English Terms
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- colloquial
- Informal language that is not rude but would not be used in formal situations.
- blank verse
- Unrhymed iambic pentameter
- falling action
- The falling action is the series of events which take place after the climax.
- crux
- Vital, decisive or pivotal point
- first person
- the narrator is talking to the reader- sometimes directly
- dramatic irony
- a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
- dialog
- the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction
- crisis
- A point of great tension in a narrative that determines how the action will come out.
- epiphany
- a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.
- expositon
- In drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to the beginning of the play
- aysendeton
- Figure of omission in which normally occurring conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) are intentionally omitted in successive phrases, or clauses
- conjunction
- connecting word
- anaphora
- Figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases; repetition of the initial word(s) over successive phrases or clauses
- epitaph
- A brief commemorative statement, not to be confused with an epithet
- apostrophe
- An address, either to someone who is absent and
- classification
- Literary works may be poems, plays, fiction, or essays, or collections containing more than one of these forms. They are arranged by author rather than by subject.
- archetype
- pattern from which copies can be made.
- denouement
- the series of events that follow the plot's climax.
- explicaton
- not a paraphrase, nor a summary, nor a rewording (though it may include succinct paraphrase), but a commentary revealing the meaning of the work
- autobiography
- a type of narrative nonfiction in which a person tells the story of his/her own life
- chiasmus
- A type of rhetoric in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first
- analogy
- Analogies often take the form of an extended
- arguments
- A discussion in which disagreement is expressed; a debate.
- flat character
- Also called a static character, a flat character is a simplified character who does not change or alter his or her personality over the course of a narrative,
- comedy
- Literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter
- figurative language
- In literature, a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.
- concession
- when you show an audience that you have anticipated potential opposition and objections, and have an answer for them, you defuse the audience's ability to oppose you and persuade them to accept your point of view
- comic relief
- The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments.
- allusion
- reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature
- euphony
- Euphony ("good sound") refers to language that is smooth and musically pleasant to the ear
- dialect
- A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists
- chronological order
- Chronological order presents ideas according to the time in which they occurred
- ellipsis
- Omission of words that are implied by the context
- epic
- An extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written in a high style
- farce
- The object of farce is to provoke mirth of the most basic kind.
- folk tale
- stories passed along from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth rather than by a written text
- euphemism
- The substitution of a mild or less negative word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one, as in the use of "pass away" instead of "die
- allegory
- A figurative work in which a surface narrative carries a secondary, symbolic or metaphorical meaning.
- dramatic monologue
- a poem in which a single speaker who is not the poet utters the entire poem at a critical moment
- anecdote
- A little story, often amusing, inserted in an essay or a
- antecedent
- word, phrase, or clause, usually a substantive, that is replaced by a pronoun or other substitute later, or occasionally earlier, in the same or in another, usually subsequent, sentence
- anacrhonism
- error in chronology; especially : a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other
- aside
- A piece of dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by the other actors on stage
- foil
- A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison
- cacophony
- Language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce,
- drama
- a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
- fable
- A brief tale designed to illustrate a moral lesson.
- consonance
- the repetition of consonant sounds,
- epithet
- a descriptive phrase used in addition to or in place of a name for a person or thing.