war among other concerns.

          IV.1. THEMES AND MESSAGES IN A NOVEL

The key functions of a novel are firstly to entertain and secondly to communicate ideas. Theme is the main/central idea of a story. It is the view about life that is expressed in the story. Message is the lesson the author hopes the reader can get from the novel or the moral of the novel.

Themes and messages may be stated explicitly. This is when the writer states them openly and clearly. Themes and messages could also be implied. This is when the author does not state them directly. Themes may also be major or minor. A major theme is an idea the author returns to time and again. It becomes one of the most important ideas in the story. Minor themes are ideas that may appear once in a while in a story.

          Identifying themes

In interpreting themes, one has to deduce evidence from the story. You must identify a cross section of examples from the text to support your interpretation of the story’s theme. When writing about themes do not merely describe what happens in the story. The theme should be an idea we learn after reading the story.

There are some common/universal themes, such as love, suffering, hope and betrayal. Other themes include friendship, war, crime/mystery, revenge, rivalry, heroism, past vs. present, etc. Every element of a story can highlight a theme. For instance:

• The title often provides insights into the theme or themes in a story.
• The statements of the narrator or other characters could reveal a theme.
• The arrangement of events – plot – can also reveal themes.
• Conflicts in a story are also indicators of themes.
• Central symbols in a story may also point out to important themes.

Ask yourself the following questions when interpreting themes in a novel:

• What is the central or main theme of the story?
• What other themes can you identify?
• Does the title of the story suggest a theme?
• Does the narrator or any other characters, make statements that express or imply a theme?
• In what ways does the arrangement of events in the story suggest a theme?
• In what ways does the central conflict suggest a theme?
• How does the point of view shed light on the story’s central theme?
• Are there any symbols that suggest a theme?

          Identifying messages  

A message is the lesson the reader learns after reading a novel but sometimes a novel can have a particular kind of message which is called “moral”. A moral is a kind of message that teaches a reader a life lesson, like what is right or wrong, how to make decisions, or how to treat other people. 

While reading a novel, you have  to try to figure out the message that the author is trying to deliver or transmit through his/her novel. We find the message of the novel by examining what characters do, say or think. Furthermore, what happens to characters and their reactions generally show what the author wants to teach you.

          CONTEXT

 Context is referred to the circumstances forming the background of an event, idea or statement, in a such a way as to enable the audience (readers, listeners, spectators) understand the narrative or a literary piece. Generally, context refers to the whole situation, background or environment relevant to a literary work.

        The types of context include:

Social context

It refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It is also the reflection of how the characters’ actions and attitudes are affected by events occurring around the time and place where they live. It involves the characters’ interactions in all levels of life. In The River Between, for example, the social context is an idyllic rural community with people interacting with each other and their petty inter-ridges rivalries. The people have their prophets and medicine men. They are engaged in their daily endeavours to survive.

Historical context

 It refers to the moods, attitudes and conditions that existed in a certain time. Historical context is also the time period in which a story occurs. Both historical events (like wars) can influence the story.

It is an aspect of setting that pertains to when events and when characters live and interact. As an example, the historical context of The River Between is pre-colonial Africa and the coming of the Europeans. The story gives the traditions, beliefs and activities of this community before the Europeans came as we are told of the hills they lived in, their myths on how they settled, relationships with their neighbours, etc.

Cultural context

It can be described as the sustained conditions, collective expectations and prevailing norms among a group of people or a social network. It includes the values of a society, their beliefs social and moral norms as well as the meanings people give to the human actions and behaviours. It looks at the society in which characters live in and how their culture can affect their behaviours and their opportunities.

Political context

This deals with the leadership characteristics and dynamics of a society. It includes the types of leadership (like democracy, monarchy, kingdom, chiefdom), the role of people in determining their leadership, freedoms and rights. It is also referred to the disposition of decision makers surrounding an event or idea.

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               UNIT V. HAIKU AND TANKA

          V.1. HAIKU

     Definition

A haiku is traditionally a Japanese poem consisting of three short lines that do not rhyme. The origins of haiku poems can be traced in the 13^th century. The haiku is considered to be more than a type of poem because it is a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper, like the very nature of existence. It should leave the reader with a strong feeling or impression.

A haiku poem generally presents a single and concentrated image or emotion. Haiku is considered a fixed poetic form and is associated with brief, suggestive imagery intending to evoke emotion in the reader.

Example₁:
The sky is so blue,
The sun is so warm up high,
I love the summer.

Example₂: With my Father
With my father
I would watch dawn
over green fields.
        by Issa Kobayashi

Example₃: The Old Pond
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.
      by Matsuo Bashō

Example₄: Toast
I really like toast,
It’s yummy when it’s hot,
I like it best cold

Example₅: A butterfly
The falling flower thought I,
Fluttering back to the branch –
was a butterfly.

Example₅: Lighting One Candle
The light of a candle
Is transferred to another candle—
Spring twilight
by Yosa Buson

Example₆:
From across the lake,
Past the black winter trees,
Faint sounds of a flute.
by Richard Wright

The haiku usually has seventeen syllables. A syllable is a segment of a spoken word usually made up of one or two sounds and spoken as one unit. The lines of the haiku rarely rhyme.

Beans
Beans are kind to hearts,
I like to eat them daily,
And then do big farts.

Haikus usually focus on nature. They use language that appeals to the senses to capture feelings or images in nature. The poet does not give you the emotion he/she feels, but instead shows the details in the subject that cause that emotion.

For instance, this haiku talks about the sky:

The sky is so blue,
The sun is so warm up high,
I love the summer.

     Characteristics of a haiku
A haiku

• contains three lines;
• has five syllables – sound units (moras)– in the first line, seven in the second and five in the last line
• contains seventeen syllables in total
• does not rhyme/rarely rhyme.
• frequently has seasonal reference
• usually focuses on nature or natural phenomenon
• has two juxtaposed subjects that are divided into two contrasting parts. In English, this division between two parts can be shown by a colon or dash.

     How to write a haiku

• Write two sentences about nature. Focus on details of the environment that are similar to the human condition.
• Write a third sentence about something that is seemingly different from what you were writing in the first two sentences. You are shifting your focus from the first two lines and the ideas to something that may look as if it is different. Maybe you are looking outside and thinking about beautiful flowers and trees. Then you think of a hot cup of milky tea. The flowers and trees are growing, healthy and strong. The milk is a gift of healthy nature; the grass the cows eat, but someone could ask: What have trees and flowers to do with cows?
• Combine the three sentences and see whether the lines have any connection. Use language that appeals to the senses. This is what we mean by imagery. Let your reader see, smell, taste, touch and hear nature. You may not need to involve all the senses all the time. You could think of words that strongly appeal to one or two senses. Remember, you are showing not telling. Don’t tell the reader the maize is healthy; show them that it is healthy without even mentioning the word ‘healthy’.
• Next rewrite the lines in the form of 5-7-5 syllables.

Remember the poem does not need to have rhyme.

          V.2. TANKA

Definition

A tanka is another form of Japanese poems, like the haiku. It is also called waka or uta. Tanka means a short song. It is an unrhymed Japanese verse form of five lines containing five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables respectively. All tankas have five lines and each line follows a pattern: the first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, the third line has five syllables, the fourth line has seven syllables, and the fifth line has seven syllables. This form of poem has a total of 31 syllables.

These poems are made up of five units which after translation into English, usually take the form of five lines. They follow a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7, similar, and yet longer than a haiku. There are two parts, the initial 5-7-7 known as the kami-no-ku or upper phrase, and the second half, 7-7, known as the shimo-no-ku or the lower phrase. Together, the poem is thirty-one syllables long.

Example₁:
The bucket’s water
poured out and gone,
drop by drop
dew drips like pearls
from the autumn flowers.
by Masaoka Shiki

Example₂:
Her hair at twenty
Flowing long and black
Through the teeth of her comb
Oh beautiful spring
Extravagant spring
by Yosano Akiko 

Example₃:
The man
I used to meet in the mirror
Is no more
Now I see a wasted face.
It dribbles tears        

Example₄:
tree with lush leaves
at an outdoor fair
giving shade
to a goldfish seller
as summer begins
by Masaoka Shiki 

Example₅: For Satori
In the spring of joy
When even the mud chuckles
My soul runs rabid
Snaps at its own bleeding heels
and barks: “What is happiness?”

Example₆: Sombre Girl
She never saw fire
from heaven or hotly fought
with God; but her eyes
smolder from Hiroshima
and the cold death of Budha

     Characteristics of the tanka

• The tanka is longer than the haiku. It has two additional lines that have seven syllables each. In total, it has 31 syllables. Its structure is 5-7-5-7-7.
• A tanka does not have end punctuation.
• It also does not use rhymes.
• The third line of the tanka acts like a pivot that divides the poem into two parts.
• The tanka uses imagery to convey its meaning. Remember, an imagery is a word that creates mental pictures. Examples include similes, metaphors and personification, though it could be any word that makes a reader smell, touch, hear, taste or see what the poet intends.

Let’s look at the following tanka.

Crash at two A.M.
I opened my bedroom door
A white cat ran by
Startled by the clanging fall
Of the treat jar’s metal lid

In this poem, we ‘hear’ the noise from the use of ‘crash’, and ‘clanging’. The cat becomes more visible when we are told it is ‘white’, instead of just a cat. Therefore, imagery makes the poem more alive. Note how the line on the cat is a pivot. We understand why the persona woke up, even without the last two lines. We also understand why the cat is hurrying by even without the first two lines.

