| Term | Definition |
|---|
| chiasmus | repitition in successive clauses which are usually parallel in syntax. An inverted parallelism. Example: "A fop their passion, but their prize a sot" |
| clause | a grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb |
| cliche` | a trite, overused expression like "blue as the sky" |
| climax | the turning point, or crisis, in a play or other piece of literature |
| colloquial expressions | informal, not always grammaticaly correct expressions |
| comedy | a work which strives to provoke smiles and laughter |
| comic relief | something of humor interrupts an otherwise serious, often tragic, literary work |
| complication | the part of a plot in which the entanglement caused by the conflict is developed |
| conceit | an extended metaphor-two unlike things are compared in several different ways |
| concession | a writer concedes that the other side of the argument has a valid position |
| concrete | language that is observable or physical, using places, things, and people instead of ideas |
| conflict | a struggle between opposing forces |
| connotation | the emotional implications that a word may carry; implied or associated meaning for a particular word |
| consonance | the repitition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in words near each other in a line or lines of poetry |
| crisis | the climax or turning point of a story or play |
| crux | the most crucial line(s) in a poem or prose passage, the part that best shows the main point |
| cumulative sentence | the main sentence (independent clause) comes at the first, followed by dependent clauses and phrases |
| denotation | the specific exact meaning of the word |
| deus ex machina | an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot |
| dialect | speech peculiar to a region; exhibits distinctions between two groups or even two persons |
| diction | word usage |
| didactic | overly instructive, preachy, sermonizing |
| dominant impression | the one that has the most impace, perhaps one with repeated ideas and images |
| drama | story performed by actors in a stage |
| dramatic irony | irony in which the character uses words which mean one thing to them but another to those who understand the situation better |
| dystopia | the opposite of utopia |
| elegy | lyrical poem about death; a serious poem, usually meant to express greif or sorrow |
| ellipsis | the omission of part of the text |
| empathy | feelings of pity and understanding for a character |
| end rhyme | schematic rhyme that comes at the ends of lines of verse |
| end stop line | line of verse in which both the grammatical structure and the sense reach completion at the end of a line; denoting a line of verse in which a logical or rhetorical pause occurs at the end of the line, usually marked with a period, comma, or semicolon |
| enjambment | line of verse that carries over into the next line without a pause of any kind |
| envelope method | begins and ends with same setting and/or narrator(s); middle is flashback |
| epic | a long narrative, usually written in elevated language, which related the adventures of a hero upon whom rests the fate of a nation |
| epigram | a witty saying, usually at the end of a poem, about two lines long |
| epigraph | a breif quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter |
| epiphany | an awakening |
| epistrophe | the repitition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases , clauses, sentences |
| epitaph | an engraving on a tombstone |
| epithet | nickname or appellation |
| ethos | how an author makes the character seem |
| euphemism | substitute word(s) that sounds better than another (lingerie instead of underwear) |
| euphony | a quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious sounds, the opposite of cacophony |
| existentialism | a term applied to a group of attitudes which emphasize existance |
| exposition | the introductory expository information |
| fable | a story written to make a moral point |
| fairy tale | a fictional tale, marked by fantasy and magic |
| fallacies | logical errors in an argument, sometimes used to purposefully mislead readers |
| falling action | everything that happens in plot between the climax or crisis and the denouement |
| farce | a totally ridiculous comedy |
| figurative language | writing or speech not meant to be taken literally |
| first person | subjective point of view when a character relays a narrative using "I" |
| flashback | a device by which an author can present action or scenes that occurred before the opening scene in a work |
| flat character | a character who doesn't change |
| foil | character who provides contrast to another character |
| folk tale | a story which has been composed orally and then passed down by word of mouth |
| forshadowing | the arrangement and presentation of events and information in such a way that prepare later events in a work |
| form | the structure, shape, pattern, organization, or style of a piece of literature |
| frame | a narrative constructed so that one or more stories are embedded within another story |
| free verse | unrhymed poetry with lines of varying lengths, containg no specific pattern |
| generality | broad sweeping statement with no evidence |
| genre | a specific kind or category of literature |
| gothic | a form of novel in which magic, mystery, horrors and chivalry abound |
| grotesque | focuses on physically or mentally impaired characters |
| hamartia | a tragic flaw or error in judgment |
| hero/heroine | main character who has strength or moral character |
| homily | a long speech denouncing someone or something |
| hubris | the pride or overconfidence which often leads to a hero to overlook divine warning or to break a moral law |
| humor | writing whose purpose it is to evoke some kind of laughter |
| hyperbole | exaggeration for effect and emphasis, overstatement |
| idioms | expressions that do not translate exactly into what a speaker means |
| imagery | devices that appeal to the senses |
| implication | a hint or suggestion instead of a direct statement |
| imply | to hint or suggest something |
| inference | understanding the meaning of the information |
| intercalary chapters | expository chapters that come in between other chapters |
| internal rhyme | rhyming within lines of verse instead of at the ends of lines |
| invective | emotional violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language |
| inverted sentence | reversing the normal subject |
| irony | surprising, amusing, or interesting contrast between reality and expectation |
| jargon | specialized vocabulary and terms of a field of interest, for example legal jargon |
| juxtaposition | the positioning of ideas or images side by side for emphasis on contrast |
| lampoon | a biting satire that makes its subject appear ludicrous |
| legend | a widely told tale about the past, one that may have a foundation in fact |
| line | unit of poetic verse |
| litotes | "not unhappy" two negatives |
| loaded diction | words with a lot of emotional meaning |
| local color | the descriptions of the setting, people, and dialect |
| logos | appeal to logic and reasoning through facts, statistics, etc. |
| loose or cumulative sentence | has ind. clause first, followed by a series of phrases |
| lyrical | emotional writing showing author's ardent expression |
| malapropism | a confused definition |
| metaphor | a figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the used of words "like" or "as" |
| meter | the rhythmical pattern of a poem; classified according both to its pattern and the number of feet to the line |
| metonomy | substituting a word naming an object for another word closely associated with it |
| microcosm | a small "world" that stands for the larger one |
| mixed metaphor | a metaphor whose elements are either incongruent or contradictory by the use of incompatible identifications "the dog pulled in its horns" |
| monologue | a written or oral composition presenting the discourse of one speaker only |
| motif | a recurring concept or story element in literature |
| myth | a fictional tale, originally with religious significance |
| narrative | a story |
| narrative point of view | point of view |
| narrator | speaker or persona |
| naturalism | writing that demonstrates a deep interest in nature |
| non-sequitur | Latin for "it doesn't follow" - "our nation will prevail if we eat more eggs" |
| novel | an extended prose narrative |
| oxymoron | technique used to produce an effect by a seeming self-contradiciton "cruel kindness" |
| pace | the movement of the passage |
| parable | a short story to prove a point with a moral basis |
| paradox | a statement which contains seemingly contradictoty elements or appears contrary to common sense |
| parallel structure | a repitition of sentences using the same structure |
| parallelism | the repitition of syntactical similarities in passages closely connected for rhetorical effect |
| paraphrase | a restatement of an idea |
| parenthetical expression | a phrase added as a side comment |
| parody | make fun of another literary work |
| pastoral | a literary work that has to do with shehperds and rustic settings |
| pathos | Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering |
| periodic sentence | saves the subject and verb if the ind. clause until the end of the sentence |
| prose | all for of written expression not having a regular rhythmical pattern |
| realism | fidelity to actuality in literature |
| rebuttal | response to an argument to try to prove it wrong |
| refutation | another word for rebuttal |
| resolution | the way things are after the climax |
| rhetoric | device used to produce effective writing |
| rhyme scheme | a pattern of rhyming words in a stanza |
| rhyme | similarity or likeness of sound |
| rising action | the development ot conflict leading to a crisis |
| satire | a piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work |
| stanza | a related group of lines in a poem |
| static character | a character who is the same sort of person at the beginning and end of the story |
| subordination | placing something in a lesser position |
| testimonial | technique in argument or propaganda to persuade others to share the opinion |
| tricolon | "we saw, we ate, we regretted" |
| trope | figurative language |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace