Literary Terms October 11th

Academic (style): A formal, objective, and structured writing style that avoids colloquialisms, focuses on clarity, and emphasizes logical argumentation and evidence.

Aesthetic: Related to beauty or the appreciation of beauty; in literature, it refers to the artistic elements that contribute to a work’s beauty or emotional appeal.

Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close to each other, used for emphasis or rhythm (e.g., "She sells sea shells").

Antihero: A protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities such as bravery or morality, often displaying traits like selfishness or apathy.

Bombast: Language that is overly rhetorical and inflated, used to impress or seem important but often lacking in meaningful content.

Cadence: The natural rhythm of speech or writing, often created through the arrangement of words, phrases, and sentences to produce a sense of flow or musicality.

Chorus: In classical drama, a group of characters who comment on the main action of the play, often serving to express the public or collective response.

Dirge: A somber, mournful song or poem expressing grief, often associated with funerals or lamentation for the dead.

Dramatic Irony: A literary device in which the audience knows something that the characters do not, creating tension or humor as events unfold.

Euphemism: A mild or indirect word or expression used to replace one that is too harsh, blunt, or offensive (e.g., "passed away" instead of "died").

Interior Monologue: A narrative technique that reveals a character’s inner thoughts and feelings as they occur, often presented in a stream-of-consciousness style.

Lampoon: A satirical piece of writing or a work that ridicules a person, group, or institution, often using humor, irony, or exaggeration.

Nemesis: A force or character that serves as the protagonist’s ultimate and often inescapable opponent, representing their downfall or retribution.

Objectivity: The presentation of information in an unbiased and detached manner, free from personal feelings or opinions.

Onomatopoeia: A word that imitates the natural sound associated with it (e.g., "buzz," "clang," or "sizzle").

Personification: A literary device where human qualities are attributed to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract concepts (e.g., "the wind whispered").

Requiem: A musical composition or act of remembrance for the dead, often solemn and reflective in nature.

Rhetorical Question: A question posed not to elicit an answer but to make a point or provoke thought (e.g., "Isn’t that obvious?").

Subjectivity: A personal perspective, bias, or opinion in a narrative, reflecting the feelings and experiences of an individual rather than objective facts.

Zeugma: A figure of speech in which a word applies to multiple parts of the sentence, often in different senses or meanings (e.g., "She stole my heart and my wallet").