Lit
Other Fiction and Drama Terms | DEFINITION | |
36 | allegory | A story in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these elements is meant to reveal an abstraction or a truth. Examples: Animal Farm (pig Napoleon = dictator), “The Vengeance” character in A Tale of Two Cities |
37 | anecdote | A short account of an interesting event. |
38 | aphorism | A short, astute statement of a general truth. Ben Franklin: “He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.” “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” “A penny saved is a penny earned.” |
39 | archetype | A recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology. Examples: Persephone/Hades, Icarus, Zeus as archetypal father figure |
40 | aside | a remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the play. |
41 | bildungsroman | A novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education (a “coming of age” story). |
42 | canon | A list of literary or artistic work considered to be permanently established as being of the highest quality. |
43 | catharsis | describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy; though the audience pities and fears the tragic hero, both negative emotions are purged because the tragic protagonist’s suffering is an affirmation of human values rather than a despairing denial of them. |
44 | dialogue | Conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie. |
45 | emblem | A thing serving as a symbolic representation of a particular quality or concept. Example: A dove is often emblematic of peace. |
46 | epic | A long narrative poem, typically derived from ancient oral tradition, telling the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation. Example: Beowulf, the Odyssey, Gilgamesh |
47 | epigram | A brief, witty statement. Oscar Wilde: “Thirty-five is a very attractive age, London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.” |
48 | epiphany | A moment of sudden revelation or insight. |
49 | fable | A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. |
50 | farce | A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. |
51 | 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 |
52 | frame story | a story within a story Frankenstein: protagonist Walton writes to his sister about his explorations |
53 | foreshadowing | A warning or indication of (a clue to) a future event. |
54 | generalization | A statement about a class based on an examination of some of its members. EXAMPLE: "Used car salespeople are untrustworthy." |
55 | genre | A category of artistic composition characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Examples: drama, short stories, fiction, poetry, horror, fantasy |
56 | interior monologue | A piece of writing expressing a character's inner thoughts. |
57 | invocation | The action of appealing to something or someone for assistance or as an authority. Example: Lady Macbeth’s “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here . . .” |
58 | melodrama | A sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. |
59 | monologue | A long speech by one actor in a play or movie. |
60 | motif | A repetition of imagery, diction, or figurative language in a story that helps to enhance the theme: Example: “scars” in Harry Potter, flowers and birds in “The Garden Party” |
61 | narrative | A spoken or written account of connected events-a story. |
62 | parody | An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. The writer of a parody uses the quirks of style of the imitated piece in extreme or ridiculous ways. |
63 | prose | Written or spoken language in its ordinary form without metrical structure (anything not poetry). |
64 | reversal | An adverse change in fortune, esp. for a character in a literary work. Often happens for tragic heroes. |
65 | rhetorical question | A question posed for effect which requires no answer, but which provokes thought or discussion. EXAMPLE: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (Shakespeare) "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" (Wilfred Owen) |
66 | setting | Time and place of a fictional work. |
67 | soliloquy | An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play. |
68 | stereotype | A generalization (usually incorrect) about a group which has become a cliché. EXAMPLES: absent-minded professor, dumb jock, nerdy "A" student. |