    How to write a tanka

You pass through the following steps:

• Think of a funny or amusing situation.
• Write down a few sentences that describe the situation.
• Think of powerful words that can appeal to the senses of the reader, and use them to describe the situation.
• Once you are done, think of how you can create the pattern 5-7-5-7-7.

          V.3. ATMOSPHERE/MOOD

 As a literary term, atmosphere means feelings that readers get from a narrative. These feelings are based on details, such as setting, background, objects and foreshadowing.

Atmosphere refers to the feeling, emotion, or mood a poet con­veys to a reader through the description of setting and objects. It also refers to the emotions invoked/applied in the reader as he/she reads a poem. Simply, atmosphere/mood is the feeling the audience gets as they read or listen to a poem.

Although mood and atmosphere are used interchangeably, there is a small difference. Mood is narrow as it concerns with the internal feelings of individual(s), without incorporating the feelings/emotions radiating throughout the venue. On the other hand, atmosphere is usually those feelings/emotions felt by more people or applied to a certain spot or venue.

While describing atmosphere/mood, we use adjectives:

Examples

• Angry
• Anxious
• Bored
• Joyful
• Embarrassed
• Excited
• Frustrated
• Guilty
• Happy
• Heartbroken
• Irritated
• Mournful
• Disappointed
• Offended
• Optimistic
• Passionate
• Relaxed
• Relieved
• Restless
• Sad
• Scared
• Flattered

     Identifying atmosphere in haikus and tankas

The sky is so blue,
      The sun is so warm up high,
       I love the summer.

When you read the above haiku, there is the feeling you get. That feeling is the atmosphere. In this case, it is a feeling of joy (joyful atmosphere). This is expressed by the blue sky and the sun – which is warm. The blue sky and the sun are therefore images. They help create the atmosphere which enables us to understand this haiku.

With my father
      I would watch dawn
      over green fields.
          by Issa Kobayashi

This haiku creates an atmosphere of calmness/serenity in the reader as you imagine someone nestling next to a parent enjoying a pleasant morning.

Her hair at twenty
Flowing long and black
Through the teeth of her comb
Oh beautiful spring
Extravagant spring
    by Yosano Akiko

In the above tanka, the atmosphere suggests beauty and romance. A lover is admiring the object of his desire and we ‘feel’ the long hair and associate it with the beautiful springtime when nature is blooming again after a harsh winter. We almost ‘hear’ the spring in the heart.

     The man
     I used to meet in the mirror
     Is no more
     Now I see a wasted face.
     It dribbles tears
          by Masaoka Shiki

The tanka is about disappointment and the resulting pain. The woman is regretful that the man has changed so much, that it is not the man whom she fell in love with. The poem creates an atmosphere of deep and sad pain.

     tree with lush leaves
    at an outdoor fair
    giving shade
    to a goldfish seller
    as summer begins
        by Masaoka Shiki

This tanka is about a seller sitting under a tree, selling goldfish. The tanka communicates the beauty of nature as shown by a tree with a lot of leaves and the lovely colour of the goldfish. It creates a peaceful relaxed atmosphere. Summer is a time to look forward to when everything is bright and appealing.

     She never saw fire
     from heaven or hotly fought
     with God; but her eyes
     smolder from Hiroshima
     and the cold death of Budha

It is important to explain that Hiroshima is one of the cities in Japan where the first atomic bomb was dropped killing almost the whole city. The poet is bitter and angry that an innocent child who never participated in the war and had not offended the creator suffered the undeserved consequences. Not even the eastern revered figure, Buddha, could protect her, and he appears as if he also died in the destruction. The short poem is like a mourning of the loss of faith, for the Creator and His servants could not protect the child’s innocence. The atmosphere is bitter and angry.

          V.4. THEME

A theme is the poem’s main idea about life in general. This is the central idea in a literary work. It refers to the suggestions the story makes about the life that it depicts. A theme is what the author intends to reveal in relation to the subject of the story. In other words, themes are insights of life that the poem exposes to the reader.

In few words, a theme can be explained as:

• a central/main idea of the poem.
• an opinion expressed on the subject.
• what a poet is saying about a certain subject.
• a poet’s opinion or perspective about a certain issue in society.
• a controlling idea which is continuously developed throughout the poem.
• a central and unifying concept of a poem.
• a main or an underlying meaning of a literary work.

There are two types of themes:

• Minor theme: It is an idea that appears in a poem briefly or an idea that appears once in a while in a poem. It is less important and may appear for a part of the poem to be replaced by another. It doesn’t cover the whole poem.

• Major theme: It refers to an idea that a poet repeats in his/her work making it the most significant idea in a literary work. The whole poem revolves around it.

 Examples of themes may include compassion, courage, friendship, love, good vs bad, honesty, loyalty, loneliness, grief, perseverance, benefits of hardworking, importance of family…

 The themes may also be: – Implicit/implied
– Explicit

• Implicit themes

Implicit themes are the ones which are hidden. They are implied or communicated indirectly or suggested.  To get them, the reader has to use his/her intelligence and analysis. They are also called hidden themes.

• Explicit themes

These are the themes which are stated or communicated directly or clearly. The reader does not have to think deeply to find them. They are fully and clearly expressed leaving nothing implied. They are also called fully stated themes.

     Identifying themes in haikus and tankas

     The man
     I used to meet in the mirror
     Is no more
     Now I see a wasted face.
     It dribbles tears
          by Masaoka Shiki

The tanka is about disappointment and the resulting pain. The woman is regretful that the man has changed so much, that it is not the man whom she fell in love with.

          V.5. MESSAGE

A message is the point the poet wants a reader to get. This is the lesson that the poet hopes the reader will get after reading a literary work. For example, the message could be that the writer wants the reader to consider conserving the environment. He/she could do this by showing the consequences of destroying the environment

In few words, a message can be explained as:

• a lesson the poet wishes to convey to the society through his/her poem.
• what a poet wants the society to learn from his/her literary work.
• a kind of a lesson that the reader learns after reading the poem.
• a moral in the poem.
• something the poem aims to teach the reader.
• a lesson the poet wishes the society to learn from his/her poem.

 Messages can be about respecting elders, not fighting, caring for your loved ones, cooperating, avoiding drugs…..   

The two types of messages are:
– Implicit/implied
– Explicit

• Implicit messages

Implicit messages are the ones which are hidden. They are implied or communicated indirectly or suggested.  To get them, the reader has to use his/her intelligence and analysis. They are also called hidden messages.

• Explicit messages

These are the messages which are stated or communicated directly or clearly. The reader does not have to think deeply to find them. They are fully and clearly expressed leaving nothing implied. They are also called fully stated messages.

     Identifying messages in haikus and tankas

     The man
     I used to meet in the mirror
     Is no more
     Now I see a wasted face.
     It dribbles tears
        by Masaoka Shiki

The message found in this tanka is that sometimes you can be disappointed by your loved one (s) and then this disappointment causes you much pain. The woman is regretful that the man has changed so much, that it is not the man whom she fell in love with.

She never saw fire
     from heaven or hotly fought
     with God; but her eyes
     smolder from Hiroshima
     and the cold death of Budha

 This tanka teaches us that war is blind and comes with uncalled destruction. It destroys both the warring people and the clueless innocents. Humanity should avoid wars, as they serve no useful purpose.

     tree with lush leaves
    at an outdoor fair
    giving shade
    to a goldfish seller
    as summer begins
        by Masaoka Shiki

The tanka communicates that summer is a time to look forward to when everything is bright and appealing.

           V.6. POETIC DEVICES

Poetic devices are techniques used by a poet/author/playwright to communicate an idea with an audience. They are stylistic techniques that a poet employs in order to influence the way a poem sounds when read aloud and the overall mood created by sound patterns.  Poetic devices are also tools that a poet uses to create rhythm, enhance a poem’s meaning, or intensify a mood or a feeling.

Poets choose their language carefully for them to pass the message in the fewest words. To achieve this, they deliberately apply certain forms of style or poetic devices. Some of those devices include alliteration, assonance,consonance, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, repetition, synecdoche, rhyme and rhythm

• Alliteration

Alliteration refers to the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a line of poetry. It is the repetition of same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Alliteration is especially used in poetry to create pleasing, musical sounds (rhythm), as well as to emphasize and link words.

Example₁: A butterfly
The falling flower thought I,
Fluttering back to the branch –
was a butterfly.

Example₂:
With my father
I would watch dawn
over green fields.

Example₃
When the cock crows,
The lazy man smacks his lips and says:
So is it day light again, is it?
From “The lazy man” by Yoruba

 Example₄:
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs
Making their mocks at our accused lot
 From “If we must die” by Claude McKay

Example₅:
He says we from the bush
don’t understand civilized ways
for we tell our women
to keep the hem of their dresses
below the knee
     From “I Speak for the Bush” by Everett Standa

Example₆:
On his watch
Bleeds black blood
Brothers broken backs
Creature craving for crunches
They snarl.
Farewell for fools
He says

Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
And friend,…….
From “Building the Nation” by Christopher H. M. Barlow

Example₇:
Plain plan pronounced
Sincere since seventh sabbath
Sweet smell of success
Bigger and better

• Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words in a line or lines of a poem. It is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Example₁:
Fleet feet them
Looting hoofers of Bloomington
Blood and blooming
Footing and glooming.

Example₂:
“Hey, wait! Don’t blame me! Nate and
James are the perpetrators”

Example₃:
Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster child of silence and slow time.
    From “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats

Example₄:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded nearly napping suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
               From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Example₅:
I wondered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’ er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
     From “I wondered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth

 Example₆:
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine? –
Since anyhow you are dead.
From “The mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks

N.B: In order to identify “assonance”, you must be very sure of the pronunciation of words. They may seem similar yet they are pronounced differently.

• Consonance

Consonance is defined as a repetition of consonant sounds within lines/ verses of a poem. This pleasing sound caused by the repetition of similar consonant sounds within groups of words often occurs at the end of words, but may also be found within words.  Remember that when consonant sounds are repeated only at the beginning of words, it becomes “alliteration”.

Example₁:
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom you think’st thou dost overthrow
          From “Death, be Not Proud” by John Donne

Example₂:
A fellow jumped off a high wall,
And had a most terrible fall.

Example₃:
When the cock crows,
The lazy man smacks his lips and says:
So is it day light again, is it?
From “The lazy man” by Yoruba

Example₄:
Telling a story on our peace tunnel
Evoking the hard-works of their hands-
A good way to get it strongly secured
   From “My island is in need of a poem” by Jean de Dieu Bavugempore

Example₅:
That my hair style
Makes him sick
Because I am dirty.
From “The graceful giraffe cannot become a monkey” Okot p’ Bitek

Example₆:
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
   From “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

Example₇:
“Pitter patter- what’s the matter?
Can’t go out and play?
Pitter patter – get your madder –
Hate this rainy day;…..”

“Tumbling like a waterfall
Down the window pane;
Something sort of comforting
Listening to the rain-“
From “Ode to a Rainy Day” by Linda Ori

• Imagery

Imagery entails the use of words that create mental pictures in the reader’s mind. It helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. This makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. Imagery enables us to see, taste, hear, smell and touch what the poet says – in our minds. This one needs the aid of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, hyperbole and onomatopoeia in order to appeal to the bodily senses.

Example₁:
I gazed: her hair was like the wool of a mountain sheep,
Her eyes, a pair of brown-black beans floating in milk.
Juicy and round as plantain shoots
Her legs, arms and neck,
And like wine – gourds her pillowy breasts;
Her throat uttered fresh banana juice
Matching her face – smooth and banana ripe
    From “I Met a Thief” by Austin Bukenya.

The writer uses imagery in the poem to show how a girl is beautiful. He is describing her hair as soft as “the wool of a mountain sheep.” Her eyes are compared to “a pair of brown-black beans floating in milk.” Her breasts are smooth and warm like a pillow. Her voice is sweet as “fresh banana juice.” By using those words, we get an image of that girl-he illustrates her appearance as a beauty.

Example₂:
I wondered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
     From “I wondered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth

Imagery was used throughout the following words: a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. We can see the ‘vales and hills’ through which the speaker wanders, and the daffodils which are there. The poet uses the sense of sight to create a host of golden daffodils beside the lake. The rich golden colour is also appealing to our senses.

Example₃:
She’s my little girlzina,
That much hotter that a jalapeno.

Tender like a night in June,
Sweeter than a honeymoon,
Brighter than a silver spoon,
Just as crazy as a loon.

Softer than a lullaby,
Deeper than the midnight sky,
Soulful as a baby’ s cry,
My sweet potato pie.
From Sweet Potato Pie by James Taylor

 In the above verses, we can imagine nature, months and seasons with the help of visual imagery. The words ‘tender, sweeter, brighter, softer, deeper and baby’s cry’ can also appeal our senses.

•  Metaphor

Metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two unlike/different things without using ‘as’, ‘like’ or ‘than’. It says that one thing is another. It is a comparison between two objects-essentially different but with some commonalities- in which one object is used to give clear meaning to the other.

Example₁:
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
From “Dreams” by Langston Hughes

In the first stanza, Hughes compares life to a bird with broken-wings while in the second one the life is compared to a barred field. He says that this happens when one’s dreams are lost or not achieved.

Example₂:
Hope is the thing with feather
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.
From “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson.

• In this poem, “hope” is compared to a bird.

Example₃:
Love is a walk in the rain at night’
Two hands holding onto each other tight;
Love is honey on a pair of lips,
Onto a tender heart it drips…

Example₄:
I am one of many
Small branches of broken tree,
Always looking to the ones above…

• In the above lines, someone compares himself/herself to a small branch.

A metaphor can be implicit or explicit.

   Explicit metaphor: It is a metaphor that is clear about the two things being compared.

