Terms : Hide Images
| 8470765990 | theme | the main point of a work of literature, term is used interchangeably with thesis, the theme of William Shakespeare's Othello - jealousy - is a common one | 0 | |
| 8470765991 | style | a writer's distinctive manner of arranging words to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writing, the unique imprint of the author's personality upon his or her writing, style is the product of an author's way of arranging ideas with use of diction, sentence structures, rhythm, figures of speech, rhetorical principles, etc. | 1 | |
| 8470765992 | diction | The selection and arrangement of the words in a literary work. Either both may vary depending on the desired effect. Four types are: formal, informal, colloquial, and slang | 2 | |
| 8470765993 | tone | the author's attitude towards his or her audience, can be formal, or informal | 3 | |
| 8470765994 | mood | the prevailing emotions of a work or of the author in his or her creation of work, might not always be expected based on its subject matter | 4 | |
| 8470765995 | imagery | the array of images in a literary work, concrete representation of an object or sensory experience, helps evoke feeling in the reader | 5 | |
| 8470765996 | discordia concours | Latin phrase meaning "discord in harmony", to describe "a combination of dissimilar images or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike" | 6 | |
| 8470765997 | symbol | something that suggests or stands for something else without loosing its original identity, can carry complex associations or that derive their suggestive meaning from their functions | 7 | |
| 8470765998 | motif | a theme, character type, image, metaphor or other verbal element that recurs throughout a single work of literature or time period | 8 | |
| 8470765999 | denotation | the definition of a word apart from the impressions or feelings it creates in the reader | 9 | |
| 8470766000 | connotation | the impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning, universally understood or significant to a single group | 10 | |
| 8470766001 | double entendre | a corruption of a french phrase meaning "double meaning", a word or phrase that is deliberately ambiguous, especially when one of the meanings is risque or improper | 11 | |
| 8470766002 | pun | a play on words that have similar sounds but different meanings | 12 | |
| 8470766003 | figurative language | a technique in writing in which the author temporarily interrupts the order, construction, or meaning of the writing for a particular effect such as in hyperbole, irony, or simile | 13 | |
| 8470766004 | metaphor | a figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object, suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object | 14 | |
| 8470766005 | simile | a comparison, usually using like or as, of two dissimilar things | 15 | |
| 8470766006 | analogy | a comparison of two things made to explain something unfamiliar through its similarities to something familiar or to prove one point based on the acceptance of another | 16 | |
| 8470766007 | conceit | a clever and fanciful metaphor, usually expressed though elaborate and extended comparison, that presents a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things | 17 | |
| 8470766008 | metonymy | a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another which it is closely associated | 18 | |
| 8470766009 | synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, or the material for the thing made from it | 19 | |
| 8470766010 | personificatin | a figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects | 20 | |
| 8470766011 | anthropomorphism | the presentations or gods, animals, or objects in human shape or with human characteristics | 21 | |
| 8470766012 | pathetic fallacy | used to identify writing that falsely endows nonhuman things with human intentions and feelings | 22 | |
| 8470766013 | allusion | a reference to a familiar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea more easily understood | 23 | |
| 8470766014 | hyperbole | in literary criticism, deliberate exaggeration used to achieve an effect | 24 | |
| 8470766015 | understatement | restraint or lack of emphasis in expression, as for rhetorical effect | 25 | |
| 8470766016 | litotes | a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite | 26 | |
| 8470766017 | oxymoron | a phrase combining two contradictory terms, may be intentional or unintentional | 27 | |
| 8470766018 | paradox | a statement that appears illogical or contradictory at first but may actually point to an underlying truth | 28 | |
| 8470766019 | irony | the effect of language in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated | 29 | |
| 8470766020 | dramatic irony | occurs when the audience of a play or the reader of a work knows something that a character in the work itself does not know, irony is in the contrast between the intended meaning of the statements or actions and the additional information understood by the audience | 30 | |
| 8470766021 | onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning | 31 | |
| 8470766022 | alliteration | a poetic device where the first consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in words or syllables are repeated | 32 | |
| 8470766023 | consonance | occurs in poetry when words appearing at the ends of two or more verses have similar final consonant sounds but have final vowel sounds that differ | 33 | |
| 8470766024 | dissonance | a combination of harsh or jarring sounds, may be accidental | 34 | |
| 8470766025 | assonace | the repetition of similar vowel sounds in poetry | 35 | |
| 8470766026 | rhythm | a regular pattern of sound, time intervals, or events occurring in writing, most often in poetry | 36 | |
| 8470766027 | foot | the smallest unit of rhythm in a line of poetry, typically one accented syllable combined with one or two unaccented syllables | 37 | |
| 8470766028 | meter | the repetition of sound patterns that creates rhythm in poetry, based on the number of syllables and the presence and absence of accents | 38 | |
| 8470766029 | caesura | a pause in a line of poetry usually occuring near the middle, typically corresponds to a break in the natural rhythm or sense of the line, can create a special meaning or effect | 39 | |
| 8470766030 | enjambment | the running over of the sense and sturcture of a line of verse or a couplet into the following verse or couplet | 40 | |
| 8470766031 | epic | a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance, the setting is vast and the action is often given cosmic siginifcance though the intervention of supernatural forces such as gods, angels, or demons | 41 | |
