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Lit Terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Chiasmus | describes a situation in which you introduce subjects in the order A B C and talk about them in the order C B A |
Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases clauses or sentences |
asyndeton | omission of a conjunction from a list |
colloquialism | spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech |
conceit | farfetched simile or metaphor; speaker compares two highly dissimilar things |
deus ex machina | unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue protagonists or resolve conflict |
epithet | word or phrase preceding or following a name which serves to describe the character |
homily | inspirational saying or platitude |
intentional fallacy | assuming from the text what the author intended to mean |
malapropism | incorrect usage of a word usually with comic effect |
metonymy | word represents somethiing else which it suggests |
parable | literary form where style of author of particular work is mocked in its style for the sake of comic effect |
pathetic fallacy | attribution of human characteristics or emotions to inanimate objects or to nature |
pastoral | of relating to or being a literary or other artistic work that portrays or revokes rural life usually in an idealized way |
scansion | analysis of a poem's meter; marking stressed and unstressed sylables |
semiotics | theories regarding symbolism and how people glean meaning from words sounds and pictures |
semantics | the study of the meaning of language as opposed to its form |
synecdoche | figure of speech where something stands for the whole or the whole for a part |
trope | intentional use of a word figuratively |
ad hominem | in an argument, an attack on the person rather than the opponent's ideas |
euphemism | inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive |
juxtaposition | act of positioning close together; side by side |
omniscient narrator | narrator that knows the inner thoughts or motivations of all chara |
exgesis | critical interpretation of a text especially a biblical text |