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Essential Terms
Allegory: The presentation of an abstract idea through more concrete means.
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress p. 9
Pi Patel
Protagonist
The most important or leading character in a piece of work; often the hero or the heroine.
Setting
The combination of place, historical time, and social status, which provides the general background for the characters and plot of a literary work.
Simile
A figure of speech comparing two distinct things by using words such as like, or as, seems, etc. subtle difference from metaphor, no linking word
theme
Not simply the subject of a literary work, but rather a statement that the text seems to be making about that subject. The statement can be moral, a moral or lesson, etc.
Tone
The attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work.
Syntax
The arrangement—the ordering, grouping, and placement—of words within a sentence.
Symbol
Something that stands for or suggests something larger and more complex.
Assonance
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds usually in stressed syllables, followed by different consonant sounds in proximate (nearby) words.
Consonance
The repetition of a final consonant sound or sounds following different vowel sounds in proximate words.
Mood
Often refers to the atmosphere; the general feeling created in the reader by the work at a given point.
Motivation
The mixture of situation and personality that impels a character to behave the way he or she does.
Plot
The arrangement and interrelation of events in a narrative work chosen and designed to engage the reader’s attention to; while also providing a framework for the exposition of the author’s message, or theme, and for other elements such as, characterization, symbol, and conflict.
Essential Terms
Alliteration: The repetition of sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the initial sound.
Wallace Stevens’s “Of Mere Being” p. 10
Essential Terms
Allusion: An indirect reference to a person, event, statement, or theme found in literature, the other arts, history, myths, religion, or popular culture. The author’s use presupposes that the reader will have some general knowledge to recognize the allusion.
Snoopy and Winnie the Pooh p. 11
Essential Terms
Ambiguity: The result of something being stated in such a way that its meaning cannot be definitely determined.
Examples p. 12
Essential Terms
Antagonist: The character pitted against the protagonist-the main character- of a work. The antagonist is not necessarily a villain.
Darth Vador p. 19
Essential Terms
Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or otherwise not physically present
Lord Byron p. 26
Essential Terms Archetype: Generally, the original model
from which something is developed or made; in literary criticisms, those images, or figures, character types, settings, story patterns that, according to Swiss analytical psychologist Carl Jung, are universally shared by people across cultures. Archetypes according to Jung, are embedded deep in humanity’s collective unconscious situations, events, and relations that have been part of the human experience from the beginning.
Ex. the snake p. 29
Essential Terms
Cacophony: A mixture of harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds. Opposite is Euphony.
Ex. The Bridge p. 46
Essential Terms
Caricature: An exaggeration or other distortion of an individuals prominent features or characteristics to the point of making that individual appear ridiculous.
Ex. Doonesbury p. 47
Essential Terms
carpe diem: Latin for “seize the day” a phrase referring to the age-old literary theme that we should enjoy the moment before it is gone, before youth passes away.
Ex. Dead Poet Society p. 49
Essential Terms
Characterization: Is unavoidably intertwined with the plot. In order for a work to be believable, the reader must find the characters convincing; in order to find the characters convincing, the reader must be able to visualize them.
Essential Terms comic relief: A humorous scene or
passage inserted into an otherwise serious work. Comic relief is intended to provide an emotional outlet and change of pace for the audience as well as to create a contrast that further emphasizes the seriousness of the work.
Shakespeare p. 69
Essential Terms
Connotation: The association(s) evoked by a word beyond its denotation, or literal meaning.
Ex. “Boys and Girls” p. 75
Essential Terms
Couplet: Two successive lines of rhyming verse, often the same meter and generally octosyllabic or decasyllabic. Ex. “My Last Duchess” p. 76
Essential Terms
Denotation: A word’s literal and primary meaning
p. 100
Essential Terms
Diction: A speaker’s or author’s choice of words.
P. 108
Essential Terms Epiphany: The insight or revelation
gained when one suddenly understands the essence of a generally commonplace object, gesture, statement, situation, moment, or mentality—that is, when one sees that commonplace for what it really is beneath the surface perceives its inner workings. A real A-HA moment.