| 8470766032 | lyric poetry | a poem expressing the subjective feelings and personal emotions of the poet, it is melodic | 42 | |
| 8470766033 | ode | name given to an extended lyric poem characterized by exaulted emotion and dignified style, usually concerns a single serious theme and addressed to an object or individual, complex rhythm and stanzaic patterns | 43 | |
| 8470766034 | elegy | a lryic poem that laments the death of a person or the eventful death of all people, poet and subject are spoken of as shepherds, melancholy or mournful | 44 | |
| 8470766035 | pastoral | a term derived from the latin word "pastor", meaning shepherd, rural theme | 45 | |
| 8470766036 | sonnet | a fourteen-line poem, usually composed in iambic pentameter, employing one of several thyme schemes, threes major types are petrarchan, italian, and shakespearean sonnets | 46 | |
| 8470766037 | concrete poetry | poetry in which visual elements play a large part in the poetic effect, punctuatuion marks, letters, or words are arranged on a page to form visual design, for example a cross | 47 | |
| 8470766038 | blank verse | loosely, any unrhymed poetry, but more generally unrhymed iambic pentameter verse | 48 | |
| 8470766039 | free verse | poetry that lacks regualr metrical and rhyme patterns but that tries to capture the cadences of everyday speech, allows poet to exploit a variety of rhythmical effects | 49 | |
| 8470766040 | dramatic personae | the characters in a work of literature or drama, the actions of the character are what constitute the plot of a story, novel, or poem | 50 | |
| 8470766041 | archetype | an original pattern or model from which all other things of the same kind are made | 51 | |
| 8470766042 | stereotype | originally the name for a duplication made during the printing process, led to meaning a person or thing that is the same as all others of its type | 52 | |
| 8470766043 | protagonist | the central character of a story who serves as a focus of its themes and incidents and as the principal rationale for its development, hero or heroine | 53 | |
| 8470766044 | antagonist | major character in a narrative who works against the protagonist and known as the anit-hero, typically distrust conventional values and are unable to commit themselves to any ideas | 54 | |
| 8470766045 | foil | a character in a work of literature whose physical or psychological qualities contrast strongly with another character and therefore highlight their qualities, example, sherlock holmes | 55 | |
| 8470766046 | noble savage | the idea that primitive man is noble and good but becomes evil and corrutped as he becomes civilized, renaissane period | 56 | |
| 8470766047 | femme fatale | french phrase with translation "woman fatal", sensuous, alluring woman who often leads men into danger or trouble | 57 | |
| 8470766048 | electra complex | a daughters amorous obession with her father, comes from plays of euripides and sophocles | 58 | |
| 8470766049 | oedipus complex | a sons amorous obession with his mother, from the story of the ancient hero oedipus | 59 | |
| 8470766050 | doppelganger | a literary technique by which a character is dupllicated or divided into two distinct, usually opposite personalities, for example dr. jekyll and mr. hyde | 60 | |
| 8470766051 | tragic flaw | in a tragedy, the quality within the hero which leads to his or her downfall | 61 | |
| 8470766052 | hamartia | in a tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero's downfall, often incorrectly used as a synonym for tragic flaw | 62 | |
| 8470766053 | prologue | an introductory section of a literary work, contains information establishing the situation of the characters or presents information about the setting, time period, or action | 63 | |
| 8470766054 | dialogue | simply conversation between people in a literary work, refers specifically to the speech of characters in a drama | 64 | |
| 8470766055 | interior monologue | a narrative technique in which characters' thoughts are revealed in a way that appears to be uncontrolled by the author, aims to reveal the inner self of a character, portrays emotional experiences as they occur at both a conscious and unconscious level | 65 | |
| 8470766056 | monologue | a composition, written or oral, by a single individual, a speech given by a single individual in a drama or other public entertainment, has no set length | 66 | |
| 8470766057 | extended monologue | a monologue of great length and seriousness, occurs in the one-act, one-character play The Stronger by August Strindberg | 67 | |
| 8470766058 | soliloquy | a monologue in a drama used to give the audience information and to develop the speaker's character, typically a projection of the speaker's innermost thoughts, delivered while the speaker is alone on stage, intended to present an illusion of unspoken reflection | 68 | |
| 8470766059 | aside | a comment made by a stage performer that is intended to be heard by the audience but supposedly not by other characters | 69 | |
| 8470766060 | apostrophe | a statement, question, or request addressed to an object, a concept or to a nonexistent or absent person | 70 | |
| 8470766061 | epilogue | a concluding statement or section of a literary work, dramas of the 17th and 18th centuries, a closing speech, often in verse, delivered by an actor at the end of a play and spoken directly to the audience | 71 | |
| 8470766062 | setting | the time, place, and culture in which the action of a narrative takes place, may include geographic location, characters' physical and mental environments, prevailing cultural attitudes or the historical time in which the action takes place | 72 | |
| 8470766063 | the three unitles | strict rules of dramatic structure, formulated during the renaissance and loosely based on principles of drama discussed by Aristotle, compelled a dramatist to 1) construct a single plot with a beginning, middle and end that details the casual relationships of action and character 2) restrict the action to the events of a single day 3) limit the scene to a single place or city, unities were observed by continental writers until romantic age | 73 | |
| 8470766064 | chorus | a group of actors who commented on and interpreted the unfolding action on the stage, initially was a major component of the presentation, 16th century typically a single person who provided a prologue and an epilogue and occasionally appeared between acts to introduce or underscore an important event | 74 |
