The TEE Table

Your teachers will have taught you to make TEE tables in preparation for essay writing. You would have been taught acronyms to help you structure your essay paragraphs. These may be STEEL, PETAL or something else, but the main part is that the Technique is named, followed by Example and Effect. You will have been given a list of techniques, often in alphabetical order, but not be given much about their effects; in fact, often the effects will be listed as techniques. It is interesting to note that there is no listing of the word ‘Technique’ in the NESA glossary. The syllabus talks about form, features and function. There are better ways to go about all this.

What is needed is to categorise the types of literary devices and to be able to identify their effects. You can start with effects and work your way back. You can start with the effect of the whole text, and then investigate how that effect was crafted. You will need to know your text well, see what you find, and then categorise your findings. The study of literature is not a hunt for techniques.

In order to work this way you need to build your metalanguage (language about language). In any field of study you need to know the words particular to the subject. If you are a fashion designer you need to know specific words to describe colours and fabrics and shapes. If you are a cook you need to know the difference between a quiche and a flan. If you are a motor mechanic you need to know how different engines are used for different types of vehicles and why. Musicians need to be able to describe beats, rhythms, pitches, tones, effects. The same is true in subject English.

I will be posting about the names for literary devices and their effects in order to build your metalanguage. I will also be posting about the modules in the new English HSC syllabus.

If you want to stick with TEE tables because this is what your teacher wants (it is easier to mark), and you think in terms of formulas, here is some help.

The basis is this sentence, and then we can switch words in and out in a mix and match fashion. Or you can rearrange and break up the sentence.

The (composer) uses (technique) in (example) to show (effect) which (adds to the meaning of whole text or positions the reader).

Other words for composer: director, writer, author, or use the writer or director’s surname.

Other words for uses: employs, applies, adopts, practices, exercises, embraces, chooses, elects, selects, appoints, assigns, allots, designs, establishes, casts, devises, designates

Other words for technique: repetition, assonance, pun, understatement, long sentence, allusion, intertextuality, etc

DO NOT USE THE WORD TECHNIQUE IN YOUR ESSAYS.

Example: can be a quote from the text or it can be about form or an accumulation of ideas. It doesn’t have to be a quote.

DO NOT USE THE WORD QUOTE IN YOUR ESSAYS (unless a character quotes something or the narrator quotes another text.)

Other words for shows: conveys, represents, suggests, implies, indicates, illustrates, illuminates, demonstrates, depicts, describes, displays, explores, explores, symbolises, reveals, reflects, indicates, highlights, supports, accentuates, reinforces, strengthens, focuses, elucidates, posits, clarifies, evinces, ascribes, espouses, amplifies, substantiates, predicates, expounds, advances, affirms, challenges, validates, opines, proffers, promulgates, confirms, evinces, enlightens, reflects, articulates, informs, portrays, exemplifies, remarks, introduces, infers, maintains, defines, narrates, formultes, explains, signifies, controls, obverves, examines, reinforces, reasons, likens, challenges, simplies, complicates, extends, expands upon, concludes, mainfiests, initiates, substantiates, selects, provokes, scrutinises, emphasises, accentuates, reinforces, stresses, privileges, reiterates, refutes, opposes, justifies, validates, contrasts. Some of these words could be used as an alternative to Uses.

Other words for effect: tone, cacophony, foreshadowing, suspense etc, or a comment on how it contributes to characterisation, setting, structure or style.

Remember that analysis is the examination and explanation of how the component parts contribute to the meaning of the whole. Your question will ask you either about the meaning, the form, the features or the effect on the reader. You answer the question bringing in these other aspects. You need to be able to explain how the example you have used answers the question.

Here is how you can mix and match.

1. Homer uses a non-linear narrative which replicates the motion of the sea, moving Odysseus towards and away from home. This recreates for the reader a sense of frustration and impatience, encouraging the reader to empathise with Odysseus and his plight.

2. Orwell writes in Part 3, Chapter 2 “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” These simple sentences of parallel construction, uttered by Winston with the weight of truth, demonstrate the idea that, through torture, his memory has been altered to that of the collective.

3. Cullis-Suzuki employs irony and understatement to refer to the environmental issues she has witnessed as ‘little things’, asking rhetorically in her speech ‘Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?’ This serves to create a sense of identification with the situation of the speaker, increasing empathy and drawing the audience into her worldview, successfully reinforcing the seriousness of her appeal and the unfairness that this burden has been left with the children of her generation.

4. In The Argonautica, Apollonius weaves imagery and diversions through the narrative which strengthen the theme of love, abandonment and betrayal. Examples of broken relationships are provided by allusions to Peleus and Thetis, Cronos and Philyra and to Ariadne and Theseus. The only example of a genuinely happy relationship is that of the newlyweds Cyzicus and Cleite who are trying for a baby. Jason accidentally kills Cyzicus, and Cleite suicides in grief, which demonstrates Jason’s unconscious inability to respect true love. Jason’s possessions also reinforce this. He has a cloak which Pallas Athene gave him, embroidered with a scene depicting Aphrodite with Ares’ shield, suggesting a symbol of Medea as love combined with war. Hypsipyle gives Jason a mantle which he wears as he prepares for his quest at Colchis, indicating his lack of respect for Hypsipyle and his sexual infidelity. The robe is later offered as a gift to Medea’s half-brother, Apsyrtus, to entice him to his death. Jason murders Apsyrtus at the temple of Artemis, the virgin goddess. His blood is splashed onto Medea’s veil, which symbolises her loss of virginity and innocence. Although the narrative ends before Jason and Medea arrive in his homeland, this foreshadowing suggests that their relationship will be troubled.

Here is an example of a class collecting data about a text.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/homer-high-tech-data-visualization-james-earle

Form

You will  notice that the study of literature involves considering aspects of form. But what is form?

There are a few ways we talk about form in literature

The first is to identify the category of the writing. It is the naming according to the category or type or style.

Examples include the major categories of novel, poetry, play, film, short story, novella, short film, article. There are subcategories of genre, for example, comedy, tragedy, horror, romcom, sci-fi. These categories share certain conventions that we agree determine what the type of literature is.

The second is to look at structure, that is, how a piece of writing is shaped. For a high school essay this would be an introduction, three paragraphs presenting an argument supported with evidence, and a conclusion. For a play it may three Acts. For a poem, it may be a sonnet or haiku or limerick, which are forms of poetry determined by their structure.  

Every piece of writing either begins with content or form. Sometimes writers start with content (the ideas or something to say) and need to decide upon the form. Other times, writers start with a form and create the content.

All writers make decisions about organising their material. You can talk about the organising principles in terms of form - anything that provides structure, be it a motif, repetition, rhyme, or how the text looks on the page. You can also include strategies for an argument or organisation of a narrative, such as change of voice or tone, looking backwards or forwards, reference to an authority or data, using analogies, or appeals to logic or emotions. 

For examples of playing with form see the work of Australian writer Ryan O’Neill who writes stories of relationships as a list, or as a series of book reviews. He demonstrates constrained writing such as the use of word chains, lipograms, pangrams, univocalic, cento, palindromes, snowballs and abecedarius in his book The Drover’s Wives: 99 Reinterpretations of Henry Lawson’s Australian Classic. See also 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden which presents one simple story told in 99 graphical forms.

Coming soon: Words for Words