Page 138
Essential Terms
Euphemism: A nice, less threatening or rude way to say something.
It is like saying Big-boned rather than FAT.
Essential Terms
Euphony: Pleasing or harmonious sounds
Essential Terms
figurative language: Language that employs one or more figures of speech to supplement and even modify the literal, denotative meanings of words with additional connotations and richness.
Example The Far Side p. 166 see fig. of speech.
Foreshadowing:
The technique of introducing into a narrative material that prepares the reader or audience for future events, actions, or revelations.
Essential Terms
Genre: A word meaning “kind” or “type” used to classify literary works based on their content, form, or technique.
Example p. 189
Essential Terms
Hubris: Greek for “Insolence” excessive pride that leads to the protagonists tragic flaw and leads to a downfall.
Oedipus Michael Vick
Essential Terms
Hyperbole: A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect. Sometimes referred to as an overstatement.
Modern examples p. 205 Your Momma is so fat…
Essential Terms
Imagery: A term used to refer to the language a writer uses to convey a visual picture. Is also uses figures of speech and to express abstract ideas.
Ex. p. 210-211
Essential Terms
Irony: A contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality. Easily put the discrepancy between what someone says and what they really mean.
Example on pages 220-227.
Verbal Irony or Rhetorical Irony
This is the most common. It is characterized by a discrepancy between what the speaker or writer says and what he or she believes to be true. More specifically a speaker or writer using verbal irony will say the opposite of what he or she actually means.
Situational Irony
Derives primarily from events or situations themselves, as opposed to statements made by an individual, whether or not that individual understands the situation as ironic.
Essential Terms
Metaphor: A figure of speech that associates two things…the representation of one thing by another.
Examples and further explanation on p. 260
Simon and Garfunkle = I am a rock I am an island
Essential Terms
Narration: The act or process recounting a story or other narrative
Essential Terms
Onomatopoeia: Words or the creation of words that seem to signify word meaning through sound effects.
Bat Man p. 317
Essential Terms Oxymoron: A figure of speech that
juxtaposes (puts words right next to each other) two words to create a dramatic paradox for a rhetorical purpose or effect.
P. 322 Jumbo Shrimp, Passive aggressive
Essential Terms Paradox: A statement that seems
self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface but that, upon closer examination, may be seen to contain an underlying truth.
“…die to live…” p. 325 “Barbie Doll” …consummation at
last. To every woman a happy ending.
Essential Terms Parallelism: A rhetorical figure used in
written and oral communication to emphasize ideas or images by using grammatically similar constructions. Words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and even larger structural units may be organized into a parallel structure.
Examples p. 327
Essential Terms
Parody: A literary term that imitates a specific work or style of an author for comic effect, usually to ridicule or criticize that work, author, or style.
Ex. p. 328 Not another Teen Movie…
Essential Terms
Pathos: “passion” “emotion” or “suffering” a quality in a work or a portion of a work that makes the reader experience pity, sorrow, or tenderness.
P. 333
Essential Terms
Persona: Often serves as the voice of the author. It has also been used to refer to the public face an individual presents to others.
Ex. p. 338
Essential Terms
Personification: Attributing human characteristics to anything not human.
Ex. p. 340
Essential Terms
point of view: The vantage point from which a narrative is told. usually from the first person or the third person. point of view.
352
Essential Terms
Protagonist: The most important or leading character in a piece of work; often the hero or the heroine.
P. 375
Essential Terms
Pun: A play on words that capitalizes on a similarity in spelling and/or pronunciation between words that have different meanings. Puns also use words that have more than one meaning.
AC/DC p. 383 Have you ever heard someone say, “No pun intended”?
Essential Terms
Rhetoric: The art of persuasion through speaking and writing
p. 409
Essential Terms Satire: A literary genre that sometimes
uses irony, wit, and sarcasm to expose humanity’s vices (foolishness/shortcomings) in an attempt to create change or recognition of our faults. Satire differs from pure comedy because it ultimately has a moral purpose.
