Vocab 8 2025

analysis

the process of studying the whole by examining its parts

apostrophe

addressing an absent person or personified object or idea

climax

the highest point of interest in a literary work

epigram

brief, pointed statement in prose or verse

foil

a character who provides contrast to or for another character

frame device

a story within a story

in medias res

"in the middle" when the story begins in the middle of the action

maxim

A concise statement, often offering advice; an adage

objectivity

freedom from the expression of personal sentiments, attitudes, or emotion

protagonist

The central character in a work of literature

sonnet

a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter, focused on a single theme

speaker

in a poem, the voice that "talks" to the reader as a narrator does in a story

synechdoche

figurative language that uses a part of a thing to represent the whole. Example: "wheels" for a car, "hired hands" for paid workers

The Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions.