Lit Terms 1-4

allegory - an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor; a short moral story (often with animal characters); a visible symbol representing an abstract ideaalliteration - use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verseallusion - passing reference or indirect mentionambiguity - unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning; an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its contextanachronism -  an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurredanalogy - drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respectanalysis - an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relations in making up the whole; the abstract separation of a whole into its constituent parts in order to study the parts and their relationsanaphora - using a pronoun or similar word instead of repeating a word used earlier; repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clausesanecdote - short account of an incident (especially a biographical one)antagonist - a drug that neutralizes or counteracts the effects of another drug; a muscle that relaxes while another contracts;someone who offers oppositionantithesis - the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance; exact oppositeaphorism - a short pithy instructive sayingapologia - a formal written defense of something you believe in stronglyapostrophe - the mark (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters from a printed word; address to an absent or imaginary personargument - a variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value determines the dependent variable; a summary of the subject or plot of a literary work or play or movie; a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is trueassumption - the act of taking possession of or power over something; the act of assuming or taking for grantedaudience - a gathering of spectators or listeners at a (usually public) performance; the part of the general public interested in a source of information or entertainment; a conference (usually with someone important); an opportunity to state your case and be heardcharacterization - the act of describing distinctive characteristics or essential features; acting the part of a character on stage; dramatically representing the character by speech and action and gesturechiasmus - inversion in the second of two parallel phrasesCircumlocution - noun an indirect way of expressing something; a style that involves indirect ways of expressing thingsClassicism - noun a movement in literature and art during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe that favored rationality and restraint and strict formsClimax - noun the decisive moment in a novel or play;arrangement of clauses in ascending order of forcefulness; the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfoldingColloquialism - noun characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speechComedy - noun light and humorous drama with a happy ending; a comic incident or series of incidentsConflict - noun an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); an incompatibility of dates or events; opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings; opposition in a work of drama or fiction between characters or forces (especially an opposition that motivates the development of the plot);  the reference of an expressionConnotation - an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaningContrast - noun the act of distinguishing by comparing differences;the range of optical density and tone on a photographic negative or print (or the extent to which adjacent areas on a television screen differ in brightness); verb put in opposition to show or emphasize differences; to show differences when compared; be differentDenotation - noun the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to; the act of indicating or pointing out by nameDenouement - noun the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work; the outcome of a complex sequence of eventsDialect - noun the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of peopleDialectics - noun a rationale for dialectical materialism based on change through the conflict of opposing forcesDichotomy - noun being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclassesDiction - noun the manner in which something is expressed in words; the articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audienceDidactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively)Dogmatic - adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritativeElegy - noun a mournful poem; a lament for the deadEpic - noun a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deedsEpigram - noun a witty sayingexposition - noun (music) the section of a movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes first occur; an account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourse; a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic; a collection of things (goods or works of art etc.) for public displayexpressionism - noun an art movement early in the 20th century; the artist's subjective expression of inner experiences was emphasized; an inner feeling was expressed through a distorted rendition of realityfable - noun a short moral story (often with animal characters); a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events; a deliberately false or improbable accountfallacy - noun a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoningfalling - adj. becoming lower or less in degree or value; decreasing in amount or degree; coming down freely under the influence of gravityaction - noun something done (usually as opposed to something said); the most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or fieldfarce - noun a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situationsfigurative - adj. (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech; consisting of or forming human or animal figureslanguage - noun the mental faculty or power of vocal communication; a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols; the cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communicationflashback - noun a transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the storyfoil - noun anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualitiesfolk - noun people in general (often used in the plural); the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community; people descended from a common ancestortale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television programforeshadowing - adj. indistinctly prophetic; noun the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehandfree - adj. not literal; able to act at will; not hampered;verse - noun a piece of poetry; a line of metrical text; literature in metrical form; verb familiarize through thorough study or experience; compose verses or put into versegenre - noun a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique; a kind of literary or artistic work; an expressive style of music; a style of expressing yourself in writinggothic - adj. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; of or relating to the Goths; of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths; characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German; as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; noun a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches; a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuriestale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television programhyperbole - noun extravagant exaggerationimagery - noun the ability to form mental images of things or eventsimplication - noun an accusation that brings into intimate and usually incriminating connection; a relation implicated by virtue of involvement or close connection (especially an incriminating involvement)incongruity - noun the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriateinference - noun the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observationirony - noun incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs; witty language used to convey insults or scorninterior monologue- thinking in wordsinversion - noun the act of turning inside out; turning upside down; setting on end; a term formerly used to mean taking on the gender role of the opposite sex; (counterpoint) a variation of a melody or part in which ascending intervals are replaced by descending intervals and vice versajuxtaposition - noun the act of positioning close together (or side by side); a side-by-side positionmetaphor - noun a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarityomniscient point of view- A narrator who knows everything about all the characters is all knowinglyric - adj. expressing deep personal emotion; of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way); relating to or being musical drama; noun a short poem of songlike quality; the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; verb write lyrics for (a song)magical realism- a genre where magical or unreal elements play a natural part in an otherwise realistic (often mundane) environmentmetonymy - noun substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')modernism - noun practices typical of contemporary life or thought;genre of art and literature that makes a self-conscious break with previous genres; the quality of being current or of the presentmonologue - noun a (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor; a long utterance by one person (especially one that prevents others from participating in the conversation); speech you make to yourselfmood - noun verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker; a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling; the prevailing psychological statemotif - noun a design that consists of recurring shapes or colors; a theme that is elaborated on in a piece of music; a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic workmyth - noun a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a peoplenarrative - adj. consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story; noun a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television programnarrator - noun someone who tells a storynaturalism - noun (philosophy) the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations; an artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and writers strove for detailed realistic and factual descriptionnovelette/novella - noun a short novelonomatopoeia - noun using words that imitate the sound they denoteoxymoron - noun conjoining contradictory terms (as in `deafening silence')pacing - noun walking with slow regular strides; (music) the speed at which a composition is to be playedparable - noun (New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message; a short moral story (often with animal characters)paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself