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CAJ '09 Lit terms

English lit terms. Defintions from handout last year, lit textbook, lit terms dictionary.

Terms

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Motivation
a reason that explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way
Psalm
sacred song or poem, 150 psalms in the Bible
Style
the way an author chooses words, arranges language, and uses images, symbols, figurative language, and other literary devices
Soliloquy
a long speech in a play or in a prose work made by a character who is alone and thus reveals private thoughts and feelings to the audience or reader
Denouement
refers to the outcome or result of any complex situation or sequence of events applied to unravel the main dramatic complications of a piece of literature
Anachronism
an error in chronology, placing an event, a person, item, or language expression in the wrong period.
Epiphany
a moment of sudden, intuitive understanding: a flash of insight
Elegy
a mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem of lamentation
Ode
a long lyric poem with many stanzas, varying line lengths, and sometimes and intricate rhyme scheme
Myth
a fictional tale, originally with religious significance, that explains the actions of Gods or heroes, the causes of natural phenomena or both.
Epitaph
lines composed to mark someone's death (usually on a tombstone)
Scansion
the metrical analysis of poetry; the dillusion of a line of poetry into feet by indicating accents and counting syllables
Hyperbole
emphasis through exaggeration
Oxymoron
a figure of speech pairing contradictory terms
Free verse
poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern or meter. Seeks to capture the rhythms of speech. Dominant form of contemporary poetry.
Folklore
traditional legends and beliefs of a people or particular culture
Extended metaphor
a metaphor developed at length and involves several points of comparison
Anglo-Saxon poetry
poetry written in Anglo-Saxon or Old English characterized by kennings or caesura etc.
End-stopped line
a feature in poetry in which the syntactic unit corresponds in length to the line
Lyric poem
highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker
Narrative poem
tells a story in verse
Bathos
1) sentimentalism, mawkishness, insincere, pathos 2) anti-climax, a descent from the lofty and exalted to the common place.
Invocation
a literary convention in which a writer, usually a poet, calls on a muse for help and divine guidance
Mockery
humorous or satirical mimicry, to ridicule, contempt..
Nihilism
extreme form of skepticism that involves denial of any possible objective basis for truth
Point of view
perspective from which a story is told
Setting
time and place, sometimes just backdrop, sometimes significant like a symbol or to establish mood
Archetype
a character, action, or situation that is a prototype or pattern of human life generally. a situation that occurs over and over again
Symbolism
a setting, event, action, character, or any detail that stands for or represents something else
Oral tradition
the body of songs, stories, and poems preserved by being passed from generation to generation by word of mouth
Tragedy
work of literature especially a play that results in a catastrophe for the main character
Connotation
set of ideas associated with a word in addition to its explicit meaning
Narration
writing that tells a story
Assonance
repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables
Epithet
a descriptive word or phrase that has become a fixed formula. It has various shades of meaning when applied to real or fictitious people, divinities, and objects.
Satire
ridicules human follies or vices for the purpose of correction
Legend
widely told story about the past that may or may not have a foundation in fact.
Self-realization
using skills and abilities and achieving as much as one possibly can
Nonfiction
literature presenting ideas and opinions based upon facts and reality
Monologue
a character speaking aloud to himself or narrating an account to an audience with no other character on stage
Paradox
a seeming contradiction that is nevertheless true
Miracle play
a medieval drama depicting either biblical stories, the miracles performed by a saint, or the martyrdom of a saint in Christian traditions. Usually presented in a cycle.
Pun
a play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning
Understatement
deliberate underplaying or undervaluing of a thing to create emphasis
Catharsis
any emotional discharge which brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension and anxiety
Romance
any fictional account of heroic achievements, colorful scenes, passionate love, or supernatural experiences
Dialect
the language of a particular district, class, or group of persons
Search for meaning
trying to find a reason why such a thing is important or why it matters
Sonnet sequence
a series or group of sonnets, most often written to or about a beloved
Aside
short speech by an actor in a play, expressing the character
Hero/Heroine
major male/female protagonist in a narrative o[r drama
Ficiton
imagined and invented literary composition
Climax
the high point of interest or suspense in a literary work or when crisis comes to greatest intensity
Flashback
method of narration in which past events are introduced into present actions
Synecdoche
a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to stand for the whole
Poetry
literary work ini metrical form or patterned language; a composition written or spoken, designed to produce pleasure through beautiful, elevated, imaginative or profound thoughts
Rhyme scheme
regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem, indicated by using different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme
Tone
writer's attitude toward audience and subject: formal/informal, serious/playful, bitter, ironic..
Alliteration
repetition of initial consonant sounds used to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds and to create musical effects
Morality play
a drama that illustrates the way to live a pious life through allegorical characters. The characters tend to be personified abstractions of vices and virtues. Not necessarily religious material.
Gothic
characterized by gloom, mystery, grotesque, and violence
Symbol
anything that stands for or represents something else. Conventional or Original
Protagonist
main character in a work of fiction-the character readers would like to see succeed
Essay
a short literary composition on a particular theme or topic, usually in prose and generally thoughtful and interpretive
Image
a word or phraase that appeals to one or more of the senses (sight, hear, touch, taste, smell)
Antagonist
character who opposses the character whom readers want to see succeed
Figure of speech
expressive uses of language in which words are used in other than their literal senses so as to suggest and produce pictures or images in a reader's mind
Choice and Consequence
a decision and a result
Fantasy
highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life
Nature
the usual way a person or animal behaves that is part of their character
Simile
"like" or "as" used to compare two unlike ideas
Dialogue
conversation between characters used to reveal character, to present events, to add variety to a narrative and to interest readers
Exposition
form of discourse that explains, defines, and interprets
Figurative language
not meant to be interpreted literally, creates vivid impressions by comparing dissimilar things
Existentialism
belief that emphasizes man's responsibility for forming his own nature and that stresses the prime importance of personal decisions, personal freedom and personal goals
Neoclassicism
revival of a classical style (in art or literature or architecture or music) but from a new perspective or with a new motivation
Conflict
a struggle between opposing forces. Characters in conflict form the basis of stories.
Epic
long narrative or narrative poem about the deeds of gods or heroes
Drama
story written to be performed by actors, script is made up of dialogue and stage directions
Rhyme
repetition of sounds at the ends of words
Foreshadowing
clues that suggest events that have yet to occur. creates suspense, keeping readers wondering and speculating about what will happen next.
Prose
ordinary form of spoken and written language, applies to all expression in language that doesn't have a regular rhythmic pattern
Comedy
drama or narrative with a happy ending-usually a marriage
Personification
gives human qualities to a non-human subject
Theism (Christian)
belief that there is only one God who is completely separate from those things he created rather than being part of them
Octave
an eight-line stanza, but especially to the first eight-lines in an Italian sonnet
Motif
a conspicuous recurring element, such as a type of incident, a device, a reference, a verbal formula, which appears frequently in works of literature
Mock-heroic
the style of a kind of satire that treats "ordinary" characters and events in the ceremonious manner and lofty language usually reserved for major happenings and elevated personages
Iambic pentameter
A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (an iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)
Rationalism
acceptance of reason as the supreme authority in matters of belief, conduct, and opinion
Biography
a written account of a person's life or an account of the lives of any small and closely knit group
Mood
the feeling created in a reader by a work or passage, often suggested with descriptive details
Temporal vs. Eternal
temporal: living for now, the instant pleasure; eternal: living for eternity, long term pleasure
Sonnet
14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter (English, Shakespearean, Italian, Petrarchan)
Irony
portrays the difference between appearance and reality, expectation and result, meaning and intention. Suggest opposite of what it's meant.
Naturalism
a literary movement seeking to depict life as accurately as possible, without artificial distortions of emotions, idealism, and literary convention.
Run-on-line
a line that does bnot contain a pause or a stop at the end. It ends in the middle of a statement and a grammatical unit, and the reader must read the next line to find the end of the statement and the completion of the grammatical unit.
Parallelism
repeating the same grammatical forms or verse form which states an idea and then repeats, negates, or completes it.
Humanism
any system of thought or action in which human interest, values, and dignity are held to be dominant
Suffering
physical or mental pain
Naturalism
an attempt to achieve fidelity to nature by rejecting idealized portrayals of life
Rhythm
uniform recurrence of beat or accent, the measured flow of words in verse or prose
Speaker
imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem. usually not identified by name, but not necessarily poet
Diction
Word choice
Realism
a theory of writing in which the familiar ordinary aspects of life are depicted in a matter-of-fact straight forward manner designed to reflect life as it actually is
Stream of consciousness
a manner of writing in which a character's perceptions and thoughts are presented as occurring in random form.
Concrete Poem
a poem having a quality of reality, specific elements that the reader can see, hear, feel, smell, or taste
Quatrain
a stanza or poem of four lines
Expressionism
a term with several meanings variously applied to different forms of artistic work
Meter
rhythmical pattern of a poem determined by number and types of stresses, or beats in each line
Refrain
a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or a song usually at the end of a stanza
Couplet
pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter. Generally expresses a single idea
Theme
the central message of insight into life revealed through a literary work; a generalization about people or about life that is communicated through the work; maybe stated directly or implied
Verbal Irony
portrays the difference between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention. Word used to suggest the opposite of what is meant.
Characterization
the act of creating and developing a character
Dramatic Monologue
a poetic form in which a single character, speaking to a silent auditor at a critical moment, reveals both a dramatic situation and himself
Denotation
independent of other association that the word may have
Folk tale
story amde and handed down orally among the common people
Onomatopoeia
words that imitate sounds (thud, sizzle, hiss)
Suspense
feeling of curiosity or uncertainty about the outcome of events in literary work. Created by raising questions in the reader's mind
Parody
comical piece of writing that mocks the characteristics of a specific literary form through exaggeration of the types of ideas, language, tone, or action in a type of literature or a specific work
Foil
a character who emphasizes the traits of a main character
Consonance
repetition of similar consonant sounds at the end of accented syllables. Used to create musical effects, to link ideas, and to emphasize particular words
Character
protagonist/antagonist, flat/round, static/dynamic
Regionalism
the tendency to confine one's writing to the presentation of the distinct culture of an area, including its speech, customs and history
Classicism
literature movements of ancient Greece and Rome, characterized by strict forms, simplicity, proportion and restraint. Opposite is romanticism.
Metaphor
figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else
Novel
a lengthy fictitious prose narrative portraying characters and presenting and organized series of events and settings
Inversion
inverted order of words or events as a rhetorical scheme
Nature vs. Grace
tension between sinful self and eternal self
Allegory
a story in which people, things, events have a parallel, symbolic meaning
Sarcasm
a form of irony; bitter and often harsh derision. Consists of sneering or cutting remarks; it is always personal and intended to hurt.
Death
the end of life
Deism
religion that believes in the existence of God on the evidence of nature and reason only
Metaphysical poetry
17th century English poetry that characterizes intellectual playfulness, argument, paradoxes, irony, elaborate and unusual conceits, incongruity and the rhythms of ordinary speech
Autonomy
independence; the quality or state of being self-governing
Imagery
descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader.
Allusion
reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art
Autobiography
a type of writing that is an account of oneself written by oneself
Short story
a relatively short narrative which is designed to produce a single dominant effect and which contains the element of drama
Romanticism
a literary attitude in which imagination is considered more important than formal rules and reason and than a sense of fact
Stanza
formal division of lines in a poem, considered as a unit, often separated by spaces
Blank Verse
poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines, widely used by Elizabethan dramatists like Shakespeare

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