Engwish 2

hubris

The excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death.

hyperbole

Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.

*in media res*

A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point.

invective

A direct verbal assault; a denunciation.

irony

A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is reverse of what might have been expected.

litotes

A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity.

lyric poetry

Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker’s thoughts and feeling about the subject.

metaphor

A figure of speech that compares unlike objects.

meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry.

metonymy

A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated.

mock epic

A parody of traditional epic form.

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It usually treads a frivolous topic with extreme seriousness, using conventions such as invocations to the Muse, actions-packed battled scenes, and accounts of heroic exploits.

motif

A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.

naturalism

A term often used as a synonym for *realism*; also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic.

*non sequitur*

A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before.

novel of manners

A novel focusing on and describing the social customs and habits of a particular social group.

ode

a lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings towards the subject.

paradox

A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.

parody

An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.

pastoral

A work of literature dealing with rural life.

pathetic fallacy

Faculty reasoning that inappropriately ascribes human feelings to nature or nonhuman objects.