Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Literary Terms 6-3

Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them
 
Analysis: a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny
 
Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences
 
Anecdote: a very short story used to illustrate a point
 
Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative
 
Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life
  
Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology
 
Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly
 
Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself
 
Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true
 
Audience: the intended listener or listeners
 
Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality
 
Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order 

 Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served 
 
Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance 
 
Cliché: a phrase or situation overused within society
 
Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved 
 
Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter
 
Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension
 
Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
 
Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity
 
Denotation: plain dictionary definition 
 
Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion  

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