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Literary Terms Week 5

Literary Terms Through Week 5

Terms

undefined, object
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Canon
a Greek word that implies rule or law and is used in literature as the source which regulates which selection of authors or works would be considered important pieces of literature.
Hyperbole
A figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration is used for deliberate effect
Allegory
"A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. In written narrative _____ involves a continuous parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story so that its persons and events correspond to their equivalents in a system of ideas or a chain of events external to the tale."""
Catharsis
"Meaning ""purgation"" _____ describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy. In his Poetics Aristotle discusses the importance of ______. The audience faces the misfortunes of the protagonist which elicit pity and compassion. Simultaneously the audience also confronts the failure of the protagonist thus receiving a frightening reminder of human limitations and frailties."
Allusion
An indirect or passing reference to some event person place or artistic work the nature and relevance of which is not explained by the writer but relies on the reader's familiarity with what is thus mentioned.
Interpolation
A passage included in an author's work without his/her consent
Connotation
The emotional implications and associations that words may carry as distinguished from their denotative meanings
Anaphora
"-repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases clauses or sentences. ""We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France"
Metaphor
a type of figurative language in which a statement is made that says that one thing is something else but literally it is not. In connecting one object event or place to another a _____ can uncover new and intriguing qualities of the original thing that we may not normally notice or even consider important. _____ language is used in order to realize a new and different meaning.
Exegesis
"Critical interpretation of a text especially a biblical text; from the Greek ex- + egeisthai meaning ""to lead out."
Farce
A type of comedy based on a humorous situation such as a bank robber who mistakenly wanders into a police station to hide. It is the situation here which provides the humor not the cleverness of plot or lines
Inversion
reversal of the normal order of words for dramatic effect
Epithet
In literature a word of phrase preceding or following a name which serves to describe the character. For example in the Iliad: Zeus-loved Achilles
Epigram
A pithy sometimes satiric couplet or quatrain which was popular in classic Latin literature and in European and English literature of the Renaissance and the neo-Classical era.
Anecdote
"-A very short tale told by a character in a literary work. In Chaucer's ""Canterbury Tales"" ""The Miller's Tale"" and ""The Carpenter's Tale"" are examples."
Intentional Fallacy
assuming from the text what the author intended to mean
Dystopia
see utopia
Ambiguity
-A statement which can contain two or more meanings. For example when the oracle at Delphi told Croesus that if he waged war on Cyrus he would destroy a great empire Croesus thought the oracle meant his enemy's empire. In fact the empire Croesus destro
Magical Realism
" a literary technique where the disbelief of the reader and writer produces a momentary shift in the real world wherein an element of the surreal enters and leaves with ease."""
Apostrophe
A figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman
Conceit
A far-fetched simile or metaphor a literary _____occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things.
Chiasmus
A term from classical rhetoric that describes a situation in which you introduce subjects in the order A B and C and then talk about them in the order C B and A.
Denotation
The basic dictionary meaning of a word as opposed to its connotative meaning
Aphorism
"A brief statement which expresses an observation on life usually intended as a wise observation. Benjamin Franklin's ""Poor Richard's Almanac"" contains numerous examples one of which is Drive thy business; let it not drive thee."
Genre
A literary _____ is a recognizable and established category of written work employing such common conventions as will prevent readers or audiences from mistaking it [with] another kind
Epigraph
A brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work.
Diction
An author's choice of words. Since words have specific meanings and since one's choice of words can affect feelings a writer's choice of words can have great impact in a literary work.
In Media Res
in or into the middle of a sequence of events as in a literary narrative
Aesthetics
"Philosophical investigation into the nature of beauty and the perception of beauty especially in the arts; the theory of art or artistic taste."""
Comedy
A literary work which is amusing and ends happily. Modern ______ tend to be funny while Shakespearean _____ simply end well.
Colloquialism
spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
Intertextuality
_____is thus a way of accounting for the role of literary and extra-literary materials without recourse to traditional notions of authorship. A literary work then is not simply the product of a single author but of its relationship to other texts and to the strucutures of language itself.
Idiom
A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon or A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people
Antagonist
the character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a word represents something else which it suggests. For example in a herd of fifty cows the herd might be referred to as fifty head of cattle
Imagery
the collection of images within a literary work. Used to evoke atmosphere mood tension. For example images of crowded steaming sidewalks flanking streets choked with lines of shimmering smoking cars suggests oppressive heat and all the psychological tensions that go with it.
Didactic
"A work ""designed to impart information advice or some doctrine of morality or philosophy."""
Hubris
a common theme in Greek tragedies and mythology whose stories often featured protagonists suffering from hubris and subsequently being punished by the gods for it.
Archetype
a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. In literature characters images and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences
Gothic
characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; gothic novels include Frankenstein
Framing Device
A story in which one or more other stories are told. Examples include the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and the play at the beginning of the Taming of the Shrew.
Homily
An inspirational saying or platitude.
Analogy
-A resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects when the things are otherwise entirely different.
Formalism
strict observance of the established rules traditions and methods employed in the arts. _____ can also refer to the theory of art that relies heavily on the organization of forms in a work rather than on the content.
Climax
The decisive moment in a drama the ______ is the turning point of the play to which the rising action leads. This is the crucial part of the drama the part which determines the outcome of the conflict.
Anti-hero
a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. [A character who] may be bewildered ineffectual deluded or merely pathetic.
Irony
A device that depends on the existence of at least two separate and contrasting levels of meaning embedded in one message. Verbal irony is sarcasm when the speaker says something other than what they really mean. In dramatic irony the audience is more aware than the characters in a work. Situational irony occurs when the opposite of what is expected happens. This type of irony often emphasizes that people are caught in forces beyond their comprehension and control.
Asyndeton
The omission of a conjunction from a list ('chips beans peas vinegar salt pepper')
Aside
A device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech which is heard by the audience but not by other characters in the play
Malapropism
"is an incorrect usage of a word usually with comic effect. ""He is the very pineapple of politeness."""
Deus Ex Machina
"An unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue the protagonists or resolve the conflict. The term means ""The god out of the machine"" and refers to stage machinery."

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