| A | B |
|---|
| Epiphany | A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience |
| Onomatopoeia | A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss. |
| Diction | An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect |
| Utopia | An imaginary place of ideal perfection. The opposite of a dystopia. ÑAn imaginary place where people live dehumanized, often fearful lives. |
| Hyperbole | An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language |
| Deus ex machina | As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly |
| Antagonist | Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist |
| Analogy | Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both types of analogy |
| Inductive | Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a class is applied to the class as a whole. Contrast with deductive. |
| Nostalgia | Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time |
| Chiasmus | Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second. ÒHas the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?Ó-- T. S. Eliot, |
| Thesis | Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based. AntithesisÑThe juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases. |
| Litote | Form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and intensity. For example, "She is not a bad cook." Or "No man ever followed his genius until it misled him." Thoreau |
| Doppelganger | Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego |
| Zeugma | Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects. The linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly. |
| Ethos | In dramatic literature, the moral element that determines a character's actions, rather than thought or emotion. |
| Propaganda | Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution |
| Didactic | Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson |
| Formal Language | Language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal |
| Allegory | Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves; characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities |
| Abstract | Not related to the concrete properties of an object; pertaining to ideas, concepts, or qualities, as opposed to physical attributes |
| In medias res | Opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition or flashback. |
| Colloquial | Ordinary language; the vernacular. For example, depending on where in the United States you live, a sandwich is called a sub, a grinder, or a hero. |
