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English Lit Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allegory | A narration or description that is restricted to a single meaning because of the object, events, actions, character, and setting representing abstract ideas; a long metaphor |
| Alliteration | The repetition of the same constant of words |
| Allusion | giving tribute to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature. |
| Anachronism | an error of chronology in a book which puts something in the wrong time period |
| Analogy` | helps establish an relationship based on similarities between two concepts |
| anecdote | a short unsupported narrative account on an event |
| antagonist | forces against the protagonist of the story; causes problems |
| anthropomorphism | giving many human attributions to a nonliving object |
| aphorism | a little phrase that holds a deeper truth; a wise comment that is understood to be the universal truth |
| apology | a written oral defense for a person |
| apostrophe | an address to someone who is not actually there especially to something nonhuman that can't be comprehended |
| archaism | a word, expression, or phrase that is out of date but is used by a writer for an artistic purpose |
| aside | a speech made by a character that is not audible to the other characters onstage |
| assonance | refers to words with soft sounds |
| ballad | a narrative composition often of folk origin and intended to be sung; consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| bombast | pompous speech for the occasion; explosive and larger than life |
| cacophony | language this is discordant and difficult to pronounce |
| cadence | balance, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory; inflection in the voice |
| canto | a subdivision of an epic poem; chapter of a poem |
| catharsis | character goes through an emotional discharge and comes out a different person |
| cliche | phrase expressing a popular idea that has lost its originality |
| climax | turning point in the story |
| comedy | suppose to be funny |
| conceit | obnoxious metaphors; elaborate comparison |
| conflict | the opposition btwn 2 characters or between the protagonist and a larger problem |
| connotation | additional meaning added to a word; swear words |
| consonance | harder sounds made by a pattern of constants |
| convention | a common feature that has become accepted normal |
| couplet | poetry; complete thought written in two lines |
| denotation | literal meaning |
| denounement | falling action; final outcome |
| deus ex machina | an insoluable crisis is solved by outside forces such as God |
| diction | word choice; either elevated diction: smart or low diction: dumbing down |
| dirge | poem/song expressing death and grief; funeral |
| Dramatis Personae | Cast List |
| end-stopped line | end of each line |
| epic | formal style; a long narrative poem on a serious subject centered on a hero |
| epithet | a term used to characterize a person; The Dark Knight |
| Euphemism | use a phrase that is more sociably acceptable |
| exposition | anything that isn't dialogue in the story; blunt |
| falling action | everything after the climax of the story |
| figurative language | language that is not interpreted literally; metaphors |
| flashback | interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier in time |
| flat vs. round characters | flat: does not change his personality in the end and no extensive characterization round: fully developed and changed by conflict |
| foreshadowing | hints of what is to come in the action of a story |
| free verse | poetry w/o regular pattern; most modern poetry |
| genre | category of arts; examples: mystery, fiction, romance |
| hamartia | tragic flaw within a character; misperception or lack of important insight |
| heroic couplet | complete thought of poetry; two consecutive lives of rhyming poetry that are written in iambic pentameter |
| hubris | seen as a tragic flaw; a rrogant, excessive self pride or confidence. |
| hyperbole | the trope of exaggeration; yo mama jokes |
| iambic | an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable; to be or not to be |
| imagery | language that appeals to your senses |
| inflection | how someone says the word |
| in media rias | action starts at a random point in the middle; in the midst of things |
| irony | a contrast btwn what is stated and what is really meant/ between what is expected and what actually happens; werbal: sarcasm & dramatic: tension |
| jargon | confusing words and phrases used to relate a profession; politics |
| King's English | Received standard/ accepted formal english |
| lament | expression of grief for the loss of a person |
| lingo | local dialect; slang |
| linguistics | the study of language |
| local color | regionalism; distinctive characteristics of a place or time period |