Examples:
That child is a burden to her parents.
Laughter is the best medicine
His brain is a computer
Her smile was a ray of sunshine.
The stars were diamonds in the sky.
Our teacher is a walking dictionary.
He couldn’t stand because his legs were rubber.
Jamal was a pig at dinner
The snow is a white blanket
You are my sunshine
The sun is a golden ball
Books are the keys to your imagination

   Implicit/implied metaphor: It is a metaphor that compares two unlike things without mentioning one of them.

Examples:
His anger grew until it erupted. (compares anger to a volcano)
John barked at the girl. (compare John to a dog)
She flies at him. (compares her to a bird)
The ants orbited the snail before attacking it. (they are being compared to planets)
The teacher will roar if he finds that you have poured water into his documents. (the teacher is compared to a lion)

• Simile

Simile is a comparison between two unlike things by using the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’. It is a poetic device that uses the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’ to show the resemblance between two things that are different. This comparison which shows similarities between two different things by words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’, is used to create an image in our mind and hence enables us understand the subject under comparison.  Sometimes the verbs ‘appear’, ‘resemble’ or ‘seem’ are also used to compare.

Example₁:
What did we say to each other
that now we are as the deer
who walk in single file
with heads high…..
From “A Simile” by N. Scott Momaday

Example₂:
What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?
From “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

 Example₃:
My husband’s tongue
Is bitter like the roots of the lynno lily
It is hot like the penis of the bee,
Like the sting of the kalang!
Ocol’s tongue is fierce like the
arrow of the scorpion,
Deadly like the spear of the
buffalo-hornet.
It is ferocious
Like the poison of a barren woman
And corrosive like the juice of the gourd.
From “Song of Lawino” by Okot p’ Bitek.

Example₄:
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
   From “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

Example₅:
The day was as hot as the sun
He could swim like a fish
Her sneeze was as loud as a train whistle
I felt like a fish out of water

Example₆:
I counted the ribs on his concertina chest
bones protruding as if chiselled
by a sculptor’s hand of famine.
He looked with glazed pupils
seeing only a bun on some sky-high shelf.
The skin was pale and taut
Like a glove on a doctor’s hand.
His tongue darted in and out
Like a chameleon,
snatching a confetti of flies.
Oh! child,
your stomach is a den of lions
roaring day and night.
From “The Face of Hunger” by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Example₇:
Love is like a painting
Filled with all colours and shades
Love is like a bleeding heart
Cut with many sharp blades.

Example₈:
During Christmas
We gather as a mass
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums go as we hum.

Like a wild hyena
We laugh in the dance arena
The children graceful as Mary
And together we make merry:

Example₉:
Friends are like chocolate cake
You can never have too many.
Chocolate cake is like heaven-

• Personification

It is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes or behaviours. Personification refers to giving or assigning animals, ideas, or inanimate objects human abilities. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. Personification helps to make abstracts things become more alive and easy to understand.

Example₁:
“Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
The slavery of your children
Africa tell me Africa
Is this you this back that is bent
This back that breaks under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun…”
From “Africa” by David Diop

In this poem the poet addresses Africa as if it is a human being. He says that he has never known it as if it is a person who has blood that flows in the veins, can sweat while working, and has children as human beings.

Example₂:
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
From “Dreams” by Langston Hughes

In those lines dreams have been personified. They have been considered as persons who die and who can go.

Example₃:
The rays of the new-born sun
search under the branches
the breast of ripe pomegranate
and bite it till it bleeds.
Discreet and shuddering kiss
hard and scalding embrace,
Soon the pure thrust
will draw purple blood.
Its taste will be sweeter,
because it was pregnant with desire
And with fearful love
and scented blossoms-
Pregnant by lover sun.
     From “Pomegranate” by Rabiarivelo

 Example₄:
Pretty little bottles of perfume
Stood at attention on the dresser.
“Which one of us will she choose today?”
And they each took turns being the guesser.
“She’ll choose me,” the first one said,
“Because I smell like roses.”
“Not likely today,” the second bottle said.
“You’ll stink up everyone’s noses.”
“She’ll choose me,” the third bottle said.
“She loves how I smell like sandalwood.”
The second bottle replied again,
“She won’t choose you. I know I never would.”
The woman came in, looked at her perfumes,
Sniffed bottle two and choosed her.
Bottle two cried, “Yes! She chose me, the best;
I guess you other two are the losers!
        From “Perfume Bottles” by Kelly Roper

• Repetition

Repetition refers to the deliberate use of a word or a group of words over and over again or recurrently in a poem. It is a poetic device that is commonly used. It is the repeating of a word, phrase, line, stanza or idea in a poem. Repetition not only creates rhythm in a poem but also establishes unity in the poem as well as helping the poet to emphasize certain ideas.

