AICE Literature Terminology

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables giving a line of poetry its rhythm.

Frame Story

A story structure that includes the telling of a story within a story.

Cumulative Sentence

Begins with the main idea and then expands on that idea with a series of details or other particulars.

Cadence

Borrowed from music, where it refers to the use of a group of notes or chords used to end a piece of music or a phrase within it. As it can also be used to refer to the audible features of speech - a statement slowing and falling in pitch as it ends, for example, or the pause that a comma demands - it has been taken up by poets to refer to the pitch and rhythm of words within a poem. Unlike discussions of meter, which refer to the beat underlying what is said, this attends to actual variations.

Dialogue

Conversation between characters in a story, work of nonfiction, novel, play, or dramatic poem. This can advance the plot and reveal character's personalities.

Extended Metaphor

Form of rhyme in which the pronunciation of the last syllable of one line is different from the pronunciation of the last syllable of another line even though both syllables are identical in spelling except for a preceding consonant. For example, the following end-of-line word pairs would constitute eye rhyme: cough, rough; cow, mow; daughter, laughter; rummaging, raging.

Circumlocution

Indirect, wordy language used to avoid stating it simply and directly.

Confidant/Confidante

Someone that the protagonist talks to enabling the audience or reader to become aware of the motivations of the hero of the work.

Evoke

To transmit a particular feeling, emotion or sensory image.

Generalization

When a writer bases a claim upon an isolate example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable. Sweeping generalization occurs when a writer asserts that a claim applies to all instances instead of some.

Slant Rhyme

When there is a close, but not exact, rhyme.

Tautology

Wordiness, needless repetition.

Allegory

the device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning (In some for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or freedom. This meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence.)

Protagonist

the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work

Conventional Symbols

those that have 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; or group symbols, such as a skull and crossbones for pirates or the scale of justice for lawyers).

End Stop

A grammatical pause at the end of a line of verse, as in these lines from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism: A little learning is a dangerous thing; /Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring. / There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, /And drinking largely sobers us again.

Zeugma

A grammatically correct construction in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns without being repeated -often used to comic effect. Ex: the thief took my wallet and the Fifth Avenue bus.

Epigram

A short, succinct poem, often with witty (or even vicious) content

Didactic

From the Greek, this literally means "teaching." Didactic words have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of morals, ethical principles or correct behavior or thinking.

Hubris

Greek for "pride" or "insolence". It is a character defect of the character that leads the tragic hero to disregard all warnings of impending disaster and thereby hasten the catastrophe. Ex: In Richard III, hubris causes him to put to death any who might wish him harm, which leads him to isolation (allies fled) in the final battle.

Footnote

Information provided outside and in addition to the main text of a piece of writing.

Local Color

Literature with local color is tied in location, topic, attitudes and beliefs (and even in dialect) to a particular region of a country

Lyrical Poetry

Poetry that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts and feelings.

Scansion

The process of marking the stresses in a poem, and working out the meter from the distribution of stresses. The verb is to scan. 'Mark' can be taken to mean both 'notice' and 'annotate', the latter often done with a u for an unstressed syllable and a slash, /, for a stressed one.

Motivation

The psychological and moral impulses and external circumstances that cause a literary character to act, think or feel a certain way.

Macrocosm

The world as a whole; the universe.

Inversion

Variation of the normal word order (subject first, then verb, then complement) which puts a modifier or the verb first in the sentence. The element that appears first is emphasized more than the subject.

Ethos

(Greek for 'character') refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect. Ethos is often conveyed through tone and style of the message and through the way the writer or speaker refers to differing views. It can also be affected by the writer's reputation as it exists independently from the message--his or her expertise in the field, his or her previous record or integrity, and so forth. The impact of ethos is often called the argument's 'ethical appeal' or the 'appeal from credibility'.

Pathos

(Greek for 'suffering' or 'experience') is often associated with emotional appeal. But a better equivalent might be 'appeal to the audience's sympathies and imagination.' An appeal to pathos causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify with the writer's point of view--to feel what the writer feels. In this sense, pathos evokes a meaning implicit in the verb 'to suffer'--to feel pain imaginatively.... Perhaps the most common way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narrative or story, which can turn the abstractions of logic into something palpable and present. The values, beliefs, and understandings of the writer are implicit in the story and conveyed imaginatively to the reader. This means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument. Pathos thus refers to both the emotional and the imaginative impact of the message on an audience, the power with which the writer's message moves the audience to decision or action.

Logos

(Greek for 'word') refers to the internal consistency of the message--the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence. The impact of logos on an audience is sometimes called the argument's logical appeal.

Metonymy

(mĕtŏn′ ĭmē) A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name," metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. For example, a news release that claims "the White House declared" rather than "the President declared" is using metonymy. The substituted term generally carries a more potent emotional impact. It is important to note that metonymy is a substitution of abstract qualities rather than concrete.

Style

- An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending tone, diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. Some authors' styles are so idiosyncratic that we can quickly recognize works by the same author. We can analyze and describe an author's personal style and make judgments on how appropriate it is to the author's purpose. Styles can be called flowery, explicit, succinct, rambling, bombastic, commonplace, incisive, laconic, etc. - Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors. By means of such classification and comparison, we can see how an author's style reflects and helps to define a historical period, such as the Renaissance or the Victorian period, or a literary movement, such as the romantic, transcendental, or realist movement.

Character vs. Society Conflict

A character is placed in opposition with society when his views or actions go against those of a dominant group. Their Eyes Were Watching God incorporates this type of conflict when the main character, Janie, abandons her prominent position as a mayor's widow to embark upon a romance with a drifter. Janie's desire for true love is in opposition to prevailing views on status and marriage at that time.

High Comedy

A comedy that relies on wit and subtle irony or sarcasm. High comedy usually focuses on the everyday life of upper classes. It is generally verbal rather than physical.

Comedy of Manners

A comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social customs, etc.) of the privileged and fashionable segment of society. An example is Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, in which Goldsmith pokes fun at the English upper class. The play uses farce (including many mix-ups) to ridicule the class-consciousness of 18th Century Englishmen.

Epithet

A descriptive word or phrase attached to the name of a person or thing, usually stressing a particular characteristic.

Dramatic Convention

A device that a playwright uses to present a story on stage and that the audience accepts as realistic.

Figure of Speech

A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. Figures of speech include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement.

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. They can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of this.

Full-Length Play

A drama that usually has several major characters and a complicated plot that is usually divided into acts and scenes.

Conceit

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. The Metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century enjoyed creating particularly audacious metaphors and similes to compare very unlike things, and drawing attention to how skillfully they could sustain this comparison; this became known as the conceit. It displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. (The literal Greek meaning is "overshoot.") Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony. The opposite of hyperbole is understatement.

Metaphor

A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. Metaphorical language makes writing more vivid, imaginative, thought provoking, and meaningful.

Sentimentality

A flaw in a literary work or film in which the author relies on tear-jerking or heart-wrenching scenes rather than writing talent or cinematic skill to evoke a response in readers.

Eulogy

A formal composition or speech in high praise of someone (living or dead) or something.

Stanza

A group of lines within a poem; the blank line between stanzas is known as a stanza break. Like lines, there is no set length to a stanza or an insistence that all stanzas within a poem need be the same length. However, there are names for stanzas of certain lengths: two-line stanzas are couplets; three-lines, tercets; four-lines, quatrains. (Rarer terms, like sixains and quatorzains, are very rarely used.) Whether regular or not, the visual effect and, sometimes, the aural effect is one of uniting the sense of the stanza into one group, so poets can either let their sentences fit neatly within these groups, or create flow and tension by enjambing across the stanza breaks.

Epic Hero

A legendary figure of almost super-human qualities whose adventures for, the core of the epic poem.

Kenning

A much-compressed form of metaphor, originally used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry. It is a compound expression, often hyphenated, representing a single noun. In a kenning, an object is described in a two-word phrase, such as 'whale-road' for 'sea'. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to being a riddle.

Character

A person in a story, play, or novel. They reveal only one personality trait are described as flat. They show varied traits are called round. Stereotyped ________ are common types whose actions are predictable. Dynamic _________ change significantly during the course of the literary work and carry with them the reality of human growth and decline. Whereas, static _________ remain unchanging, neither dynamic nor static are necessarily truer to life than the other.

Flashback

A scene in a narrative that breaks the normal time sequence of the plot to narrate events that happened earlier.

Villanelle

A short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usually five in number, followed by a final quatrain, all being based on two rhymes.

Anecdote

A short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident: This kind of evidence is an informal account of evidence in the form of hearsay. The term is often used in contrast to scientific evidence, as evidence that cannot be investigated using the scientific method. The problem with arguing based on this kind of evidence is that it is not necessarily typical; only statistical evidence can determine how typical something is. Misuse of it is a logical fallacy.

Analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. This can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. They can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging.

Paradox

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. (Think of the beginning of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....")

Caesura

A strong pause within a line, and is often found alongside enjambment. If all the pauses in the sense of the poem were to occur at the line breaks, this could become dull; moving the pauses so they occur within the line creates a musical interest.

Emotive

A style of writing aimed at bringing out an emotional response in the reader.

Paraphrase

A summary in the reader's own words of a piece of literature.

Turning Point

A term used to describe that point in the plot when the protagonist's situation changes for the better or for the worse.

Aphorism

A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle (If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a folk proverb.) It can be a memorable summation of the author's point.

Microcosm

A tiny world within the macrocosm. Often a microcosm represents ideas and activities present in the macrocosm. In Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, the whaling ship The Pequod is a microcosm. In William Golding's novel The Lord of the Flies, the island on which children take on the negative characteristics of adults in the world at large is a microcosm

Farce

A type of comedy that presents stereotyped characters in improbable situations.

Comedy

A type of drama that is humorous and usually as a happy ending.

Loose Sentence/non-periodic sentence

A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the independent clause, the clause would be a complete sentence. A work containing many loose sentences often seems informal, relaxed, or conversational. Generally, loose sentences create loose style. The opposite of a loose sentence is the periodic sentence. Example: I arrived at the San Diego airport after a long, bumpy ride and multiple delays. Could stop at: I arrived at the San Diego airport.

Transition

A word or phrase that links different ideas. Used especially, although not exclusively, in expository and argumentative writing, transitions effectively signal a shift from one idea to another. A few commonly used transitional words or phrases are furthermore, consequently, nevertheless, for example, in addition, likewise, similarly, on the contrary, etc. More sophisticated writers use more subtle means of transition.

Parody

A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. It exploits peculiarities of an author's expression (propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, etc.) Well-written parody offers enlightenment about the original, but poorly written parody offers only ineffectual imitation. Usually an audience must grasp literary allusion and understand the work being parodied in order to fully appreciate the nuances of the newer work. Occasionally, however, parodies take on a life of their own and don't require knowledge of the original.

Satire

A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Regardless of whether or not the work aims to reform human behavior, satire is best seen as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing. It can be recognized by the many devices used effectively by the satirist: irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement, and sarcasm. The effects of satire are varied, depending on the writer's goal, but good satire, often humorous, is thought provoking and insightful about the human condition. Some modern satirists include Joseph Heller (Catch 22) and Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Player Piano).

Explication

Act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text. Explication usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

Parallelism

Also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, this term comes from Greek roots meaning "beside one another." It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as a preposition or verbal phrase. (Again, the opening of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities is an example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of believe, it was the epoch of incredulity....") The effects of parallelism are numerous, but frequently they act as an organizing force to attract the reader's attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm. (anaphora - A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. MLK used anaphora in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech (1963)).

Catharsis

An emotional release at the resolution of a tragedy - A purification of the sense of pity and fear for the audience after the return to order in a tragic universe. The audience members leave the theater as better persons intellectually, morally, or socially. They have either been cleansed of fear of pity or have vowed to avoid situations that arouse fear and pity. In modern usage, this may refer to any experience, real or imagined, that purges a person of negative emotions.

Innuendo

An insinuation; the implication or hint of something derogatory; a device of satire.

Exposition

An introduction to people, places, and situations that are important to the plot of a story, novel, or play.

Anachronism

Anything that is incongruous in the time period it has been placed in. It appears in a temporal context in which it seems sufficiently out of place as to be peculiar, incomprehensible or impossible. The item is often an object, but may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a custom, or anything else closely enough bound to a particular period as to seem odd outside it. For example: an actor in a Shakespearean play wearing a digital watch.

Analysis

Breaking down of something to see how the parts come together to form the whole: In rhetorical ____________, we consider how the devices and strategies come together to support the author's purpose.

Verse

Collection of lines (as in a Shakespeare play) that follow a regular, rhythmic pattern.

Idiom

Common expression that has acquired a meaning different from its literal meaning. Ex: window shopping

Canon

Complete works of an author. When reasonable doubt exists that an author wrote a work attributed to him, scholars generally exclude it from the author's _________. Such doubt sometimes arises when a centuries-old work-for example, a play, poem, or novel-has survived intact to the present day without an author's byline or other documentation proving that a particular author wrote it.

Balance

Construction in which both halves of the sentence are about the same length and importance.

Chiasmus

Could be called "reverse parallelism," since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order. Instead of an A,B structure (e.g., "learned unwillingly") paralleled by another A,B structure ("forgotten gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly forgotten"). So instead of writing, "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first little," could be written as, "What is now great was little at first." Here is another example: He labors without complaining and without bragging rests.

Catastrophe

Either the denouement, or conclusion, of a stage tragedy or the denouement of any literary work where the main characters die.

Euphemism

From the Greek for "good speech," euphemisms are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. A euphemism is a pleasant or sanitized expression used to describe the negative or unpleasant. The euphemism may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement. Saying "earthly remains" rather than "corpse" is an example of euphemism.

Rhetoric

From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. Rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse.

Syllogism

From the Greek for "reckoning together," a syllogism (or syllogistic reasoning or syllogistic logic) is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (the first one called "major" and the second called "minor") that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion. A frequently cited example proceeds as follows: major premise: All men are mortal. minor premise: Socrates is a man. conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is a mortal. A syllogism's conclusion is valid only if each of the two premises is valid. Syllogisms may also present the specific idea first ("Socrates") and the general second ("all men").

Sarcasm

From the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," sarcasm involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device, but not all ironic statements are sarcastic (that is, intended to ridicule). When well done, sarcasm can be witty and insightful; when poorly done, it is simply cruel.

Symbol/Symbolism

Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Usually a symbol is something concrete -- such as an object, action, character, or scene - that represents something more abstract. However, symbols and symbolism can be much more complex.

Archetype

Greek for "original pattern": The abstract idea of a class of things which represents the most typical and essential characteristics shared by the class. Certain character or personality types have become this. Ex: the femme fatale, the jealous husband, the all-conquering hero, the self-made man, the witch, the damsel in distress.

Incongruity

Juxtaposition of ideas or images that seem inconsistent, incompatible, or out of place.

Abstract Language

Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people or places (The observable or 'physical' is usually described with concrete language. Ex: love, honor, integrity, evil.)

In media res

Latin meaning "in the middle of things". The narrative practice of starting a story in the middle of the action to involve the reader and then using one or more flashbacks to fill in what led up to that point. Although the practice is common in modern works the term is most often applied to epic poetry, for which it is a convention.

Denouement

Literally meaning "unraveling" like a knot at the resolution of a play. The term is usually reserved for comedies and melodramas, although it does also apply to tragedies. The resolution of tragedies is commonly referred to as a catastrophe. They are also the applicable term for the resolution of short stories or novels.

Burlesque

Literary work, film, or stage production that mocks a person, a place, a thing, or an idea by using wit, irony, hyperbole, sarcasm, and/or understatement. For example, this may turn a supposedly distinguished person into a buffoon or a supposedly lofty subject into a trivial one. A hallmark of this is its thoroughgoing exaggeration, often to the point of the absurd. Cervantes used this in Don Quixote to poke fun at chivalry and other outdated romantic ideals. This is a close kin of parody.

Free Verse

Poetry that has no fixed meter or pattern. It is free from is the constraints of regular meter and fixed forms. This makes the poem free to find its own shape according to what the poet - or the poem - wants to say, but still allows him or her to use rhyme, alliteration, rhythms or cadences (etc) to achieve the effects that s/he feels are appropriate. There is an implicit constraint, however, to resist a regular meter in free verse - a run of a regular meter will stand out awkwardly in an otherwise free poem.

Blank Verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. This is a rhythm made up of five feet to a line, each foot containing one unstressed and one stressed syllable.

Juxtaposition

Purposeful placement of ideas, images, or language (often incongruous) to heighten their effect.

Rhetorical Question

Question with an obvious, understood answer.

Motif

Recurring theme, symbols or images in a literary work or a recurring theme in literature in general. Maltreatment of women is a motif that appears in "Hills Like White Elephants," a short story by Ernest Hemingway; "The Story of an Hour," a short story by Kate Chopin; and "The Chrysanthemums," a short story by John Steinbeck. The love of money as the root of evil is a motif that occurs in many works of literature.

Diction

Related to style, diction refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. For exams, you should be able to describe an author's diction (for example, formal or informal, ornate or plain) and understand the ways in which diction can complement the author's purpose. This, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc., creates an author's style.

Third Person Limited Omniscient

Relates the events with the third person pronouns, "he," "she," and "it." In which the narrator presents the feelings and thoughts of only one character, presenting only the actions of all the remaining characters. In addition, be aware that the term point of view carries an additional meaning. When you are asked to analyze the author's point of view, the appropriate point for you to address is the author's attitude.

Doggerel

Rhyming verse that is trite, sentimental and not quite funny. Its meter is often monotonous or loosely clumsy. Hint: Think greeting cards. Able writers will use this for satirical or comic effect.

Character vs. Self Conflict

Sometimes the conflict in literature does not come from external forces, but emerges through a moral dilemma within the character. In Of Mice and Men the main character, George Milton, has a conflict within himself about how to handle his disabled friend's care. He struggles between doing what is best for his friend and what is best for those around him, which becomes the central piece of conflict in the story.

Quatrain

Stanza or poem of four lines. A quatrain usually has a rhyme scheme, such as abab, abba, or abcb.

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break. If a poet allows all the sentences of a poem to end in the same place as regular line-breaks, a kind of deadening can happen in the ear, and in the brain too, as all the thoughts can end up being the same length. Enjambment is one way of creating audible interest; others include caesurae, or having variable line-lengths.

Irony/Ironic

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true. Irony is often used to create poignancy or humor. In general, there are three major types of irony used in language

Repetition

The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.

Assonance

The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described: Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently atmosphere foreshadows events.

Argument

The kind of writing that uses reason to affect people's opinions and actions.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genre is a flexible term; within these broad boundaries exist many subdivisions that are often called genres themselves. For example, prose can be divided into fiction (novels and short stories) or nonfiction (essays, biographies, autobiographies, etc.). Poetry can be divided into lyric, dramatic, narrative, epic, etc. Drama can be divided into tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, etc.

End Rhyme

The most common form of rhyme in English poetry. In poetry, a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses, as in stanza one of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening": Whose woods these are I think I know,/His house is in the village, though; /He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Bathos

The name given to the feeling that the tone or language being used is far more elevated than is appropriate. Unintentional __________ can utterly scupper a poem, as that sense of distance and disconnectedness is funny, but that humor can be used intentionally, often to humorous or satiric effect. Bildungsroman - German for a "formation novel". It is a coming of age story. A bildungsroman is a story about the moral, psychological or spiritual growth of the main character. It describes the process by which maturity comes from the ups and downs of life.

Connotation

The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. It may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes.

Induction

The opposite of deduction, induction moves from specific to general. Inductive reasoning takes the available information to derive a general conclusion that connects it.

Antithesis

The opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite.

Rising Action

The part of a story's plot that adds complications to the problems and increases reader interest.

Characterization

The personality of a character and the method that an author uses to reveal this personality.

Setting

The place and time in which a story, play, or novel happens.

Climax

The point of our highest interest and greatest emotional involvement in a narrative.

Mood

The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work setting - that influence the attitudes of characters and the readers. Setting, tone, and events can affect the mood.

Rhyme

The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all succeeding consonant sounds.

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea shells"). Although the term is not frequently in the multiple choice section, you can look for this in any essay passage. The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage.

Anaphora (uh NAF uh ruh)

The repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism: To think on death it is a misery,/ To think on life it is a vanity;/ To think on the world verily it is,/ To think that here man hath no perfect bliss. -Peacham. This can be used with questions, negations, hypotheses, conclusions, and subordinating conjunctions, although care must be taken not to become affected or to sound rhetorical and bombastic. Consider these selections: Will he read the book? Will he learn what it has to teach him? Will he live according to what he has learned?

Imagery

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman's cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection. An author may use complex imagery while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile. In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work.

Denotation

The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. (Example: the denotation of a knife would be a utensil used to cut; the connotation of a knife might be fear, violence, anger, foreboding, etc.)

Irony of Fate

The view that fate, destiny or God, seeking diversion or amusement, manipulates human beings like puppets and thwarts their plans. (Also referred to as Cosmic Irony)

Syntax

The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is similar to diction, but you can differentiate them by thinking of syntax as groups of words, while diction refers to the individual words. You will need to analyze how syntax produces effects.

Elegy

This is a poem of mourning; this is often the poet mourning one person, but the definition also includes Thomas Gray's '________ Written in a Country Churchyard', which mourns all the occupants of that churchyard, and looks into the future to mourn the poet's own death. The difference between an this and a eulogy is that the latter is a speech given to honor someone's best qualities, often (but not necessarily) after their death.

Generic Conventions

This term describes traditions for each genre. These conventions help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing. Try to distinguish the unique features of a writer's work from those dictated by convention.

Inference/infer

To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for an inference to be drawn from a passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest answer choice. If an inference is implausible, it's unlikely to be the correct answer. Note that if the answer choice is directly stated, it is not inferred and it is wrong. You must be careful to note the connotation - negative or positive - of the choices.

Couplet

Two consecutive lines in a poem or play that rhyme.

Slang

Very informal or coarse language.

Oversimplification

When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issue in an argument.

Synesthesia

When one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another. Ex: The sight of red ants makes you itchy. In literature, synesthesia refers to the practice of associating two or more different senses in the same image. Red Hot Chili Peppers' song title, "Taste the Pain," is an example.

Neologism (ne ALL uh jizm)

Word or phrase-or a new meaning for an existing word or phrase-that is accepted into a dictionary. For example, the word sandwich was a neologism in 1762 when John Montagu-a British nobleman who had served as First Lord of the Admiralty-placed slabs of meat between two pieces of bread as a snack to sustain him while he was seated at a table in a 24-hour gambling marathon.

Concrete/Sensory Language

Words that appeal to the senses and represents concrete objects, people, or events.

Objectivity

Writer's attempt to remove himself or herself from any subjective, personal involvement in a story. Hard news journalism is frequently prized for its objectivity, although even fictional stories can be told without a writer rendering personal judgment.

Redundancy

Writing flaw in which unnecessary wording is used. Examples: Wrong: Her dress was green in color.

Figurative Language

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. The word or words are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensations or representations that the thing described evokes.

Iambic Pentameter

a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable.

Synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. Examples: To refer to a boat as a "sail"; to refer to a car as "wheels"; to refer to the violins, violas, etc. in an orchestra as "the strings." **Different than metonymy, in which one thing is represented by another thing that is commonly physically associated with it (but is not necessarily a part of it). In other words, this represents concrete qualities of the subjects.

Line

a subdivision of a poem, specifically a group of words arranged into a row that ends for a reason other than the right-hand margin. This reason could be that the lines are arranged to have a certain number of syllables, a certain number of stresses, or of metrical feet; it could be that they are arranged so that they rhyme, whether they be of equal length or not. But it is important to remember that the poet has chosen to make the line a certain length, or to make the line-break at a certain point. The words that fall at the end of a line seem more important to a reader (an effect that rhyme can intensify); other strong points are the start of a line, and either side of a caesura. Litotes (pronounced almost like "little tee") - a form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole. Examples: "Not a bad idea," "Not many," "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain" (Salinger, Catcher in the Rye).

Invective

an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. (For example, in Henry IV, Part I, Prince Hal calls the large character of Falstaff "this sanguine coward, this bedpresser, this horseback breaker, this huge hill of flesh.")

Wit

in modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. A witty statement is humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. Wit usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement. Historically, wit originally meant basic understanding. Its meaning evolved to include speed of understanding, and finally, it grew to mean quick perception including creative fancy and a quick tongue to articulate an answer that demanded the same quick perception.

Prose

one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. A literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech.

Hero

protagonist of a dramatic work

Tragic Hero

protagonist of tragedy; has tragic downfall

Pun

the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. EXAMPLE: Shakespeare and other writers use puns extensively, for serious and comic purposes; in Romeo and Juliet (III.i.101), the dying Mercutio puns, "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.

Understatement

the ironic minimalizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. Understatement is the opposite of hyperbole. Example: Jonathan Swift's A Tale of a Tub: "Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse."

Situational Irony

when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen

Dramatic Irony

when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work.

Verbal Irony

when the words literally state the opposite of the writer's (or speaker's) meaning

Sonnet

14 line poem; see Italian or English for more

Epigraph

A brief bit of text, usually borrowed from another writer, found before a poem, but after the title. (You may also find one at the start of a book, before the poems, but after the title page.) It gives a reader, or listener, something else to hold in mind as the poem is read. Neither part of the poem, nor wholly separate from it, an epigraph can be used for various purposes; it can be necessary information to understand a poem, for example, or it can be something with which the poem disagrees.

Foil

A character who, by contrast, points out the qualities or characteristics of another character. Ex: An oafish character will further highlight the grace of another.

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Simple examples include such words as buzz, hiss, hum, crack, whinny, and murmur. If you note examples of onomatopoeia in an essay passage, note the effect.

Personification

A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. Personification is used to make these abstractions, animals, or objects appear more vivid to the reader.

Epic

A long narrative poem that traces the adventures of a hero.

Monologue

A long speech by a character in a play.

Epiphany

A moment of revelation or profound insight.

Tragedy

A play in which a main character suffers a major downfall.

Drama

A play or story meant to be performed before and audience. It can be divided into two types - comedy and tragedy.

Tragicomedy

A play that has tragic events but ends happily.

Coherence

A quality of writing where the parts or ideas are so logically and clearly arranged so that the reader can follow the progression of ideas from one part or idea to the next without difficultly.

Caricature

A verbal description, the purpose of which is to exaggerate or distort, for comic effect, a person's distinctive physical features or other characteristics.

Pedantic

An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish (language that might be described as "show-offy"; using big words for the sake of using big words).

Rhetorical Device

Any characteristic of language used to achieve the writer or speaker's purpose.

Complication

Any entangling affairs early in the development of the plot that must be unraveled in the resolution.

Cliche

Any expression that has been used so much that it has lost it freshness and precision. By extension, in literature, it has come to mean any hackneyed (timeworn) plot, theme or situation.

Ballad

Any light, simple song, especially one of romantic character, having two or more stanzas all sung to the same melody.

Conflict

At the center of the plot, it is the struggle between two opposing forces.

Deduction

Begins with a general statement then applies that statement to specific examples to arrive at a conclusion.

Dialect

Characteristics of language particular to a specific region or culture.

Annotation

Explanatory notes added to text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data.

Simile

Figurative comparison of two things, often dissimilar, using the connecting words like or as.

Apostrophe

Figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love: It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee." Another example is Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn," in which Keats addresses the urn itself: "Thou still unravished bride of quietness." Many of these imply a personification of the object addressed.

Conventional

Following certain conventions, or traditional techniques of writing. An over reliance on conventions may result in a lack of originality. The five-paragraph essay is considered conventional.

Oxymoron

From the Greek for "pointedly foolish," an oxymoron is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. This device is often used for emphasis or simply to attract attention. Take note of the effect that the author achieves with the use of oxymoron.

Refrain

Group of words repeated at key intervals in a poem

Cacophony

Harsh discordance of sound; dissonance.

Implication

Hint given but not stated explicitly.

Antonomasia (an tihn uh MAY zha)

Identification of a person by an appropriate substituted phrase, such as her majesty for a queen or the Bard of Avon for Shakespeare.

Logic

Implied comparison resulting when one thing is directly called another. To be logically acceptable, support must be appropriate to the claim, believable and consistent.

Old Comedy

In Greece of the Fifth Century, BC, a genre of comedy that displayed great imagination and used cutthroat satire, caricature, and sometimes vulgar dialogue to ridicule public figures, politics, ideas, trends, and institutions.

