English Terms

1. Abstract (style) - (in writing) this is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to support its points.

2. Academic (style) - dry and theoretical writing. When a piece of writing seems to be sucking all the life out of its subject with analysis.

3. Accent - in poetry, refers to the stressed portion / syllable of a word.

4. Aesthetic - used as an adjective meaning "appealing to the senses."

5. Allegory-The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form. e.g. “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

6. Alliteration-The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words. e.g. Marilyn Monroe, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” “...my mind on my money and my money on my mind…”(Snoop Dogg). See also consonance. 

7. Allusion-a reference to a canonical work of literature, usually the Bible, Shakespeare, or mythology (not a magic trick, “illusion”). e.g. “You slip, you slack, you clock me, and you lack, while I'm reading On the Road by my man, Jack Kerouac...” (Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock “3-Minute Rule). 

8. Anachronism - something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred

9. Analogy - a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

10. Anecdote-A short story or joke told at the beginning of a speech to gain the audience’s attention and illustrate an intended moral. e.g. “Back in my day…” 

11. Antecedent - the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers.

12. Anthropomorphism - the attribution of human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects

13. Anticlimax - a disappointing end to an exciting or impressive series of events

14. Antihero - a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine)

15. Aphorism - a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.

16. Apostrophe- When a character speaks to a character or object that is not present or is unable to respond. This can mean addressing inanimate objects or the natural world. Often involves use of exclamation “O!” Found in a majority of Romantic poetry and lyric poetry. e.g. “Oh, to be young again!” or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, How I wonder what you are!” 

17. Archaism - the use of deliberately old-fashioned language.

18. Aside - a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage

19. Atmosphere - the emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene. 

20. Assonance-The repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase or line of poetry. e.g. "Do not go gentle into that good night" (Dylan Thomas) or "Whose woods these are I think I know" (Robert Frost) or “Got my mojo working…”(Muddy Waters) 

21. Ballad - any popular narrative poem, often with epic subject and usually in lyric form.

22. Black humor - the use of disturbing themes in comedy.

23. Blank verse-Poetic lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter. An iamb is a metrical foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. In iambic pentameter there are five iambs per line making ten syllables. e.g. Almost all of Shakespeare. e.g. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” 

24. Bombast - speech or writing that sounds grand or important but has little meaning

25. Burlesque - a theatrical entertainment of broad and earthy humor

26. Cacophony - harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance

27. Cadence - rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words

28. Canto - a major division of a long poem

29. Caricature - drawing, imitation, or description that ridiculously exaggerates peculiarities or defects

30. Catharsis-Greek word translated as “a cleansing,” this is the emotional release of the audience by experiencing vicariously the suffering of the characters. First theorized by Aristotle in 335 BCE. e.g. The relief you feel after watching a scary movie that you’re still alive or the reason so many murderous shows are popular (Criminal Minds, CSI, Law & Order, etc)

31. Chorus - in Greek drama, the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it.

32. Colloquialism-Informal, conversational language. Colloquialisms can also be phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region. e.g. “Yo, what up dawg?” “Git yet? Nah, yu? Nope. Awn to? Aight” “What up, do’?” “Where ya at?”

33. Conceit - a fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects

34. Connotation-An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing, but not necessarily in the objective dictionary definition (which is known as the “denotation”) e.g. Bat/Snake=evil. 

35. Consonance-The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry. The consonant sound may be at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. e.g “Mike likes his new bike” or “Well, look at all the massive masses in the stands/Shady man, no, don't massacre the fans” (Eminem, “We Made You”) or “She's a Kansas princess, crazy mother trucker, undercover lover” (Jason Aldean, “She’s Country”)

36. Couplet-Two rhyming lines in poetry. e.g. the last two lines in all Shakespearean sonnets, such as this one from Sonnet 29: "For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings / that I scorn to change my state with kings" or “All the ladies they love me, from the bleachers they screamin / All the ballers is bouncin’, they like the way I be leanin’” (Jay-Z, “Dirt off your shoulders”)

37. Decorum - conformity to accepted standards of conduct; proper behavior

38. Denotation - the dictionary definition of a word

39. Diction-Specific word choice or the use of words in speech or writing. Words are chosen to reflect and change the tone of the text, thus changing the intended response from the audience. See also Key & Peele’s Anger Translator to understand differences in diction and tone to convey specific messages. 

40. Dirge - a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person

41. Dissonance - harsh or grating sounds that do not go together

42. Doggerel - badly written or trivial verse, often with a singsong rhythm

43. Dramatic monologue - when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience.

44. Elegy-A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person. e.g. “O Captain, My Captain!” by Walt Whitman on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln or “Dear Mama” by Tupac to honor his mother. 

45. Enjambment-The continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next with no pause, a run-on line. Used for great effect in poetry to emphasize a word at the end of the line without ending the thought there, also used to find the appropriate rhyme. e.g. “Everything is fine when you listenin to the D-O-G / I got the cultivating music that be captivating he / who listens, to the words that I speak” (Snoop Dogg). Notice how the line should flow “he who listens” but Snoop enjambs the line in order to have the word “he” have a perfect end rhyme with “D-O-G”. This is also an example of inversion. 

46. Epic-An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero. Not simply a misused adjective (“That was epic!”), but specifically a type of poem. e.g. The Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, the Divine Comedy. 

47. Epitaph - a brief statement written on a tomb or gravestone

48. Epiphany-Sudden enlightenment or realization, a profound new outlook or understanding about the world usually attained while doing everyday mundane activities. e.g. Oedipus when speaking to the shepherd, Stephen Dedalus from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man realizes he should be a priest, or in Invisible Man when the narrator fights in the boxing match.

49. Euphemism-The act of substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive comment for a more politically accepted or positive one. e.g. short=vertically challenged or fat=big-boned/husky or Chamillionaire’s song “Ridin’” refers to the police catching him “riding dirty” which is a euphemism for having drugs in his car. The euphemisms can be sexual in nature, see also double entendre. e.g. “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj,  “Poker Face” or  “Love Game” by Lady Gaga. 

50. Euphony-A succession of words which are pleasing to the ear. These words may be alliterative, utilize consonance, or assonance and are often used in poetry but also seen in prose. e.g. “Ode to Autumn” by John Keats or final lines in “Ulysses” by Alfred Tennyson. Also prominent in A Tribe Called Quest’s song “Can I Kick It?” e.g. “This rhythm really fits like a snug glove / Like a box of positives is a plus, love

51.  Farce - a comedy that contains an extravagant and nonsensical disregard of seriousness, although it may have a serious, scornful purpose

52.  Feminine ending-latter two syllables of first word rhyme with latter two syllables of second word (ceiling appealing). Compare to masculine ending.  It sounds misogynistic, but it comes from when poetry was written in French (or other Romance languages) and lines that ended with a “feminine grammatical ending” were usually stressless and vice versa with “masculine endings.” See also RHYME 

53.  Foil-A character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another. Comes from a swordfighting term, a “foil” is the name for the thin “swords” used in the sport of fencing. This term is often confused with antagonist, but a foil can also be complimentary (although different) to the protagonist. e.g. Goneril and Reagan to Cordelia in King Lear or Ron to Harry in Harry Potter.

54. Foot: A way of describing the stressed syllables within a line of poetry; the basic unit of rhythmic measurement in a line of poetry. The metrical length of a line is determined by the number of feet it contains. The most common feet have two to three syllables, with one stressed. The most common meter is pentameter. e.g. “Whose woods these are I think I know” is a line from Robert Frost that is iambic tetrameter because there are four “feet” (or groupings) of iambs (or unstressed/stressed syllables). Divided into iambs: “Whose woods/these are/ I think/I know.” Types of feet include: 

    1. Iamb: An iambic foot has two syllables. The first is unstressed and the second is stressed. The iambic foot is the most common in English poetry. e.g.“Whose woods these are I think I know” is a line from Robert Frost that is iambic tetrameter because there are four “feet” (or groupings) of iambs (or unstressed/stressed). Divided into iambs: “Whose woods/these are/ I think/ I know” or the famous Popeye song: “I am / what / I am/ and that’s / all that / I am”. Even the word “iamb” itself is an iamb, “i” is unstressed, “-amb” is stressed.  

55. Foreshadowing- Clues in the text about incidents that will occur later in the plot, foreshadowing creates anticipation in the novel. Closely related to dramatic irony (see irony), but often the audience does not know in advance that something is being foreshadowed. e.g. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men when George kills Candy’s dog it foreshadows his killing of Lennie.

56. Free verse-Type of verse that contains a variety of line lengths, is unrhymed, and lacks traditional meter. e.g. Most of modern poetry (20th century onward), starting with the poetry of Walt Whitman, especially “Song of Myself”: I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” No rhyme, no set meter. Poetry? Most will say yes, although Robert Frost famously criticized free verse when he stated: “Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down”. Not much of a game without rules and obstacles. 

57. Gothic novel-A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting. e.g. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, although technically a “Romantic” novel, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is also an example.   

58. Hubris- Used in Greek tragedies, refers to excessive pride that usually leads to a hero’s downfall. e.g. Oedipus’ pride, Macbeth’s desire to kill Duncan. 

59. Hyperbole-A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or comic/dramatic effect. e.g. “That’s the greatest sandwich in the history of the world.” or from the Beatles: “I ain’t got nothing but love eight days a week.” There’s only seven. Or the Beatles also claim that “All you need is love,” but food and shelter would be nice too. 

60. Interior Monologue - a narrative technique that records a character's internal flow of thoughts, memories, and ideas; a longish passage of uninterrupted thought

61. Inversion- the reversal of the normal order of words

62. Irony-When one thing should occur, is apparent, or in logical sequence but the opposite actually occurs. e.g. A man in the ocean might say, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” Although the word is used incorrectly by most as something coincidental, there are three major types of irony in literature: 

    1. Dramatic Irony: When the audience or reader knows something characters do not know. e.g. most of Oedipus Rex because we know he killed his father and is currently sleeping with his mother, but he doesn’t know this. Or in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo doesn’t know that Juliet is simply drugged and not dead and decides to kill himself. This kind of irony is all about creating tension.  

    2. Verbal Irony: When one thing is said, but something else, usually the opposite, is meant. So closely related to sarcasm that it often gets confused with it. e.g. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Marc Antony gives a speech in which he repeatedly refers to Brutus as "an honorable man," when Brutus just participated in murdering Caesar. Sarcasm is intended to insult its target, verbal irony is intended to hide the speaker’s true meaning. 

    3. Cosmic Irony: When a higher power toys with human expectations or irony is created by divine fortune or fate. A classic example is the story of Job from the Bible. God tests Job’s faithfulness by taking everything from him to see if he’ll curse him. It’s a divine test.   

    4. Situational Irony: When the opposite of the expected action is what happens

63. Juxtaposition - the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect. Writers use juxtaposition for rhetorical effect by placing two entities side by side in order to highlight their differences. These divergent elements can include people, ideas, things, places, behaviors, and characteristics.

64. Lampoon - ridicule with satire

65. Lyric - of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way)

66. Masculine ending- final syllable of first word rhymes with final syllable of second word (scald recalled) See full explanation at “feminine ending.” See also RHYME

67. Melodrama - a form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure.

68. Metaphor-A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison; this comparison does not use “like” or “as”. e.g. “She’s a brick house” (The Commodores). Metaphorical quotes from the Beatles: “Happiness is a warm gun,” “A girl with kaleidoscope eyes...look for the girl with the sun in her eyes...Lucy in the sky with diamonds”. Even if this is or is not about LSD, the descriptions of the “girl” are strongly metaphorical. 

    1. Extended Metaphor: A metaphorical comparison that is developed through a significant amount of a poem. A metaphor on steroids. e.g. “Honeybee” by Muddy Waters, “Hounddog” by Elvis Presley, “Hotel California” by the Eagles, “My heart’s a stereo” by Maroon 5, or John Donne’s poem “The Flea.”

69. Metonymy- The use of a word or phrase to stand in for something else which it is often associated. It is often confused with synecdoche, but metonymy is not a part of the whole it is a term that is often associated with it. e.g. Oval Office means the executive branch and all its members, the crown means the monarchy’s power and authority, the Lamb means Jesus Christ of Nazareth, etc. 

