literacy forms pt 1

Allegory

A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning

Anecdote

A brief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident

Argument

Discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion

Autobiography

An account of all or a part of a person’s life written by that person

Bildungsroman

Translated literally means development novel

Biography

A written account of someone’s life, written by someone else, which focuses on the character and career of the subject

Comedy

A literary work written chiefly to amuse its audience. Usually provides a happy ending and emphasizes human limitations rather than human greatness

High comedy

Characterized by grace elegance and wit; intellectual comedy

Low comedy

Crude, boisterous comedy; slapstick and crude jokes; physical comedy

Confessional literature

Autobiographical writing in which the author discusses highly personal and private experiences normally withheld

Confessional literature

Autobiographical writing in which the author discusses highly personal and private experiences normally withheld

Convention

An accepted or expected style or form

Courtly love

Te emotion that a knight was expected to feel toward a noble lady

Didactic

Any text whose main purpose is to teach or instruct

Dirge

A funeral song of lamentation; a short lyric of mourning

Discourse

Spoken or written language

Argument

Discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion

Description

The picturing in words of people, places and activities through detailed observations of color, sound, smell, touch and motion

Exposition

The setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject

Narration

The process of relation a sequence of events or another term for narrative

Rhetoric

The art of persuasion, in speaking or writing

Essay

A short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or through exposition

Epistolary

A novel written in the form of correspondence between characters

Eulogy

A formal composition or speech in high praise of someone

Exemplum

Brief table told to illustrate a biblical text or to teach a lesson or moral

Expose

Article exposing scandal or crime

Fable

A brief take that conveys a moral lesson, usually by giving human speech and manners to animals and inanimate things

Farce

A type of drama related to comedy but emphasizing improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical action; and coarse wit over characterization or articulated plot

Genre

A French term for a type of, species or lots of composition, such as novel poem, short story and such sub categories as sonic science fiction or mystery

Gothic

A type of novel characterized by mystery horror, and the supernatural often with haunted castles, secret passage ways, grisly vision, and all of the paraphernalia of the tale of terror

Historical novel

Attempt to re-create an historically significant personage or series of events

Homily

Religious sermon or discourse