Kenning

Kenning

Definition:

Kenning - a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning

Example - Beowulf:

"Across the whale's way" (Beowulf, 10).

     Whale's way = Ocean

"No battle-blade could do it damage" (Beowulf, 1149). 

     Battle-blade = Sword

"Break open her bone-chamber" (Beowulf, 1216). 

     Bone-chamber = Skin

Function: 

Kennings are a type of metaphor and are used often throughout Beowulf. They describe something using characteristics or qualities. Kennings can be used to invoke thought in the reader or to give something a new name. It can provide a new or different meaning for a common word. These kennings are seen throughout Beowulf and they work to create imagery. As a person is reading Beowulf, when he/she comes upon these things, it can cause them to pause for a moment and think about what the author is really saying. Instead of just saying "ocean" and imagining the vast blue water, maybe now a person sees the water as well as the fish and other creatures (such as the whales) that live in it. 

Another Example: 

There is a singer everyone has heard, 

Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,

Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.

He says that leaves are old and that for flowers

Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.

He says the early petal-fall is past

When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers

On sunny days a moment overcast... 

The Oven Bird by Robert Frost

Original Mnemonic:
Keep
Every
Noun
Noticed (by)
Indirectly
Needing (a)
General description

Imagery

Definition

Using figurative language and visually descriptive wording in order to appeal to the reader’s senses.

Example from Beowulf

“Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies' blood.”

Function

Imagery is used in order to help create a visual image for the reader to envision. In the first example it helps to create a picture of Beowulf emerging from battle, covered in blood. This also helps to portray Beowulf as a great warrior. This also makes the work of literature more enjoyable and easier to read as well as pointing out characteristic traits. Another function of using imagery is helping the reader understand events in great detail.

Another Example-Charlotte’s Web

"In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff crystals, salted almonds, popsicles, partially gnawed ice cream cones and wooden sticks of lollipops."

Non-original mnemonic

Original Mnemonic

Imagery helps you to

Imagine

More

Accurately,

Get 

Excellent 

Results

YAY!!!!

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism

DEFINITION

Anthropomorphism can be understood to be the act of lending a human quality, emotion or ambition to a non-human object or being. Note that this is similar to personification, but not the same. Personification is an act of giving human characteristics to animals or objects to create imagery, while anthropomorphism aims to make an animal or object behave and appear like they are human beings. The use of objects or animals makes the story become visually appealing and non-threatening to the readers.

EXAMPLE FROM ANIMAL FARM

“Then they saw what Clover had seen. It was a pig walking on his hind legs. Yes, it was Squealer. A little awkwardly, as though not quite used to supporting his considerable bulk in that position, but with perfect balance, he was strolling across the yard. And a moment later, out from the door of the farmhouse came a long file of pigs, all walking on their hind legs” (Orwell 121-122).

FUNCTION

The story Animal Farm is supposed to resemble the Russian Revolution. If Orwell had just written a story about the Russian Revolution, probably not as many people would have read it. Making the characters in the book all animals that act like humans makes the book have some humor, and makes it a good read for a larger audience. Because Orwell uses animals instead of humans, younger kids could read this book and understand it and not get scared by it. Not only does it make it easier for younger kids to understand, but also makes it easier to understand for anyone reading it. Orwell gets his message about the Russian Revolution, and all its terrible conditions, through to any kind of audience by using the animals. Also personally, I believe because the animals add humor, it took no time to get through the book and enjoy it immensely.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

It’s easy to find all kinds of examples for anthropomorphism, but one book that is so popular that it became a movie is The Jungle Book. A mother and father wolf find a baby boy after his parents are killed by a tiger. They name him Mowgli. Mowgli is first raised by the wolves, the mother caring dearly for him: “Come soon,” said Mother Wolf, “little naked son of mine; for, listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs.” Later Mowgli makes friends with a panther, Bagheera, and a bear, Baloo, while running into trouble with Ka and Shere Khan, the snake and the tiger. All of these animals and many more in the story have complex emotions and conversations with Mowgli, which is something only humans really do.

NON-ORIGINAL MNEMONIC

ORIGINAL MNEMONIC

Etymology says that anthropos means 'mankind' and morph means 'shape or figure'. So anthropomorphic is having human form or figure.

POSTED BY KASEY SALISBURY

Allegory

Definition

An allegory involves using many interconnected symbols or figures in such a way that nearly every element of the narrative has a meaning beyond the literal level, i.e., everything in the narrative is a symbol that relates to other symbols within the story. The allegorical story, poem, or play can be read either literally or as a symbolic statement about a political, spiritual, or psychological truth.

Example – from Animal Farm

“Preeminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character. All the other male pigs on the farm were porkers. The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point, he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white” (Orwell 35-36).

Function

It is completely possible for a person to read George Orwell’s entire book as an anthropomorphic tale about a farm taken over by the animals on it. However, Orwell wrote the book as a scathing commentary on the Russian Revolution and its results. Manor Farm, originally owned and operated by Farmer Jones, represents Russia under Tsar Nicholas II. The animals on the farm revolt against Jones and take over the farm themselves, mirroring the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which ushered in communism, known as animalism in the book. In the passage above, the reader is introduced to three important characters in the revolution. Snowball represents Lenin, who instigated the Bolshevik Revolution but was later pushed out by Stalin, played by Napoleon. Squealer is the propaganda minister in Animal Farm, and his noted ability in this passage to “turn black into white” proves to be extremely useful to the pigs (the communists) as they deftly change the rules throughout the book until they convince the animals on the farm that “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” (133). Orwell’s thorough, detailed allegory serves to highlight the issues and problems that led to the communist takeover of Russia, pointing out both the sins of the leaders and the blindness of the people while, through the use of animals as characters, maintaining a readable, even enjoyable, narrative.

Another example

John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is one of the best known literary allegories, although the allegorical names of characters and places openly reveal who or what they represent. It is the story of a man named Christian who journeys from his home, the City of Destruction, to the Celestial City. He encounters many people and places on his journey, some helpful and some not, as he seeks his goal. The journey is an allegory of a person’s spiritual journey, from his realization of his own sin (in the book, a large burden he carries as his travels) to his acceptance of Christ’s payment for his sin, followed by temptations he encounters in life until he reaches heaven. (Photo: William Blake: Christian Reading in His Book (Plate 2, 1824–27). “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Wikipedia. 29 April 2016. Web. 15 June 2016.)

Non-original mnemonic

Original mnemonic

Listen! Click here for a print version.

Other resources

Check out this complete listing of all the allegorical components in Animal Farm. It may also be helpful for our class discussions and your in-class essay test. 

Posted by Mrs. Allen