Literature combined vocab set

Catharsis

Emotional release or closure for the audience typically at the end of the tragedy

Synecdoche

when a part of something is substituted for the whole e.g. "The captain commands one hundred sails" refers to ships

Villanelle

A poem made up of five tercets and a quatrain. The first and third lines of the first stanza alternate as the last line of the following stanzas and then come together as the final two lines of the quatrain.s an ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA rhyme scheme

Inverted syntax

Where the verb or adjective is placed before the subject for emphasis e.g. “So beautiful was the girl”

Hamartia

The tragic hero’s fatal flaw which ultimately leads to their downfall

Anagnorisis

The tragic hero’s recognision of truth and their wrongdoings at the end of the tragedy

Peripeteia

A reversal of circumstances or turning point in the story

Pathos

Emotional mode of persuasion, often used to evoke pity for the protagonist

Dramatic irony

A situation in which the audience knows more about events than the characters.

Iambic pentameter

A meter consisting of ten syllables per line, with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables

‘And fixed his head upon our battlements’

Trochaic tetrameter

A meter consisting of 8 syllables per line, with alternating stressed and unstressed sylables

‘Double, double, toil and trouble / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.’

Pathetic fallacy

The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, such as weather

Stichomythia

Dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse

Polysyndeton

repetition of conjunctions e.g. ‘tomorow and tomorow and tomorow’

Caesura

A break in the flow of sound in the middle of a line of verse

Enjambment

The continuation of a phrase from one line of poetry to the next

End-stopping

When a complete sentence is expressed in a single line of poetry

Anaphora

Words repeat in the beginning of successive clauses

Parallelism

Repetition of similarly structured lines

Personification

Giving human characteristics to something non-human

Refrain

A repeted phrase throughout a poem

Plosive alliteration

Alliteration using letters where air is blocked by mouth movements as you pronounce those letters (p,t,k,b,d,g)

Hyperbole

Exageration or overstatement for emphasis

Idiom

a group of words established by usage as having a figurative meaning (e.g. over the moon)

Cacophony

A mix of harsh and clashing sounds for poetical effect

Euphony

The use of soft sounds that create a pleasant, harmonious sound

Assonance

Repetition of similar vowel sounds

Consonance

Repetition of similar consonant sounds

Sibilance

Repetition of ‘s’ sounds

Apostrophe

A break in a line of poetry to adress someone absent or an abstract concept e.g. "Death, be not proud,"

Polyptoton

the repetition of a word derived from the same root in different grammatical forms e.g. “absolute power corrupts absolutely”

Allegory

A text that can be read on its own terms but also as telling another more abstract concept/ lesson

Allusion

a refrence to another work of literature or art

Anthropocentrism

refers to everything in a culture that asserts that the human is at the centre of importance

Aporia

A rhetorical device in which a speaker expresses uncertainty or doubt about something

Bathos

A sense of disappointment or anticlimax

Catachresis

Deliberate misuse or misapplication of language “The legs of a chair”

Chiasmus

words or grammatical constructions repeated in reverse order 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail'

Deixis

Use of words that refer to a particular time (e.g. then), place (e.g. here), or person (e.g. you) relative to context.

Elegy/ elegiac

A poem of mourning for an individual marked by stages of lamentation, praise, and consolation

Equivocality

Being ambiguous or open to multiple interpretations, creating uncertainty

Zoomorphism

Attributing animal traits to human beings, deities, or inanimate objects

Anthropomorphism

Attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities like animals or objects

In medias res

Starting a story in the middle of the action.

Tragic Irony

where the audience possesses knowledge which points to an inevitable and tragic outcome for the characters

Thanatos

The human impulse toward self-destruction and aggression

Lyrical poem

A formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, often in a musical or song-like quality

Metonymy

When a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept e.g. a heart for love

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory or absurd statement which when investigated may prove to be well founded e.g. "Less is more"

Parody

A humorous imitation of another work which ridicules it.

Paronomasia

a play on words (pun)

Pastiche

An imitation of other work(s), not designed to ridicule.

Phallogocentrism

The pervasive assumption that masculine logic and experience are the default for understanding the world.

Polysemy

A word with multiple meanings E.g. Effects or Material

Satire

The humorous presentation of human vice or folly to make it look ridiculous

Sibilance

An emphatic presence of ‘s’ sounds.

Petrarchan sonnet

A lyric poem of fourteen lines with an eight-line octave (ABBAABBA rhyme scheme) and a six-line sestet (CDECDE or CDCDCD)

Tragic hero

A character with virtuous traits but who’s error in judgment or fatal flaw leads to suffering and defeat

Definition by negation

Explaining what something is through what it is not e.g. ‘Not paper tissues’ (Material)

Balanced clause

Clauses that have parallel grammatical structure and similar length and importance e.g. “She bought her own; I never did”

Idiolect

The speech habits specific to a particular person e.g. “Hanky, ponce, naffest”

Analeptic shifts

Flashbacks

Vernacular

Informal working class vocabulary e.g. “naffest”

Syntax

The particular order in which words and phrases are arranged in a sentence

Archaic

Words that where once in regular use

Conceit

An elaborate metaphor that compares two dissimilar things, often in a surprising way

Dysphemism

a derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a neutral one

Epithet

A word expressing an attribute regarded as characteristic of the person/ race E.g. “Flat nosed” for Hazaras in the Kiterunner

Isocolon

Successive phrases that are equal in length and have a corresponding grammatical structure creating rhythm E.g. "Veni, vidi, vici"

Parataxis

The placing of clauses or phrases one after another without connectives. E.g. "Veni, vidi, vici"

Lexical choices

Deliberate selection of words for connotation E.g. “Entrails“