Lit Terms 5

Parallelism: when a writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length

“King Alfred tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable.”

Parody: imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work in order to make fun of those with the same features, a spoof

A caricature is parody of someone’s appearance.

Pathos: the writer or speaker’s attempt to inspire an emotional reaction in an audience, usually a deep feeling of suffering, but sometimes joy, pride, anger, humor, patriotism, or any of a dozen other emotions.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. – Harper Lee (TKM)

Pedantry: attention to details?

Personification: abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are given human character, traits, abilities, or reactions

“Sylvan historian (an urn) who canst thus express/ A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme.” –Keat

Plot: the structure and relationship of actions and events of work of fiction

The plot is what makes the story of a piece interesting, without it, it would be like Waiting For Godot.

Poignant: affecting or moving the emotions?

point of view: a position from which something is observed or considered

My point of view differs from another person’s because I grew up differently.

Postmodernism: interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually… trauma with WWII

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Prose: the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse

Any novel that doesn’t contain poetry is written in prose.

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

Holden is the protagonist of Catcher in the Rye.

Pun: humorous use of a word of phrase so as to emphasize of 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

If you don’t pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.

Purpose: intended or desired result

The purpose of writing lies within the author’s intentions.

Realism: a manner or treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes… reflects life as it is.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered realism.

Refrain: a line or set of lines at the end of a stanza or section of a longer poem or song—these lines repeat at regular intervals in other stanzas or sections of the same work

“Nevermore” in Poe’s “The Raven”

requiem: ?

Resolution: the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, at the final stages of the plot

The resolution of Kite Runner is when Amir finally connects with Sorhab.

Restatement:

Rhetoric: the art of persuasive argument through writing or speech

Rhetoric is used in speeches to make them more powerful.

rhetorical question: a question which has an obvious answer which you don’t need to state or answer

Looking at your test scores, did you guys even study?

rising action: the stage before the climax, when tensions are rising and the plot thickens

The rising action is the build up before the climax.

Romanticism: artistic philosophy 1800-1830, rejected the philosophy of the Enlightenment and emphasizes the unique nature of the individual, emotion, and natural passions

John Keats is a major romanticism poet.

Satire: an attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards.

South Park satires everything in the world.

Scansion: the act of scanning a poem to determine its meter.

Students use scansion by breaking down it’s lines.

Setting: the time, place, and circumstances of a story

The setting of Great Gatsby is in New York in the 1920s.