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Sams Literary Terms
Arnett Literary Terms
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Abstract | not attached to anything specific or concrete |
Active voice | verd that is an action ex. Jane SWEEPS the floor. |
Ad Hominem | an arguement attacking an individuals character rather than issue |
Aesthetic | relating to beauty or to a branch philosophy cocerned with art, beauty,and taste |
Allegory | a narrative in which the literal meaning corresponds directly with a symbolic meaning Ex. animal farm is an allegory of the Rssian Revolution |
Alliteration | repetition of similiar consanan sounds in the beginning of words. |
Allusion | A reference within a literary work to historical or literary person, place, or event. |
Anachronism | The misplacement of a person occurrence, custom idea in time Ex. In Julius Ceaser a character mentions a watch. Watches did not exsist in acienct Rome |
Anadiplosis | repetition of a word at the end of a phrase sentence, etc. which then begins the next phrase. Ex. I ran to the store. The store had plenty of food. |
Analogy | A comparison between two things that are not usually alike. Ex. Getting a confession out of the subject was like pulling ouot teeth. |
Anaphora | repetition of word or phrase at beginning of sucssesive phrases or sentences. |
Antagonist | obstacle or person that gets in the way of the protagonists accomplishment of their goal |
Anecdote | a brief narraton f an event or person. Ex. Joan loves to tell anecdotes of her childhood |
Antecedent | what noun the pronoun is replacing Ex. "it" and "the" |
Antihero | a protagonist who is not a good person |
Antimetabole | reversing the order of repeated words or phrases ex. "all play and no work, No play and all work" |
Antithesis | Parallelism with contridictory ideas Ex. "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." |
Aporia | Expression of doubt by which a speaker appears uncertain s to what he should think, say, and do |
Aposiopesis | A sudden breaking off of speech, usually do to excitement |
Apostrophe | directly adressing a dead person or inanimate object |
Appeals | Pathos- emotional appeals Logos- Logical appeals Ethos- ethical appeals, morals |
Archetype | a them, motif symbol or stock character that hold a familiar place ina culture's con consciousness. Ex. Garden of Eden |
Assonance | Repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words Ex. |
Asyndeton | the omission or conjunctions in a series. Ex. on my desk are pens, books, pencils, and paper. |
Bathos | a sudden change from extreme light hearted to extreme sentiment |
Bildungsroman | a novel aboiut education or physcological growth of the protagonist |
Caricature | the authors exagerration or distortion of certain traits of an individual, |
Cacophony | an arranement of harsh-sounding words- Kill crack, danger, cupcake |
Catharsis | a cleansing or purification of ones feelings through art |
Chiasmus | two phrases in which the syntax is the same but the placement of wrords is reversed |
Climax | moment of great intensity of the text major turning point in the plot |
Cliche | Expressins tht are used so frequently theyre not as powerful |
Colloquialism | an informal expression or slang, usually limited to a certain geographical area/culture. Ex. Yall/ you guys |
Comic Relief | a character whos actions break up tension a |
Conciet | a far-fetch metaphor/ simile |
conflict | problem charater faces, internal or external |
Connotation | the emotional side of a word, trash soundsmore negative than garbage. |
Consonance | the repetition of consanants ina sequence of nearby words Ex. Moth breath |
Denotation | the dictionary definition of a word |
Dues ex Machina | literally "god in machine" when a character is saved by a miracle |
Diction | specific word choice used in a piece of writing |
Didactic | intented to educate |
Elipses | a word or shor phrase is omitted but you still understand the context |
Epanalepsis | a repetition at the end of a clause of a word that appeared at the beginning |
Epigraph | a quotation placed at the geinning or the end of a chapter to help he reader better understand the meaning to follow |
Epithet | an Adj, or phrase that better describes a prominent feature of a person or thing |
Epiphany | a sudden powerful realization that a character realizes in an ordinary moment |
Epistolary | a type of narration throuh letters Ex. Dear John |
Epistrophy | The repetition of a word or group of words at the end of successive phrases |
Epizeuxis | repitition of the same word without any other in between |
Euphemism | a nice way of saying something unplasent |
Euphony | a pleasing arrangement of sounds |