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ABSTRACT

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Refers to language that describes concepts rather than concrete images

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ALLEGORY

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story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities. EXAMPLE: Animal Farm; Dante's Inferno; Lord of the Flies

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ALLITERATION

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repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together. EXAMPLE: "When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly back."

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ALLUSION

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reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).

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AMBIGUITY

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deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way- - this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work.

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ANALOGY

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Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

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ANAPHORA

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Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent.

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ANASTROPHE

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Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion.

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ANECDOTE

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Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual

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ANTAGONIST

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Character who creates the story's conflict. Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.

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ANTIMETABOLE

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Repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order. Moliere: "One should eat to live, not live to eat." In poetry, this is called chiasmus.

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ANTITHESIS

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Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure. Example "Be not the first by whom the new is tried; Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." can also refer to opposite concepts, ideas.

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ANTIHERO

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Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.

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ANTHROPOMORPHISM

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attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification)

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APHORISM

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brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.

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APOSTROPHE

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calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation

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APPOSITION

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Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first (often set off by a colon). Paine: "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

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ARCHAIC

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A word or phrase no longer in use.

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ARCHETYPE

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Patterns in plot, character , theme, etc. born of common human experience. Joseph Campbell, Carl Yung

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ASSONANCE

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the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds especially in words that are together.

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ASYNDETON

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Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z... the writer uses X,Y,Z....

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ATMOSPHERE

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The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work. Often established through setting detail, weather or other description. Can foreshadow events of a work.

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ATTITUDE

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The relationship an author has with his or her subject and/or his or her audience.

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BALANCE

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Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well.

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BLACK COMEDY

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Disturbing material usually presented in a humorous or absurd manner , usually with the intention of confronting uncomfortable truths. Example: Catch 22

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CHARACTERIZATION

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the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.

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INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

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the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character's private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the characters effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character in action. Common in modern literature

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DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

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the author tells us directly what the character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style literature relied more heavily on this form.

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STATIC CHARACTER

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is one who does not change much in the course of a story.

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DYNAMIC CHARACTER

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is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action.

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FLAT CHARACTER

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has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.

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ROUND CHARACTER

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has more dimensions to their personalities---they are complex, just a real people are.

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CARPE DIEM

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Literally translated "Seize the Day." Familiar poetic theme.

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CATHARSIS

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The experience of being emotionally purified vicariously through the experiences of a character - usually in Tragedy - see Aristotle's Poetics.

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CHIASMUS

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In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: "Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike." In prose this is called antimetabole.

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CHORUS

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a group of singers or dancers in the background (usually of Greek Drama) who set a tone, narrate events, moralize upon the action.

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CLICHE

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is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse

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COLLOQUIALISM

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a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. Example: "He's out of his head if he thinks I'm gonna go for such a stupid idea.

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COMEDY

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in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

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COMEDY OF MANNERS

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Pokes fun at social patterns of ideas. ( see The Important of Being Earnest , Oscar Wilde)

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COMIC RELIEF

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The inclusion of a humorous character or scene to contrast and intensify the tragic elements of a work.

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CONCEIT

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an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor.

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CONFESSIONAL POETRY

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a twentieth century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate material from the poet's life.

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CONFLICT

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the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

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EXTERNAL CONFLICT

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can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person a whole society.

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INTERNAL CONFLICT

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conflict involving opposing forces within a person's mind.

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CONNOTATION

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the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

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COUPLET

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two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.

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DENOTATION

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Commonly agreed upon, officially accepted meaning of a word or phrase

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DENOUEMENT

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The point in a story or drama when the outcome of the plot is clarified and the story comes to an end.

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DEUS EX MACHINA

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A sudden and unconvincing "solving" of the conflict in a story or drama; translates "God in the machine" as though God stepped in and resolved the conflict.

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DIALECT

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a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

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DICTION

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a speaker or writer's choice of words.

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DIDACTIC

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form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

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DUALISM

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Opposing ideas or concepts, dependent on one another for validation. Presumes only two options... Good cannot exist without evil.

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ELEGY

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a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died.

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EULOGY

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is great praise or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died.

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EPANALEPSIS

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device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence. Voltaire: "Common sense is not so common."

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EPIC

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a long narrative poem, written in heightened language , which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.

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EPIGRAPH

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a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.

