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| An abstract style is typically complex, discusses intangible qualities like good and evil, and seldom uses examples to make its points |
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| 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. |
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| 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" |
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| Aesthetic can be used as as adjective, meaning "appealing to the senses", and is synonymous with artistic judgement |
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| 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. |
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| 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 |
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| The repetition of initial consonant sounds |
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| 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 |
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| Derived from Greek, means "displace in time". IE- actor playing Brutus wears a wristwatch, effect is anachronistic |
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| Comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, and employed to clarify an action or relationship |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Occurs when an action produces far smaller results than one had been led to expect |
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| A protagonist (main character) who is markedly unheroic; morally weak, cowardly, dishonest, etc |
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| A short and usually witty saying such as "Classic? A book which people praise and dont' read" |
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| An address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea |
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| The use of deliberately old-fashioned language |
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| A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage |
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| A trait or characteristic, as in "an aspect of the dew drop" |
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| The repeated us of vowel sounds |
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| The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene |
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| A long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme. Typically has a native folksy quality |
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| 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 |
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| Use of disturbing themes in comedy |
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| Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language |
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| Broad parody, one that takes a style or form, such as a tragic drama, and exaggerates it into riduculousness |
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| In poetry, using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds |
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| The beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense |
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| The name for a section division in a long work of poetry |
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| A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality |
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| Refers to the cleansing of emotion an audience member experiences, having lived (vicariously) through the experiences on stage |
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| In drama, a chorus is the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it |
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| Can mean typical, or can mean an accepted masterpiece. |
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| A new word, usually one invented on the spot |
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| Word or phrase used in everyday conversational english that isn't a part of accepted "schoolbook" English. |
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| 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 |
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| Conceit, Controlling Image |
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| 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 |
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| Denotation of a word is its literal meaning. Connotation is everything else that word suggests or implies |
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| Repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, which is alliteration) |
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| A pair of lines that end in rhyme |
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| In order to observe decorum, a character's speech must be styled according to her social station, and in accordance with the occasion. |
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| The author's choice of words. |
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| The grating of incompatible sounds |
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| Crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme. |
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| When the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not |
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| A type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner. They also memorialize specific dead people |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| The continuation of syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem in the next with no pause |
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| In a broad sense, a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style. |
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| Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place |
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| A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant or impolite reality, ie, "passed away" for dead |
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| When sounds blend harmoniously, the result it euphony |
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| To say or write something directly and clearly |
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| Today, we use this word to refer to extremely broad humor. In earlier times, meant simply a funny play |
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| Lines rhymed by their final two syllables |
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| A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast |
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| The basic rhythmic unit of line of poetry, formed by a combination of two or three syllables |
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| An event or statement in a narrative that suggests, in miniature, a larger event that comes later |
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| Poetry written without a regular rhythm scheme |
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| A subcategory of literature |
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| A sensibility of dark and gloomy |
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| The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall |
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| Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement |
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| To say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly |
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| Latin for " in the midst of things". A convention of epic poetry |
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| A term from novels and poetry, refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a characters head. |
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| Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence, generally done in poetry. Messing with syntax is called poetic license- think Yoda |
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| 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. |
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| A poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or other intense loss |
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| Loose and periodic sentences |
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| A loose sentence is complete before its end. A periodic sentence is not complete until it has reached its end. |
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| A type of poetry that explores the poets personal interpretation of and feelings about the world - tone refers to a sweet, emotional melodiousness |
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| A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable |
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| A form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very very good, and villain is oh, so very mean |
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| Comparison or analogy that states one thing is another. |
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| Like a metaphor, but softens the full-out equation by using "like" or "as" |
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| A word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with |
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| The protagonists archenemy or supreme and persistent difficulty |
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| An objective treatment of the subject matter is an impersonal or outside view of events |
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| A subjective treatment of the subject matter uses the interior or personal view of a single observer, and is colored with that observers emotions |
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| Words that sound like what they mean, ie, boom, splat, etc |
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| Pair of elements that contrast sharply, not necessarily conflict. Creates mystery and tension |
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| A phrase composed of opposites, a contradiction |
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| Like a fable or allegory, a story that instructs |
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| Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect |
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| To restate phrases or sentences in your own words |
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| A phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail |
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| THe work that results when a specific work is exaggerated to ridiculousness |
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| A poem set in tranquil nature |
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| The narrator in a non-first-person novel, like a shadow-author |
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| Giving an inanimate object human qualities or form |
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| A poem or speech expressing sorrow |
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| The perspective from which the action of a novel or narrative poem is presented. |
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| Third person narrator who sees,like God, into each persons mind and understands all that is going on |
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| Limited omniscient narrator |
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| THird person narrator who generally only reports what one character (usually the main character) sees and thinks |
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| Objective, or camera eye, narrator |
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| THird person narrator who only reports what would be visible to a camera |
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| Narrator who is a character in the story, and tells the tale from their point of view |
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| The stream of consciousness technique |
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| The author places the reader inside the main characters head, as they scroll through their consciousness |
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| An introductory poem to a longer work of verse |
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| THe usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to have two meanings |
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| A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poedm |
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| A song of prayer for the dead |
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| An intensely passionate verse or section of verse, usually in love or praise |
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| A question that suggests an answer |
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| Exposes common character flaws to the cold light of humor. Great satirical subjects include hypocrisy, vanity or greed |
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| A speech spoken by a character alone on stage. |
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| A group of lines in verse, roughly analogous in function to a paragraph |
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| Standard or cliched character types, ie, the drunk, the miser, etc |
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| Set up a hypothetical situation, a kind of wishful thing, getting away from the person, and into the "it" |
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| To imply, infer, indicate |
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| A simple retelling of what you've just read |
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| the demand made of theater audiences to accept the limitations of staging, and supply the details with imagination |
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| A device in literature where an object represents an idea |
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| The methods, the tools, the ways of the author |
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| The main idea of the overall work |
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| In a tragedy, this is the weakness of character in an otherwise good individual that leads to their downfall |
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| The main position of an argument |
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| 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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