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allegory

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a representation of an abstract or spiritual meanjng through concrete or material forms. (hidden meaning in the story) (Avatar)

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Alliteration

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the commencenent of two or more words in a group that start with the same letter. (peter piper picked a pepper)

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allusion

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the act or practice of making an indirect or casual reference to something; a passive reference ("being thrown into the lion's den" is a biblical allusion)

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anachronism

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something or someone that is not in its correct chronological time (abe lincoln with a boombox)

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anadiplosis

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rhetoric repetition of the words or phrase at the end of a sentence, line or clause at the beginning of the next sentence. (fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.)

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analogy

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a comparison to make a similarity (compare cats to dogs if two have black and white fur)

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anapest

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a foot of three syllables, two short unstressed followed by one long stressed syllable in accentual meter (unaware)

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anaphora

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repetition of a word pr words at the beginning of two or more successive clauses, phrases or sentences. (he was goosed last night, he was goosed the night before that, he was goosed today.)

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anecdote

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a short account of a particular incident or event (story)

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antagonist

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a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with the protagonist. (the green goblin to spiderman)

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anti-hero

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a protagonist who lacks the attributes that make a heroic figure. (hamlet)

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apostrophe

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addressing a force that cannot address you back. make an appeal to an inanimate object, someone who is dead or doesn't exist. (when you are sitting in traffic and you yell "come on!")

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archaism

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the survival or presence of some phrase from the past. ("thou" "wilt")

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archetype

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the original pattern or model of which all things from the same type are representation or copies. (good guys wear white hats and bad guys wear black hats in old westerns)

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assonance

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resemblance of a sound in words or syllables. (I like Ike)

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asyndeton

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omission of the conjunction that ordinarily joins words or clauses. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

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aubade

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1) a song or poem greeting the dawn. 2) a morning love song. 3) a song or poem of lovers parting at dawn.

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bathos

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the sudden appearance of a silly idea or event in a book, movie, etc. that is serious in tone. emotion gets so heightened, it becomes ridiculous. (soap operas)

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bildungsroman

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a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character; a coming of age story. (Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye)

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black comedy

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a type of comedy in which normally dark topics, such as death, disease, rape, etc. are treated humorously. ("**** chemotherapy")

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blank verse

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unryhmed iambic pentameter, used frequently in English drama and poetry, five lines. (unstressed, followed by stressed)

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caesura

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any pause or break in a line's meter, usually marked by punctuation ||. pause in the middle of the line in a poem. (once upon a midnight dreary, || while I pondered weak and weary.)

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carpe diem

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latin phrase meaning "seize the day", or less literally, to live like there is no tomorrow. originally coined by the poet Horace.

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catharsis

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the purgatory or purification of emotions, usually through art. Coined by aristotle to describe the effects of a tragic play on the audience. (punching someone to make you feel better)

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characterization

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the process of exposing a character's personality, either through actions and word choice or just telling us. ("Bruce was violent" "Bruce kicked his dog")

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chiasmus

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the reversal of word order in two words in a parallel phrase (antimetabole?) (mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind)

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cliche

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an overused expression or theme that is no longer clever or original. (push me down, I get back up)

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climax

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a novel's intense part, a major turning point for the plot.

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colloquialism

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an informal and familiar method of writing or speaking slang. (whaddup)

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comedy

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any form of entertainment that is designed to be funny and make you laugh. (Horrible Bosses)

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comic relief

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something to lighten the mood in an intense scene.

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conceit

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an extended metaphor which features complex logic that governs an entire poem or just a section. An unlikely extended metaphor. (you and me are like a compass-explains)

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conflict

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the struggle or battle between two clashing forces in a scenario. advances plot. (a fight)

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connotation

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any additional meanings suggested by certain words in text. the implication. (a soldier is still green if he is inexperienced)

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consonance

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the repetition of similar sounding consonants at the end of words in literature; mainly poetry. (repitition of "ed" in lines)

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contraction

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the shortening of a phrase or word, combining it. (won't, can't)

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dactyl

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a type of meter which requires the first syllable to be stressed while the other two are not (ćhrīstophēr śīmōny)

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denotation

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the direct definition of a word without any other connotations or hinted meanings; the dictionary definition.

