Đề cương ôn tập VHA

I. Figurative language
What is Figurative language?
Words and phrases are used in an unusual way to convey meanings other
than their usual meanings.
* 7 types of figurative language/figure of speech.
1. Simile: Compare 2 things, using the words “like” or “as”.
2. Metaphor: Compares 2 things, not using the words “like” or “as”. (usually
using the words “is” or “are”)
3. Hyperbole: An exaggeration not to be taken literally/exaggeration of
something not real
4. Personification: putting human characteristics/feelings on something, not
human
5. Idiom: An expression that is not to be taken literally, it has a meaning
different from what is written
6. Onomatopoeia: The use of words to show sounds
7. Repetition: alliteration (repetition of the same sounds at the beginning);
assonance (repetition of the vowel sounds)
Example of figures of speech.
- Climax: arrangement of the order
- Paradox: self-contradictory statement to express the truth
- Euphemism: Pleasant or indirect phrases: uyển ngữ
- Oxymoron: contradictory terms in conjunction. vd: vẻ đẹp linh hồn
- Synecdoche: part standing for the whole and vice versa
8. Irony consist of 3 kinds:
· Dramatic Irony – when readers have more info than the characters.
mình mong đợi nó xảy ra theo hướng ngày nhưng xảy ra theo hướng
khác.

· Verbal Irony – when characters say something, but means opposite. Nói
đía. ( kiểu khi 1 người kêu “ giỏi dữ hen” thì chưa chắc đã giỏi)
 · Situational Irony – when readers expected an event would happen in the
story, but it actually didn’t. tạo ra drama thôi thúc người xem, người
xem hiểu sự việc xảy ra nhưng nhân vật lại không hiểu
II. British Literature History
1. Old English Literature (A.D. 600 to about 1100)

- Anglo-Saxon, the earliest form of English.

- Christianity was brought to England Religion in Poetry and Prose.

2. Dominant literary forms:

- Poetry: poems without rhyme (epic poetry – alliterative lines), description

of God (taken from the Bible) – Caedmon’s Hymn and Boewulf.
- Prose: early history of the country – Anglo- Saxon Chronicle.

Famous works:

Beowulf: the earliest greatest National epic

- 2 parts: " the hero as a young man” and “ the hero as an aged king"
- about the conflict between the good and the evil (the good always defeats
the evil.)

Famous authors:

- Anonymous (handed down orally from one generation to another).

Caedmon (earliest English poet)

2. Middle English Literature (from 1100 to about 1500)

- Peasants’ Revolt and Wars of Rosa began descriptions of the poor in the
war. (their sorrows and pilgrimages) in Poetry
- Genres: many dialects (corresponding to the region, history, culture &
background of individual writers)

2 dominant forms: (Long romances of Chivalry served the noble & the lyrical
ballads/ alliterative poetry served the ordinary)

The beginning of drama, mainly related to religion:

 - Miracle/ Mystery plays (based on stories of Saints in Bible)
- Moral/ Allegorical plays (based on allegorical stories) moral lessons and
ideal guides for living
- The Interlude (short, played between the acts of long moralities) fun

Famous authors:

Geoffrey Chaucer: The first great English poet- the father of English poetry.

Famous works:

The Canterbury Tales:

- Epic story: first realistic and humorous works in English Literature

- The panorama of 14th century English society.

3. Modern English Literature

· The Elizabethan period (1500-1603) + (1603- 1660) – Early modern
literature: literature of renaissance – William Shakespeare. (the most
famous writer)
· The 17th century period (1660 – 1798): Literature of restoration –
Robert Burns.
· The 18th century period (1798 – 1832): Literature of Romanticism –
William Wordsworth
· The Victorian period (1832 – 1901): Literature of Criticism – Charles
Dickens
· The 20th century period: Literature of Modernism – Graham Greene,
Doris Lessing.
III. Selected works analysis

Sonnet 18
● Theme: The immortality of poetry: All will survive if are
contributed, like his lines and the lover (as long as humans live, his
poetry will survive, and, in turn, so too will the beloved)
● Figure of speech
- Metaphor:
+) eye => sun (line 5- Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines)
+) summer => beauty (line 1 - Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)
Personification:
+) wind shake (line 3- Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May)
+) darling bud ( line 3 -)
+) summer’s lease (line 4 - And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;)
+) his golden complexion (line 6- And often is his gold complexion
dimm'd;)
+) death brag (line 11-Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his
shade,)
+) this (poem) gives life (line 14 - So long lives this, and this gives life
to thee.)
- Alliteration: fair from fair
- Synecdoche: lines
· Question:
- Why is Shakespeare’s friend “lovelier and more temperate”?
=> The process of temporal decay may happen, this can do nothing to his friend
which has been shown in line 3 to line 12
- How does Shakespeare react to the process of temporal decay in this
sonnet?
=> the process of temporal decay may happen but can do nothing to his
girlfriend (lines 3-12). His metaphor compares his girlfriend to a bright summer
day, but the beauty of her is flawless, not subjected to decay and everlasting,
while the beauty of a summer day ruined by rough wind -> he shows us
optimism.
- What do the three quatrains say? What is expressed in the couplet?
=> William Shakespeare tries to compare his girlfriend to summer, but summer
is not as beautiful or constant. The couplet expresses that as long as people are
alive, they still keep on reading this poem.

analysis of poetic devices in “sonnet 18”

- quatrain: there are 3 quatrain and 1 couplet

- rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef oo.

- iambic: pentameter: a line of iambic pentameter is 5 iambic feet in a row:

daDumdaDumdaDumdaDumdaDum.
ex: Shall I/compare/thee to/a sum/mer’s day

The Renaissance (1485 – 1660)

Historical background:

From about 1485 to about 1660.

- Printing Press appears English as stable language & more popular

- war of roses ends à political stability

- farm-based à international trade (religion à human life with other aspects like
love, human potential in literature)

=> the living condition became better, so people think about the other things
( change from religion, poor life into human life with other aspects like love,
human, potential in literature)

- 3 literary forms:
+) Drama ( most important)

+) Poetry ( lyric, sonnet, narrative, poetry, metaphysical poetry)

+) Prose ( translation works, beginning of English novel)

=> đem tác phẩm nước ngoài về để dịch ra và viết nhiều về romance

- major authors and works:

- christopher marlowe: the first great english and most important

elizabethan dramatist – foundation for shakespeare à plays:
tamburlaine the great, edward ii, the tragical history of doctor fautus.

- william shakespeare: the greatest of all dramatists à plays (hamlet,

romeo and juliet), comedy, history, tragedy, poetry (sonnets).

- edmund spenser: famous for allegorical romance “the faerie queen”.

- sir philip sydney: sonnet “astrophel and stella” (first sonnet interspersed
with songs), prose romance “the arcadia” (interspersed with poems
and songs).

- john lyly: establish a new pattern for sophisticated english prose

“euphuism: à influence on shakespeare’s romantic comedies.

analysis of literary devices in “sonnet 29”

mood and tone:

- the tone lightens from upset and melancholic to merry and self-satisfied
when the poet realizes the true value of life (love).

- the poem moves from temporal worries (fortune and fate) and envy to
aesthetic beauty.

the poet’s emotions:

 - the poet is discontented as he is suffering from his own poverty,
isolation and misfortune. while poverty and social isolation might
plague the speaker, the ability to have love and feel love with the
subject to whom the poem is dedicated allows him to transcend these
feelings of pain.

the poet’s passion in love:

- the poet is passionate about the fact that his social and economic
condition dwindles when he realizes that he is in love. he is trying to
convince himself that the love he shares with the subject is more
powerful than all the money and social acceptance in the world.

theme:

à the power of love which can surpass social and economic conditions.

personification:

- men’s eyes (line 1) à men judgement: sự đánh giá của người đời

- trouble deaf heaven (line 3)

- sullen earth (line 12)

metaphor:

- men’s eyes (line 1)

- man’s art/ man’s scope (line 7)

- sullen earth (line 12) à feeling stress

- heaven’s gate (line 12) à feeling happy à changing in mood

simile:

- wishing me like (line 5)

 - featured like him (line 6)

- like to the lark (line 11)

paradox:

- with what i most enjoy contented least (line 8) à nghịch lý giữa “most
contented” với “least”

analysis of poetic devices in “sonnet 29”

- sonnet: a sonnet is a fourteen lined poem usually written in iambic
pentameter. This Shakespearean sonnet consists of one octave and
sestet.

- couplet: there are two constructive lines of verse in a couplet, usually in

the same meter and joined by rhyme. This sonnet ends with a couplet,
which usually reveals the central idea of the poem or a concluding
thought.

- rhyme scheme: abab cdcd ebeb ff.

- iambic pentameter.

1. What mood is engendered by the simile in line 11?

2. What’s the poet’s attitude in the first 8 lines? What helps him change his

attitude later?

