Term List 3

Periodic Sentence

Sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of the sentence, after all introductory elements-.g. "Across the stream, beyond the clearing, from behind a fallen a
tree, the lion emerged."

Persona

A writer often adopts a fictional voice to tell a story. voice is usually determined by a combination of subject matter and audience.

Personification

Figurative Language in which inanimate objects, animals, ideas, or abstractions are endowed with human traits or human form-e.g. "When Duty whispers...

Plot

System of actions represented in a dramatic or narrative work.

Point of View

The perspective from which a fictional or nonfictional story is told. First-person, third-person, or third-person omniscient points of view are commonly used.

Protagonist

Chief character in a dramatic or narrative work, usually trying to accomplish some objective or working toward some goal.

Pun

A play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings.

Red Herring

Device through which a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue.

Repetition

Word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse. this focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create discourse.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for rhetorical effect to emphasize a point; no answer is expected.

Round Character

A character drawn with sufficient complexity to be able to surprise the reader without losing credibility.

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. this doesn't simply abuse (as with invective) or get personal (as with sarcasm). this usually targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals; its purpose is customarily to inspire change.

Sarcasm

A type of verbal irony in which, under the guise of praise, a caustic and bitter expression of strong and personal disapproval is given. this is personal, jeering, and intended to hurt.

Setting

Locale and period in which the action takes place.

Simile

a figurative comparison of two things, often dissimilar, using the connecting words: "like," "as," or "then." E.g. "More rapid than eagles his coursers they came."

Situational Irony

When the audience expects one outcome and gets another. Also, irony applies to both Hamlet's situation and to his famous soliloquy, "To be or nor to be."

Soliloquy

When a character in a play speaks his thoughts aloud - usually by him or herself.

Stock Character

Conventional character types that recur repeatedly in various literary genres. E.g. the wicked stepmother or Prince Charming or the rascal.

Stream of Consciousness

Technique of writing that undertakes to reproduce the raw flow of consciousness, with the perceptions, thoughts, judgments, feelings, associations, and memories presented just as they occur without being tidied into grammatical sentences or given logical and narrative order.

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. In combination they create a work's manner of expression. this is thought to be conscious and unconscious and may be altered to suit specific occasions. this is often habitual and evolves over time.

Symbol

A thing, event, or person that represents or stands for some idea or event. these also simultaneously retain their own literal meanings. A figure of speech in which a concrete object is used to stand for an abstract idea -e.g. the cross for Christianity.

Synecdoche

Part of something is used to stand for the whole -e.g. "threads" for clothes; "wheels" for cars.

Syntax

In grammar, the arrangement of words as elements in a sentence to show their relationship.

Theme

A central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction, revealed and developed in the course of a story or explored through argument.

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization of the sentence and global levels.

Tragedy

Representations of serious actions which cause pity and fear in the viewer.

Tragic Flaw

Tragic error in judgment; a mistaken act which changes the fortune of the tragic hero from happiness to misery; also known as hamartia.

Understatement

Deliberately representing something as much less than it really is -e.g. "Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance.' -Jonathan Swift

Verbal Irony

When the reader is aware of a discrepancy between the real meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the writer's words.