Monday, January 19, 2015

Literature Terms

Allegory:a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Ex-Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey.
Alliteration:the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group
Ex- An example of alliteration is amy ate an apple. 
Allusion:an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
Ex- An allusion to Shakespeare is always a great one. 
Ambiguity:uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language.
Ex- We can detect no ambiguity in this section of the Act.
Anachronism:a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.
Ex- Everything was as it would have appeared in centuries past apart from one anachronism, a bright yellow construction crane.
Analogy:a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
Ex- An analogy between the workings of nature and those of human societies.
Analysis:this process as a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations:
Ex- The grammatical analysis of a sentence.
Anaphora: repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.
Ex- An example of anaphora is “Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better.”
Anecdote:a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
Ex- An example of an anecdote is "A mother tells her son a story about a family vacation when she was growing up."
Antagonist:the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work
Ex- The white witch from The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe. 
Antithesis:opposition; contrast
Ex- The antithesis of right and wrong.
Aphorism:a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation
Ex- An example of aphorism is “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Apologia:an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc.
Ex- I have my own apologia. 
Apostrophe:the sign ('), as used: to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a word, whether unpronounced, as in o'er for over, or pronounced,as in gov't for government; to indicate the possessive case, as in man's; or to indicate plurals of abbreviations and symbols, as in several M.D.'s, 3's.
Ex- I never know when to use an apostrophe. 
Argument:an oral disagreement; verbal opposition; contention; altercation
Ex-A violent argument is never a good thing. 
Assumption:something taken for granted; a supposition:
a correct assumption.
Ex- Don't make assumptions because sometimes it's not that obvious and can get you in trouble.
Audience:the group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively, as in attendance at a theater or concert
Ex-The audience was respectful of the speaker's opinion.
Characterization:portrayal; description
Ex- The actor's characterization of a politician.
Chiasmus:a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, a sin 
Ex- An example of chiasmus is “He went to the country, to the town went she."
(Dictionary.com) 


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