| lyric | expresses a speaker's personal thoughts or feelings; musical quality |
| malapropism | misusing terms to create a comic effect; involves confusion of 2 polysyllabic words *that sound similar but have different meaning* |
| maxim | general truth that contains wisdom or insight into human nature |
| meiosis | opposite of hyperbole; UNDERSTATEMENT |
| melodrama | an appeal to emotion; a dramatic form characterized by excessive sentiment |
| memoir | a portion of an autobiography |
| metaphor | comparison btwn two unlike things w' intent of giving added meaning to one of them; figurative language |
| meter | regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables |
| elegy | talks about the passing of someone else |
| metonymy | a word that is used to stand in for another word |
| monologue | a long uninterrupted speech that is heard by others |
| mood | the atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking an emotion |
| motif | a recurring object in a work of literature; holden's hat |
| muse | source of inspiration that can also be used figuratively |
| narrative | a story |
| nom de plume | pen name |
| ode | lyric poem elevated and about someone; celebrates something figuratively |
| onomatopoeia | any word that is a sound; buzz, click |
| palindrome | a word that is read the same way backward and forward |
| parable | a allegoric story that serves as a moral lesson; bible |
| paradox | oxymororn; contradictory statement that may be none the less true |
| pastoral | supports country values |
| persona | a mask; the narrator is the reflection of their character |
| personification | simple human quality |
| petrarchan sonnet | 14 rhyming lines; first 8 lines set the scene and the other 6 make a comment on scene |
| poetic justice | deserved retribution for ones actions; karma |
| poetic license | freedom to depart from the facts of a matter in order to create an effect |
| point of view | the way the story is told; 1st omnipotent, 2nd omnipotent, 3rd limited |
| preface | author written introduction to a book |
| prologue | a separate intro section of a literary work |
| prose | any material that is not written in a regular meter; short stories, novels |
| protagonist | main character; someone you identify with |
| pun | paranomasia; a play on 2 words similar in sound but different meanings |
| quatrain | a stanza of 4 rhyming lines |
| resolution | final deposition of a plot and creates a new status quo (balance) |
| rhetoric | art of persuasion; ethos, pathos, logos |
| rhetorical question | asked to get a definite answer from the reader often implies an answer |
| rhyme | matching similarity of sounds in 2+ words |
| rhyme scheme | pattern of rhyme |
| rhythm | expressiveness of speech; uniform |
| rising action | before climax; build up, tension increase |
| run-on | sentence containing 2+ independent clauses that are not separated by a ; or . |
| saga | oral story; prose narrative recorded in iceland |
| sarcasm | ironic remark intended to ridicule someone |
| satire | mock human/societal flaw; humany folly; the onion |
| semantics | the study of actual meaning in laguaes |
| setting | the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which situation occurs |
| shakespearean sonnet | 12 line stanza divided into 3 quatrains; each rhyme differently w/ a final rhymed couplet that makes an effective climax |
| simile | figurative language; makes a comparison btwn two unlike objects connecting with "like" or "as" |
| soliloquy | spoken monologue expressing true thoughts when the actor believes he is alone on stage |
| sonnet | 14 lines arranged in a rhyme scheme |
| stanza | arrangement of lines of verse in pattern |
| stock character | flat & static; appears repeatedly in a particular literary genre which has certain conventional attributes |
| stream of consciousness | writing in which a character's thoughts are presented in a random form w/o logical sense |
| styles | author's words and characteristics ways that writers use to achieve certain effect |
| sublime | impress upon the mind to awe and inspire; used characteristically |
| subplot | minor secondary plot; struggles of characters other than main |
| symbol | abstract; an object that stands for another thing |
| theme | dominant idea |
| tone | conveying an attitude or mood |
| tour de force | a powerful display os somebody's ability to be upmost |
| tragedy | drama where the character is brought to ruin due to consequence or tragic flaw; seemingly undeserved |
| tragic flaw | hamartia and hubris; a weakness of a character resulting to a hero's fall |
| trochee | long to short stresses |
| verisimilitude | common sense; assuming appearance of truth; generalization |
| vignete | title page; aside in stories and novels; no plot |
Created by:
madazcueta
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