(Honors) Quarter 4 - Academic Vocabulary Words

Literary Theory

a school of thought or style of literary analysis that gives readers a means to critique the ideas and principles of literature. Literary theory examines a cross section of literature from a specific era, geographic location, or from writers of specific backgrounds or identities to draw conclusions about the similarities and differences in similar kinds of litery works. All literary theories are lenses through which we can see texts.

Feminist Theory (lens)

considers how a work portrays the female experience—character and authorship

Authorial Intrusion

when the author penning the story, poem or prose steps away from the text and speaks out to the reader. Authorial Intrusion establishes a one to one relationship between the writer and the reader where the latter is no longer a secondary player or an indirect audience to the progress of the story but is the main subect of the author’s attention.

Bildungsroman

a literary term describing a formative novel about a protagonist’s psychological and moral growth from their youth into adulthood

Allusion

a reference within a literary work to a well known literary figure/work, religious figure/event, political movement, leader, pop culture to illustrate or enhance a subject.

Motif

a literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. A motif can be a recurring image, a repeated word, phrase, or topic, a recurring situation, a sound, smell, temperature, color.

Symbol

an object with both a literal and figurative meaning.

Asyndeton ("a" = "without")

a construction in which elements are presented in a series without

conjunctions. EX: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Polysyndeton ("poly" = "many")

a construction in which elements are presented in a series using

more conjunctions than necessary/natural. EX: "We lived and laughed and loved and left."

Parallelism

a form of syntax in which ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance/similar wording.

Rhetorical Question

a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer. EX: "What's not to like?"

Anaphora

the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences. EX: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

Epistrophe/Epiphora (opposite of anaphora)

a stylistic device in which there's repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. EX: "Where now? Who now? When now?"

Anadiplosis

a device in which the last word or phrase of one clause, sentence, or line is repeated at the beginning of the next. EX: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

Antimetabole (Greek for "turning about")

a stylistic device in which there is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order. EX: "Fair is foul; foul is fair." EX: "Everyone who loves his country is a patriot, but not every patriot loves his country."

Gothicism

writing characterized by gloomy settings, grotesque action, supernatural, romance and exoticism. Setting (castles, manors, graveyards, caves, churches); Supernatural; Wild nature; The Sublime; Confinement; Emotional intensity; The Past; Women in distress; Unnatural desires; The Hero-Villain; The Uncanny; Doubles; Social Upheaval

Character Foils

a character whose purpose is to accentuate or draw attention to the qualities of another character, most often the protagonist.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the human sense

Visual Imagery

Pertains to sight

Olfactory Imagery

Pertains to a scent/smell

Auditory Imagery

Pertains to a sound; often coming in the form of onomatopoeia

Gustatory Imagery

Pertains to a taste

Tactile Imagery

Pertains to a texture or sensation of touch

Kinesthetic Imagery

Pertains to movement or action

Organic Imagery

Pertains to feelings of the body, including hunger, thirst, and fatigue