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SAT II
SAT II Lit terms
127
English
11th Grade
05/02/2009

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Term
Abstract
Definition
An abstract style is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to make its points
Term
Academic
Definition
As as adjective describing style, this word means dry and theoretical writing. When a piece of writing seems to be sucking all the life out its subject with analysis, the writing is academic.
Term
Accent
Definition
In poetry, accent refers to the stressed portion of a word. But, accent in poetry is also often a matter of opinion, i.e, "That is the question" can be accented at any word, but "to be or not to be" accents have to be on "be" and "not"
Term
Aesthetic, Adj
Definition
Aesthetic can be used as as adjective, meaning "appealing to the senses", and is synonymous with artistic judgement
Term
Aesthetic, Noun
Definition
An aesthetic is a coherent sense of taste, ie, a kid who sleeps in a black room in a coffin has an aesthetic. However, if that kid also has teddy bears and kittens on the wall, he has a confused aesthetic.
Term
Aesthetics, Plural Noun
Definition
Study of beauty
Term
Allegory
Definition
story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself. Many fables fall into this catagory, ie, "ant and the grasshopper" not just about animals, but about living different lifestyles
Term
Alliteration
Definition
The repetition of initial consonant sounds
Term
Allusion
Definition
Reference to another work or famous figure. Allusions can be topical or popular as well- topical refers to current events, popular refers to pop culture
Term
Anachronism
Definition
Derived from Greek, means "displace in time". IE- actor playing Brutus wears a wristwatch, effect is anachronistic
Term
Analogy
Definition
Comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, and employed to clarify an action or relationship
Term
Anecdote
Definition
Short narrative
Term
Antecedent
Definition
The word, phrase or clause that a pronoun refers to, or replaces. ie, "The principal asked the children where they were going", they is the pronoun, and Children is the antecedent
Term
Anthropomorphism
Definition
In literature, when inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena are given human characteristics, behavior, or motivation. Anthropomorphism is often confused with personifaction, but personification requires that the nonhuman quality or thing take on human shape
Term
Anticlimax
Definition
Occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect
Term
Antihero
Definition
A protagonist (main character) who is markedly unheroic; morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, etc
Term
Aphorism
Definition
A short and usually witty saying such as "Classic? A book which people praise and dont' read"
Term
Apostrophe *
Definition
An address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea
Term
Archaism
Definition
The use of deliberately old-fashioned language
Term
Aside
Definition
A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage
Term
Aspect
Definition
A trait or characteristic, as in "an aspect of the dew drop"
Term
Assonance
Definition
The repeated us of vowel sounds
Term
Atmosphere
Definition
The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene
Term
Ballad
Definition
A long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme. Typically has a native folksy quality
Term
Bathos, Pathos
Definition
When the writing of a scene evokes feelings of dignified pity and sympathy- pathos. When writing strains for grandeur it can't suppport and tries to elict tears from every little hiccup, it's bathos
Term
Black humor
Definition
Use of disturbing themes in comedy
Term
Bombast
Definition
Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language
Term
Burlesque
Definition
Broad parody, one that takes a style or form, such as a tragic drama, and exaggerates it into riduculousness
Term
Cacophony
Definition
In poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds
Term
cadence
Definition
The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense
Term
Canto
Definition
The name for a section division in a long work of poetry
Term
Caricature
Definition
A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality
Term
Catharsis
Definition
Refers to the cleansing of emotion an audience member experiences, having lived (vicariously) through the experiences on stage
Term
Chorus
Definition
In drama, a chorus is the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it
Term
Classic
Definition
Can mean typical, or can mean an accepted masterpiece.
Term
Coinage (neologism)
Definition
A new word, usually one invented on the spot
Term
Colloquialism
Definition
Word or phrase used in everyday conversational english that isn't a part of accepted "schoolbook" English.
Term
Complex, Dense
Definition
Similar meanings, of suggesting that there is more than one possibility in the meaning of the words; there are subtleties and variations, there are multiple layers of interpretation
Term
Conceit, Controlling Image
Definition
In poetry, refers to a startling or unusual metaphor,or to a metaphor developed and expanded upon over several lines. When it dominates several the entire work, it is a controlling image
Term
Connotation, Denotation
Definition
Denotation of a word is its literal meaning. Connotation is everything else that word suggests or implies
Term
Consonance
Definition
Repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, which is alliteration)
Term
Couplet
Definition
A pair of lines that end in rhyme
Term
Decorum
Definition
In order to observe decorum, a character's speech must be styled according to her social station, and in accordance with the occasion.
Term
Diction, syntax
Definition
The author's choice of words.
Term
Dirge
Definition
A song for the dead
Term
Dissonance
Definition
The grating of incompatible sounds
Term
Doggerel
Definition
Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme.
Term
Dramatic irony
Definition
When the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not
Term
Elegy
Definition
A type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner. They also memorialize specific dead people
Term
Elements
Definition
This word is used constantly and with the assumption that you know exactly what it means-that is, the basic techniques of each genre of literature.
Term
Elements
Definition
This word is used constantly and with the assumption that you know exactly what it means-that is, the basic techniques of each genre of literature.
Term
Enjambment
Definition
The continuation of syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem in the next with no pause
Term
Epic
Definition
In a broad sense, a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style.
