Vocab 101-120

pastoral

A poem, play, or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepherds and shepherdesses.

pathos

The quality of a literary work or passage which appeals to the reader's or viewer's emotions.

periodic sentence

A sentence that delivers its point at the end; usually constructed as a subordinate clause followed by a main clause.

personification

The attribution of human characteristics to an animal or to an inanimate object.

point of view

The perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work.

polysyndeton

Repetition of conjunctions in close succession.

prose

The ordinary language people use to express themselves; the opposite of poetry.

protagonist

The main or principal character in a work; often considered the hero or heroine.

physiognomy

The assessment of a person's character or personality from his or her outer appearance, especially the face.

pun

Humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings.

quatrain

A four-line stanza.

refrain

Repetition of a line, stanza, or phrase.

repetition

A word or phrase used more than once to emphasize an idea.

rhetorical question

A question with an obvious answer, so no one response is expected; used for emphasis or to make a point.

satire

The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society, individuals, and institutions.

scansion

The process of measuring metrical verse, marking accented and unaccented syllables, and dividing the lines into feet.

sestet

A six-line stanza of poetry; also, the last six lines of an Italian/Petrarchan sonnet.

shift

In writing, a movement from one thought or idea to another; a change.

simile

A comparison of unlike things using the word like, as, or so.

soliloquy

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself.