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| Harshness or discordance of sound; the opposite of euphony |
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| A quotation from Horace’s Odes, meaning “seize the day,” or “make the best of the present moment. |
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The use of a word’s meaning is a surprising and illogical metaphor.
Example: Shakespeare’s Hamlet
“To take arms against a sea of troubles”
arms against a sea?
a sea of troubles? |
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The way an author presents characters.
In direct presentation, a character is described by the author, the narrator or the other characters.
In indirect presentation, a character's traits are revealed by the characters action and speech. |
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| The protagonist is the main character, who is not necessarily a hero or a heroine. |
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| The antagonist is the opponent; the antagonist may be society, nature, a person, or an aspect of the protagonist. |
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A persona is a fictional character.
Sometimes the term means the mask or alter-ego of the author;
it is often used for first person works and lyric poems, to distinguish the writer of the work from the character in the work. |
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A moment of Great Intensity in a work, especially in Drama
Climax is the “high-point” of a story
Typical Structure of Story
Exposition (the background information), includes setting and early characterization
Rising Action (develops the plot’s main “complication”)
Complication is the arrival of the principal conflict or problem)
Climax
Falling Action (story resolves itself) |
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An unusually far-fetched or elaborate metaphor or simile presenting a surprising apt parallel between two apparently unrelated things or feelings.
Example:
Grief is a puddle, and reflects not clear / Your beauties rays. |
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The range of meanings associated with a word.
Example: “Worming his way into favor”
Denotation: The “literal” primary sense of the word |
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A metrical unit (foot) of verse, having one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables
Example: Thomas Hardy’s “The Voice”
Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me
The traditional verse of Epic Poetry |
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Meaning the “God from the Machine”
Term now used to describe an improbable or unexpected contrivance by which the author resolves the complications of the plot
Originally a GOD was lowered by some type of machinery at the end of a play in Ancient Greek plays |
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The art of formal reasoning, especially the procedure of seeking truth through debate or discussion
See Socratic Method
The procedure of questioning assumptions, reaching consensus on a point, then continuing to further question . . . |
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The Choice of Words in a literary Work.
Aristotle argued that Diction should be consistent with Character (“Unified”) |
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Instructive
Designed to impart information
Didacticism is often viewed negatively, as the “moral” of a story come to some “doctrinal” end |
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A vowel sound that changes noticeably in quality during pronunciation.
Examples: Wide, Late, Beer, or Round
“Simple Vowels” (not diphthongs) = cat, feed |
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| A song of lamentation in mourning for someone’s death . . . A funeral “dirge” |
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| The Latin Phrase for “Persons of the play,” used to refer collectively to the characters represented in a dramatic work |
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A modern Term invented as the opposite of *utopia, and applied to any alarmingly unpleasant imaginary world, usually of the projected future.
Example:
Orwell’s 1984 |
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A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes.
Hero usually protected by, or descending from, the Gods
Epic Simile: An extended and elaborate simile used in Epic |
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| A quotation or motto placed at the beginning of a book, chapter, or poem as an indication of theme. |
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A Concluding section of any written work.
Often, in drama, a character would address the audience directly, begging indulgence or applause.
Both the speaker and the speech were known as the epilogue |
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A term used in Christian theology for a manifestation of God’s presence in the world.
“A sudden spiritual manifestation”
A “revelatory” moment |
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A letter.
A novel written in the form of a series of letters exchanged among the characters in the story. |
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An adjective or adjective phrase used to define a characteristic quality or attribute or some person or thing.
Example: Catherine the Great
Homeric Epithet:
“wine-dark sea”
Odysseus, master mariner, man of woe
Akhilleus: breaker of men |
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