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Literary Terms
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32
English
12th Grade
03/01/2010

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Term
Analogy
Definition

– A comparison between two things to compare their similarities; simile

 

Term
context
Definition

Anything beyond the specific words that may be relevant to the meaning; contexts may be economic, religious, social, cultural, historical, literary, biographical, etc.

Term
Anaphora
Definition

Repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and parallelism

 

Term
Ambiguity
Definition

an author intentionally suggests more than one interpretation of a situation; when unintentional, the situation is said to be “vague”. Uncertainty adds interest and urgency

Term
Allusion
Definition

brief, indirect reference to another literary work; way of associating tone or theme of one work to another

Term
Apostrophe
Definition
– a rhetorical pause or digression to address a person directly
Term
Aphorism
Definition
– a short, pithy and instructive statement of truth
Term
Anadiplosis
Definition
a rhetorical trope formed by repeating the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or near the beginning of the next; generated in a series for beauty or logical progression. Used for reinforcement of an idea or word
Term
Allegory
Definition

a story that makes sense on a literal level, but also conveys an abstract level of meaning. Deeper meaning is usually spiritual, moral, or political.  one-dimensional and applies to character, setting, or action.

Term
Anthropomorphism
Definition
author gives human characteristics to nonhuman objects
Term
Antagonist
Definition
character that opposes the hero, or protagonist
Term
Deconstruction
Definition
movement in literary criticism, which denies that literature, has any objective, enduring, or universal meaning; the reduction of literary meaning to political motives, power struggles, and subjective emotion
Term
Action
Definition
the bare events in a story. Action is NOT the same thing as plot, which includes the meaning and purpose of the events
Term
Alliteration
Definition
the recurrence of initial consonant sounds of different words within the same sentence; calls attention to the phrase
Term
Blank Verse
Definition
unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter
Term
Assonance
Definition
use of similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants
Term
deus ex machina
Definition
a conflict is resolved through means that seem unrelated to the story; negative, critical term
Term
Denotation
Definition
an explicit or literal meaning of a word used in order to emphasize a specific, important fact
Term
Catastrophe
Definition
concluding action of a drama following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot; typically includes death or moral destruction of the protagonist
Term
Chiasmus 
Definition
crossing parallelism, where the second part of grammatical construction is balanced by the first part, only in reverse order
Term
Climax
Definition
decisive moment and turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story; point of greatest tension
Term
denoument
Definition
final outcome or unraveling of the main dramatic complications in a play, novel, or other work of literature
Term
Cacophony
Definition
harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or tones
Term
Dialogue
Definition
lines which are spoken by/between the characters in a narrative; reveals characterization and advances plot
Term
Chiasm
Definition
literary structure in which parallel ideas are stated in one order, then reversed
Term
Caesura
Definition
pause, metrical or rhetorical, occurring somewhere in a line of poetry may or may not be typographically indicated
Term
Character
Definition
person in a literary work; or, the traits of a person in a literary work
Term
Diacope
Definition
repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase
Term
conflict
Definition
struggle between opposing forces that provides the central action and interest in any literary plot; creates interest and presents a challenge/obstacle which needs to be overcome
Term
connotation
Definition
suggested, implied, or evocative meaning
Term
conceit
Definition
unusual, elaborate or startling analogy
Term
consonance
Definition
words in which the ending consonants are the same but the vowel sounds are different 
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