Vocab 5 & 6

Academic (style)

Dry and theoretical writing. When a piece of writing seems to be sucking all the life out of its subject with analysis. 

Aesthetic

used as an adjective meaning "appealing to the senses."

Alliteration

repetition of initial consonant sounds 

Allusion

 a reference to another work of literature, person, or event 

Anachronism

something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred

Analogy

a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way 

Antihero

 a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine) 

Aside

a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage

Black Humor

the use of disturbing themes in comedy. 

Bombast

speech or writing that sounds grand or important but has little meaning

Burlesque

a theatrical entertainment of broad and earthy humor 

Cadence

 rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words 

Chorus

in Greek drama, the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it

Colloquialism

informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing 

Couplet

two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Denotation

the dictionary definition of a word 

Diction

a writer's or speaker's choice of words 

Dirge

a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

Dramatic Irony

(theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play 

Euphemism

a mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term

Feminine Rhyme

latter two syllables of first word rhyme with latter two syllables of second word (ceiling appealing)

Free Verse

unrhymed verse without a consistent metrical pattern

Hubris

excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy 

Interior Monologue

a narrative technique that records a character's internal flow of thoughts, memories, and ideas; a longish passage of uninterrupted thought

Inversion

the reversal of the normal order of words

Lampoon

ridicule with satire 

Metonym

a word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with 

Nemesis

the protagonist's arch enemy or supreme and persistent difficulty

Objectivity

 an impersonal presentation of events and characters

Onomatopoeia

the use of words that imitate sounds

Pastoral

a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)

Personification

the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas etc.

Protagonist

the main character in a literary work

Pun

a play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings

Requiem

a song of prayer for the dead

Rhetorical Question

a statement that is formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered

Satire

a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision

Subjectivity

a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions

Thesis

the primary position taken by a writer or speaker 

Zeugma

when a word is used with two adjacent words in the same construction, but only makes literal sense with one of them