Lit Terms from huzz

Lit terms sophomore year

Absolute

A word free of qualifications and limitations

Adage

A wise saying or familiar proverb

Allegory

A literary work that represents something else or bigger

Alliteration

A sentence where the words all start with the same sound

juxtaposition

Placing to elements on sides and comparing

Allusion

A reference to another story, song etc, that the reader would recognize

Analogy

A comparison between 2 different things that are similar

Anaphora

the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences

Anecdote

A brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident

ANTECEDENT

The name or word pronouns refers to

ASSONANCE

The repetition of identical or similar vowels—especially in stressed syllables—in a sequence of nearby words.

EUPHONY

A term applied to language that strikes the ear as smooth, pleasant, and musical

RHYTHM

--A recognizable though varying pattern in the beat of stresses or accents, in the stream of speech sounds

CACOPHONY

--Language which is perceived as harsh, rough, and unmusical. Note: the discordancy/harshness is the effect of not only the sound of the words, but also of their significance.

REPETITION

--Recurring/repeated language which deliberately used in order to achieve a specific emphasis or certain effect.

PERSONIFICATION

--Where either an inanimate object or abstract concept is spoken of as though it were endowed with life or human attributes or feelings.

APHORISM

--a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance

APOSTROPHE

-a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction

ARCHETYPE

---a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response

ARGUMENT

-a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work

ASYNDETON

-a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions

CONNOTATION

--the implied or associative meaning of a word

DENOTATION

-the literal meaning of a word

DIDACTIC

--having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing

Cliché

---an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off

ELEGY

-a formal poem presenting a meditation on death or another solemn theme

EULOGY

expression in a speech, or a written tribute to a person recently deceased.

ELLIPSIS

the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context ("Some people prefer cats; others, dogs").

EPIC

--a long narrative poem written in elevated style which presents the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation

EPIGRAM

--a brief, pithy, and often paradoxical saying

EPIGRAPH

--a saying or statement on the title page of a work, or used as a heading for a chapter or other section of a work

VERSE

--refers to writing poetry

Prose

the most typical form of language. Both non-fiction writing as well as fictional writing

EPITHET

-a term used to point out a characteristic of a person.

EPITAPH

-an inscription on a tombstone or burial place

CONCEIT

-a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor

COLLOQUIALISM

--informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing

Euphemism

-an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Expletive

-an interjection to lend emphasis; sometimes (often), a profanity

Figurative Language-

any language employing one or more figures of speech (simile, metaphor, imagery, etc.)

Flat Character

-embodies a single quality and who does not develop in the course of a story.

HUBRIS

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

Frame Device

-a story within a story.

GENRE

-a major category or type of literature

ANACHRONISM

--something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time

IDIOM

-an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect

HYPERBOLE

-intentional exaggeration to create an effect

IMPLICATION

-a suggestion an author or speaker makes without stating it directly.

Rhetoric

the the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion. Most dictionaries define it as “the art of writing or speaking effectively

Logos

appeal based on logic or reason. An argument that is often backed by data, research, and concrete detail.

Ethos

appeal based on the character of the speaker. argument relies on the reputation of the arguer.

Pathos

appeal based emotion. often dependent on the audience’s expected reaction or the ability to connect on a personal level.

INVECTIVE-

an intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack

JARGON

the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession

LEGEND-

a narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements

LIMITED NARRATOR

-a narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a single character and restricts information to what is seen, heard, thought, or felt by that one character

LITERARY LICENSE

-deviating from normal rules or methods in order to achieve a certain effect (intentional sentence fragments, run-ons, misspellings, etc.)

MAXIM

a concise statement, often offering advice; an adage.

MOOD

-the emotional atmosphere of a work

MALAPROPISM

-the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar

MOTIF

-a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works or throughout a specific work.

ONOMATOPOEIA

-a word that imitates the sound it represents.

Situational Irony:

What happens is different from what’s expected to happen.

POLYSYNDETON

-the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural

PHILIPPIC

-a strong verbal denunciation.

PARODY-

-a humorous imitation of a serious work

PEDANTIC

-characterized by an excessive display of learning or scholarship

ROMANTIC

--a term describing a character or literary work that reflects the characteristics of Romanticism, the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century that stressed emotion, imagination, and individualism

SURREAL

--in its simplest form, means: bizarre or dreamlike. an artistic movement emphasizing the imagination and characterized by incongruous juxtapositions and lack of conscious control

TAUTOLOGY

-needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding

Syllepsis

when one word is understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs.

foreshadowing

a means to indicate or hint to readers something that is to follow or appear later in a story.

stream of consciousness

the continuous flow of thoughts of a person and recorded, thereof, in literature as they occur.

Synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to signify the whole, or vice-versa.

NARRATIVE-

a story or narrated account

NON SEQUITUR-

-an inference that does not follow logically from the premises

OXYMORON

-an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined

PARABLE

-a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson

Paradox

is a statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense.

Ad Hominem Argument-

an argument attacking an individual's character rather than his or her position on an issue

Deus Ex Machina

A plot device where an unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved by an unexpected event, character, or object.

Dramatic Irony:

When the audience or reader is aware of critical information of which the characters are unaware.

Verbal Irony:

When a character says one thing but means another.