3. What’s the poet’s attitude in the couplet of the sonnet?

4. What figures of speech are used in the sonnet?

5. What is the theme of this sonnet?

The Restoration (1660 – 1798)

3 literary forms:

- drama: purely comic/ tragic (heroic plays), new kind of comedy (comedy of
manners);

- poetry: the invention of heroic couplet;

- prose: novel-neoclassic style, development of satire, the emergence of letter-

writing, development of the novel of terror (gothic fiction), beginning of the
newspaper.

Special features:

- Writing style: from the head, not the heat – reason over emotion

- Theme: Literature of wit (civilization and social relationship)

Major authors:

- John Dryden: dominant author, had influences on many great writers of the
18th century

- Alexander Pope: leader of neoclassical literature (an essay on man, a tale of

tub)

- Daniel Defoe: creator of modern novel (robinson crusoe);

Analysis

- Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

 + The national poet of Scotland who set up the loyalty and pride of the
Scots
+ A Red Red Rose is the loveliest lyrical song of all time to burn’s wife –
Jean Armour.

The poem:

- Metrical form: Alternative shift of iambic tetrameter and trimeter

- The poetic tone: emotional passionate

1. In the first stanza, what does the poet compare his love to? How deep is
his love?

In the first stanza, the poet compared his love to a red, red rose and a melody.

⇒ “red” (adj) ⇒ passionate, strong

“newly” (adj) ⇒ to his mind, love is just at the first stage, always attracts him
to discover

“sweetly” (adj) ⇒ sweet like a melody

2. What figures of speech are used in the first stanza?

- The usage of similes, which is “Comparing one thing to an unlike thing by

using like, as, or than” (Cummings), is another distinctive feature of Burns
poem. In the first stanza, Burns compares his love to a rose and to a melody. In
the first simile, the comparison with a rose, with the assertion of its color in
repeating the word red both can symbolize the innocence and the passion of his
emotions, where the innocence can be sensed from the comparison to a flower,
while the red color can symbolize the passion of the author. Both similes in the
first stanza were followed by a description, in which the author adds a slight
detail, in which his love is denoted as not an ordinary one. In the rose simile,
Burns clarifies that the rose is “newly sprung in June”, which explains that
despite the passion in his love, his love is young, fragile and is still growing. In
the tune simile, the melody to which his love is compared is not any melody,
but which is “sweetly played in tune”, i.e. in harmony, a distinction from
uncontrollable splashes of emotions.
- Alliteration: red, red rose

- Repetition: “O my luve’s like” (line 1, 3)

3. What images show that the poet’s love for his sweet heart is very strong
and deep?

- Seas: immensity (bao la): is going to dry

- Rocks: stability (vững bền): melt with the sun

⇒ His love is more immense than the seas

His love is more stable than the rocks

- Sands of life shall run (flow of time): His love can surpass time.

4. What literary techniques are used in the two last stanzas? Why are they
used?

- Cover is symbolism: seas, rocks, sands, ten thousand mile.

+ Hyperbole:

* All the seas is going to dry ⇒ His love is more immense than the seas

* The rocks (stability) melt with the sun ⇒ His love is more stable than
the rocks

+ Metaphor:

* Sands (flow of time) of life shall run ⇒ His love can surpass time

* Ten thousand mile (space) (đáng lẽ có “s” nhưng tác giả không thêm
“s” ⇒ uncountable) ⇒ His love can surpass space

- Use literary techniques: to ascertain his love

5. What is the theme of the poem? What do you think about the poet’s
assertions of love?

- Major themes in “A Red, Red Rose”: Love and separation are the major
themes given in the poem. Not “out of sight, out of mind”.
- The poet has layered them by using metaphors of natural objects. The poem is
primarily concerned with the speaker’s love for his significant other. He adores
her beauty and expresses his immeasurable love for her. His love is so deep-
rooted that it will stay forever no matter what happens.

analysis of literary devices in “a red, red rose”

simile:

- the first is used in the first line, “o my luve is like a red, red rose” here, the
poet compares his beloved with a red rose.

- the second is used in the third line, “o my luve is like the melody”, and the poet
compares his love with sweet melody.

symbolism:

- robert has used “rose” as a symbol of love.

hyperbole:

- the poet has used hyperbole in the last line of the second stanza, “till a’ the
seas gang dry” he says that his love will flow even when the seas dry up.

- the second is used in the third stanza, “and the rocks melt wi’ the sun”

metaphor:

- sands (flow of time) of life shall run (while the sands o’ life shall run) à his
love can surpass time.

