IBHL English 12
Conventions of Genre
Conventions of Fiction:
- point of view
first-person
third-person omniscient
third-person limited
objective
- voice
engaged
detached
tone of voice
trustworthy
naïve
inexperienced
direct
confident
biased
judgmental
mechanical
disembodied
matter-of-fact
- characterisation
direct characterisation
indirect characterisation
dynamic characters
static characters
- setting
geographical background
historical background
social background
weather
spaces
interior
exterior
- time
chronological
non-chronological
flashback
- theme
lesson about human nature
explicit
implicit
- structure
shifts in pov
chaptering strategies
paragraphing
time sequencing in chaptering/paragraphing
- tone
writer’s attitude toward her/his subject matter
writer’s emotional and intellectual perspective on characters
emotions - passion, anger, boredom, indifference, etc.
- plot
narrative of events with an emphasis on the relationship between cause and effect (causality)
subplot
unified/simple
interwoven/complex
IBHL English 12
Conventions of Genre
Conventions of Drama:
- staging and stage direction
positioning of actors & their movement on stage
facial expressions and gestures
tone of voice, voice moderation, accenting, pacing
construction of set, including the placement and physical attributes of props
lighting
costume
sound devices
fourth wall
freeze frame
- dramatic structure
exposition
rising action
climax/crisis (a turning point)
falling action/reversal
denouement (conclusion)
- the ‘well-made play’
a protagonist’s secret
mistaken identity
misplaced documents
well-timed entrances and exits
a battle of wits
a climactic scene reveals the secret
logical denouement
- time
closing curtain
blacking out stage
lighting a lamp
winding a clock
background lighting/visuals
words/actions
costume change
- dialogue
- monologue and/or soliloquy
- aside
- theme
- characterisation
- stock characters
- dramatic irony
- momentum & tension
- momentum & silence
- logical denouement
- double entendre
- flashbacks/flash forwards
- prologue/epilogue
- comic relief
- dues ex machina
IBHL English 12
Conventions of Genre
Conventions of Poetry:
- types
lyric
narrative
dramatic
- sounds
pauses (caesurae)
rhythm
rhyme scheme (letter mapping)
metre: 1. patterns of stressed/unstressed syllables – iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl, spondee; 2. metrical feet – monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octameter
onomatopoeia
assonance
consonance
alliteration
- speaker
problematic/dangerous to assume “I” voice in poem is that of poet
only extensive biographical information could confirm that “I” voice is that of poet speaking directly of her/his own experience
- time & place
where
when
alone
with other(s)
why
allusion (literary/historical/mythi-cal/religious)
- diction
denotation
connotation
flowery
ornate
simple
straightforward
colloquial
archaic
- syntax
order of words effects sound and meaning
inversion creates emphasis, stress on particular word(s)
enjambment
capitalisation
spacing
- figurative language
metaphor
simile
personification
symbol
imagery
- structure
narrative
discursive (moving from subject to subject/formal mode of communication)
descriptive
reflective/meditative
- stanza forms
terza rima
villanelle
sonnet
free verse
concrete poems
- appreciation
use your imagination, senses, intelligence, emotion
NOTHING in a poem is arbitrary
IBHL English 12
Conventions of Genre
Conventions of Prose Other Than Fiction:
- types
essays – personal, philosophical, didactic, satirical, critical
voice
persona
subject
purpose
letters
memoirs
diaries
treatises, maxims, aphorisms
manifestos
chronicles
annals
speeches
autobiographies
biographies
travel narratives
- audience & context
date of publication or delivery – background information, historical events at time, who is being addressed
type of register used – archaic, technical, formal, informal, colloquial, slang
tone – sarcastic, accusatory, inflammatory, satiric, authoritative, intimate
- persuasive techniques
logically constructed arguments (logos)
appealing to emotion (pathos)
establishing credibility as writer/speaker by making ethically sound statements (ethos)
- rhetorical strategies
repetition
rhetorical questions
allusion
refutation of anticipated argument
anecdote
analogy
figurative language