| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Aestheticism | Reverance for beauty; movement that held beautiful form is to be valued more than instructive content |
| Ambiguity | A word, phrase or attitude that has double or even multiple meanings, resulting in multiple interpretations |
| Atmosphere | The pervasive mood or tone of literaray work gloom, foreboding, joyful expectation |
| Attitude | The author's viewpoint regarding his subject matter. Attitude can usually be detected in author's tone |
| Classicism | An adherence to the principals of Greek and Roman literature |
| Colloquialisms | words or phrases that are used in everday conversatoin or informal writing which are sually considered inappropriate for a formal essay |
| Connotation | the range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its straightforward diciotnary meaning |
| Convention | a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expressoin. For example, a conventional lover cannot eat or sleep. An author who mocks the convention might create an overweight lover who sleeps alot |
| Denotation | the precise, literal meaning of a word, without emotional associations or overtones |
| Determinism | Philosophy that suggests people's actoins and all other events are determined by forces over which human beings have no control |
| Dialect | The version of a langauage spoken by people of a particular region or social group |
| Diatribe | violenty bitter verbal attack |
| Diction | The choice of words used in a literary work |
| Digression | A portion of a written work that interrupts or pauses the development of the theme or plot |
| Epigraph | The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme |
| Existentialism | A philosophical movement that focuses on the indiviual human being's experience of, recognitoin of, and triumph over the meaninglessness of existence |
| Expressionism | Present life not as it appears on the surface, but as it is passionately felt to be by an author or character |
| Feminism | The view that women are ingerently equal to men and deserve equal rights and opportunities |
| Flashback | A way of presenting scenes or incidents that took place before the opening scene |
| Hedonism | The pursuit of pleasure above all else |
| Inference | A conclusion the reader can draw based upon details presented by the author |
| Irony | In its broadest sense, the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearnace (what seems to be) |
| Dramatic Irony | A situation in which the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character's expectations |
| Situational Irony | The contrast between wha tis intended or expected and what actually occurs |
| Verbal Irony | A contrast between what is said and what is actually meant |
Combine with other sets
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