Literary Terms
Terms
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- deductive reasoning
- the process of moving from a general rule to a specific example.
- inductive reasoning
- the process that moves from a given series of specifics to a generalization.
- metonymy
- the substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant.
- satire
- a mode of writing based on ridicule, that criticizes the foibles and follies of society without necessarily offering a solution.
- antithesis
- the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure. The contrast may be in words or in ideas or both.
- allusion
- a reference contained in a work.
- personification
- giving human characteristics to inanimate objects for a heightened effect.
- alliteration
- the initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.
- imagery
- the total effect of related sensory images in a work of literature.
- irony
- the use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word.
- extended metaphor
- a sustained comparison, often referred to as a conceit. It is developed throughout a piece of writing.
- conceit
- an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs an entire poem or poetic passage. By juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in surprising ways, it invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison.
- cumulative
- begin with the independent clause and then finish with a flurry of modifying constructions.
- zeugma
- several similar rhetorical devices, all involving a grammatically correct linkage (or yoking together) of two or more parts of speech by another part of speech. Thus examples of zeugmatic usage would include one subject with two (or more) verbs, a verb with two (or more) direct objects, two (or more) subjects with one verb, and so forth. The main benefit of the linking is that it shows relationships between ideas and actions more clearly.
- anecdote
- a story or brief episode told by the writer or a character to illustrate a point.
- pathos
- the aspects of a literary work that elicit pity from the audience. An appeal to emotion that can be used as a means to persuade.
- antimetabole
- reversing the order of repeated words or phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) to intensify the final formulation, to present alternatives, or to show contrast:
- aphorism
- a short witty statement.
- cacophony
- harsh and discordant sounds in a line or passage in a literary work.
- anaphora
- the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses. This device produces a strong emotional effect, especially in speech. It also establishes a marked change in rhythm.
- logos
- logic
- synecdoche
- a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole.
- hyperbole
- the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
- parallelism
- similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses. This basic principle of grammar or rhetoric demands that equivalent things be set forth in coordinate grammatical structures: nouns with nouns, infinitives with infinities and clauses with clauses.
- sarcasm
- a comic technique that ridicules through caustic language. Tone and attitude may both be described as it in a given text if the writer employs language, irony, and wit to mock or scorn.
- understatement
- the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.
- apostrophe
- interrupts the discussion or discourse and addresses directly a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:
- paradox
- an apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth.
- syllogism
- the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
- ethos
- ethics
- periodic
- presents its main clause at the end of the sentence for emphasis and sentence variety.
- allegory
- a work that functions on a symbolic level.
- litote
- the deliberate use of understatement
- colloquialism
- an expression not used in formal speech, writing or paralinguistics. A manner of speaking in writing that is of common conversation.
- connotation
- the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.
- circumlocution
- a figure of speech where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several or many words.
- puns
- the use of words of alike in sound but different in meaning.
- ellipsis
- the deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context. While this cam make clear, economical sentences, if the understood words are grammatically incompatible, the resulting sentence may be awkward.
- analogy
- compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one.
- chiasmus
- the repetition of word, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order.
- euphemism
- a more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable.