Normal means that there is no orientation. Top and bottom refers to the position of the character in order to make a complete character. The top and bottom sequences will be important if you use the double height option. You will need to print the line twice to get a complete line. The first printing will print the top part of the characters and the second printing will print the bottom part.
Inverse refers to the condition of the character.
Shade refers to the brightness of the character. Normal is the standard brightness of the character. Bright is bold type. Dark is a darker brightness than usual. The escape code is the command you would type before the text you want to print to get the indicated effects.