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denoument

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the final resolution of intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel; resolution. (the denoument in middlesex was when cal finally opened up to Julie).

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deus ex machina

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any artificial or improbable device resolving the difficulties in a plot; a God introduced into a play to solve entanglements; when the conflict is abruptly solved. (winning money at the end of the movie when in debt like in Dodgeball).

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dialect

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a variety of language that is separate from other types of this language due to grammar, vocabulary, etc. The group of people who speak it are set off from others geographically. ("we dont take kindly to your type round here"

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dialogue

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conversations between characters.

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diction

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a style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words. ("words strain, crack, and sometimes break under the burden under tension, slip, slide, perish")

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didactic

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intended for instruction; instructive; meant to teach. (how to read literature like a professor)

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dissonance

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inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; disagreement or incongruity. ("fierce-throated beauty! roll through my chant with lawless music!")

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doggerel

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comic or burlesque, and usually loose or irregular in measure; rude; crude; poor. (there once was a man from Nantucket...)

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double entendre

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a double-meaning; a word used in certain context so that iy could be understood in two ways; puns. (children make nutritous snacks, new obesity study looks for larger test group).

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drama

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a composition in prose or verse involving conflict. (romeo and juliet)

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dramatic irony

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irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not by characters in the play. (no! dont go in there!)

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dramatic monologue

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a poetic form in which a single character, addressing a silent auditor at a critical moment, reveals himself or herself and the dramatic situation.

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dystopia

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a society characterized by human misery or oppression, squalor, disease, overcrowding. (the hunger games)

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elegy

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a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead.

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end-stopped line

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the end of the line coincides with the end of a grammatical unit. (shall i compare thee to a summer's day?)

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enjambment

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the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a synactical break. opposite of an end-stopped line. (its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness but shall keep)

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epistle

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a letter, especially a formula or didactic one; written communication. (one of the letters in the new testament)

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epithet

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any word or person or thing to describe an actual attributed quality. ("richard the lion hearted" is an epithet of Richard I)

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ethos

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something that the author writes that credits him as a speaker. (because i have been a teacher for twenty years, i will give you advice on teaching)

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eulogy

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a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially a set oration in honor of a deceased person. (terry wrote a eulogy for Summer)

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euphony

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a style of poetry or prose that utilizes words that are pleasant or harmonious to the ear. (by the sweet smell of a summer rose)

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existentialism

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a philisophical movement in of the 20th century that focuses on the individual's struggle in an incomprehensible universe that lacks clear distinctions between right and wrong (what is right? what is wrong? what is life?)

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extended metaphor

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a comparison tgat continues throughout a stanza or poem (i compare thee to a summer's day)

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eye rhyme

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a slant rhyme or half rhyme when pronounced that appears to rhyme exactly when written. (watch and match)

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fable

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a short fictional story, featuring anthropomorphized mythical creatures, animals, plants, objects, or forces of nature that demonstrate a moral lesson (the boy who cried wolf)

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fantasy

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a genre of fiction: magic, creatures, or supernatural (harry potter)

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farce

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a comedy that features extravagant and exaggerated situations, physical humor, and nonsense to entertain the audience. (sandlot, little rascals)

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feminine ending

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an unaccented syllable at the conclusion of a line of poetry, usually added as an extra syllable to a metrical pattern. (to be or not to be that is the question)

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feminine rhyme

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rhymes two syllables, one stressed, and one unstressed (hollow, follow)

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figure of speech

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words that convey something other than literal meanings. (it is raining cats and dogs)

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flashback

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story shifts events of something that happened in the past. (lost has flashbacks of characters)

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flat character

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a fictional character that is one-sided, does not go under development. lacks complexity. (seinfeld purposely did this, Its Always Sunny)

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foil

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a character that exaggerates another's qualities by bearing sharp contrast to the other character. (malphoy and harry)

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foreshadowing

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hints that will occur later

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free verse

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poetry that is rhythmical but not written in a traditional meter or rhyme scheme.

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gothic

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a genre that features horror and romance. (frakenstein)

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harmartia

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the hero's tragic flaw that usually brings about her demise. (superman's kryptonite)

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hero

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usually of high standing that has a tragic flaw that will bring about her own downfall. (katniss)

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high comedy

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comedy that satirizes the upper class. features light drama, witty dialogue, and intricate plots. ("my god. this is the hardest roll since hamlet")

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hubris

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an excess of ambition, pride, etc. ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin. (oedipus, thought he was a hot shot but ended up unknowingly killing his father).

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hymn

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a religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god. (de colores (lol))

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hyperbole

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exaggerate statments or claims not meant to be taken literally. (if i dont eat now im going to die)

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iamb

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a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllae folloeed by one long (or stressed) syllable. (it is the east, and juliet is the sun)

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idiom

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a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. (sayings foreigners do not understand when they learn english) (he really puts his heart into it)

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imagery

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usually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. (the smell is..)

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idyll

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a short poem or prose piece depicting a rural or pastoral scene, usually idealized in terms.

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impressionism

answer

a literary style characterized by the use of details and mental associations to evoke subjective and sensory inpressions rather than the recreation of objective reality. (Monet, the mood that surrounds the objects)

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in media res

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a narrative begins, not at the beginning of the story, but somewhere in the middle-usually at some crucial point in the action. (Lost, Unfabulous show)

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innuendo

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an indirect intimation about a person or thing, especially of a disparaging or a derrogatory nature. (What the Pho?)

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internal rhyme

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a rhyme between words in the same line or verse (once upon a midnight dreary, I wondered, weak and weary.)

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inversion

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reversal of the normal order of words typically for rhetorical effect but also found in the regular formation of words or sentences. (to you i go) (YODA)

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irony

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things are the opposite of what you would think. (vegetarian marries a butcher)

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jeremiad

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a long, complaint or lamentation; a list of woes. (april is the cruelest month....etc)

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juxtaposition

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the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. (it was the best of times, it was the worst of times)

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kafkaesque

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reminiscent of the nightmarish dehumanized world portrayed in the novels of Franz Kafka, a czech novelist.

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lament

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a formulaic expression of grief ot sorrow for the loss of a person, position or culture. (o captain! my captain! dead poet's society)

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lampoon

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a satire in prose or verse ridiculing a person, literary, work, etc. (making fun of obama)

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litotes

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understatement for rhetorical effect especially when achieved by using negation with a term in place of using an antonym of that term. (monty pithon and the holy grail when the man cuts the black knight's arm off and he says "it's just a flesh wound")

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logos

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means of persuasion by demonstration of logical proof. real or apparent. ("Birmingham is probably the mist thoroughly segregated city")

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low comedy

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comedy using physical motions and very little wit or words are used. (It's a Hillbilly moment)

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lyric poetry

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poetry that has words that have such a meter and rhyme that it appears to be a lyric, or a poetic song.

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masculine ending

answer

a stressed syllable at the end of line of verse (tell me not in mournful numbers/ life is but an empty dream)

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masculine rhyme

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a rhyme of final stressed syllables (water, water everywhere/ and yet the board does shrink/ water, water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink)

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melodrama

answer

a play characterized by extravagant action or sensational incident, music and song, (Gone With the Wind)

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metaphor

answer

a figure of speech comparing to things that are otherwise unrelated. (all the world's a stage)

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meter

answer

the rhymthm of a piece of poetry, determined by the number and length of feet in a line. (once upon a midnight dreary, while i pondered weak and weary)

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metonymy

answer

the use of a vaguely suggestive physical object to embody a more general idea. (as he swung toward them holding up the hand/ half in appeal, but half as if to keep/ the life from spilling) (the life=blood)

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metrical foot

answer

a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm

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mood

answer

the dominant feeling or atmosphere of a work.

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motif

answer

a recurring thematic element, usually a dominant idea or central theme. (motif of wordplay in Hamlet)

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narrator

answer

one who tells a story, especially a character who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem.

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ode

answer

a lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying in length and complexity. (ode to joy)

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oxymoron

answer

a combination of contradictory or incongruous words. (loving hate, heavy lightness)

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parable

answer

a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.

