Download Literary Terms for English II Pre-AP 2010-2011

Literary Terms for English II Pre-AP 2010-2011
1. ad hominem – an argument made that (a.) appeals to a person’s feelings or
prejudices rather than intellect or (b.) is marked by an attach on an opponent’s
character rather than his contentions/arguments. Ex. He doesn’t know about
health care reform; he was arrested ten years ago for speeding.
2. allegory – a story in which objects, characters, and actions are symbols of
something outside the narrative. Ex.: Alice in Wonderland is about the British
government.
3. alliteration – the repetition of initial sounds. Ex.: The fair breeze blew, the white
foam flew . . .” –Coleridge
4. allusion – a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or
work of art. Ex: Author Herman Melville names a ship the Pequod in Moby
Dick. The Pequod trip is extinct, and this foreshadows the vessel’s own
extinction.
5. anachronism – something out of its normal time. Ex.: In Troilus and Cressida,
Shakespeare is guilty of anachronism when he allows Hector (of Trojan War fame) to
make a reference to Aristotle. Troy was destroyed by 1100 BCE and the Iliad was
probably composed in 7th century BC; Aristotle was born in 384 BC). In “Bill and
Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” Jesus wears a watch
6. anaphora – repetition when it is specifically used at the beginning of two or more
lines, clauses, or sentences. Ex.: “I have a dream . . .” Martin Luther King.
7. anastrophe – inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence.
Inversion is a synonym for anastrophe. Ex: She looked at the sky dark and menacing.
8. analogy – a comparison that explains or describes one subject by pointing out its
similarities to another subject. Ex: Cat: meow; dog: bark
9. antithesis – involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings,
generally for the purpose of contrast. Ex.: “It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . .” –
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
10. aphorism – a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words.
Ex.: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George
Santayana; “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” - Ralph
Waldo Emerson
11. apostrophe – a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent
person or a personified quality. Ex.: Early in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar,
Cassius, who is actually talking to Brutus, exclaims, “Age thou art sham’d / Rome,
thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!” Antony exclaims, “O Judgment! Thou
are fled to brutish beasts…” In Romeo & Juliet, Juliet says, “O Happy Dagger”
before she kills herself with the dagger.
12. apposition – the placing next to a noun another noun or phrase that explains it.
Ex. Pollution, the city’s primary problem, is an issue. My friend Alice is a doctor
(Julie is in apposition to my friend).
13. archetype – This term is applied to an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern,
or a character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore
and is, therefore, believed to evoke profound emotion because it touches the
unconscious memory and thus calls into play illogical but strong responses. Ex.:
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the rebel, the Don Juan (womanizer), the conquering hero, the country bumpkins,
the self-made man, the femme fatale.
14. assonance – repetition of vowel sounds. Ex.: “The bows glided down, and the
coast Blackened with birds took a last look At his thrashing hair and whale-blue
eye; The trodden town rang its cobbles for luck.” –Thomas’s “Ballad of the LongLegged Bait”
15. asyndeton - condensed form of expression in which a series is presented without
conjunctions. Ex.: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” “I have done. You have heard
me. The facts are before you. I ask for your judgement.” -Artisotle
16. bathos – when a writer, striving at the sublime, overreaches himself and topples
into the absurd. The writing becomes melodramatic.
17. categorical assertion (or claim) – States how one thing relates to another in its
entirety. Ex.: Every flower is a thing of beauty. No man is an island. All
parents worry about their children.
18. catharsis – a moral and spiritual cleansing; an emphatic identification with others
(ex. Watching a protagonist overcome great odds to survive can create catharsis;
confession purges the soul.)
19. chiasmus: a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two
parallel clauses is reversed in the second. This may involve a repetition of the
same words (“Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure” – Byron) or just a
reversed parallel between two corresponding pairs of ideas. This word goes back
to the ancient Greeks and their fascination with language and rhetoric. The “chi”
comes from chi, the letter “X” in the Greek alphabet. The word itself comes from
the Greek word khiasmos, meaning “crossing.” (Antimetabole is a very strict
form of chiasmus where the exact words or ideas are repeated in reverse order.)
Examples: It’s not the men in my life; it’s the life in my men.
You should eat to live, not live to eat.
Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed.
A magician is a person who pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental
psychologist is a person who pulls habits out of rats.
20. climax – when a writer arranges ideas in order of importance ex. I spent the day
cleaning the house, reading poetry, and putting my life in order.
21. connotation – the set of associations that occur to people when they hear or read
a word. Ex.: The word home evokes feelings of warmth, love, safety, comfort,
etc.; the word house does not have the same effect.
22. consonance – repetition of consonant sounds. Ex.: Even, Heaven, striven; pitter
patter
23. denotation – the dictionary meaning of a word, Ex.: The word “house” means a
dwelling or an abode.
24. details – the facts given by the author or speaker as support for the attitude or
tone
25. deus ex machina – a person or thing that suddenly appears, providing a solution
to a difficult problem. The person or thing is lowered to the stage by means of a
crane in classic drama.
26. dialect – the form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group
(Pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence structure are affected by dialect.)
27. dialogue – a conversation between characters
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28. diction – (word choice) To discuss a writer’s diction is to consider the vocabulary
used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of the language.
29. direct characterization – the author directly states a character’s traits
30. dramatic irony – a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the
reader or audience knows to be true
31. ellipsis - the deliberate omission of a word or words which are readily implied by
the context; it creates an elegant or daring economy of words. Example: “This
room was chill, because it seldom had a fire; it was silent, because remote from
the nursery kitchens; solemn, because it was known to be so seldom entered (Jane
Eyre). The words “it was” have been omitted.
Or: “My couch had no thorns in it that night; my solitary room no fears.”
32. epanalepsis – repetition at the end of a clause of the word the occurs at the
beginning. Ex.: “Blood hath brought blood, and blows answer’d blows”
33. epiphany – a sudden understanding or realization which prior to this was not
thought of or understood
34. epistrophe – repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of
successive clauses (the opposite of anaphora). Ex.: Shylock: “I’ll have my bond!
Speak not against my bond! I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond!”
(Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice)
35. epitaph - an inscription used to mark burial places. Ex.: One of the most famous
inscriptions is that marking Shakespeare’s burial place:
Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust encloased here;
Bleste be ye man y spares thes stones,
And curst be he y moves my bones, 36. epithet – a word or phrase used in place of a person’s name; it is characteristic of
that person: Alexander the Great, Material Girl, Ms. Know-It-All, Richard the
Lionhearted
37. euphemism – a device where being indirect replaces directness to avoid
unpleasantness ex. “at liberty” instead of “out of work,” “senior citizen” instead
of “old person,” “pass away” instead of “die”
38. extended metaphor – It differs from a regular in that several comparisons are
made and are extended throughout the passage.
39. first-person narrator – A character in a story who is telling the story; readers see
only what this character sees, hears, etc.
40. figurative language – writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally ex.
simile, metaphor, personification)
41. flashback – a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to
relate an event from an earlier time
42. foreshadowing – the use in a literary work of clues that suggest events that have
yet to occur
43. homily – a form of oral religious instruction given by a minister to a church
congregation (It usually gives practical moral counsel rather than discussion of
doctrine.)
44. hubris – derived from the Greek word hybris, means “excessive pride.” In Greek
tragedy, hubris is often viewed as the flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic
hero.
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45. hyperbole – a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement ex. “That story is as old
as time.”
46. image – a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses.
47. imagery – the descriptive of figurative language used in literature to appeal to
one or more of the five senses “The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp
and raw, the streets were wet and sloppy.” –Charles Dickens, The Pickwick
Papers
48. imperative –a command or order. Ex.: Stop!
49. indirect characterization – the conclusions a reader draws about a character
based on the appearance, behavior, speech, private thoughts, effect he/she has on
other characters
50. inversion – a change in the normal word order. Instead of “I have never seen
such a mess,” one might write: “Never have I seen such a mess.” This is a device
in which typical sentence patterns are reversed to create an emphatic or rhythmic
effect. For example: “Long did the hours seem while I waited the departure of
the company, and listened for the sound of Bessie’s step on the stairs” (Jane
Eyre). Bronte focuses attention on long before stating what seemed long – the
hours. She wants to recreate Jane’s restlessness as she waits for Bessie to finish
her duties and then come to say goodnight to her.
51. irony – the general name given to literary techniques that involve differences
between: a. appearances and reality b. expectation and result c. meaning and
intention
52. juxtaposition – a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated
ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another
53. literal language – uses words in their ordinary senses (the opposite of figurative
language)
54. litotes – (opposite of hyperbole) an understatement usually through a form of
negation. For example: To say “She was not unmindful” when one means that
“She gave careful attention.” OR “my dachshund’s legs are not the longest I’ve
seen on a dog.” OR "We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made
the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all."
(Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 20, 1989)
55. loose sentence – follows the basic subject, verb, complement pattern. Ex.: A car
hit him, just as he bent over to tie his shoelace.
56. malapropism – a type of pun that results when two words become jumbled in the
speaker’s mind. Ex.: In Sheridan’s comedy, The Rivals, the characters, Mrs.
Malaprop, is constantly mixing up her words, as when she says “as headstrong as
an allegory [she means alligator] on the banks of the Nile.”
57. maxim – (similar to an aphorism) an adage, a concise statement, usually drawn
from experience, and inculcating some practical advise. Ex.: Hoyle’s “When in
doubt, win the trick” is a maxim in bridge.
58. metaphor – a comparison between two unlike things not using “as,” “like,”
“than,” or “resembles.” Ex.: “Every word was once a poem . . . Language is fossil
poetry.” -Emerson
59. metonymy – a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for
that of another closely associated with it. Ex: We commonly speak of the
monarch as “the crown.” Blood, sweat, and tears” represent “hard work.”
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60. monologue – a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem in which he/she
has listeners who do not speak
61. mood – the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage
62. motif – a simple device that serves as a basis for an expanded narrative . . . The
motif is a recurring feature in the work. Ex. In Sandra Cisneros’s House on
Mango Street, the house is a motif. Ghosts are a motif in To Kill a Mockingbird
63. motivation – the reason that explains or partially explains a character’s thoughts,
feelings, actions, or behavior
64. narrator - a speaker or character who tells a story . . . He/She may be either a
character in the story or an outside observer.
65. non sequitur – a logical fallacy, a comment which has no relation to the
comment it follows. Ex: “She is thin; therefore, she is hungry” or “Bill lives in a
large building, so his apartment must be large."
A non sequitur is also a literary device, often used for comical purposes (as
opposed to its use in formal logic). It is a comment which, due to its lack of
meaning relative to the comment it follows, is absurd to the point of being
humorous or confusing. Its use can be deliberate or unintentional. Literally, it is
Latin for "it does not follow." In other literature, a non sequitur can denote an
abrupt, illogical, unexpected or absurd turn of plot or dialogue not normally
associated with or appropriate to that preceding it. (Definition adapted from
Yahoo! Answers)
66. omniscient narrator – an all-knowing 3rd person narrator . . . This type of
narrator can reveal to readers what the characters think and feel.
67. onomatopoeia – the use of words that imitate sounds. Ex.: “hiss,” “buzz,”
“whirr,” “sizzle,” “coo,” “cuckoo”
68. oxymoron – a figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory
ideas. Ex.: peace force, tough love, jumbo shrimp
69. paradox – a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but that expresses the
truth. Ex.: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -2 Corinthians and “The
coach considered this a good loss.”
70. parallelism – the repetition of grammatical structure. It consists of phrases or
sentences of similar construction and meaning placed side by side, balancing each
other. Example: One side sees Lincoln as a bold and shrewd leader, sincerely
committed to abolishing slavery; the other sees him as an opportunistic politician,
concerned only to defend the union in any way possible
71. parenthesis – the insertion of words, phrases, or a sentence that is not
syntactically related to the rest of the sentence. It is set off by dashes or
parentheses. Ex.: He said that it was going to rain – I could hardly disagree –
before the game was over.
