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Basic terms needed to write about literature

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Term
Definition
Allegory   show
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Antagonist   show
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Anticlimax   show
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show A protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of courage, strength, and nobility.  
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show A novel in which an adolescent protagonist comes to adulthood by a process of experience and disillusionment. (Coming of age novel)  
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show Broad satire; taking tragic drama and exaggerating it into ridiculousness.  
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show One element is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity.  
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show This term describes traditions for each genre, which, in turn, help to define each genre.  
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Deus ex machina   show
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show Descriptive of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.  
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Epiphany   show
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show The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama.  
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show A short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.  
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Myth   show
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show In its broadest sense, any extended fictional prose narrative focusing on a few primary characters but often involving scores of secondary characters.  
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show A relatively short, didactic story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life.  
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Parody   show
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Romance   show
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show The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failures of society, individuals, and institutions, often in the hope that change and reform are possible.  
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show "A brief prose tale," as Edgar Allan Poe labeled it. This work of narrative fiction may contain description, dialogue and commentary, but usually plot functions as the engine driving the art.  
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Tall tale   show
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Flashback   show
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show A character who acts as contrast to another character; these are characters who are essentially similar but who have one major difference or who make opposite choices.  
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show The result of inserting one or more small stories within the body of a larger story that encompasses the smaller ones.  
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show A literary device where words or concepts are repeated at the start and finish of an idea, and these work as bookends or an envelope to enclose a concept or idea.  
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In medias res   show
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Verbal Irony   show
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show A plot device in which events turn out contrary to expectation yet are perversely appropriate.  
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show The quality exhibited in words spoken by a character in a play or narrative who, because of his ignorance of present or future circumstances that the audience is aware of, does not realize how the words apply to his situation.  
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Cosmic Irony   show
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show Poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit.  
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Metamorphosis   show
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show A recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme.  
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show A statement or situation that at first seems impossible or oxymoronic, but which solves itself and reveals meaning.  
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Pathetic Fallacy   show
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Persona   show
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Prose   show
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show The main or principal character in a work; often considered the hero or heroine.  
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show A form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order; thoughts are often unfinished.  
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Symbol   show
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show Objects and occurrences from nature to symbolize ideas commonly associated with them.  
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Conventional Symbol   show
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show Type of symbolism which has been created by an author for use in that one literary piece.  
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Theme   show
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Verisimilitude   show
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