lit terms

Anachronism

Assignment of something to a time when it was not in existence, e.g. the watch Merlyn wore in The Once and Future King.

Angst

A term used in existential criticism to describe both the individual and the collective anxiety-neurosis of the period following the Second World War.

Annotation

Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographical data (by author or by student).

Antithesis

A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses.

Allegory

A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the original "surface" meaning.

Alliteration

The repetition at close intervals of initial identical consonant sounds. Or, vowel sounds in successive words or syllables that repeat.

Allusion

an indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is expected to be familiar. They are usually literary, historical, Biblical, or mythological.

Ambiguity

An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

Analogy

A comparison to a directly parallel case. When a writer uses it, he or she argues that a claim reasonable for one case is reasonable for the other case.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode. They are often inserted into fictional or nonfiction texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.

Apostrophe

An address to the dead as if living; to the inanimate as if animate; to the absent as if present; to the unborn as if alive.

Archetype

These "images" of character, plot pattern, symbols recur in literature and evoke profound emotional responses in the reader because they resonate with an image already existing in our unconscious mind, e.g. death, rebirth.

Aside

A dramatic convention by which an actor directly addresses the audience but it is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on the stage.

Assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity. "Fake" and "Lake" denote rhyme; "Lake" and "Fate" demonstrate it.

Bandwagon

Trying to establish that something is true because everyone believes it is true.

Catharsis

The process by which an unhealthy emotional state produced by an imbalance of feelings is corrected and emotional health is restored.

Characterization

The method an author uses to develop characters in a work. In direct form, the author straightforwardly states the character's traits. While in indirect form, those traits are implied through what the character says, does, how they dress, interacts with others, etc.

Concrete Language

Language that describes specific, observable things, people, or places, rather than ideas or qualities.

Connotation

Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations associated by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning or denotation.

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

Deduction

A form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types of words have significant effects on meaning. An essay written in academic diction, for example would be less colorful, but perhaps more precise, than street slang.

Didactic

A term used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Digression

A temporary departure from the main subject in speaking or writing.

Dramatic Irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't.

Elegy

A formal sustained poem lamenting the death of a particular person.

Emotional Appeal

When a writer appeals to readers' emotions (often through "pathos") to excite and involve them in the argument.

Ennui

A persistent feeling of tiredness or weariness which often afflicts existential man, often manifesting as boredom.

Epigraph

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.

Epiphany

A major character's moment of realization or awareness.