Genre - Personification

Genre

French, a literary form or type; classification. e.g. tragedy, comedy, novel, essay, poetry.

Hubris

Overwhelming pride or insolence that results in the misfortune of the protagonist of a tragedy.
It is the particular form of tragic flaw that results from excessive pride, ambition, or overconfidence.

Hyperbole

Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect. Not intended literally, it is often humorous.
Example: "And fired the shot heard round the world."

Image

A word or group of words, either figurative or literal, used to describe a sensory experience or an object perceived by the senses.
Is always a concrete representation.

Imagery

The use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong unified sensory impression.

Induction

A form or reasoning which works from a body of facts to the formulation of a generalization;
frequently used in science and history.

Inversion

Variation of the normal word order (subject first, then verb, then complement) which puts a modifier or the verb as first in the sentence.
The element that appears first is emphasized more than the subject.

Irony

When a reader is aware of a reality that differs from a character's perception of reality.
Generally speaking, a discrepancy between expectation and reality.

Litotes

Opposite of hyperbole; it intensifies an idea understatement by stating through the opposite.
E.g. saying "It wasn't my best day" instead of "It was my worst day."

Metaphor

A comparison of two things, often unrelated.
A figurative verbal equation results where both
"parts" illuminate one another.

Metonymy

Designation of one thing with something closely associated with it.
E.g. calling the head of a committee a CHAIR, the king the CROWN, a newspaper the PRESS, or old people the
GRAY HAIRS.

Mood

An atmosphere created by a writer's word choice (diction) and the details selected.

Moral

The lesson drawn from a fictional or nonfictional story. A heavily didactic story.

Motif

A frequently recurrent character, incident, or concept in literature.

Novel

An extended piece of prose fiction.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word whose pronunciation suggests its meaning.
"Buzz," "hiss," "slam," and "pop" are commonly used examples.

Oxymoron

A rhetorical antithesis. Juxtaposing two contradictory terms, like "wise fool" or "deafening silence."

Parable

A short story from which a lesson may be drawn.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory statement or situation which is actually true.
This rhetorical device is often used for emphasis or simply to attract attention.

Parallelism

Sentence construction which places in close proximity two or more equal grammatical constructions.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a usually more serious work for humorous purposes. The
writer in such work uses the quirks of style of the imitated piece in extreme or ridiculous ways.

Pathos

Qualities of a fictional or nonfictional work that evoke sorrow or pity.

Periodic Sentence

Sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements—e.g. "Across the stream, beyond the clearing, from behind a fallen a tree, the lion emerged."

Peripety

Reversal in the hero's fortunes.

Persona

A writer often adopts a fictional voice to tell a story. Is usually determined by a combination of subject matter and audience.

Personification

Figurative Language in which inanimate objects, animals, ideas, or abstractions are endowed with human traits or human form—e.g. "When Duty whispers..."