Adage- a familiar proverb or wise saying Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Allegory- a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions. Ex: Animal Farm Anaphora- the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences. "It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place." (Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, 1951) Antecedent- the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers Mary went to her friends house. (Her is referring to Mary, so Mary is the antecedent) Antithesis Examples: similar to a balanced sentence, but it contrasts elements instead of comparing them. (It shows how the are different) "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." (Goethe) "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." (advertising slogan) "You're easy on the eyes Hard on the heart." (Terri Clark) "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964) Aphorism- a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance. "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." Apostrophe- a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction. Arechetype- a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and it thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response EX: the villain, the hero, the trickster, etc. Asyndeton- a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunction. He received applause, prizes, money, fame.
Balanced Sentence: Like an antithesis, but compares things to show how they are alike, not different. A sentence made up of two parts that are roughly equal in length, importance, and grammatical structure: a paired construction. "Sleeping on a Seely is like sleeping on a cloud." (advertising slogan for Seely mattresses) "Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun." (advertising slogan for KFC) bathos- insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity chiasmus- a statement consisting or two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed "I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me." (Ovid) colloquialism- informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing conceit- a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor Connotation- the implied or associative meaning of a word Cumulative sentence: a sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases. Tuscany is drenched in color, sun colors of ochres, rust, and gold, hill towns perched on cliffs of tufa, towns that glow with slanting, golden sun at dusk. Didactic- having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing Elegy- a formal poem presenting a meditation on death or another solemn theme "Here Captain! dear father!/this arm beneath your head;/it is some dream that on deck,/you've fallen cold and dead."- "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman Ellipsis- the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but be can deduced from the context. "Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater." (William Hazlitt) Epigram- a brief, pithy, and often paradoxical saying "Both robb'd of air, we both lie in one ground Both whom one fire had burnt, one water drown'd." (Donne) Euphemism- an indirect, less offensive was of saying something that is considered unpleasant.
He passed away, instead of saying he died. Expletive- an interjection to lend emphasis, sometimes, a profanity. Dang! I missed my bus. Frame Device- a story within a story. Odysseus telling his story of his travels to the people. Homily- a sermon, or a moralistic lecture. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Idiom- an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meanings of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect. I was about to leave when the phone rang. We tried to break down the problem for further study. I was kind of tired when I arrived home last night. Invective- an intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack "A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three- suited, hundred- pound, filthy worsted- stocking knave; a lily- livered, action- taking, whoreson, glass- gazing, super- serviceable, finical rogue; one- trunk- inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir to a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deni'st the least syllable of thy addition." (William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Lear, II.2) Juxtaposition: the placing of verbal elements side by side, leaving it up to the reader to establish connections and impose a meaning. "But it is inevitable that they will keep changing the doors on you, he said, because that is what they are for; and the thing is to get used to it and not let it unsettle the mind...." (E.B. White, "The Door." Poems and Sketches of E. B. White. Harper & Row, 1981) Limerick- light verse consisting of five lines of regular rhythm in which the first, second, and fifth lines (each with 3 feet) rhyme and the second and third lines (each with 2 feet) rhyme There was an Old Man with a beard Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard! (Lear)
Litotes- a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negation its opposite It was pretty hot in Texas in the summer of 2011. Malapropism- the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar For example, in Much Ado About Nothing, Constable Dogberry tells Governor Leonato, "Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons" (i.e., apprehended two suspicious persons) (Act 3, Scene V) Motif- a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works. The horizon on TEWWG Paradox- an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth. "The swiftest traveler is he that goes afoot." (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854) "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." (Mother Teresa) Parallelism- the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms "The loss we felt was not the loss of ham but the loss of pig." (E. B. White, "Death of a Pig") Pathos- the quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity Philippic- a strong verbal denunciation. A bitter speech Polysyndeton- the use of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural... it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat... Round Character- a character who develops or changes in the course of the work Ex: Janie in TEWWG, Telemachos in The Odyssey Satire- the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions. Ex: The Sneeches by Dr. Suess Solecism- nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules "Songs you sang to me, sounds you brang to me." (Neil Diamond, "Play Me")
I'm the baddest of the bad / Since you've been gone (Reverend Horton Heat, Baddest of the Bad ) Surrealism- an artistic movement emphasizing the imagination and characterized by incongruous juxtapositions and lack of conscious control. It is like a time period for writing; no example to give other than titles. Syllepsis- a construction in which one word in used in two different senses. "PEACE. Live in it or rest in it." Syllogism- a three- part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise. Major premise: If Johnny is eating sweets every day, he is placing himself at risk for diabetes. Minor premise: Johnny does not eat sweats everyday Conclusion: Therefore Johnny is not placing himself at risk for diabetes Synecdoche- using one part of an object to represent the entre object. Ex: the throne referring to the kingdom, or my wheels referring to my car Synesthesia- describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (using sound words to describe visual images, such as loud color, or taste words to describe sounds sweet sounds. Tautology- needless repetition, which adds no meaning or understanding Widow woman- widows are women, so there is no need for the word woman Free gift- nobody pays for a gift, so there is no need to call it a free gift Trite- overused and hackneyed Vernacular- the everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage Y all in the south.