70. Meter-The measured arrangement of words in poetry, by accented rhythm, number of syllables grouped by stressed syllables, or the total number of syllables in a line. Usually modified with a prefix to tell how many “feet” are in the meter. e.g. pentameter=5 feet per line, trimeter=3 feet per line. See foot. 

71. Nemesis - Poetic justice-The rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice in the resolution of a plot. The character, as they say, gets what he/she deserves: the good eventually wins, the bad loses. e.g. Voldemort is defeated, Harry is victorious. 

72. Objectivity - an impersonal presentation of events and characters

73. Onomatopoeia-The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. e.g. “boom,” “buzz,” or “murmur.” 

74. Oxymoron - a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms

75. Parable - a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson

76. Paradox- Statement which seems to contradict itself. e.g. “His old face was youthful when he heard the news.” 

77. Parallelism - the use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form

78. Parody-A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. i.e. Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, or Weird Al Yankovic. 

79. Pastoral - a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)

80. Persona - the speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing

81. Personification-A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form. Not to be confused with anthropomorphization, which is inanimate objects literally acting with human qualities (i.e. every Disney Pixar movie ever, e.g. Shrek). e.g. Some great quotes from the Beatles: “Still my guitar gently weeps,” “Friday night arrives without a suitcase,” 

82. Protagonist-The main character in a drama or literary work. 

83. Pun-A play on words, when two words have multiple meanings and spellings and are used in a humorous manner. From Romeo and Juliet: “...being heavy (sad), I will bear the light (torch/contrast to heavy)” or when Mercutio is stabbed he morbidly says: “you shall find me a grave man” (pun on his sadness and his imminent death).  

84. Refrain - the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at definite intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza

85. Requiem - a song of prayer for the dead

86. Rhapsody - an intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually of love or praise.

87. Rhetorical Question - a statement that is formulated as a question but that is not supposed to be answered

88. Satire-A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit; the goal is to change the behavior/issue. e.g. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, political or social commentary found on Saturday Night Live. 

89. Simile-A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. Compare and contrast with metaphor. e.g. “Shine bright like a diamond” (Rihanna), “Fly Like an eagle” (Steve Miller Band), “It’s been a hard day’s night/and I’ve been working like a dog” (Beatles), “How does it feel / to be without a home...like a rolling stone?” (Bob Dylan), “Now honeys play me close like butter play toast” (Biggie Smalls), “How could you be so, cold as the winter wind when it breeze” (Kanye West). 

90. Soliloquy-A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to themselves or reveal their thoughts without addressing a listener. Used to reveal inner thoughts or motivations without letting others know. Typical in plays, especially Shakespeare. Plays can’t use a narrator to describe a character’s thoughts, so they have to use these “asides” or “monologues.” e.g. “To be or not to be…”

91. Stanza  - a fixed number of lines of verse; the building block of a poem

92. Stock Characters - standard or clichéd character types: the drunk, the miser, the foolish girl, etc.

93. Subjectivity - a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions

94. Symbol- Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. e.g. the green light in The Great Gatsby, a rose for love, a dove for peace. 

95. Theme - the main idea of the story

96. Thesis - the primary position taken by a writer or speaker

97. Tragedy- A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. See also hamartia. e.g. Oedipus Rex, Antigone, King Lear, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire... 

98. Travesty - a grotesque or grossly inferior imitation

99. Truism - an obvious truth

100. Utopia  - an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal

101. Zeugma - when a word is used with two adjacent words in the same construction, but only makes literal sense with one of them

TERMS from YEARS of LITERATURE

102. Antagonist-The protagonist’s adversary, not always "the bad guy or the villain," but typically so. e.g. Darth Vader, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” 

103. Denouement (day-new-mon)-The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot. This is not always the same as the climax. e.g. When Nick decides to go home to get away from all the rich people in West Egg (the last chapter of The Great Gatsby). 

104. Double Entendre-a word of phrase open to two interpretations, one of them is usually risque, offensive, or sexual in nature. e.g. “Marriage is a fine institution, but I’m not ready for an institution” (Mae West)

105. Epilogue-A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a song or play. In a novel the epilogue is a short explanation at the end of the book which indicates what happens after the plot ends. See also denouement. e.g. Puck’s speech in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Prospero’s speech in The Tempest. Found in Ellison’s Invisible Man and the final chapter of The Great Gatsby.

106. Flashback- When a character remembers a past event that is relevant to the current action of the story. e.g. The majority of the movie Forrest Gump is composed of flashbacks Gump tells while sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. Also in the Disney movie Up. At the very start of this animated family film we see flashbacks to key moments of the protagonist’s life, showing him meeting a girl, marrying her, growing old with her, and then sadly seeing him lose her. The flashback is short and is made up of short scenes with no dialogue, but is extremely powerful and emotional. 

107. Flat (also “static”) character-A literary character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change over the course of the story. Flat characters are usually minor or insignificant characters. e.g. Bruce the shark in Finding Nemo. He doesn’t change, when he’s hungry, he eats. Reagan, Goneril, or Kent in King Lear. 

108. Figurative language-Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning using “figures of speech.” This is an extremely broad term, encompassing almost all literary terms, such as imagery, metaphor, etc. e.g. “I wandered lonely as cloud…” (W. Wordsworth). The speaker isn’t literally a cloud (duh), but he imagines he is one to most accurately convey his feelings. 

109. Genre-A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content. e.g. Sci-fi, fantasy, Western, romance, etc. 

110. Heroine-A woman noted for courage and daring action or simply the female protagonist in a work. e.g. Antigone, Jane Eyre, Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen. 

111. Imagery-The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. e.g. The entire song, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan or this specific example from William Wordsworth: “I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o'er vales and hills, / When all at once I saw a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils; / Beside the lake, beneath the trees, / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” He’s not really a cloud, the flowers aren’t really dancing, but can’t you see and feel it? 

112. Motif-A dominant theme or central idea that occurs in the story. Larger and more predominant than leitmotif (which simply means “little” motif). e.g. blindess in Oedipus Rex or King Lear.  

113. Narrator-The teller of the story, the voice of a story. Can change throughout story / chapters (e.g. Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying), can be trustworthy or unreliable. 

     1. First person: The narrator is a character in the story 

     2. Third person objective: The narrator does not tell what anyone is thinking; the “fly on a wall” 

     3. Third person limited: The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of one character

     4. Third person omniscient: The narrator is able to tell the thoughts of any character 

114. Perspective - how narrators, characters, or speakers understand their circumstances, and is informed by background, personality traits, biases, and relationships.

115. Prologue- An introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play. Means literally “the word before.” e.g. the opening scene / speech in Romeo and Juliet: “Two households, both alike in dignity, / In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…”

116. Prose-Ordinary speech or writing without metrical structure, written in paragraph form. e.g. novels, short stories, non-fiction, essays, etc. 

117. Repetition: the successive use of a word or phrase for emphasis or to create a specific sound in the reader’s mind (see related terms, such as assonance, consonance, and rhyme). This is the broadest word possible for using similar words or sounds successively. i.e. A horse is a horse, of course, of course, no one can talk to a horse, of course, unless of course, the horse is the famous Mr. Ed” (Theme song to 1950s T.V. show, Mr. Ed)

118. Rhyme- the repetition of sounds in words 

     1. End Rhyme-rhyme occurring at the end of a line of poetry, the most common and most obvious form of rhyme. e.g. 

     2. Internal Rhyme-the rhyming patterns that occur within a specific line of poetry, contrasted with end rhyme. e.g. “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary” (Poe, “Raven”) or from Eminem’s 8-Mile comes this little gem of internal rhyme: “His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy /There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti / He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs, /But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down, /The whole crowd goes so loud /He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out /He's choking how, everybody's joking now /The clock's run out, time's up, over, bloah! /Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity”

     3. Oblique / Slant /Feminine rhyme-Imperfect rhyme scheme with emphasis on pronunciation and consonance or assonance. This is the majority of sophisticated rhyming (compared to perfect rhyme). e.g. Eminem quote above in internal rhyme or as Biggie Smalls says, “Throw your hands in the air, if you a true player.” Air does not rhyme with player unless you’re Biggie. 

