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Definitions |
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syllogism
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deductive reasoning
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Repartee
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witty replies
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octave
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8 lines
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cacophony
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harsh, discordant sounds
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diaphanous
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light, delicate, translucent
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derisive
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Contemptuous; cruelly mocking
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Verse
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a piece of poetry
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gadfly
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a persistently annoying person
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adulation
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Excessive flattery or admiration.
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author's choice of words
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diction
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nemesis
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poetic justice good characters rewarded bad characters punished
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couplet
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two lines of rhyming poetry
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antithesis
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the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas
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Genre
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A sub-category of literature. Science-fiction and detective stories are genres of fiction
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naturalism
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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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paradox
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statement that appears self contradictory, but reveals a truth
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suppliant
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Asking humbly and earnestly; beseeching.
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antithesis
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establishing a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them often in parallel structure
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wit
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words that are intellectually amusing; delight that surprises
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hubris
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excessive pride that leads to downfall
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mood
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the atmosphere suggested by the structure and style of the poem
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simile
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indirect comparison using "like" or "as"
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Complex
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a sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause
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Similie
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A figurative comparison using the words like or as
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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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Assonance
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the sequential repetition of vowel sounds particularly in stressed syllables
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personification
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giving an inanimate object human qualities or form
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sarcasm
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sharp, caustic expression or remark; bitter gibe or remark
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round character
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more complex that flat/stock characters and often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people; more fully developed, and harder to summarize
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archetype
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a character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures
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feminine rhyme
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falling rhyme; ending with unaccented last syllable
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madrigal
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short lyric on love or pastoral themes
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understatement
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saying less than one means, for effect
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satire
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mode of writing based on ridicule, which criticizes the faults of society
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generic conventions
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Describes tradition for each genre, helps define a genre
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Farce
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a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations
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gothic
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characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque
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Tricolon
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Sentence of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses.
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Aside
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A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage. (See soliloquy.)
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Aesthetic
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an adjective meaning "appealing to the senses." Aesthetic judgment is a phrase synonymous with artistic judgment. As a noun, an aesthetic is a coherent sense of taste. The kid whose room is painted black, who sleeps in a coffin, and listens to only funeral music has an aesthetic. The kid whose room is filled with pictures of kittens and daisies but who sleeps in a coffin and listens to polka music has confused aesthetic. The plural noun, aesthetics, is the study of beauty. Questions like what is beauty? Or, is the beautiful always good? Fall into the category of aesthetics.
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apostrophe
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act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not present
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chiaroscuro
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juxtaposition of light and shade in artwork or literature
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doggerel
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crude, simplistic verse - often in sing-song rhyme
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hyperbole
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a figure of speech that uses exaggeration or overstatement
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alliteration
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the repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words
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austere
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Severe or stern in disposition or appearance; somber and grave.
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setting
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the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. major elements are time, place, and social environment. can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that prepares reader for what is to come
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assonance
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the repeated use of a vowel sound
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pair of lines that end in rhyme
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couplet
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paradigm
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a formal plan or sequence of changes which acts as a model
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epigraph
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a quotation at the start of a work
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Pastoral
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a work that describes the simple life of country folk. Also known as ecologue, bucolic, or idyll
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synechdoche
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figure of speech utilizing a part as representative of the whole
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Ellipsis
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omission of words from a text; mark used to indicate an omission (when the meaning can be understood without them); PL. ellipses
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attitude
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the sense expressed by the tone of voice and/or the mood of a piece of writing
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Metaphor
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A figure of speech that compares like objects, without using like or as
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Implied Metaphor
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does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison.
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Symbol
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a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.
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Soliloquy
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A speech spoken by a character alone on stage. A soliloquy is meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts. Unlike an aside, a soliloquy is not meant to imply that the actor acknowledges the audience's presence
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Onomatopoeia
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the use of words whose sound suggest their meaning (ex. buzz, bang, hiss).
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climax
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the arrangement of words or phrases or clauses in an order of ascending power
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refrain
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a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song
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dramatic monologue
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when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience
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allegory
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a story in which people, things, and events have another meaning
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structure
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the pattern or organization of a work as a whole, used in a significant manner.
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ars poetica
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a poem written on the subject of poetic art, usually explaining poet's reasons for writing
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continuous form
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a poem in which lines follow each other without stanza breaks
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Ad Hominem argument
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appeals more to emotion rather than reason
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elegy
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a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation
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Comedy
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referred to a genre of drama, the word comedy came to mean any play or narrative poem in which the main characters manage to avert an impending disaster and have a happy ending. The comedy did not necessarily have to be funny.
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syntax
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The way a author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
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Iambic pentameter
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A line of poetry that contains five iambs, which are feet that contain one unstreesed and one stresssed syllable ( U / ). This type of meter most closely matches the rhythm of natural english speech.
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situational irony
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what happens is different from what is expected to happen
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First-person narrator
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I in the story presents point of view of only one character; narrator is restricted to perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of that single character
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third person omnisicient pov
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the author tells the story using the third person she knows all and is free to tell anything
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