LIT TERMS #1

allegory: a tale in which the characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas; a story that uses symbols to make a point

Ex: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

alliteration:  the repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants  

Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

allusion:  a reference to a person, place, event, or literary work that the reader is expected to recognize

Ex: "Go get her, Romeo."  (refers the romantic Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet)

ambiguity:  something with many open interpretations

Ex: They say that smoking is bad for you.  (who is they?)

anachronism:  something in the wrong place or the wrong time

Ex: Benjamin Franklin listening to an iPod.

analogy:  a comparison between two things to show similarities between them

Ex: "Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get." - Forrest Gump

analysis:  a method where a work or idea is separated into its parts and given detailed scrutiny

Ex: An analysis of a poem includes determining its theme, its meaning, its tone, and the techniques used to write it.

anaphora:  a repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

Ex: "We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence...we shall defend our island...we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.  We shall never surrender." - Winston Churchill

anecdote:  a very short story used to illustrate a point

Ex: A parable from the Bible

antagonist:  a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

Ex: The Joker in Batman

antithesis:  a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Ex: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."  - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

aphorism:  a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

Ex: "Keep thy shop and thy shop with keep thee."  - Benjamin Franklin

apologia:  a justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action

Ex: Richard Nixon's speech discussing the Watergate Scandal and his resignation.

apostrophe:  a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

Ex: "Is this a dagger which I see before me,/The handle toward my hand?"  - Macbeth

argument:  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

Ex: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."  - Pride and Prejudice

assumption:  the act of supposing, or taking for granted that thing is true

Ex: Of course everyone loves chocolate cake.

audience:  the intended listener or listeners

Ex: Students are the intended audience for textbooks.

characterization:  the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality or appearance

Ex: "His memory was good, and for so young a man he had read largely" - A Passage to India

chiasmus:  a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order

Ex: "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live." - Socrates