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EPILOGUE

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A farewell speech spoken by an actor at the end of a drama.

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EPISTLE/EPISTOLARY

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Written in the form of letters.

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EPISTROPHE

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Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora).

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EPITHET

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an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality. "Father of our country" and "the great Emancipator" are examples. A Homeric epithet is a compound adjective used with a person or thing: "swift-footed Achilles"; "rosy-fingered dawn."

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ESSAY

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a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.

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ARGUMENTATION

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one of the four forms of discourse which uses logic, ethics, and emotional appeals (logos, ethos, pathos) to develop an effective means to convince the reader to think or act in a certain way.

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PERSUASION

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relies more on emotional appeals than on facts

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CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP

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Form of argumentation in which the writer claims that one thing results from another, often used as part of a logical argument.

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DESCRIPTION

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a form of discourse that uses language to create a mood or emotion.

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EXPOSITION

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one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something is explained or "set forth."

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NARRATIVE

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the form of discourse that tells about a series of events.

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EXEMPLUM

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A short Medieval narrative designed to illustrate a moral or a church doctrine. You encountered this term in reading The pardoner's Tale.

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EXPLICATION

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act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

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FABLE

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a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

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FARCE

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a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations.

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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

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Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.

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FLASHBACK

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a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

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FOIL

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A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

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FORESHADOWING

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the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.

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FREE VERSE

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poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

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HYPERBOLE

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a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times...."

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HYPOTACTIC

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sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them. (Use of such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another is known as hypotaxis). I am tired because it is hot.

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IMAGERY

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the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person , a thing, a place, or an experience.

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INVERSION

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the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

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IRONY

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a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

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INVOCATION

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A "calling upon" God or the gods or a muse usually at the beginning of an epic.

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VERBAL IRONY

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occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

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SITUATIONAL IRONY

answer

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

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DRAMATIC IRONY

answer

is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.

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JUXTAPOSITION

answer

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: "The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough." Also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. Martin Luther King: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

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KENNING

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A metaphorical compound of two terms in place of an ordinary noun. Usually captures some quality or essence of person of thing. "Whale Road = Sea."

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LITOTES

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is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne--- "...the wearers of petticoat and farthingale...stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng..."

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LOCAL COLOR

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a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape.

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LOOSE SENTENCE

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one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units. Hawthorne: "Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of this footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure."

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LYRIC POEM

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a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker. A ballad tells a story.

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METAPHOR

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a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.

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IMPLIED METAPHOR

answer

does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: "I like to see it lap the miles" is one in which the verb lap implies a comparison between "it" and some animal that "laps" up water.

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EXTENDED METAPHOR

answer

is a metaphor that is developed as far as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).

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DEAD METAPHOR

answer

is a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid: "The head of the house", "the seat of the government", "a knotty problem"

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MIXED METAPHOR

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is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. "The President is a lame duck who is running out of gas."

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METONYMY

answer

a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it. "We requested from the crown support for our petition." The crown is used to represent the monarch.

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MOOD

answer

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected.

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MOTIF

answer

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses "So it goes" throughout Slaughterhouse-Five to remind the reader of the senselessness of death.

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MOTIVATION

answer

the reasons for a character's behavior

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OXYMORON

answer

a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. "Jumbo shrimp." "Pretty ugly." "Bitter-sweet"

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PARABLE

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a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life.

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PARADOX

answer

a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.

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PARALLEL STRUCTURE (parallelism)

answer

the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures.

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PARATACTIC SENTENCE

answer

simply juxtaposes clauses or sentences. I am tired: it is hot.

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PARODY

answer

a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style.

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PATHOS

answer

The aspects of a literary work that elicit pity or emotion from an audience. An appeal to emotion as a means of persuasion.

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PERIODIC

answer

sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements.

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PERSONIFICATION

answer

a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

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PLOT

answer

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.

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EXPOSITION

answer

introduces characters, situation, and setting

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NARRATIVE HOOK

answer

Point in the story at which the reader's attention is first engaged.

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RISING ACTION

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Series of events leading to the climax

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CLIMAX

answer

that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called "turning point"

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FALLING ACTION

answer

Series of events leading to the resolution.

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RESOLUTION

answer

the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the denouement.

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POINT OF VIEW

answer

the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

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FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

answer

one of the characters tells the story.

