English lit terms 1 and 2, English lit terms test 3

coincidence

an event or situation that appears unlikely to be a result of chance alone. It is often used to create a sense of surprise or suspense in a story. Can be used to set up a plot twist or to help advance a story. For example, if two characters who have never met before suddenly meet in a strange place,

Moral

means a message conveyed or a lesson learned from a story, a poem, or an event.

Abstract

refers to words or phrases that name things not knowable through the five senses.Examples include "idea," "guilt," "honesty," and "loyalty."

acronym

a specific type of abbreviation that forms a pronounceable word from the first letter or syllable of each word in a phrase. For example, the word ASAP is an acronym for "as soon as possible".

Act

—one of the main structural divisions of a drama.

Allegory

A narrative in which the characters and setting stand for abstract qualities and ideas (similar to a parable). it generally teaches a lesson.

Ex: animal farm.

- related to symbolism

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable: "descending dew drops"; " luscious lemons." is based on the sounds of letters, rather than the spelling of words; for example, "keen" and "car" alliterate, but "car" and "cite" do not.

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature.

Ambiguity

—an intentional vagueness in writing that makes possible more than one interpretation

Anachronism

—in a period-based work, a detail that is out of its historical time.

Analogy

exploring a topic by explaining it in terms of another seemingly unlike but more commonplace and less complicated object, or experience. Example: sound waves are compared to concentric ripples being created when a stone is dropped in the still water of a pond.

Anecdote

—a short narrative episode embedded in an otherwise non-narrative work and used for the purpose of introducing a topic or leading toward a thesis

Antagonist

—the force that opposes the protagonist of a narrative in his or her attempt to achieve a goal. For example, Iago from Othello.

Antecedent Action

events or actions that come before the main events of a narrative. may come in the form of exposition, flashbacks, or prequels. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, they kept their love a secret because of their families' feud.

Anticlimax

—the failure of a narrative or passage to fulfill its reader's expectations following a build-up of suspense toward an anticipated outcome For example, Waiting all day to see fireworks, but then nobody had any matches.

Antonym

a word that means the opposite of another word. For example, hot and cold are antonyms, as are good and bad

Apathy

is the lack of any kind of emotion.

Aphorism

a short statement or catch phrase containing a well-known or general truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner.

Archetype

An image, character, or pattern of circumstances that recurs throughout literature and thought consistently enough to be considered a universal concept or situation.

Artistic Unity

a literary piece whereby all its elements (characters, setting, plot, conflict, and theme) successfully work together to achieve its central purpose (idea, theme, meaning, or value)

Aside

a speech or short comment that a character delivers directly to an audience. A key characteristic is that other characters on screen or on stage (in a play) appear not to hear the speech or comment.

Assonance

the repetition of the vowel sound across words within the lines of the poem creating internal rhymes. Examples of assonance across words include: crying time; hop-scotch; great flakes; between trees; and, the kind knight rides by.

Atmosphere

the way an author uses setting, objects, or internal thoughts of characters to create emotion, mood, or experiences for the reader. Although closely related to mood, it is a more broad perspective that accounts for the whole versus a part.

Ballad

a poem that tells a story, usually (but not always) in four-line stanzas called quatrains; is enormously diverse, and poems in this form may have any one of hundreds of different rhyme schemes and meters.

Blank Verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

Cacophony

—the use of words or phrases that are considered harsh and jarring in sound.

Catastrophe

the final action that completes the unraveling of the plot in a play, especially in a tragedy. a synonym of denouement. The term is sometimes applied to a similar action in a novel or story.

Character

any person, animal, or figure represented in a literary work, are essential to a good story, and it is the main characters that have the greatest effect on the plot or are the most affected by the events of the story.

Cliffhanger

a stylistic plot device in which a plot twist or shocking revelation occurs right at the end of a chapter or part of a series. This serves to enhance audience engagement by increasing suspense and curiosity which keeps audiences coming back for more.

Climax

Most exciting moment of the story; turning point. the point in the narrative where the tension, excitement, or stakes reach the highest level. It is often the conclusion of a story's main conflict and sets up for either a successful resolution or an unsatisfying ending.

Coherence

—a principle of writing which asserts that the elements of a work should relate clearly and logically to each other—that is, writing that flows smoothly and sensibly

Colloquialism

a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

Comic Relief

—the use of humorous characters, speeches, or scenes in an otherwise serious work (especially a work intended for the theatre or film).

Conflict

—the struggle that grows out of the interplay of opposing forces in a narrative.

Connotation

—the extra meanings that accompany a word aside from its denotation. For example, blue is a color, but it is also a word used to describe a feeling of sadness, as in: "She's feeling blue." Connotations can be either positive, negative, or neutral.

Caesura

—a strong pause or break within a line of poetry.

Denotation

the literal meaning of a word. Have no subjective, symbolic or otherwise non-literal meaning.

denouement

A French term meaning "unraveling" or "unknotting," used to describe the resolution of the plot following the climax.

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Dialect

type of language that is spoken by a particular region or group of people. Writers use it to contrast and express differences in educational, class, social, and regional backgrounds of their characters.

Dialogue

The verbal exchanges between characters; makes the characters seem real to the reader or audience by revealing firsthand their thoughts, responses, and emotional states.

Diction

A writer's choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning.

Didactic

a teaching type of tone, usually lesson-like or boring in nature (like driver's Ed. films).

Dilemma

a problem or conflict that has more than one possible solution

dramatic irony

a contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality, or between what is expected and what actually happens. In dramatic irony the audience has important information that characters in a literary work do not have.

Dramatic monologue

A type of lyric poem in which a character (the speaker) addresses a distinct but silent audience imagined to be present in the poem in such a way as to reveal a dramatic situation and, often unintentionally, some aspect of his or her temperament or personality.

dynamic character

one that undergoes an inner change within the story, such as a change to their personality or an attitude change.

elegy

a lyric poem that mourns for the passing of someone loved or something sacred to its speaker.

empathy

the sharing of feeling and perspective-taking induced by reading, viewing, hearing, or imagining narratives of another's situation and condition.

epigram

A brief, pointed, and witty poem that usually makes a satiric or humorous point.

epitaph

a short statement about a deceased person, often carved on his/her tombstone.

esoteric

understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest

exoteric

knowledge or practices commonly taught or shared. In other words, it's the stuff that everyone knows.

episodic

a story that is told through a series of episodes, or segments.

essay

a nonfiction composition that explores a concept, argument, idea, or opinion from the personal perspective of the writer.

Exposition

A narrative device, often used at the beginning of a work, that provides necessary background information about the characters and their circumstances. Exposition explains what has gone on before, the relationships between characters, the development of a theme, and the introduction of a conflict.

Fable

a short allegorical narrative intended to illustrate a fundamental moral lesson, usually developed with animal characters who may be either slightly or thoroughly personified. The Greek Aesop is the most famous author of fables.

Fantasy

genre of literature that features magical and supernatural elements that do not exist in the real world.

Fallacy

a flaw in the logic of an argument. A writer might, for example, be guilty of making a sweeping generalization, which is fallacious because it suggests that the writer has not considered, or perhaps refuses to consider, the possibility of exceptions to the seeming rule.

Fiction

literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation.

Figurative

Language or expressions that are not literally true but express some truth beyond the literal level. Types of figurative language called figures of speech include hyperbole, metaphor, personification, simile, and understatement

First Person Narrative

The relationship of the narrator to the story. First person- The story is told by one of the characters, referred to as "I." The reader generally sees everything though that character's eyes.

Flashback

A narrated scene that marks a break in the narrative in order to inform the reader or audience member about events that took place before the opening scene of a work.

Flat Character

a type of character in fiction that does not change too much from the start of the narrative to its end.

Foil Character

A character in a work whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the distinctive temperament of that character (usually the protagonist).

Foreshadowing

The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.

Free verse

—poetic lines without obvious patterns in meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza form

Genre

—a category or type of artistic form, as determined by its own structure, technique, content, and so on.

Hamartia

—the essential flaw in a tragic hero's nature

Hubris

Excessive pride or self-confidence that leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or to violate an important moral law. In tragedies, hubris is a very common form of hamartia.

Hyperbole

A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true, as in the statement "He ate everything in the house." Hyperbole (also called overstatement) may be used for serious, comic, or ironic effect.

Iambic Pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

Imagery

—words or phrases that create mental pictures.

Imitative Harmony

Words that seem to imitate the sounds to which they refer; buzz and whisper are examples of imitative harmony; also called onomatopoeia.

Inference

a conclusion drawn from facts that have been presented or statements made.

Jargon

special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.

Juxtaposition

the act or placement of two things (usually abstract concepts) near each other for contrast (and occasionally comparison)

in media res

Latin phrase meaning "in the middle of things"; it refers to a story that begins partway through its plot, with the missing events filled in later through dialogue, flashbacks, or other techniques. For example, Hamlet begins after the death of his father.

literary device

a tool used by writers to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story or piece of writing.

Lyrical

A type of brief poem that expresses the personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker; important to realize that the speaker is not necessarily the poet. Dramatic monologue, elegy, haiku, ode, and sonnet forms are all examples.

Metaphor

figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word "like" or "as."

Meter

When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem; patterns are determined by the type and number of feet in a line of verse; combining the name of a line length with the name of a foot concisely describes the meter of the line.

Metonymy

a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as "scepter" for "sovereignty," or "the bottle" for "strong drink," or "count heads (or noses)" for "count people."

Monologue

speech or verbal presentation that a single character presents in order to express their collection of thoughts and ideas aloud.

Mood

when a writer orders the setting, action and characters of a story so as to suggest a dominant emotion or patterns of emotions, this emotional pattern is the mood of the story. Also a person's state of mind or complex of emotions at any given time. the way a literary text makes you (the reader) feel ;

Narrator

The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author's voice

Narrative

writing that focuses principally on the recounting of events

Nemesis

a rival, or a person or thing that causes one to fail. someone who has villainous qualities and/or does something that hinders the main character's (protagonist) goals.

Octet

A poetic stanza of eight lines, usually forming one part of a sonnet.

Paradox

A statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense. For example "save money by spending it" or "I must be cruel, only to be kind"

Paraphrase

A prose restatement of the central ideas of a poem, in your own language.

Parenthetical

a comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or explain

Pathos

—the quality in a work of literature that evokes the reader's feelings of sorrow and pity at the suffering of characters. The term is usually used in reference to innocent characters who suffer through no fault of their own, as in the example of Lady Macduff and her son's being murdered at Macbeth's order.

Personification

A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.

Plagiarism

stealing another person's work and passing it off as your own.

point of view

Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told.

Precedent

a previous action or decision that can be used as a reason for allowing something else:

Pretentious

trying to appear or sound more important or smarter than you are, especially in matters of art and literature:

Prologue

The opening speech or dialogue of a play, especially a classic Greek play, that usually gives the exposition necessary to follow the subsequent action. Today the term also refers to the introduction to any literary work.

Predicament

A difficult problem or unpleasant situation.

Proverb

a short sentence that people often quote, which gives advice or tells you something about life. For example, `A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. ' An old proverb says, `The enemy of my enemy is my friend'