Aside

In a play a character's comment that is heard by the audience, but not by other characters.

Soliloquy

In a play a long speech spoke by a character who is alone on stage.

Falling Action

In a play or story the action that is the result of the climax.

Point of View

In literature, the perspective from which a story is told. There are two general divisions of point of view, and many subdivisions within those.

Form

In poetry, this can be understood as the physical structure of the poem: the length of the lines, their rhythms, their system of rhymes and repetition. In this sense, it is normally reserved for the type of poem where these features have been shaped into a pattern, especially a familiar pattern. Another sense of "form" is to refer to these familiar patterns - these can be simple and open-ended forms, such as blank verse, or can be a complex system of rhymes, rhythms and repeated lines within a fixed number of lines.

Anastrophe (uh NAS truh fe)

Inversion of the normal word order, as in a man forgotten (instead of a forgotten man)

Character vs. Character Conflict

One of the simplest forms of conflict comes when one character is in opposition to another. Sometimes writers show this type of conflict between a villain and a hero, other times the conflict may take place between two sympathetic characters with opposing points of view. In Othello, an African prince, is placed in opposition to Iago, a vengeful ensign who uses deceit to try and destroy the life of the prince.

Dramatic Poetry

Poetry in which one or more characters speak.

Third Person Omniscient

Relates the events with the third person pronouns, "he," "she," and "it." In which the narrator, with godlike knowledge, presents the thoughts and actions of any or all characters

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

Feminine Rhyme

Rhyme in which the final two syllables of one line mimic the sound of the final two syllables of another line. Examples: repeat, deplete; farrow, narrow; scarlet; varlet.

Imperative Sentence

Sentence making a call to action or command where the understood "you" is the subject. Ex. Go forth and multiply.

Common Knowledge

Shared beliefs or assumptions are often called this. A writer may argue that if something widely believed, then readers should accept it.

Tone

Similar to mood, tone describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. Tone is revealed through the writer's diction, figurative language, selection of detail, imagery, and organization on the sentence and global levels. Considering how a work would sound if it were read aloud can help in identifying an author's tone. Some words describing tone are playful, serious, businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal, ornate, sardonic, somber, etc.

Jargon

Technical language of a profession or skill, not typically understood or used by other people not belonging to the professional or skill group. Ex. Military jargon

Antagonist

The adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work.

Foot

The basic unit of measurement in rhythm

Semantics

The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.

Thesis

The central argument an author makes in a work. In expository writing, the thesis statement is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position. Expository writing is usually judged by analyzing how accurately, effectively, and thoroughly a writer has proven the thesis.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Usually theme is unstated in fictional works, but in nonfiction, the theme may be directly stated, especially in expository or argumentative writing.

Catastasis

The climax of a stage play.

Narrative

The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.

Foreshadowing

The use of clues by an author to prepare readers for events that will happen later in a story.

Colloquial(ism)

The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, They give a work a conversational, familiar tone. These type of expressions in writing include local or regional dialects.

Malapropism

The use or substitution of one words for another similar in sound but quite different in meaning for humorous effect.

Character vs. Nature Conflict

This conflict occurs when the character in the novel must battle some natural element, often a natural disaster. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the characters in the novel try to survive an impending hurricane. Hurston builds the novel's conflict in part on the main character's actions during the hurricane and in its aftermath.

Homily

This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

Lyric

a line in lyrical poetry; having music-like quality

Stichomythia

dramatic dialogue, as in a Greek play, characterized by brief exchanges between two characters, each of whom usually speaks in one line of verse during a scene of intense emotion or strong argumentation

Natural Symbols

objects and occurrences from nature to symbolize ideas commonly associated with them (dawn symbolizing hope or a new beginning, a rose symbolizing love, a tree symbolizing knowledge).

Literary Symbols

sometimes also conventional in the sense that they are found in a variety of works and are more generally recognized. However, a work's symbols may be more complicated, as is the jungle in Heart of Darkness.

Paraprosdokia

surprise or unexpected ending of a phrase, series or literary work.

First Person

tells the story with the first person pronoun, "I," and is a character in the story. This narrator can be the protagonist, a secondary character, or an observing character.

Resolution

the competition of a work; similar to the denouement