| Term | Definition |
|---|
| allusion | a direct or indirect reverence to something that presumably is commonly known |
| connotation | the nonliteral, associative meaning of a word, the implied, suggested meaning |
| denotation | the literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion or attitude |
| diction | the writer's word choices |
| syntax | the way a writer chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences |
| tone | the author's attitude towards his or her material, the audience, or both |
| rhetoric | from the Greek for "orator", the term refers to the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively |
| colloquialism | the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing which gives a work a conversational, familiar tone |
| antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun |
| euphemism | a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for an unpleasant term |
| oxymoron | the joining of apparently contradictory words to suggest a paradox |
| parallelism | the rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity |
| anaphora | the type of parallelism in which the same words are used |
| analogy | a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them |
| invective | an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language |
| paradox | a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity |
| parody | a work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect or ridicule |
| symbol | anything that stands for something else |
| aphorism | a terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle |
| hyperbole | a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement |
| apostrophe | a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction |
| malapropism | a humerous confusion of words |
| metonymy | the name of one object is substituted for another closely associated |
| didactic | a term describing works that have the primary aim of teaching or instruction, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles |
| genre | the major category into which a literary work fits |
| onomatopoeia | a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words |
| litotes | steep understatement or the ironic minimizing of fact |
| allegory | the device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning |
| anecdote | a brief recounting of a relevant episode used to develop a point or to inect humor into a text |
| style | the choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes |
| synechdoche | a part of a thing stands for the whole |
| satire | a work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule |
| sarcasm | from Greek "to tear flesh", it involves bitter, caustic language meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something |
| syllogism | a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises which inevitably lead to a given conclusion |
| irony | the contrast betrween what is stated explicitly and what is really meant |
| ad hominem | and argument that attacks antoher's position as invalid or weak because of a human failing that has nothing to do with that position |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is told |
| antithesis | balancing or contrasting one word or idea against another, ususally in the same sentence |
| pathos | part of a work of literature which is intended to bring out pity or sorrow from the reader; represents emotional appeal |
| motif | an often repeated character, incident, or idea in literature |
| stream of consciousness | a style of writing in which the thoughts and feelings of the writer or narrator are recorded as they occur |
| tautology | an unnecessary repetition of terms |
| imagery | the words or phrases which evoke a picture or image in the mind of the reader or that appeal to one of the five senses |
| zeugma | a construction in which one word is placed in the same grammatical relationship to two wrds but in quite different senses |
| epiphany | literally, a manifestation or showing forth, usually of some divine being. In literature, an event in which the essential nature of something is suddenly perceived - a sudden insight |
| ellipsis | leaving something out that can be inferred |
| spoonerism | an accidental interchange of sounds in two or more words |
| chiasmus | a type of balance in which the second part is balanced against the first but with parts reversed |
| polemic | a vigorously argumentative work, setting forth its author's attitudes on a controversial subject - usually religious, political, or social issues |
| anachronism | a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other |
| tabula rasa | literally blank slate; something new, fresh, unmarked or uninfluenced |
| theme | insight about human life that is revealed in literary work |
| vernacular | the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality |
| conceit | an elaborate, often extravagant metaphor or simile making an analogy between totally dissimilar things |
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