Dr Andrzej Diniejko
UW, UKKNJA
INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES
EXAMINATION TOPICS
Functions of literature.
Intertextuality.
Literary language and the language of literature.
Content and form in a literary text.
The theme of a literary work, spatial and temporal setting.
Plot, minor plot, major plot, plot structure (climactic, episodic structure), physical plot, psychological plot.
The high and low style in traditional literary theory.
Satire.
Alliteration and onomatopoeia.
Simile and metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche.
The characteristic features of epic and lyric poetry.
Ballad, ode, sonnet, pastoral poetry.
Iambic pentametre.
Rhythm and rhyme. Internal rhyme, assonance.
Blank verse and free verse.
Types of irony.
Classical literary genres and some new literary genres.
Monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, aside (in a drama).
The origins of drama. The medieval dramatic genres.
The main elements of a dramatic play.
Explain the difference between the climactic and episodic structure of a dramatic
play.
Features of tragedy. Tragic vision.
Features of comedy, farce, tragicomedy, modern tragicomedy (theatre of absurd).
Flashback, foreshadowing.
Physical & psychological plot.
Protagonist and antagonist (in tragedy).
Symbol and symbolism.
Catharsis, comic relief (in tragedy), tragic relief (in comedy), dramatic irony, deux ex machina.
Novel, types of novels, short story, fable, tale, fairy tale.
Rhetorical question.
Conceit, oxymoron.
Verisimilitude.
Mock epic poetry.
Dramatic monologue.
Characters; flat (static) and round (dynamic characters).
Dialogue, monologue and soliloquy (in drama)
Hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, three unities (in a drama).
Narration, narrator (omniscient, non-omniscient).
Frame narrative (or frame story).
Stream-of-consciousness or interior monologue.