LSSL 5385 Textbook reflection 6 LITERARY ELEMENTS

This section of our textbook broke down literary elements and devices to help us better assess the books and novels that we read from a literary perspective. While most of these terms are not new to me and I'm sure my fellow scholars would agree, it's great to have a "refresher" of some of these terms as they can often get mixed up in common conversation.

A few of the terms that I needed a quick review of were archetype, allegory, and theme.

Archetype is something that represents an idea, and has therefore become generally known and reused. For example, Romeo and Juliet are generally known to represent tragic love, and that can convey a lot of meaning to readers when used as an archetype.

Allegory, for me, is a little hard to understand or explain, but the best way I think is to say it is an extended metaphor of sorts. In other words, rather than being a simple comparison, it's an extended comparison throughout an entire plot, almost like a greater, implied message presented by the author.

Theme is such an important term as it relates to literature and while I'm very familiar with it, it's such an important device to revisit often. A theme is a global idea, presented in a full sentence, that doesn't just apply to the story you are reading, but is an underlying message or lesson learned by the entire body of literature. For example, "Love conquers all," or "War strips us of our humanity" are examples of possible themes.

Among these terms there are many others, so I won't go into detail about each one, but these are the terms that I needed a review of. In addition, there was one term I had never heard of, and that is Deus ex machine. This refers to a situation where the author presents an unlikely character or even a supernatural solution to resolve a conflict, in order to present a favorable outcome to the story. It's often frowned upon. In what I've gathered, it seems like a lazy, unrealistic way to tie the loose ends of the plot.

It's so important for us as students and future librarians to be able to properly asses literature from a technical perspective, removing opinions and bias and just breaking down the body of work using these literary elements and devices.