Term
| He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Personification |
|
|
Term
| A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! The cannon had taken a hand in the game. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| ...and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Romantic ideals are foolish |
|
|
Term
| The intervals of silence grew progressively longer; the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Victim of environment (by heredity as in sex, race, genetics, and INSTINCTS) |
|
|
Term
| He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--he saw the very insects upon them. |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream! |
|
Definition
-Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| A wound gives strange dignity to him who bears it. Well men shy from this new and terrible majesty. |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Victim of environment (by natural forces) OR symbolism. |
|
|
Term
| He wore the look of one who knows he is the victim of a terrible disease and understands his helplessness. |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Victim of environment (by natural forces) |
|
|
Term
| He came upon some stragglers, and they told him how to find the field hospital. They described its exact location. In fact, these men, no longer having part in the battle, knew more of it than the others. |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Paradox |
|
|
Term
| He was on the verge of a great triumph in mathematics, and the corporals were thronging forward, each to reap a little square, when suddenly the lieutenant cried out and looked quickly at a man near him as if he suspected it was a case of personal assault. The others cried out also when they saw blood upon the lieutenant's sleeve. |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Victim of environment (by natural forces) OR irony |
|
|
Term
| A busy surgeon was passing near the lieutenant. "Good morning," he said, with a friendly smile. Then he caught sight of the lieutenant's arm, and his face at once changed. |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Irony |
|
|
Term
| "Oh, well," he said, standing shamefaced amid these tears, "I don't suppose it matters so much as all that." |
|
Definition
-Episode of War
-Crane
-Victim of environment (by natural forces) |
|
|
Term
| In his memory, as if they were a divine mandate, rang the words of his father at their parting: "Whatever may occur, do what you conceive to be your duty." |
|
Definition
-Horseman in the Sky
-Bierce
-Victim of environment (by forces of society, roles and duties) |
|
|
Term
| Lifting his eyes to the dizzy altitude of its summit the officer saw an astonishing sight-a man on horseback riding down into the valley through the air! |
|
Definition
-Horseman in the Sky
-Bierce
-Distorted reality |
|
|
Term
| Is it then so terrible to kill an enemy in war -au enemy who has surprised a secret vital to the safety of one's self and comrades-an enemy more formidable for his knowledge than all his army for its numbers? |
|
Definition
-Horseman in the Sky
-Bierce
-Victim of environment (by forces of society, roles and duties) |
|
|
Term
| The duty of the soldier was plain: the man must be shot dead from ambush -without warning, without a moment's spiritual preparation, with never so much as an unspoken prayer, he must be sent to his account. |
|
Definition
-Horseman in the Sky
-Bierce
-Victim of environment (by forces of society, roles and duties) |
|
|
Term
| Duty had conquered; the spirit had said to the body: "Peace, be still." He fired. |
|
Definition
-Horseman in the Sky
-Bierce
-Victim of environment (by forces of society, roles and duties) |
|
|
Term
| Those whose eyes twenty-five and more years before had seen “the glory of the coming of the Lord,” saw in every present hindrance or help a dark fatalism bound to bring all things right in His own good time. |
|
Definition
-Of the Meaning of Progress
-Du Bois
-Victim of environment (by roles/duties OR heredity/race OR natural forces) OR allusion |
|
|
Term
| “Oh,” thought I, “this is lucky”; but even then fell the awful shadow of the Veil, for they ate first, then I—alone. |
|
Definition
-Of the Meaning of Progress
-Du Bois
-Symbolism |
|
|
Term
| And all this life and love and strife and failure,—is it the twilight of nightfall or the flush of some faint-dawning day? |
|
Definition
-Of the Meaning of Progress
-Du Bois
-Metaphor |
|
|
Term
| The longing to know, to be a student in the great school at Nashville, hovered like a star above this child-woman amid her work and worry, and she studied doggedly. |
|
Definition
-Of the Meaning of Progress
-Du Bois
-Romantic ideals are foolish |
|
|
Term
| And their weak wings beat against their barriers,—barriers of caste, of youth, of life; at last, in dangerous moments, against everything that opposed even a whim. |
|
Definition
-Of the Meaning of Progress
-Du Bois
-Victim of environment (by roles/duties OR heredity/race OR natural forces) |
|
|
Term
Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors; |
|
Definition
-Miniver Cheevy
-Robinson
-Romantic ideals are foolish OR Irony |
|
|
Term
Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it. |
|
Definition
-Miniver Cheevy
-Robinson
-Romantic ideals are foolish OR Irony |
|
|
Term
Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking. |
|
Definition
-Miniver Cheevy
-Robinson
-Romantic ideals are foolish |
|
|
Term
| In fine, we thought that he was everything. To make us wish that we were in his place. |
|
Definition
-Richard Cory
-Robinson
-Distorted reality OR irony |
|
|
Term
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head. |
|
Definition
-Richard Cory
-Robinson
-Irony OR Alienation |
|
|
Term
| This is my letter to the world, that never wrote to me |
|
Definition
-Letter to the World
-Dickinson
-Alienation OR personification |
|
|
Term
| The simple news that Nature told, with tender majesty |
|
Definition
-Letter to the World
-Dickinson
-Romantic love of nature OR personification |
|
|