- ten thousand mile - though it were ten thousand mile (space) (đáng lẽ có “s”
nhưng tác giả không thêm “s” à uncountable) à his love can surpass space.

analysis of poetic devices in “a red, red rose”

- stanza: there are four stanzas in this poem; each consists of four lines.
- quatrain: each stanza is quatrain as the first one and the second one.

- rhyme scheme: abcb defe fgfg hihi.

- iambic trimeter: iambic trimeter is a meter in which there are three iambs per
line. for example, “that’s newly sprung in june.”

- iambic tetrameter: iambic tetrameter is a meter in which there are four

iambic feet per line. for example, “as fair art thou my bonnie lass.”

repetition: there is the repetition of the line, “i will love thee still, my dear”
which has created mus

The Romanticism (1798 – 1832)

2 major literary forms: parallel growth

- Poetry: lyrical ballads

- Prose: personal essays, autobiographies, introduction of terror stories/
novels

Special features:

- Writing styles: The romanticism – Emotion than reason

- 2 trends in poetry-The conservative and the progressive
+ Horror novels as the main genre of literary expression.
Theme

Disillusionment, love of nature,desire for personal freedom, good nature of

human being, idealization of patriarchal feudal past.

*Major Authors and Works

1. William Blake: A poetic genius, famous with symbolism (song of

innocence and experience
2. William Wordsworth: A founder of Romanticism( The lyrical ballads)
3. Jane Austen: 1st important English novelist(sense, sensibility, pride and
prejudice, Emma)

(William Wordsworth: a founder of Romanticism (The lyrical ballads), one of

the greatest and the most influential English romantic poets in history.)

* Analysis

* William Wordsworth (1770-1850): One of the greatest and the most

influential English romantic poets in history.

The poetic mood: emotional and romantic

Evocative symbols: daffodils – joys and happiness

1. In what ways did the speaker liken himself to a cloud?

Through the simile, he compare himself as the cloud.

2. Why is the image of cloud used in the beginning of the poem?

He became a part of nature, he can have feelings of light-heartedness,

tranquility and timelessness. He want readers know his feelings when he use the
image of cloud in the beginning of the poem

3. What are the figures of speech used in the poem?

Simile: as the cloud, as the star

Hyperbole: “never- ending line” (it never happens in real life) “ten thousand” (k
đếm đc)

Personification: “crowd” (a group of people at the same time) tác giả xem
daffodils như là people, “host” tác giả xem daffodils như là people, “fluttering
and dancing”, “stretch” stretch is the verb for human being normally before you
play sport or you go swimming, “tossing”, “the waves beside them danced”,
“waves in glee” glee is the feeling of people, but here it’s used for waves, “a
jocund company” sử dụng cho người, “my heart…dances with daffodils”

Metaphor: “Wealth”: không phải vàng bạc, châu báu mà là feeling and emotion,
“inward eye” = his memory

Oxymoron: “bliss of solitude” cô đơn nhưng không bất hạnh, mà happy

4. What 1s the symbolic meaning of the daffodils? Joy and happiness

5. What is the theme of the poem?

Power of nature can do a lot of things. Especially for poets. It gave them a lot of
emotion, with that, they can have motivation to write.

The Criticism (1832 – 1901)

3 literary forms: Prose: Novel

Special features:
 - Writing styles: The Critical socialism – trend to criticize the society
and social evils

Charles Dickens: was considered as the spokesman for the poor

1. How were the characters described in the story (Oliver Twist, Mr. Bumble
and the buttons on his coat, Mrs. Sowerberry)?

Oliver is a kind, caring each other and a brave boy. Because he asked for more
food for himself and the boys bravely.

Mrs. Bumble's personality is invariably presented through his dress — the

official cocked hat, the magnificent coat with its gilt-edged lapel and gold-laced
cuff, and beautiful buttons in which Mrs. Bumble feels excessive pride. Without
beadle's coat, breeches, cane and cocked hat, Mr. Bumble is sheer a fat man.
Mr. Bumble is the cruel, pompous beadle of the poorhouse where the orphaned
Oliver is raised. Bumble cares not a jot for the needs of anyone but himself.

Mrs. Sowerberry is a mean, judgmental woman who henpecks her husband.

2. How does Oliver prove himself to be? Why did he try to do so?

He asked for more food for himself and the boys. Because Oliver showed that
he is a responsible boy. Even he was afraid but he still tried as responsibly as he
could.
3. Whose portion of meal is given to Oliver? What is Oliver’s reaction when he
learns about it?

Oliver Twist clutched at the dainty viands that the dog had neglected (Page 75)
When he learns about his meal, he received it with equanimity. Oliver, whose
eyes had glistened at the mention of meat, and who was trembling with
eagerness to devour it. (Page 75)

What does that detail suggest to readers?

That detail suggest to readers found that the extreme injustice towards the poor
made Oliver not even mind his meal is a meal that the dog had neglected.
4. What kind of point of view is used here to narrate the story? What is its
effect?

- Third person point of view

What is its effect?

*The audience is able to know and see everything about each character.
Because of this, we are able to see into the minds of multiple characters and
create a stronger relationship and bond with them.

*We are also able to see the reaction of multiple characters, which will help us
interpret the plot of the story.

*It allows the author to have multiple voices in the story. He

can write in the voice of an adult, child, man, or woman.

*By experiencing a story though different voices, we can see the story in
another depth.

5. In what way is it a social criticism?

Chapter 4 condemned the rulers in the old society whose blood is ice, whose
heart is iron; could have seen Oliver Twist clutching at the dainty viands that
the dog had neglected. Dickens depicts the picture of hungry Oliver ravenously
eating those scraps of meat that were left by dogs- the horrible avidity with
which Oliver tore the bits asunder with all the ferocity of famine.
Historical background:

Special features

- Writing style: The Modernism - psychological and anthropological works.

- Theme: connections between people, exploring interpretations of the past,

open-mindedness and courage that comes from being an outsider, escaping
those ways of living that blind and dull the human spirit.

Major authors and works

- George Bernard Shaw: a playwright, new point of view to value life (Arm
and the Man, Little Force)

- Graham Greene: a journalist, a film critic (The Quiet American)

- Doris Lessing: autobiographical works with strong political view and

personalities, one of the female writers who won the Nobel for English
literature in 2007. (The Flight)

1. How could you understand the meaning of Alice’s tears?

- Because her grandfather at last doesn’t object to the relationship
between her and Steven
- She won't know what starts with her
2. What do the birds symbolize?
The loss of freedom, in contrast with their natural instinct.
- Two children give him a pigeon that means a promise to come home
(Because it knows how to find its way home)
- Giving 1 pigeon and not 2 pigeons because it is Steven (1 other pigeon
is his granddaughter in his heart), he received the gift as a message If
he accepts the marriage, he will get both birds, and he realizes his
niece is old enough to get married and let go of the two birds.
3. Can you explain the man’s reaction at the end of the story?
The old man agrees to let his grandfather marry Steven
4. Why does he smile at his granddaughter?
He knows that Alice married Steven and she still care about him, doesn’t
feel alone.
Satisfied and proud of himself
- Smile proudly. He is proud that he has made an extremely difficult
decision in his life, he loves his niece so he doesn't want to leave his
niece, but he still accepted it so he proud. (Learn to let go)
5. What is your impression about the described scene?
The imprisonment and the loss of freedom
6. What is the connection between the first episode involving the old
man and his birds and the last one?
The old man wants to keep his favorite bird at the beginning, and he
learns to let go of his favorite bird at the end.
7. What do you think is the theme of the story?
Theme of story is Learn to let go
8. Why does the tension between the old man and the couple melt
away when they offer him a gift?
A young pigeon that Steven gives to the old man represents the attention
of Alice and Steven to him

Analysis

Figures of speech
 - Imagery:

- Symbolism: “bird” -> Alice

- Personification:

- Alliteration:

The quiet American.

When Fowler told Pyle that his wife accepted the divorce, Pyle said "That's
wonderful", however inside he was very sad because Phuong whom he loved
was going to marry Fowler. That is Verbal Irony.

At the beginning of the movie, we saw Fowler always goes with Phuong, he
said he would marry Phuong if he could, and we thought he would love and
marry Phuong. However, a few scenes later, Fowler tells Pyle that he will not
marry Phuong, and his wife does not accept the divorce. That is Situational
Irony.

At the beginning of the movie, We all know that Pyle is dead and the main in
white suspects Fowler in his murder. That is dramatic irony.

Romeo and Juliet

After meeting Friar Laurence, Juliet met her father and said that she said "I will
lead in your rules". But in her mind, she wanted to meet Romeo and refuse this
marriage. That is verbal irony.

In the movie Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet asks for help the monk Friar
Laurence, he gives her a sleeping pill, and will help her get out of here and meet
Romeo, which would be a good ending. We all thought this would work but
Romeo didn't know this and committed suicide. And the movie has a sad
ending. That is Situational Irony.

We know that Juliet took a sleeping potion and isn't dead, and Romeo doesn't
know that. That is dramatic irony.