     4. Perfect / True rhyme / Masculine-the exact same sound, only replacing the initial prefix. e.g. “cat / bat / sat” or “ball / fall / call.” Strong sound, but a bit elementary or Dr. Seuss-like. 

119. Setting - the time and place of a story, possibly the historical and cultural background of of a text

120. Slang-A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect. Compare to colloquialism. e.g. “Chilton’s on fleek!” “This party is turnt!” “Why you frontin’?”  

121. Summary - a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form

122. Rhyme scheme-The pattern of end rhyme in a poem. To analyze the scheme, you should assign letters to each end rhyme to demonstrate the rhyming lines in a poem. e.g. Shakespearean sonnets are ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG. 

123. Rising action-The events of a dramatic or narrative plot preceding and building up to the climax. e.g. Oedipus attempting to find out what is causing the plagues and who killed Laius.   

124. Round (Dynamic) character-A character who is developed over the course of the book, round characters are usually major characters in a novel or play. Contrast with flat characters. e.g. King Lear, Oedipus, Snape, Hermione. 

125. Resolution-Solution to the conflict in literature. Often the death or epiphany of a character. Not necessarily, but often, the end of a work. See Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. e.g. When Hamlet kills Claudius, when Ralph and the rest of the boys are rescued in Lord of the Flies, Creon becomes the new King of Thebes in Oedipus Rex.    

TERMS from AP LAUNGUAGE:

126. Anaphora-Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or phrases. e.g. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." C. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, or Dr. Dre in the chorus of “Still D-R-E”: “...still hitting those corners in the lo-lo’s girls / still taking my time to perfect my beats / And I still got love for the streets…”

127. Antithesis - the exact opposite; the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences

128. Epistrophe: the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of sentence or clause to emphasize or create rhetorical rhythm (contrast with anaphora). i.e. “Where now? Who now? When now?” -Samuel Beckett, The Unnameable 

129. Homonym-Two words that are pronounced / sound similar to each other but have different meanings. It can also be wordplay/puns on how words sound (see 2nd example). e.g. ant and aunt / cents and sense / facts and fax or Jay-z says “Truthfully, I want to rhyme like Common Sense / but since I made five ‘mil I ain’t sounded like Common since” or “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

130. Pathos - a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow)

131. Polysyndeton: the use of multiple conjoining conjunctions when not grammatically necessary for emphasis or to maintain meter. i.e. “And again and again and again” (Dr. Dre, “Express Yo’self”)

132. Synecdoche-a figure of speech in which a part is referred to by the whole or the whole refers to a part. e.g. “Check out my new wheels” (wheels=car) or when or when Tupac says in his song “California Love”: “California knows how to party,” he is not referring to the entire state, its official representatives and government officials, or every single person, but rather as a generalization that all of California knows how to party. The part refers to the whole. 

133. Syntax - the arrangement of words in a sentence

134. Tone-Reflects how the author feels about the subject matter or the feeling the author wants to instill in the reader through the use of specific word choices (see diction).

135. Understatement - a remark that deliberately downplays or minimizes the significance or intensity of a situation; Mercutio claims “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, 'tis enough”

TERMS RELEVANT to the COURSE:

136. Bildungsroman-a novel of coming-of-age, formation, growth, change. The story follows a young protagonist as they grow and develop. From German: bildung=education/growth (like “building”) and roman=novel (like romance novel). e.g. Jane Eyre, Harry Potter, Invisible Man, Catcher in the Rye, The Hobbit, Looking for Alaska. 

137. Caesura- a brief pause in a line of poetry. This can be caused by enjambment at the end of a line (terminal caesura) or punctuation anywhere in the line. Caesuras are based on a poet’s understanding of breath and the natural rhythm of speech and language. 

138. Climax-The turning point in the plot or the high point of action. e.g. Oedipus and his eyes, Hamlet sword fighting with Laertes, when Jaws jumps on the boat, when Dumbledore (spoiler alert!) dies. 

