English II/GT Literary Terms
Terms
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- Diction
- Word choice intended to convey a certain effect
- Denotation
- Refers to the dictionary defintion of a word
- Connotation
- refers to teh feelings and attitudes associated with it(thumbs up = pos. connotation)
- Imagery
- words or phrases a writer uses to represent persons, objects, actions, feelings and ideas descriptively by appealing to the senses
- Syntax
- the arrangement of words and the order of grammitical elements in a sentence (Yoda,"Happy I am." <- inverted syntax)
- Theme
- The central message of a literary work. Not the same as the subject which can be explained in a word or two. Ex. Friends forever
- Tone
- The writer or speakers attitude toward a subject, characer, or audience, and it is conveyed through the author's choice of words and detail. Ex's: humorous, saracastic, serious
- Apostrophe
- A form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if they are present, or the inanimate is animate. Ex. "O jugdement, thou art fled to brutish beasts..." -Shakspear
- Metonymy
- A form of metaphor when the name of one thing is applied ot another thing with which it is closely related
- Alliteration
- The practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words wiht the same sound
- Metaphor
- A comparison of two unlike things, NOT using like or as
- Oxymoron
- Aform of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a singlie unusual expression (Jumbo shrimp)
- Paradox
- elements of a statement contradict one another while having a coherent meaning that reveals a hidden truth. "When the battle was lost and won" -Shakespeare one side loses one side wins
- Assonance
-
The repitition of vowel sounds in a series of words
I was cheated of my deep sleep with the cheep cheep. - Consonance
- The repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words
- Onomatopoeia
-
The use of words that mimic the sounds they describe
Hiss, Buzz, Bang - Hyperbole
- Deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration.
- Litotes
- Understatment, the opposite of hyperbole
- Verbal Irony
- When a speaker or a narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite (sarcasm)
- Dramatic Irony
- Whne a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings from what he thinks it means, though the audience and other characters may understand the full implications of the speech or action. (Romeo and Juliet - Romeo kills himself because he thinks Juliet is dead but shes really just in a deep sleep)
- allegory
- A story with a double meaning: a primary meaning and then a a under the surface meaning. Can be interpreted two or more different ways.
- Allusion
- Usually an imiplicit reference perhaps to another work of literature or art to a perosn or an event.
- Anachronism
-
A reference in literature to something out of place in time.
Ex. Merlin in OAFK - Anaphora
-
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs
"I had a Dream" - MLK Jr. - Anthropomorphism
- Used with God or gods; The act of attributing human forms or qualities to entities which are not human.
- Asyndeton
- lack of conjunctions between coordinatie phrases, clauses, or words.
- Polysyndeton
- the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words,phrases, or clauses
- Euphemism
- subsitiution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant
- Cacophony
-
Harsh joining of sounds
(pirates) - Synecdoche
-
The use of part for the whole or the whole for the part (a form of metonymy).
the U.S. won three gold medals (meaning the U.S. Swimming team won three gold medals) - Bildungsroman
-
AKA Coming of Age Novel. means "novel of development in German"
S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders - Bloomsbury Group
- A group of English writers, artists, and intellectuals who held informal artistic and philosophical discussions in Bloomsbury, London
- Bon Mot
- French word for "Good Word"; means witty remark or clever observation.
- Catharsis
- The release or purging or unwanted emotions; specifically fear and pity; tragedy
- Chorus
- In ancient greek drama, a group of actors who commented on and interpreted the unfolding action on the stage.
- Colloquialism
- A word, phrase, or form of pronunc iation that is acceptable in casual conversaton but not in formal written communication. Better than slang.
- Didactic
- a term used to describe works of literature that aim to teach some moral, religious, political or practical lesson
- Genre
- a category of literary work
- Great Chain of Being
- The belief that all things and creatures in nature are organized in a hierarchy from inanimate ogjects at the bottom to God at the top
- Harlem Renaissance
- 1920's movement of Black writers and artist in the United States.
- Homeric Simile
- Epic Simile- An elaborate, detailed comparison written as a simile many lines in length
- Idiom
- A word construction or verbal expression closely associated with a given language. "a piece of cake" refers to an easy task
- Lost Generation
- a term frist used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post- WWI generation of American writers
- Motif
- Motiv or Leitmotiv; a them, character type ,image, Metaphor, or other verbal element that recures throughout a single work of literature or occurs in a number of different works over a period of time
- Myth
- An anonymous tale emerging from the traditional beliefs of a culture of social unit.
- Rhetorical Question
- A question intended to provoke thought, but not an expressed answer in the reader
- Romanticism
-
Historical criticism - refers to a European intellectual an daristic movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteeth centuries that sought greater freedom of personal expression than that allowed by the strict rules of literary form and logic; emotional and imaginative expression rather than rationalizing.
- used as a general term ot refer to a type of sensibilty found in all periods of lerary history and usually considered to be in opposition to the principles of classicism - Stream of Consciousness
- A narrative technque for rendering the inward experience of a character. Used to give the impression of an everchanging series of thoughts, emotions,images, and memories in illogical order in life.
- Western Canon
- A canon of books and art that has allegedly been highly influential in shaping Western culture. The selection of canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism.
- Educational Perennialism
- Perennialists believe that one should teach the things of everylasting importance to all people everywhere.