When repetition is used in the poem, it creates rhythm and lays emphasis on the main theme in a poem. It also emphasizes the poet’s message and keeps it constantly stuck in the mind of the reader or audience.

Example₁:
You art slave to fate, chance, king and desperate men,
And dost your poison and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st thou then?
 From “Death, be Not Proud” by John Donne

Example₂:
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
The slavery of your children
From “Africa” by David Diop

Example₃:
They say she smiled at me
I will not slaughter my only cock
I will not throw a party
I will not bring down my flute
I will not compose a song
I will not change my walking style
From “Smile” by Mark Chetambe

Example₄:
None on earth is like her,
She that made me breathe.

None on earth is like her,
She that filled my stomach.

None on earth is like her,
She that knew why i cried.

None on earth is like her,
She that protected me.

None on earth is like her,
She that gave me my first lessons.

None on earth is like her,
She whose death orphans me.
From “The Stem of the Branch” by L.M. Asiedu

Example₅:
Atieno washes dishes,
Atieno plucks the chicken,
Atieno gets up early,
Beds her sacks down in kitchen,
Atieno eight years old,
Atieno yo.
From “A Freedom song” by Marjorie Macgoye

Example₆:
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
From “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

Example₇:
It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,….
From “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens

 Example₈:
What did we say to each other
that now we are as the deer
who walk in single file
with heads high
with ears forward
with eyes watchful
with hooves always placed on firm ground
in whose limbs there is latent flight
From “A Simile” by N. Scott Momaday

Example₉:
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
From “Africa” by David Diop

Example₁₀:
Words Words Words
words without wind
words without end
without care what action
we stand and watch
on fireless fireplaces.
From “The end begins: Words” Kalungi Kabuye.

Remember that there are many types of repetition like anadiplosis, anaphora, epistrophe, refrain among others

• Anadiplosis is the repetition in which the last word, phrase of a verse begins the next verse.
• Anaphora is the repeating of words at the beginning of close lines/verses.
• Epistrophe/epiphora refers to repeating of words at the end of close lines/verses.
• Refrain: is the repetition of same line/lines at regular intervals throughout a poem or song, usually after every stanza or a chorus.
• Onomatopoeia

It is the use of words that imitate the sounds. Onomatopoeia as a poetic device includes words that imitate, resemble or suggest the sounds of the things they describe. It is referred to a word that imitates/duplicates or sounds like the natural sounds of objects. Onomatopoeia words help the readers to hear the sounds of the words they reflect, and the writers use them to bring their stories to life in the readers’ minds.

Categories of onomatopoeic words

Sounds of animals: Meow, moo, tweet, oink, baa, bleat, bark, buzz, coo, click, cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-doo, croak, growl, gibber, hiss, howl, hum, maa, neigh, quack, trumpet, roar, snort, snarl, shriek, squeal, squawk, squeak, tweet, whistle, whine, whimper, woof, yowl, …

Sounds made by people: Ahem, argh, bawl, blab, blurt, brrr, burp, chomp, chortle, chuckle, chatter, cough, clap, eek, gag, gargle, gasp, giggle, guffaw, groan, grumble, growl, grunt, ha-ha, hiccup, huh, hum, hush, humph, munch, murmur, mutter, mumble, moan, mmm, phew, slurp, snore, snort, sob squeal sniff, tsk, whisper, yawn,

Sounds of things: of water such as -plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip. Sounds of wind include swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whisper.  Others are bam, bang, beep, boom, bubble, bump, clang, clash, clatter, click, clink, crash, croak, ding dong, drip, flick, honk, jingle, poof, pop, pow, puff, ring, rumble, slap, smash, splatter, squish, sputter, thud, thump, thwack, tick, tock, vroom, whack, wham, whip, whir, whiz, whoop, zap, zip, zoom, …

Example₁:
Thunder, lightning – it’s so frightening!
Let’s go run and hide,
Find a place that’s warm and cozy –
Leave the storm outsider;
Splish splash – lightning flash!
From “Ode to a Rainy Day” by Linda Ori

Example₂:
Dance, dance!
With the muse of Africa;
Tap, tap!
With the rhythm of Africa
Moving your body and,
Moving your steps;
To the sounds and cultures of the various tribes in Africa.
From “Dance, dance!” by Edward Kofi Louis

 Example₃:
Kwa!kwa!kwa!
Our hands sore
Our head ache
Our knees numb
Our back break
Breaking stones
Kwa!kawa!kwa!
From “Song of the worker” by E.Songoyi

Example₄:
The rustle of notesAnd the clink of coins
Strange prayer indeed
From “Money- changers” by Richard S.Mabala

Example₅:
“When a poem is born
What is the chance
Of words in rain
Drip drop dance
Ping ting sing
Pitter patter rhyme
Rain dance acceleration
Makes my poem climb
Dribble drench drizzle
Thinking on the fence
Sprinkle splish splash
Bring balance to my sense”
From “Rain Dance Poem” by Victoria Reome

• Synecdoche

It is a poetic device in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing or the whole thing is used to refer to the part of that thing. This means that the part of something represents the whole or the whole is used to represent the part. Synecdoche may also use smaller groups to stand for larger ones or vice versa.