SNL and South Park p. 426
Essential Terms
Setting: The combination of place, historical time, and social status, that provides the general background for the characters and plot of a literary work.
p. 443
Essential Terms
Simile: A figure of speech comparing two distinct things by using words such as like, or as, seems, etc. subtle difference from metaphor, no linking word
p. 447
Rhyme
1. The repetition of identical vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more words, as well as all the subsequent sounds after this vowel sound.
Structure
1. A term that refers to the arrangement of material in a work, that is, the ordering of its component parts or the design devised by the author to convey content and meaning.
Essential Terms Soliloquy: In a play, a monologue
delivered by a character while alone on stage that reveals inner thought, emotions, or some other information that the audience needs to know. Soap operas…
p. 450 “To be or not to be…”
Essential Terms
Sonnet: A lyric poem that always consists of fourteen lines, usually printed as a single stanza.
p. 450
Essential Terms
Stanza: A grouped set of lines in a poem usually physically set off from other such clusters by a blank line.
p. 455
Essential Terms
Style: In general, the way in which a literary work is written. The message, manner, and tools or devices used by an author to communicate their ideas.
p. 463
Essential Terms Symbolism: (symbol = something that
stands for or suggests something larger and more complex) In literature symbolism uses symbols to suggest other things or ideas. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a mockingbird is symbolic of taking the life of something nonviolent; more importantly it is linked to the character Tom Robinson’s senseless death.
p. 472
Essential Terms
Syntax: The arrangement—the ordering, grouping, and placement—of words within a sentence.
p. 474
Essential Terms
theme: Not simply the subject of a literary work, but rather a statement that the text seems to be making about that subject. The statement can be moral, a moral or lesson, i.e.
p. 479
Essential Terms
Tone: The attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work. An author’s tone may be serious, playful, mocking, angry, demanding, apologetic, and so forth.
i.e. 482
Essential Terms
Voice: Similar to tone, but more accurately described as the author’s presence that exists in a literary work.
10th grade terms: Antithesis a rhetorical figure in which two ideas
are directly opposed. For a statement to be truly antithetical, the opposing ideas must be presented in a grammatically parallel way, thus creating the perfect rhetorical balance.
Page 22
Apostrophe A figure of speech in which the
speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or otherwise not physically present
26
Flashback
A scene that interrupts the present action of a narrative work to depict some earlier event—that occurred before the opening scene of the work—via daydream, remembrance, dreaming, or some other mechanism. The term may be used to refer to the scene itself or to its presentation. Page 167
Verbal Irony 220-227
This is the most common. It is characterized by a discrepancy between what the speaker or writer says and what he or she believes to be true. More specifically a speaker or writer using verbal irony will say the opposite of what he or she actually means.
Situational irony Derives primarily from events or situations
themselves, as opposed to statements made by an individual, what happens is the opposite of what is expected to happen. whether or not that individual understands the situation as ironic.
Dramatic Irony Reader or audience is aware of events
and/or information the characters are not aware of.
Sarcasm Intentional derision, generally directed
at another person and intended to hurt. The term comes from the Greek term “to tear flesh like dogs” and signifies a cutting remark. Sarcasm usually involves obvious, even exaggerated verbal irony, achieving its effect by jeeringly stating the opposite of what is meant (for instance false praise) so as to heighten the insult. Pg. 425
Paradox A statement that seems self-
contradictory or nonsensical on the surface but that, upon closer examination, may be seen to contain an underlying truth.
325-326
Style In general, the way in which a
literary work is written. The message, manner, and tools or devices used by an author to communicate their ideas.
463
Suspense Popular fictional narratives with
plots revolving around puzzling or frightening situations that create and even exploit a sense of uncertainty, suspense, or fear in the reader or audience.
Pg. 280
Synecdoche A figure of speech (more specifically a
trope) in which a part or something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. In synecdoche the vehicle (the image used to represent something else) of the figure of speech is part of the tenor (the thing being represented). 474
Understatement It is the opposite of hyperbole; it is
a deliberate minimizing done to provide emphasis of humor.