Figures of Speech:
The ornaments of language. They are the words and phrases that convey more than their dictionary or literal meanings. The commonly used figures of speech are: simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, hyperbole, etc.
For instance, the word log' in the sentence, "She sleeps like a log", is a figure of speech called simile. The literal meaning of 'log' is 'a thick piece of wood cut from a tree'. So, a log is lifeless, motionlessâdead . "She" has been compared to a "log" to suggest that she sleeps very deeply as if she were dead.
The language containing figures of speech is called figurative language. Figurative language is different from the language of sciences because figures of speech are avoided in writings on the subjects of science.
Flat character:
A flat character is a person who does not change in course of the narrative of a fictional work of literature. The features of a flat character are:
a) He or she remains the same throughout the story of the work;
b) He or she is simple in nature;
c) In most cases he or she plays the role of a supporting character;
In Dickens' Great Expectations, Joe is a flat character because he is simple, plays a minor role and remains unchanged. Similarly, in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet do not change. They are simple and minor characters. They are flat characters. [see Round Character]
Foot:
A unit of two or more stressed and unstressed syllables in a verse line. Example:
"The cur / few tolls / the knell / of part / ing day!"
(Gray: "Elegy")
In this line there are five it each consisting of an unstressed / / syllable followed by a stressed / / syllable.
In English the following are the principal feet:
lamb or iambus (adj. iambic) = unstressed + stressed
Trochee (adj. trochaic) = stressed + unstressed
Spondee (adj. spondaic) = stressed + stressed
Pyrrhic (adj. Pyrrhic) = unstressed + unstressed
Anapaest (adj. anapaestic) = unstressed + unstressethstressed
Dactyl (adj. dactylic)= stresse + unstressed + unstressed
Bacchius = unstressed + stressed + stressed
Antibacchius = stressed + stressed + unstressed
Amphibrach = unstressed + stressed + unstressed
Amphimacer = stressed + unstressed + stressed
The most common of these feet are iamb, trochee, anapaest and dactyl. [see Iamb, Anapaest, Trochee and Dactyl]
S.T. Coleridge's "Lesson for a Boy" provides us with examples of almost all of the English feet in a poem written for a child:
Trochee / trips from / long so / short;
From long / too long / in sol / emn sort