A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole.

Examples:
Bread can be used to represent food in general or money.
Sails is often used to refer to a whole ship.
Hired hands can be used to refer to workmen.
Wheels refers to a vehicle.

It may use an entire whole thing to represent a part of it.

Examples:
The “world” is not treating you well. World stands for some people.
The word “society” is often referred to a specific sector of society.
“Police” can be used to represent one or several officers.
“Rwanda” attended the UN conference in New York. Rwanda represents the president

Examples from poems:

Example₁:
“There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create”

“I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.”
From “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

• In the above lines, synecdoche was used in “a face”, “faces”, “voices” to represent the people.

Example₂:
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –
From “I heard a Fly buzz–when I died” by Emily Dickinson

• In these lines, the poet uses “The Eyes around” to mean “the mourners around the bed of a dying person”- the people in the room who are watching the speaker. Simply, “Eyes” are parts of the body that were used to represent those people.

Example₃:
The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun.
From “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge

• In these verses, “wave” represents the whole ocean or a part of the ocean-larger than a wave itself. So, “the western wave” represents “the ocean extending to the west”.

Synecdoche and metonymy resemble one another because they both use a word or phrase to represent something else. They are both considered as forms of metaphor. Either metaphor, or metonymy or synecdoche involves the substitution of one word for another that requires a conceptual link. Synecdoche can also be a form of personification when the non-human thing substitutes a human element.

The main difference is that synecdoche uses the part of the thing it represents or the whole thing to mean its part. On the other hand, metonymy doesn’t use the part for the whole or the whole for the part, but rather uses a term that is related to the thing it means.

• Rhyme

Rhyme is a repetition of the same sound at the end of lines in a stanza. Rhyme occurs when two or more words sound similarly at their ends.  A rhyme is a tool that uses repeating patterns to create rhythm or musicality in poems. It is used for a specific purpose of giving a pleasing effect to a poem, which makes its recital an enjoyable experience.

Usually, rhyme occurs at the end of lines in a poem, but it can also occur in the middle. If it occurs in the middle, it is called internal rhyme.

Example₁:
“There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, ‘It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”

• The poem (limerick) has a rhyming scheme of AABBA.

Example₂:
Mama; don’t worry
Your son’s in no hurry
We will not rush to marry
And there make you sorry.

 Example₃:
“It is the Negro’s tragedy I feel
Which binds me like a heavy iron chain
It is the Negro’s wounds I want to heal
Because I know the keenness of his pain
Only a thorn-crowned Negro and no white
Can penetrate into the Negro’s ken
Or feel the thickness of the shroud of night
Which hides and buries him from other men”
From “The Negro’s Tragedy” by Claude Mckay

• The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD.

Example₄:
“The gaze of the beauty
When I look at Rwanda
I can’t help it wonder
How like a phoenix, from ashes this nation is rising
When I look at Rwanda, I can’t help it but start praising…..”

“The choice to believe in power of togetherness
The choice to walk hand in hand even through the darkness
The choice to trust the good in others
 And the choice to work heart to heart with others
Because we are a summation, one nation
And never shall we betray the foundation…..”

Example₅:
There was an Old Person whose habits,
Induced him to feed upon rabbits;
When he’d eaten eighteen,
He turned perfectly green,
Upon which he relinquished those habits.

• This poem (limerick) has a rhyming scheme of AABBA.

Example₆:
“In some ways the world we live in
is no different from the world in Christ’s day.
Today just like in the time of Rome people dance and play
and chase after pleasure and sin,
try at almost any cost to win,
do each other mock and betray,
are set on monetary value come what may
and without thought with the next evil we do begin”
From “In Some Ways” by Gert Strydom

The rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA.

• Rhythm

Rhythm refers to a strong regular repeated pattern of sound in poetry. It is also a series of stressed or accented syllables in a group of words, arranged so that the reader expects a similar series to follow. Rhythm is what we dance to in a song. It is the regular beat that defines the song. Rhythm that can be measured is called meter.

In writing poetry, rhythm acts as a beat in music. It is used to captivate the readers by giving musical effect to a literary piece. Rhythm is created by repetition, sound patterns (repetition of certain sounds in a poem), and length of lines – if of the same length.