Literary Techniques in A Tale of Two Cities

*Antithesis: the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas.

Example- In the first sentence of the novel ¨It was the best of times...¨

*Apostrophe: apostrophe is the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present.

Example- Mr. Jarvis talks to a ghost in his dream.

*Setting: the locale or period in which the action of a novel, play, film, etc., takes plac
Example- Novel takes place in both England and France. It helps the reader understand the theme. The author chooses to compare the two places.

*Theme: the central message of the writing.
Example- The theme is rebirth because a revolution is taking place and when they happen, the countries are reborn again. ¨Recalled to life¨

*Diction: style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words.
Example- Dicken´s uses words that fit in with the time period they were in.

*Syntax: the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language. 

*Symbolism: is when writers use animals, elements, things, places, or colors to represent other things.
Example- Framer and Woodman represent death and fate in the novel.


*Anaphora: a rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
Example- At the beginning, Dicken´s repeats the words ¨it was.¨


*Tone: the writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers.
Example- The author´s tone in the novel is dark/gloomy because they are in a bad political/spiritual state.


*Genre: A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Example- The genre of the novel is historical fiction.


*Dialect: A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
Example- Dicken´s uses words like ¨ain´t¨, ¨hallo¨, and ¨do ya?¨


*Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Example- The wine casket that breaks represents how a war is about to break out and the wine represents all the blood.