Lit terms...
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Dialogue
- conversation between two or more persons.
- Scansion
- the metrical analysis of verse. The usual marks for scansion are ˘ for a short or unaccented syllable, ¯ or ' for a long or accented syllable, ^ for a rest, | for a foot division, and ‖ for a caesura or pause.
- Assonance
- The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, especially in stressed syllables, with changes in the intervening consonants, as in the phrase tilting at windmills.
- Diction
- choice of words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness
- Novel
- a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes
- Existentialism
- A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.
- Flashback
- a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.
- Non fiction
- branch of literature that deals with work offering opinions or conjectures upon facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay
- understatement
- A form of irony in which something is intentionally represented as less than it is: "Hank Aaron was a pretty good ball player."
- Oxymoron
- a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly."
- Rhythm
- movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like
- Octave
- a group of eight lines of verse, esp. the first eight lines of a sonnet in the Italian form
- Speaker
- a person who speaks formally before an audience
- Consonance
- the repetition of consonants (or consonant patterns) especially at the ends of words
- Suffering
- undergoing something painful or unpleasant.
- Fantasy
- an imaginative or fanciful work, esp. one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters
- Folk tale
- any belief or story passed on traditionally, esp. one considered to be false or based on superstition.
- motivation
- the psychological feature that causes an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior
- Archetype
- the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
- Blank verse
- Verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually of iambic pentameter.
- self-realisation
- the fulfillment of one's potential.
- Folklore
- traditional stories, myths, tales ect of a people group..
- hyperbole
- an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as "to wait an eternity."
- Elegy
- a sad poem commemorating to the dead
- Naturalism
- a manner or technique of treating subject matter that presents, through volume of detail, a deterministic view of human life and actions.
- Theism
- the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation.
- Epiphany
- a sudden realisation of something deep, for example the true nature of something or meaning of whatever... Especially when this enlightening finding comes through an ordinary but "striking" event.
- Exposition
- a large-scale public exhibition or show
- Classicism
- aesthetic values revealed in ancient Greek and Roman art, buildings, and literature, ect.. (usually characterised by its simplicity, proportion and restraint..)
- Foil
- to stop someone from doing something.. frustrate somebody's plans..
- Denotation
- the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it
- Sonnet
- a poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter
- Romanticism
- An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.
- Miracle Play
- a medieval drama portraying the lives of saints, martyrs, and other church figures
- Naturalism
- a writing genre that writes life how it is. Authors of this thinking tended to portray humans subjected to nature, and they pretty much disregarded any "higher power." It's similar to realism. These writers believed that your genetics, and surroundings made you who you were. Writings that follow the naturalistic school are pretty much the exact opposite of morality plays
- Sarcasm
- A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
- Point of view
- an opinion, attitude, or judgment
- Mood
- a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude
- Irony
- The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
- Smilie
- a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in "she is like a rose."
- Rhyme
- verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal
- Metaphysical poetry
- Highly intellectualized poetry written chiefly in 17th-century England. Less concerned with expressing feeling than with analyzing it, Metaphysical poetry is marked by bold and ingenious conceits (e.g., metaphors drawing sometimes forced parallels between apparently dissimilar ideas or things), complex and subtle thought, frequent use of paradox, and a dramatic directness of language, the rhythm of which derives from living speech.
- Dialect
- a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.
- Couplet
- A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit.
- Suspense
- the growing interest and excitement felt while awaiting a climax or resolution, as of a novel, play, series of events, etc
- Autonomy
- the fact or condition of being self-governing or independent.
- Drama
- a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character, esp. one intended to be acted on the stage; a play
- Character
- the combination of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
- Nature vs. Grace
- sinful nature vs forgiveness
- Narration
- a recital of events, esp. in chronological order, as the story narrated in a poem or the exposition in a drama
- Psalm
- a sacred song or hymn
- Nature
- the essential character of a thing; quality or qualities that make something what it is; essence
- Romance
- (1): a medieval tale based on legend, chivalric love and adventure, or the supernatural (2): a prose narrative treating imaginary characters involved in events remote in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous, or mysterious
- Temporal vs eternal
- lasting for a time verses lasting without end.
- Deism
- belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation.
- Mockery
- ridiculing something or one, usually in a derisive manner
- Motif
- a repeated theme through out a piece of literature.. e.g. Prisoner of Christ in Philemon
- Bathos
- Going from glorious to commonplace in speech or writing. Produces a ridiculous affect.
- Image
- a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.
- Meter
- poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses
- Parallelism
- agreement in direction, tendency, or character
- Sonnet sentence
- a group of sonnets composed by one poet and having a unifying theme or subject.
- Refrain
- a regularly recurring phrase or verse especially at the end of each stanza or division of a poem or song : chorus ; also : the musical setting of a refrain
- Protagonist
- the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work
- Style
- a distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech) like voice..
- Pun
- a play on words. Basically to make a pun you take to words that sound the same and switch them to make a funny combination/ sentence.. Shakespeare, and Mr. Ekstrand use puns a lot
- Comedy
- a type of drama that starts out with problem and ends up resolved, usually light hearted, funny, maybe even satirical
- Legend
- a non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.
- Stanza
- an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhymed scheme, forming a division of a poem.
- End-stopped line
- a pause at the end of a line, usually indicates the end of a sentence, phrase, ect.. Gives the sense of self-containment
- Fiction
- the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration
- Gothic
- a type of literature distinguished by it's gloom and mystery and bizarre-ness.
- Searching for meaning
- search for purpose
- Anachronism
- something that's not in chronological order
- Realism
- the doctrine that universals have a real objective existence
- Figurative Language
- speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech
- foreshadowing
- To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand
- Symbol
- a sign, word, phrase, image, or other object that stands for or represents something else.
- Tone
- the writer's attitude toward the readers and toward the subject
- Mock-heroic
- a writing style where an author, usually a poet, satirizes the heroic style
- Paradox
- a statement that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth
- Satire
- the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
- Morality Play
- a medieval play used to illustrate morals
- Metaphor
- a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in "A mighty fortress is our God."
- Regionalism
- the theory or practice of emphasizing the regional characteristics of locale or setting, as by stressing local speech.
- Narrative Poem
- a poem that tells a story and has a plot
- Setting
- the context and environment in which a situation is set; the background
- Free verse
- verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern.
- Lyric Poem
- a short poem of songlike quality
- Conflict
- Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot
- Epitaph
- like an elegy but much much shorter. Usually when people say epitaph they mean something like.. tombstone inscription. Eg. RIP
- Onomatopoeia
- the formation of a word, as "cuckoo" or "boom," by imitation of a sound made my or associated with its referent.
- Neoclassicism
- In the late 18th and early 19th century classicism made a come back. They called this 'neoclassicism' which literally means new classicism
- Essay
- a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
- Alliteration
- The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" (Hart Crane).
- Parody
- something used to satirise, poke fun at, mock, spoof, something else. Pretty much all parodies are supposed to be funny. E.g. Thumb wars is a Parody of Star War
- Connotation
- the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of "home" is "a place of warmth, comfort, and affection."
- Short story
- a piece of prose fiction, usually under 10,000 words
- Poetry
- the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful or elevated thoughts.
- Denouement
- the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel
- Anglo-saxon Poetry
- "lines with regular rhythms, usually with 4 strong beats, Caersuras (rhythmic breaks in the middle of lines where the reciter could pause for breath), Kennings (2 word poetic renamings of people, places, and things, such as the kennings whales home for the sea), Assonance (the repetition of vowel sounds in unrhymed, stressed syllables), and Alliteration (the repetition of initial consonant sounds in accented syllables)
- Synecdoche
- A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).
- Humanism
- any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate.
- Figure of Speech
- any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect.
- Epithet
- an insult harming someone's reputation
- Characterisation
- Representation of a character or characters on the stage or in writing, especially by imitating or describing actions, gestures, or speeches
- Romanticism
- romantic spirit, outlook, tendency, etc. The spirit, attitudes, style, etc. of, or adherence to , the Romantic Movement or a similar movement.
- Prose
- the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse
- Hero/ heroine
- a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities./ a woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for her brave deeds and noble qualities.
- Monologue
- a "solo" speech.. for example Hamlet's "To do or not to do.." A long conversation, usually in a play or movie, by one person
- Expressionism
- a technique of distorting objects and events in order to represent them as they are perceived by a character in a literary work.
- tragedy
- a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction.
- Iambic Pentameter
- a rhythm scheme usually used in sonnets- 5 iambs. (unstressed syllable, stressed syllable)
- Concrete poem
- a poem whose meaning is conveyed through its graphic shape or pattern on the printed page
- Antagonism
- the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work
- Soliloquy
- A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener
- Nihilism
- an extreme form of skepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth.
- Death
- the act or fact of dying; permanent ending of all life in a person, animal, or plant.
- Climax
- the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination
- Catharsis
- a purging of emotions, usually through the arts
- Allegory
- The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
- Ode
- a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion; a poem intended to be sung
- Theme
- the central idea, concern, or purpose in a literary work.
- Invocation
- similar to a prayer or incantation. Calling upon God/gods for help
- Run-on-line
- also called an enjambment, it's when in a poem there is no punctuation at the end of a line, meaning you should flow to the next line with no break.
- Inversion
- "flip-flopping" the order.. reversing it..
- Imagery
- The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
- Extended Metaphor
- a metaphor that is extended through a stanza or entire poem, often by multiple comparisons of unlike objects or ideas
- Quatrain
- a stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes
- Biography
- An account of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another
- Aside
- a part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience.
- Allusion
- a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare.
- Verbal Irony
- a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant
- Oral tradition
- a communities cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction
- Personification
- the person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation: He is the personification of tact.
- Autobiography
- a history of a person's life written or told by that person
- Symbolism
- the practice of using symbols...
- Epic
- pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style
- myth
- a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, esp. one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.
- Dramatic Monologue
- a poetic form in which a single character, addressing a silent auditor at a critical moment, reveals himself or herself and the dramatic situation
- Choice and Consequence
- choosing vs what happens becaus of the choice
- Rationalism
- the principle or practice of accepting reason as the only authority in determining one's opinions or course of action. The doctrine that knowledge comes from the intellect in itself without aid from the senses (intellectualism).
- stream of consciousness
- A literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur.
- Rhyme Scheme
- the pattern of rhymes used in a poem, usually marked by letters to symbolize correspondences, as rhyme royal, ababbcc