72. pathetic fallacy – a form of personification where huma traits are attributed to
nature or inanimate objects. Ex: cruel wind; angry clouds.
73. periodic sentence – (opposite of a loose sentence) a sentence withholding its
main idea until the end. Ex.: Just as he bent over to tie his shoelace, a car hit him
(main idea).
74. personification – giving human characteristics to a nonhuman subject. Ex.: “The
rock stubbornly refused to move.”
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75. point of view – the perspective from which a story is told
76. pun – a play on words based on different meanings of words that sound alike.
Ex.: “Son, stay out of the sun.” “Did you see that ewe?”
77. polysyndeton – (opposite of asyndeton) the deliberate use of many conjunctions
for special emphasis – to highlight quantity or mass of detail or to create a
flowing continuous sentence pattern; it slows the pace of the sentence.
For example: “I had had no communication by letter or message with the
outer world: school-rules, school-duties, school-habits and notions, and voices,
and faces and phrases, and costumes, and preferences, and antipathies: such was
what I knew of existence.” (Jane Eyre)
The extra ands in this sentence effectively capture the monotony of Jane’s years
of routine at Lowood and her desire for a different life.
78. repetition – the use, more than once, of any element of language – a sound, a
word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence
79. rhetorical shift – a change from one tone, attitude, etc . . . Look for key words
like but, however, even though, although, yet, etc.
80. sarcasm - a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but
is actually insulting it. Ex.: “She’s a real winner.”
81. simile – a comparison between two unlike thing using words such as “as,” “like,”
“than,” or “resembles.” Ex.: “She stood in front of the altar, shaking like a freshly
caught trout.” –Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
82. situational irony – an event occurs that directly contrasts the expectations of the
characters, the reader, or the audience. Ex: The fire house burns down.
83. soliloquy – a speech delivered by a character when he or she is alone on stage
84. style – a writer’s distinctive mode of expression
85. suspense – a feeling of curiosity or uncertainty about the outcome of events in a
literary work
86. syllogism - syllogism – a formula for presenting an argument logically . . . It
affords a method of demonstrating logic through analysis. It consists of 3
divisions: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
Ex. Maj. – All libraries should serve the people.
Min. – This is a public library.
Conc. – Therefore, this library should serve the people.
87. symbol – anything that stands for or represents something else . . . An object that
serves as a symbol has its own meaning, but it also represents abstract ideas.
88. synecdoche – a form of metaphor in which a part of something is used to stand
for the whole thing. Ex. :“threads” for “clothing” and “wheels” for “a car”
89. syntax – the physical arrangement of words in a sentence
90. theme – a central message or insight into life revealed throughout the literary
work . . . a generalization about human beings or about life that the lit. work
communicates (It must be expressed in sentence form.)
91. third person narrator – the narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of only
one character
92. tone – the writer’s attitude toward his/her audience and subject
93. tongue-in-cheek – characterized by insincerity, irony, whimsy. If you say
something tongue-in-cheek, what you have said is humorous, perhaps sarcastic,
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although at face value it appears to be serious. Ex: “And we all know how
devoted I am to extreme sports!” said the elderly librarian.
(Imagine how authors might do this…Ex: “Under the guidance of her Christian
pastors, [France] entertained herself, besides, with such humane achievements as
sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and
his body burned alive…” – Charles Dickens. Tale of Two Cities) Ex. The
restaurant Bucca de Beppo uses very tongue-in-cheek decorations such as plastic
Popes.
94. understatement – (see litotes) saying less than is actually meant, generally in an
ironic way. Ex.: When someone says “pretty fair” but means “splendid”
95. verbal irony – the type of irony in which words are used to suggest the opposite
of what is meant
96. zeugma
a. when an object-taking word has two or more objects on different levels
such as concrete and abstract, figurative and literal. Ex.: “ . . . you were
gone down to cultivate matrimony and your estate in the country.”
b. or with two different concrete verbs: “He bolted the door and his dinner.”
(From your vocabulary Quiz I, “He left the moment and their company feeling a bit
depressed.”)