List 3-4 (Tone Vocabulary)

Abstract

unable to be touched; not concrete

Abstraction

a concept or value that cannot be seen by comparing it metaphorically to a known, concrete, object. Ex: “I nod to death in passing, aware of the sound of my own feet upon my path” (Peter Mathieson).

Analogy

the comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical purpose of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended.

Antagonist

the character in a narrative or play who is in conflict with the main character; an antagonist may not even be a person - or may be the same person as the main character.

Autobiography

author’s own life story; first person account

Bathos

an unintentional shift from the sublime to the ridiculous which can result from the use o overly elevated language to describe trivial subject matter, or from an exaggerated attempt at pathos which misfires to the point of being ludicrous.. Writing is bathetic when is strives to be serious (impassioned or elevated) but achieves only a comic effect because it is anticlimactic. Ex: “Your eyes spit fire, your cheeks grow red as beef.” Here figurative language that begins with an ennobling (though bombastic) five metaphor then descends to the mean level of raw steak.

Cause and Effect Relationships

a dominant technique (also called a rhetorical device) in which the author analyzes reasons for a chain of events. This casual analysis can also be the writer’s main method of organization, or it can be one paragraph used to support a point in an essay developed through another pattern.

Classicism

an approach to literature which emphasizes reason, harmony, balance, proportion, clarity and the imitation of ancient writers and philosophers.

Drama

story performed by actors on a stage.

Figurative language

writing or speech not mean to be taken literally; states something that is not literally true in order to create an eect. Similes, metaphors, and personification are figures of speech based on comparisons. Metonymy, synecdoche, synesthesia, apostrophe, oxymoron, and hyperbole are other figures of speech.

Foil

character who provides contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the other’s traits; a character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison Ex: In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes are young men who behave very differently. While Hamlet delays in carrying out his mission to avenge the death of his father, Laertes is quick and bold in his challenge of the king over the death of his father. Therefore, these characters are foils to each other.

Foreshadowing

the arrangement and presentation of events and information in such a way that prepare or later events in a work.

Form

the structure, shape, pattern, organization, or style I a piece of literature.

Imagery

devices which appeal to the senses: visual, tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, kinetic; a group of words that create a mental “picture” (animal, water, death, plant, decay, war, etc.). The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work. Ex: “When the evening is spread out against the sky; Like a patient etherized upon a table” (T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song o J.Alfred Prufrock”). This example uses images o pain and sickness to describe the evening, which as an image itself represents society and the psychology of Prufrock himself.

Irony

surprising, amusing, or interesting contrast between reality and expectation. In irony of the situation, the result of an action is the reverse of what is expected. In dramatic irony, the audience knows something that the characters in a drama do not. In verbal irony, the contrast is between literal meaning o what is said and what is meant. Ex: A character may refer to a plan as “brilliant,” while actually meaning that s(he) thinks the plan is foolish. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony.

Metaphor

a figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of words “like” or “as".” Ex: Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” has this to say about the moral condition of his parishioners: “ There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full o the dreadful storm and big with thunder.”

Paraphrase

a restatement of an idea in such a way to retain the meaning while changing the diction and form.

Simile

a figure of speech which takes the form of a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison can be found, and which uses the words “like” or “as” in the comparison, as in the following example: “clear as frost on the grass-blade.”

Tone

expresses the author’s attitude towards his or her subject. Since there are as many tones in literature as there are tones of voice in real relationships, the tone of a literary work may be one.

Theme

the work’s message worded in a complete sentence.

Begging the Question

also called assuming the answer: A persuasive fallacy in which the writer assumes the reader will automatically accept an assertion without proper support. Ex: We must assume the death penalty to end violent crime or I don’t like the death penalty because it’s killing; circular reasoning.

Bombast

elevated language, often pompous and overdone.

Characterization

the method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work. Personality may be revealed (1) by what the character says about himself or herself, (2) by what others reveal about the character, and (3) by the character’s own actions.

Chiasmus

repetition in successive clauses which are usually parallel in a syntax; an inverted parallelism; the reversal of the order of corresponding words or phrases (with or without exact repetition) in successive clauses which are usaully parallel in syantax. Ex: Pope’s “A fop for their passion, but their prize is a sot,” or Goldsmith’s “to stop too fearful, and too faint to go.”

Dialect

speech particular to a region; exhibits distinctions between two groupsor even two.

Diction

an author’s choice of words. Diction can be simple, sophisticated, colloquial, formal, or informal.

Epiphany

an awakening; a sudden understanding or burst of insight; key moment in Greek plays.

False Dichotomy

two extremes in a continuum of intermediate possibilities; writing in which the author breaks away from reality. Ex: “Sure, take his side; my husband’s perfect; I’m always wrong.” Or “Either you love your country or you hate it.” Or “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Farce

a totally ridiculous comedy.

Flashback

a device by which an author can present action or scene that occured before the penning scene in a work.

Genre

A specific kind or category of literature. Ex: novel, poem, drama, tragedy, etc.

Idioms

expressions that do not translate exactly into what a speaker means; idioms are culturally relevant; when a person uses an idiomatic expression, he or she truly “thinks” in the language.

Juxtaposition

the positioning of ideas or images side by side for emphasis or to show contrast. Ex: In ROmeo and Juliet, love and hate are juxtaposed as the two teenagers’ love is forced into the same arena as the families’ hatred.

Lampoon

a biting satire that makes its subject appear ludicrous.

Metaphysical

of, from, or relating to forces or being outside the natural world.

Naturalism

writing that demonstrates a deep interest in nature (often sees nature as indifferent to the plight of man); also used to describe any form of extreme realism.

Non-sequitur

Latin for “it doesn’t follow.” Ex: “Our nation will prevail if we eat more eggs.”

Oxymoron

technique used to produce an effect by a seeming self-contradiction. Ex: cruel kindness or make haste slowly.

Polysyndeton

the repetition of a number of conjunctions in close succession, as in “We have men and arms and planes and tanks.”

Realism

fidelity to actuality in literature.