Literary Terms
Terms : Hide Images
| 204115416 | Symbol | Anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it, usually an idea conventionally associated with it. | |
| 204115417 | Polysyndeton | A rhetorical device for the repeated use of conjunctions to link a succession of words, clauses, or sentences. Often found in stream of consciousness. | |
| 204115418 | 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. | |
| 204115419 | Imagery | A rather vague critical term covering those uses of language in a work that evoke sense-impressions by literal or figurative reference to perceptible or "concrete" objects. (symbols) | |
| 204115420 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. | |
| 204115421 | Understatement | The ironic minimizing of fact. The effect can be frequently humorous and emphatic. | |
| 204115422 | Dramatic Irony | When the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to a character's expectations. | |
| 204115423 | Apostrophe | A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object. | |
| 204219789 | Logic | An implied comparison resulting when one thing is directly called another. To be logically acceptable, support must be appropriate to the claim, believable and consistent. | |
| 204219790 | Theme | The central idea of a work, revealed and developed in the course of a story or explored through argument. | |
| 204219791 | Analogy | Illustration of an idea by means of a more familiar idea that is similar or parallel to it in some significant features. | |
| 204219792 | Onomatopoeia | The use of words that seem to imitate the sounds they refer to. | |
| 204219793 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which apart signifies the whole (a fleet of a 100 snails) or the whole signifies the part (days for life. He lived his days under African skies). When the name of a material stands for the thing itself, as in pigskin for football. | |
| 204219794 | Point of View | The perspective from which the story is told. | |
| 204219795 | Predicate Nominative | A noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject. | |
| 204219796 | Comic Relief | The interruption of a serious work by humor. | |
| 204219797 | Denotation | The explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meaning associated with it or suggested by it. | |
| 204219798 | Meiosis | The Greek term for understatement or belittling; a rhetorical figure by which something that is very impressive, is represented by simplicity; i.e. When Mercuito calls his mortal wound a "scratch." | |
| 204219799 | Personification | A figure of speech by which inanimate objects are given humanlike characteristics. | |
| 204219800 | Subject Compliment | The word or clause that follows a linking verb and completes the subject of the sentence by renaming or describing it. | |
| 204219801 | Subordinate Clause | This word group contains both a subject and a verb plus accompanying phrases or modifiers. | |
| 204219802 | Ad Hominem | Latin for "against the man." An argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, feeling rather than intellect. | |
| 204219803 | Conventional symbol | Something that has been invested with meaning by a group (religious symbols, such as a cross or Star of David: national symbols, such as a flag or an eagle). | |
| 204219804 | Situational Irony | A discrepancy between what is thought to happen and what actually does. | |
| 204219805 | Pun/Double entendre | In rhetoric, dealing with one word that suggests two different meanings. Often is used for humor. | |
| 204219806 | Verbal Irony | A discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant. | |
| 204219807 | Connotation | The range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its straightforward dictionary meaning. | |
| 204219808 | Tone | A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels. | |
| 204219809 | Diction | The choice of words used in a written work. | |
| 204219810 | Assonance | The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the syllables of neighboring words. | |
| 204219811 | Euphemism | A mild or less negative usage for harsh or blunt term; i.e. pass away for die. | |
| 204219812 | Parallelism | Refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs in order to give structural similarity. A famous example begins A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." | |
| 204219813 | Simile | A comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." | |
| 204219814 | Paradox | A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true. This rhetorical device is often used for emphasis or simply to attract attention. | |
| 204219815 | Satire | A mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. | |
| 204219816 | Asyndeton | A form of verbal compression which consists of the omission of connecting words between clauses. The most common form is the omission of "and," leaving on a sequence linked by commas. | |
| 204219817 | Hyperbole | Extreme exaggeration. | |
| 204219818 | Diatribe | A bitter verbal or written attack on somebody or something. | |
| 204219819 | Litotes | A figure of speech by which an affirmation is made indirectly by denying its opposite, usually with an effect of understatement. Ex: "I'm not averse to a drink." | |
| 204219820 | Irony | A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency. | |
| 204219821 | Anti-hero | A central character in a dramatic or narrative work who lacks the qualities of nobility and magnanimity expected of traditional heroes and heroines in romances and epics. | |
| 204219822 | Wit | In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. | |
| 204219823 | Allegory | A story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. | |
| 204219824 | Didactic | A term used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking. | |
| 204219825 | Ambiguity | Multiple meanings either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | |
| 204219826 | Aphorism | A statement of some general principle, expressed memorably by considering much wisdom into few words. | |
| 204219827 | Pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. | |
| 204219828 | Apology | In the literary sense, a justification or defense of the writer's opinions or conduct, not usually implying any admission of blame (as in the everyday use). | |
| 204219829 | Antithesis | A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences, as in the following: "They promised freedom but provided slavery." | |
| 204219830 | Syllogism | A form of logical argument that derives a conclusion from two propositions, sharing a common term. Usually in this form: all x are y; z is y; therefore z is y. | |
| 204219831 | Rhetorical Question | A question asked for the sake of persuasive effect rather than a genuine request for information. | |
| 204219832 | Consonance | The repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are usually different. | |
| 204219833 | Natural Symbol | Objects and occurrences from nature to represent ideas commonly associated with them. | |
| 204219834 | Anaphora | A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences. | |
| 204219835 | Bathos | Insincere or overdone sentimentality. | |
| 204219836 | Predicate adjective | An adjective, group pf adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb. | |
| 204219837 | Anachronism | A person, scene, event, or other element that fails to correspond with the appropriate time or era. | |
| 204219838 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. | |
| 204219839 | Epistrophe | A rhetorical figure by which the same word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive sentences. | |
| 204219840 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox - jumbo shrimp, cruel kindness. | |
| 204219841 | Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. | |
| 204219842 | Narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. | |
| 204219843 | Metaphor | A comparison between two unlike things without using the words "like" or "as." | |
| 204219844 | Colloquialism | The use of informal expressions appropriate to everyday speech rather than to the formality of writing. | |
| 204219845 | Epigram | A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement. | |
| 204219846 | Periodic Sentence | A sentence that departs from usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support. | |
| 204219847 | Effusive | Giving or involving an extravagant and sometimes excessive expression of feelings in speech of writing; unrestrained in expressing feelings. | |
| 204219848 | Circumlocution | Talking around a subject; i.e. discourse that avoids direct reference to a subject. | |
| 204219849 | Metonymy | A figure of speech that replaces that name of one thing with the name of something else closely associated with it; i.e. "Marv has a good head." | |
| 204219850 | Rhetoric | The deliberate exploitation of eloquence for the most persuasive effect in public speaking or in writing. | |
| 204219851 | Zuegma | One words, usually a noun or the main verb, which governs two other words not related in meaning- he maintained a business and his innocence. | |
| 204219852 | Alliteration | The repetition of the same sounds- usually initial consonants of words. | |
| 204219853 | Parallel Structure | The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank. Coordinate ideas, compared and contrasted ideas, and correlative constructions call for parallel construction. For example: Colleges favor applicants with good academic records, varied interests, and they should earn a high score on the AP exam. The underlined section lacks the same grammatical form as the italicized phrases. To be correct, it should read high scores. |
