Lit Master Words

hamartia

protagonists fatal flaw

foil

a character that contrasts with another

dynamic

character makes a sustained change

static

character waves through change, but they remain the same

flat

character that is not complex

round

character that is complex

allegory

a set of symbols

alliteration

repetition of any beginning word sounds, used to create euphony and to tie ideas together

assonance

repetition of sounds of vowels in the middle or ends of words (euphony)

asyndeton

absence of a conjunction, unease and fragmentation

linear narrative

chronological sequence

reverse chronology

story from the end to the beginning

nonlinear narrative

flash forwards and flashbacks

fragmented narrative

nonlinear but with no grounding chronological byline

3rd person limited

knowing the thoughts and feelings of one character

3rd person omniscient

knowing the thoughts and feelings of all characters

3rd person objective

knowing no thoughts and feelings of characters

diction

an authors or speakers specific word choice that illicits emotion thats not necessarily positive or negative

illusion

implied or direct reference to a text, movie, history, mythology, or religion

catharsis

the moment when the tension is resolved

cacophony

a blend of harsh negative sounds

aposiopesis

when the speaker cuts themselves off

apostrophe

directly addressing something that cant address them back

deus ex machina

something that seems impossible is suddenly solved illogically, plot convenience

anachronism

a detail out of time

trochaic

stress on the first syllable of a word

iambic

stress on the second syllable of a word

peripeteia

reversal in a characters fortune

polysyndeton

the use of repeated conjunctions (snowball effect)

anapestic

3 syllables, u-u-s

dactylic

3 syllables, s-u-u

regular/perfect rhyme

rhymes with the exact ending sound

slant rhymes

words with similar syllable sounds but one vowel or consonant is different

soliloquy

one character on stage not addressing another character

monologue

one character with others addressing other characters

aside

a character discussing another character to someone that everyone but the character being discussed can hear

stream of consciousness

exposition that mirrors thinking

auditory

the way something sounds

olfactory

the way something smells

gustatory

the way something tastes

tactile

the way something feels

organic

personal experiences of a characters body

synesthesia

experiencing one sense through another

connotation

implicit meanings

denotation

explicit meaning, the literal definition

metaphor

figurative comparison

synecdoche

part stands in for the whole

metonym

substitution

onomatopoeia

words imitating sounds

oxymoron

figurative speech that combines two contrasting things

paradox

oxymoron in an ironic phrase

hyperbole

exaggeration to highlight somethings intensity

understatement

minimizing to highlight somethings intensity

couplet

rhyming end, two lines at the end of a sonnet or its own stanza

epigraph

quoted material at the beginning of a piece, prefigures something thematic

ellipsis

temporal gap in the narrative

enjambment

when the line of a poem doesnt end with punctuation, opposite is end-stopped

exposition

lack of dialogue, narrative before inciting incident

foreshadowing

hinting future events before they happen

caesura

unnatural stopping in the middle of a line

bildungsromen

coming of age story

motif

repetition of an idea or image

simile

comparing two things using like or as that only share one quality

symbol

a concrete thing that represents something abstract

mood

readers feeling created by the details in the text

tone

the speaker, author, narrator, character’s attitude towards something for some reason

sonnets

14 lines

shakespearean sonnet

rhyming last two lines, vulta after 12th line, intiates ABAB, maybe a shift after the 8th line

petrarchan sonnet

no rhyming couplet, vulta after 8th line, ABBA

vulta

shift in a sonnet

Streetcar

Tennesee Williams

TEWWG

Zora Neal Hurston

Doubt

John Patrick Stanley

Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fences

August Wilson

freytags pyramid

exposition-inciting incident-rising action-climax-catharsis-denouement

refrain

an entire line (or more) that is repeated

style

combination of diction and syntax

physical distance

how far away in space the narrator is

temporal distance

how far away in time the narrator is in relation to the story

relational distance

relationship between narrator and protagonist

emotional distance

how much the narrator cares about the protagonist

outside observer

knows the protagonist, far emotional or relational distance, not in the story

observational

character in the story, but not the main character