Term
Epitaph
Definition
Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place
Term
Euphemism
Definition
A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant or impolite reality, ie, "passed away" for dead
Term
Euphony
Definition
When sounds blend harmoniously, the result it euphony
Term
Explicit
Definition
To say or write something directly and clearly
Term
Farce
Definition
Today, we use this word to refer to extremely broad humor. In earlier times, meant simply a funny play
Term
Feminine rhyme
Definition
Lines rhymed by their final two syllables
Term
First person narrator
Definition
Point of view
Term
Foil
Definition
A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast
Term
Foot
Definition
The basic rhythmic unit of line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables
Term
Foreshadowing
Definition
An event or statement in a narrative that suggests, in miniature, a larger event that comes later
Term
Free verse
Definition
Poetry written without a regular rhythm scheme
Term
Genre
Definition
A subcategory of literature
Term
Gothic, Gothic novel
Definition
A sensibility of dark and gloomy
Term
Hubris
Definition
The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement
Term
implicit
Definition
To say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly
Term
In medias res
Definition
Latin for " in the midst of things". A convention of epic poetry
Term
Interior monologue
Definition
A term from novels and poetry, refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a characters head.
Term
Inversion
Definition
Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence, generally done in poetry. Messing with syntax is called poetic license- think Yoda
Term
Irony
Definition
Comes in a variety of forms. A statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean. An undertow of meaning, sliding against the literal meaning of the words.Irony insinuates.
Term
Lament
Definition
A poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or other intense loss
Term
Lampoon
Definition
A satire
Term
Loose and periodic sentences
Definition
A loose sentence is complete before its end. A periodic sentence is not complete until it has reached its end.
Term
Lyric
Definition
A type of poetry that explores the poets personal interpretation of and feelings about the world - tone refers to a sweet, emotional melodiousness
Term
Masculine rhyme
Definition
A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable
Term
Melodrama
Definition
A form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very very good, and villain is oh, so very mean
Term
Metaphor
Definition
Comparison or analogy that states one thing is another.
Term
Simile
Definition
Like a metaphor, but softens the full-out equation by using "like" or "as"
Term
Metonym
Definition
A word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with
Term
Nemesis
Definition
The protagonists archenemy or supreme and persistent difficulty
Term
Objectivity
Definition
An objective treatment of the subject matter is an impersonal or outside view of events
Term
Subjectivity
Definition
A subjective treatment of the subject matter uses the interior or personal view of a single observer, and is colored with that observers emotions
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
Words that sound like what they mean, ie, boom, splat, etc
Term
Opposition
Definition
Pair of elements that contrast sharply, not necessarily conflict. Creates mystery and tension
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
A phrase composed of opposites, a contradiction
Term
Parable
Definition
Like a fable or allegory, a story that instructs
Term
Parallelism
Definition
Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect
Term
Paraphrase
Definition
To restate phrases or sentences in your own words
Term
Parenthetical phrase
Definition
A phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail
Term
Parody
Definition
THe work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness
Term
Pastoral
Definition
A poem set in tranquil nature
Term
Persona
Definition
The narrator in a non-first-person novel, like a shadow-author
Term
Personification
Definition
Giving an inanimate object human qualities or form
Term
Plaint
Definition
A poem or speech expressing sorrow
Term
Point of View
Definition
The perspective from which the action of a novel or narrative poem is presented.
Term
Omniscient narrator
Definition
Third person narrator who sees,like God, into each persons mind and understands all that is going on
Term
Limited omniscient narrator
Definition
THird person narrator who generally only reports what one character (usually the main character) sees and thinks
Term
Objective, or camera eye, narrator
Definition
THird person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera
Term
First person narrator
Definition
Narrator who is a character in the story, and tells the tale from their point of view
Term
The stream of consciousness technique
Definition
The author places the reader inside the main characters head, as they scroll through their consciousness
Term
Prelude
Definition
An introductory poem to a longer work of verse
Term
Protagonist
Definition
Main character
Term
Pun
Definition
THe usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to have two meanings
Term
Refrain
Definition
A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poedm
Term
Requiem
Definition
A song of prayer for the dead
Term
Rhapsody
Definition
An intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually in love or praise
Term
rhetorical question
Definition
A question that suggests an answer
Term
Satire
Definition
Exposes common character flaws to the cold light of humor. Great satirical subjects include hypocrisy, vanity or greed
Term
Soliloquy
Definition
A speech spoken by a character alone on stage.
Term
Stanza
Definition
A group of lines in verse, roughly analogous in function to a paragraph
Term
Stock characters
Definition
Standard or cliched character types, ie, the drunk, the miser, etc
Term
Subjunctive mood
Definition
Set up a hypothetical situation, a kind of wishful thing, getting away from the person, and into the "it"
Term
Suggest
Definition
To imply, infer, indicate
Term
Summary
Definition
A simple retelling of what you've just read
Term
Suspension of disbelief
Definition
the demand made of theater audiences to accept the limitations of staging, and supply the details with imagination
Term
Symbolism
Definition
A device in literature where an object represents an idea
Term
Technique
Definition
The methods, the tools, the ways of the author
Term
Theme
Definition
The main idea of the overall work
Term
Tragic flaw
Definition
In a tragedy, this is the weakness of character in an otherwise good individual that leads to their downfall
Term
Thesis
Definition
The main position of an argument
Term
Travesty
Definition
A grotesque parody
Term
Truism
Definition
A way too obvious truth
Term
Utopia
Definition
An idealized place
Term
Zeugma
Definition
The use of a word to modify two or more words, but used for different meanings, ie, "he closed the door and his heart on his lost love"
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