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paradox

answer

a statement that appears to contradict itself but may be true. (so foul and fair a day i have seen)

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pathetic fallacy

answer

attributing human emotions and/or characteristics to inanimate things, nature. (the scene where Gatsby meets daisy again and it is raining)

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parallelism

answer

the reptition of a form within a sentence or sentences. (i have a dream, i have a dream)

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parody

answer

an imitation of another work for comic effect. (the lonelyisland)

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pastoral

answer

(adjective) having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas: pastoral scenery; the pastoral life. (noun) a poem, play, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic.

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pathos

answer

(noun) the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.

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persona

answer

(noun) 1. a person. 2. narrator of or a character in a literary work, sometimes identified with the author.

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personification

answer

(noun) the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.

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picaresque

answer

(adjective) characterized by a form of prose fiction in which the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero are described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes that often depict the everyday life of the common people. (The office)

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plot

answer

A literary term used to define the events that occur in a story, especially as they relate to each other in pattern, sequence, and cause and effect.

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point of view

answer

perspective taken by the narrative voice in a literary work

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polysyndeton

answer

The overuse of conjunctions in small succession. (We lived and laughed and loved and left.)

question

postmodernism

answer

The era that followed The Era of Modernism. A time where skeptical interpretations were made over art, culture, and literature. (contemplating the validity of a "right" answer. What is right and what is wrong. "I do not believe in linear time, there is no past and no future: all is one.)

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prosody

answer

The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.

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protagonist

answer

The main character in a movie, novel, or other fictional text.

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pun

answer

A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word, or words that sound alike but have different meanings. (Toy Yoda)

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realism

answer

A literary movement in opposition to Romanticism that depicted life very realistically in works of fiction. Usually documented life in the middle and lower classes. (Huckleberry Finn)

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repetition

answer

Something made by or resulting from being said over and over again.

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resolution

answer

The point in a story where the original conflict is solved. (When Dorothy wakes up)

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rhetorical question

answer

A question asked merely for effect, with no answer expected ─ the answer may be obvious or immediately provided by the questioner

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rhyme

answer

words agreeing with other words in terminal sounds; verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of lines

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romanticism

answer

An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. (Moby Dick, The Scarlett Letter)

question

round character

answer

a major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. they tend to be more fully developed and described than "flat" characters. (Cal/Callie in Middlesex)

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satire

answer

use of irony or sarcasm to ridicule something.

question

setting

answer

the surroundings/enviornment of a scene or story

question

simile

answer

a comparison using like or as (her eyes were blue as the sea)

question

soliloquy

answer

the act of talking or as if alone, often used as an aide im drama to disclosr a character's innermost thought. (Hamlet "to be or not to be")

question

spondee

answer

a foot of two syllables both of which are long and quantitative meter or stressed in accentual manner. (góod Gód!) (Shút úp!) two syllables that are both accented

question

stanza

answer

an arrangement of a number of lines, sometimes having fixed length, meter & rhyme or forming a division of a poem.

question

static character

answer

a literary or dramatic character who goes under little or no change. (Patrick)

question

stream of consciousness

answer

manner of writing in which a character's thoughts or perceptions are presented as occurring in random form without regard for logical sequences. (Holden Caulfield)

question

symbol

answer

a character or thing used to designate something else. (thumbs up is a symbol for good job)

question

synechdoche

answer

a figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole or vice versa. (word came down from the crown)

question

synesthesia

answer

a sensation that prompts another sensation. (color-number synesthesia) (in literature: one sense in place of another. if something is bright you can describe it as "loud")

question

syntax

answer

word order

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tragedy

answer

any literary composition as a novel dealing with a somber theme carried to a tragic conclusion. (romeo and juliet, breaking bad)

question

tragicomedy

answer

a dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of comedy and tragedy. (louie ck)

question

trochee

answer

A meterical foot with two syllables, stressed followed by unstressed. (Bóoth lēd | bóldly) ~last part of "boldly" is unstressed~

question

understatment

answer

litotis! suggesting something in restrained terms or as less than it is

question

unity

answer

the state of being one, united (talk about the __ of the work)

question

unreliable narrator

answer

a narrator who cannot be trusted because they speak with a bias, make mistakes, or lie. (The catcher in the rye, The boy in the striped pajamas)

question

zeugma

answer

the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only used one of them, or is appropriate to use each, but in a different way. ("she broke my alarm clock and my heart" "they carried their fear and their bags")

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