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Literary Terms
English 3 Literary Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Allegory | Writing that has a deeper meaning hidden beneath the obvious one; an extended metaphor; a story in which the people, places, and things represent general concepts or moral qualities |
| Ambiguity | Having more than one meaning, used in verbal, written, and nonverbal communication |
| Analogy | A comparison between two things in which the more complex is explained in terms of the more simple; comparison of two dissimilar things that are alike in some way, often using a simile or metaphor |
| Anaphora | The repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive lines of verse, sentences, etc. |
| Anecdote | A short entertaining account of something happening, frequently personal or biographical |
| Antecedent | The noun to which the pronoun refers |
| Antithesis | A figure of speech in which contrary ideas are expressed in a balanced sentence;Oxymoron; opposing view; view contrasted with the thesis |
| Aphorism | Wise saying usually short and written,reflecting a global truth |
| Apostrophe | A figure of speech in which a person not present, an inanimate object, or a virtue us addressed directly |
| Caveat | A warning or caution; objection; dissent |
| Cliche | Trite overused idea or statement |
| Colloquial Expression | Words or phrases used in everyday speech, but avoided informal writing |
| Connotation | Surrounding feelings and associations added to word meaning |
| Deduction(Deductive Reasoning) | A form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases; opposite of inductive. |
| Didactic | Describes literary works ment to teach am oral lesson like a fabel. |
| Dramatic Irony | A condition in which the audience is made aware of information unknown to some of the actual characters |
| Empathy | Identification with an object and sharing in its physical and emotional sensations. Involves ascribing the feelings and attitudes present I oneself to the plight of characters in a literary work and the conditions of their lives. |
| Ephemeral | An adjetive meaning short- lived, transitory |
| Epiphany | A sudden understanding or realization which prior to this was not thought or understood |
| Ethos | The moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's actions rather than his own thought or emotion(outside factors); the fundamental spirit of a culture( one speaks of the democratic ethos of the American people.) |
| Euphemism | More palatable words for less pleasant subjects. |
| Expository Writing | Writing that explains or analyzes |
| Foil | Character opposite or different from the protagonist, used to highlight the protagonist's traits; incidents or settings may also be used as foils |
| Genre, Literary | A particular type or category of writing |
| Hyperbole | Use of extreme exaggeration |
| Idiom | Phrase in common use that does not literally mean what it says |
| In Medias Res | "in the midst of things" starting a story in the middle of the action. Later the first part will be revealed |
| Jargon | Words peculiar to a particular occupation |
| Metonomy | Figure of speech. The substitution of the name of an object with a word closely associated with it |
| Non-Sequitar | A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it |
| Objective | A tone of fairness and even discussion of a subject; is usually suggests that there is distance between the author and the subject being discussed. Be careful, this tone can also be cold and impersonal |
| Paradox | A statement that seems to be contradictory or absurd; however, it is found to be true |
| Parallelism | The coordination fo sentence syntax, word order, and ideas; used for effect and emphasis |
| Parody | Satire imitating, but mocking an author's work; usually a humorous imitation of a serious work |
| Pathos | The quality in something which arouses pity, sympathy, sorrow, etc. |
| Periodic Sentence | A sentence written so that the full meaning cannot be understood until the end. The dependent clause is at the beginning and it ends with the independent clause |
| Personification | Giving human-like qualities to inanimate objects or ideas. |
| Pronoun | A word which takes the place of a noun to prevent repetition or to act as the subject of a clause. Personal: he, she, you, they, etc. Demonstrative: this, that, those, these Reflexive: himself, herself, etc. Relative: that, which, who, whom |
| Prose | Literature written in sentence and paragraphs, as opposed to poetry or verse |
| Rhetoric | The art of using word effectively. The art of persuasion and employing the devices to persuade. Persuasion extends to the construction of a work so that you believe it to be true even thought it is fiction |
| Romanticism | Literary movement characterized by emotion, imagination, and goodness of people; little emphasis on reason |
| Syntax | The arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence. Word order in a sentence. |
| Theme | The central idea of a story or essay |
| Understatement | A form of irony where the author intentionally understates the facts (says it is less than it is) |
Created by:
IloveZeus
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