Lit Terms 6-30

Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them Analysis: a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the begining of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences Anecdote: a very short story used to illustrate a point Antagonists: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life Apologia: a defense or justification of some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or falsity of an idea in proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true Audience: the intended listener or listeners Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality Chiasmus: a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome (tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance) Cliche: a phrase or situation overused within society Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the point of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed to provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity Denotation: plain dictionary definition Denouement: loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion