Negro Spirituals
Negro spirituals were songs that were sung while slaves worked for hours on end in the fields of labor. Usually the songs were directed at the owners but were also directed towards God helping them in their time of need. These spirituals were also used as a way of communicating with each other and some songs were sung by one person while a group of other people would reply back with either the same verse or a different verse. The songs were also used to express personal emotions and also for cheering each other up. Lyrics to the spirituals were tightly linked to the authors of the songs themselves: the slaves.
Call and Response
Call and Response was created by African Americans. These songs would include one person who would sing out one line of the song and then other people around him/her would sing the next line which was a response to the first line. Call and Response is important because it helped the slaves communicate with each other through a song and not get attacked by any slaveholders.
Motif
A motif is a recurring subject in a book or piece of writing. They help shape the book and create the story. Motifs are very noticeable and they are mostly a recurring object or person that symbolizes something in the book. They play a significant role in the events of a story.
Genre
Genre is an artistic category. They categorize a story as fiction, non fiction, horror, romance etc. They help out with categorizing because it helps the reader know what kind of book they're wanting to read. Books can also have multiple genres like a action-romance book where the book is all about, well action and romance. Genres are helpful in ways because without them in the literary world, every book that was picked up would be classified as the same book right next to it.
Irony
Irony is something that either the reader can pick up pretty quick or a character in the book already notices something that one character doesn't notice. Irony has three categories: Verbal Irony, Dramatic Irony, and Situational Irony. Irony can be humorous because a character in a book doesn't pick up on what is about to happen and then when the event does happen it usually is pretty humorous. Irony is important in books because it helps ease tension in the book and create a sense of humor in an author. Irony is also when a writer writes something that can mean something completely different.
Verbal Irony
Verbal irony is used in everyday conversations as one of the worlds oldest form: Sarcasm. Verbal irony examples: Clear as mud, soft as concrete. Verbal irony is when someone says one thing and then uses the complete opposite of what it really is. Mud isn't really clear at all and concrete is hard as a rock. Keep in mind that verbal irony isn't always sarcasm. It can also be considered offensive if it is used too late or too early in a conversation. Verbal irony in a book is important (even if the author doesn't use it) because they can help bring humor into a story or a strict conversation that helps as an ice breaker.
Situational Irony
Situational irony is when the final outcome is completely different than what the people expected. Examples of this are: A man avoids being hit by going into another lane only to be hit by a truck or a woman has saved enough money to by a watch for herself when her daughter comes home and has the same watch for her as a gift. Sometimes Situational Irony can be considered as a coincidence rather than irony itself.
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic Irony is defined when the audience reading the book knows what will happen and the characters in the book do not have any idea what is going to happen. Dramatic irony in a book is important because the audience automatically already knows what is going to happen while the characters do not. If the audience knows what will happen then it prepares them for the future events about to unfold.
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