139. Deus ex machina-Term that refers to a character or force that appears at the end of a story or play to help resolve conflict. Literally means “god out of the machine.” In ancient Greek drama, gods were lowered onto the stage by a mechanism to extricate characters from a seemingly hopeless situation. The phrase has come to mean any turn of events that solve the characters’ problems through an unexpected and unlikely intervention. e.g. The sword of Godric Gryffindor magically appearing to help save Harry in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets or the Great Eagles swooping down and saving the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.  

140. Dialect - a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language

141. Doppelgänger-The alter ego of a character or the suppressed side of one’s personality that is usually unaccepted by society. e.g. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson- Mr. Edward Hyde (get it: hide?) is Dr. Jekyll’s evil side.

142. Epigraph-the introductory quote at the beginning of a novel or play. Literally means “the writing before.” (Greek: “epi-”=before, “graph”=writing) Often serves to introduce or supplement important themes in the work. e.g. “You are all a lost generation” from Gertrude Stein, in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises about the disillusioned 1920s.

143. Epistolary-Used to describe a novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another. e.g. the first four “chapters” of Frankenstein. 

144. Expansion-Adds an unstressed syllable and/or a contraction or elision removes an unstressed syllable in order to maintain the rhythmic meter of a line. e.g. This practice explains some words frequently used in poetry such as th’ in place of the, o’er in place of over, and ‘tis or ‘twas in place of it is or it was.

145. Hamartia-a Greek word describing the “tragic flaws” of a character. Based on Aristotle’s Poetics, it literally means “to miss the mark” or “an error in judgment”. It’s all about a noble or good person who makes a mistake and fails because of their decision or choice. It is an internal character/personality trait that directly causes the downfall of a person. e.g. Macbeth decides to assassinate King Duncan, Brutus’ ambition is his hamartia in Julius Caesar. He believes himself worthy to be Caesar. Oedipus’ hamartia is his own figurative “blindness” to his murderous past and cursing the man who killed Laius.  

146. In medias res-A story that begins in the middle of things. Latin for “in the midst of things.” You don’t start at the birth of the character, a movie starts with a large explosion and we fill in the details later. e.g. Antigone, Oedipus, King Lear, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Dante’s Inferno, every action movie ever, the video games Gods of War or Final Fantasy X.  

147.  Ode-A lyric poem of considerable length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanzaic structure. An ode celebrates something. John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to Psyche,” or “Ode on Melancholy.” 

148. Plaint - a poem or speech expressing sorrow

149. Sonnet-Traditionally, a poem of fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter. Divided into main subcategories: 

     1. Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet: subdivides into an octave (8 lines) of two quatrains and then a sestet (six lines) composed of two tercets. The ninth line is known as a volta, Italian for “change” (think “volt,” or a lightning bolt that shocks the reader) that transitions between the octave and sestet. The octave sets up a problem / conflict / question and then the sestet offers an answer / resolution / conclusion. Rhyme scheme is ABBA / ABBA / CDC / CDC. Also named the “Petrachran sonnet” because the inventor of this is Francesco Petrarco (1304-1374)

     2. English (Shakespearean) sonnet: subdivides into three quatrains and one couplet. Typified by the rhyme scheme (ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG) and a strong concluding couplet. The couplet is the key to the sonnet’s meaning. The three quatrains usually develop a thought (beginning / middle / end) or give three stages of development (birth / youth / death) and the conclusion summarizes the poet’s final thoughts on the idea. Also known as Shakespearean sonnets because they make you want to shake a spear...is that right? Maybe it’s because  Shakespeare wrote a lot of them! 154 to be precise. 

150. Style- The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era. e.g. the style of Hemingway (i.e. terse, succinct, condensed, e.g. The Old Man and the Sea) compared to Dickens (i.e. descriptive, effusive, observant, e.g. A Tale of Two Cities)

151. Ubiquitous - existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered: WIDESPREAD; Ubiquitous comes to us from the noun ubiquity, meaning "presence everywhere or in many places simultaneously."

152. Verisimilitude - in short, the semblance of truth. A work of fiction with verisimilitude portrays situations, dialogue, and characters in a way that seems authentic and truthful, despite the fact that those elements are made up.