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THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

answer

an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

question

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

answer

an all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters.

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OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

answer

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.

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POLYSYNDETON

answer

sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in a series. Instead of X, Y, and Z... results in X and Y and Z...

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PROTAGONIST

answer

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. Usually the hero or anti-hero; in a tragic hero, like John Proctor of The Crucible, there is always a hamartia, or tragic flaw in his character which will lead to his downfall.

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PUN

answer

a "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things.

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REFRAIN

answer

a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem.

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RHYTHM

answer

a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.

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RHETORIC

answer

Art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse.

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RHETORICAL QUESTION

answer

a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer.

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ROMANCE

answer

in general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful.

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SATIRE

answer

a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change.

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SIMILE

answer

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles.

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SOLILOQUY

answer

a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage.

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STEREOTYPE

answer

a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices.

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STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

answer

a style of writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character's mind.

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STRUCTURE

answer

The literal, physical organization of a work. Chapters, volumes, sections, stanzas, etc. Usually purposeful in regards to the work's total effect.

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STYLE

answer

the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax.

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SUSPENSE

answer

a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story.

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SYMBOL

answer

a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.

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SYNECDOCHE

answer

a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. "If you don't drive properly, you will lose your wheels." The wheels represent the entire car.

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SYNTACTIC FLUENCY

answer

Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length.

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SYNTACTIC PERMUTATION

answer

Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. Often difficult for a reader to follow.

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TALL TALE

answer

an outrageously exaggerated, humorous story that is obviously unbelievable.

question

TELEGRAPHIC SENTENCE

answer

A sentence shorter than five words in length.

question

TONE

answer

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.

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TRAGEDY

answer

in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end.

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TRICOLON

answer

Sentence of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses.

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UNDERSTATEMENT

answer

a statement that says less than what is meant. Example: During the second war with Iraq, American troops complained of a fierce sand storm that made even the night-vision equipment useless. A British commando commented about the storm: "It's a bit breezy."

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UNITY

answer

that the writing is related to one central idea or organizing principle; dependent upon coherence.

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VERNACULAR

answer

the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality.

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IMPRESSIONISM

answer

a nineteenth-century movement in literature and art which advocated a recording of the artist's personal impressions of the world, rather than a strict representation of reality.

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MODERNISM

answer

a term for the bold new experimental styles and forms that swept the arts during the first third of the twentieth century.

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NATURALISM

answer

a nineteenth century literary movement that was an extension of realism and that claimed to portray life exactly as it was.

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PLAIN STYLE

answer

Writing style that stresses simplicity and clarity of expression (but will still utilize allusions and metaphors), and was the main form of the Puritan writers.

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PURITANISM

answer

Writing style of America's early English-speaking colonists. emphasizes obedience to God and consists mainly of journals, sermons, and poems.

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RATIONALISM

answer

a movement that began in Europe in the seventeenth century, which held that we can arrive at truth by using our reason rather than relying on the authority of the past, on the authority of the Church, or an institution. ALSO CALLED NEOCLASSICISM AND AGE OF REASON

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REALISM

answer

a style of writing, developed in the nineteenth century, that attempts to depict life accurately without idealizing or romanticizing it.

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REGIONALISM

answer

literature that emphasizes a specific geographic setting and that reproduces the speech, behavior, and attitudes of the people who live in that region.

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ROMANTICISM

answer

a revolt against Rationalism that affected literature and the other arts, beginning in the late eighteenth century and remaining strong throughout most of the nineteenth century.

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SURREALISM

answer

in movement in art and literature that started in Europe during the 1920s. Writers wanted to replace conventional realism with the full expression of the unconscious mind, which they considered to be more real than the "real" world of appearances.

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SYMBOLISM

answer

a literary movement that originated in late nineteenth century France, in which writers rearranged the world of appearances in order to reveal a more truthful version of reality.

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TRANSCENDENTALISM

answer

a nineteenth century movement in the Romantic tradition , which held that every individual can reach ultimate truths through spiritual intuition, which transcends reasons and sensory experience.}

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Onomatopoeia

answer

the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. "Pop." "Zap."

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Argument

answer

form of persuasion that appeals to reason instead of emotion to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way.

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Rising Action

answer

complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well)

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Koan

answer

is a paradox used in Zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

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Theme

answer

the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

Literary Terms: Prose – Flashcards

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