| A | B |
|---|
| Dramatic | audience knows more about immediate circumstances or future events than a character; thus the audience is able to see a discrepancy between the characters' perceptions and the reality they face |
| Structural | a double level of meaning is continued throughout a work by means of some inherent feature such as a hero or narrator who is either naive or fallible (a participant in the story whose judgement is impaired by prejudice, personal interest, or limited knowledge) |
| Verbal | the words of a character have an implicit meaning as well as an ostensible one. the surface meaning may be false, or it may be a level of meaning that is just very different from the underlying one (usually more significant). One can guess when words should not be taken at face value by the context in which they occur. |
| Jargon | confused, unintelligible talk; the special vocabulary of a group that works together or has a common interest |
| Journalistic | relating to or characteristic of journalism; the collecting, writing, editing and presentation of news, material of current or popular interest. |
| Litotes | understatements using a negative of a word ironically (She's not the friendliest person I know. = She's unfriendly) |
| Malapropism | misusing words to create a comic effect or characterize the speaker as being too confused, ignorant, or flustered to use correct diction. |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech consisting of the use of a name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute |
| Misogynistic | hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women |
| Mosaic law | the ancient law of the Hebrews, attributed to Moses |
| Obloquy | abusive language; the condition of one who is discredited |
| Onomatopoeia | words sound like what they mean |
| Oratorical | referring to the skill and elopuence of public speaking |
| Ornate | marked by elaborate rhetoric or florid style; elaborately or excessively decorated |
| Oxymoron | putting two words with opposite meanings together |
| Paean | a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph |
| Parable | a short allegory designed to illustrate a religious truthe |
| Paradox | a statement that is self-contradictory but true |
| Parallelism | the use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary |
| Parenthetical | describes a word, phrase, or clause inserted in a sentence that is grammatically complete without it - usually separated by commas, dashes, or parentheses |
| Parody | a literary or artistic work that braodly mimics an author's characteristic style and holds it up to ridicule |
| Pathetic fallacy | the ascription of human traits or feeling to inanimate nature |
| Pathos | a Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering. in literature, its meaning is usually narrowed to refer to tragic emotions which usually move the audience or reader by arousing sadness, sympathy, or pity. When excessive, it becomes melodramatic or sentimental. |
| Pejorative | Having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force; tending to make or become worse. |
| Peripatetic | walking or traveling about |
| Personification | a figure of speech giving human attributes to animals, plants, or abstractions. |
| Platitude | trite remark.cliche |
| Piognant elegy | deeply affecting; designed to make an impression |
| Polysyntedon | employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm |
| Pragmatism | a practical approach to problems and affairrs |
| Propriety | the quality of being proper; conforming to prevailing customs and usages |
| Prosaic | commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative; having the character or form of prose rather than poetry |
| Pun | The use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time |
| Red herring | something that draws attention away from the central issue |
| Reiterate | to state or do over again or repeatedly, sometimes with wearying effect |
| Relevant features | a prominent part or characteristic having significant and deomstrable bearing on the matter at hand |
| Rhetorical purpose | to persuade the reader to share the author's point of view through the use of rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questions, repetition, and parallelism |
| Salaciousness | appealing to or simulating sexual desire |
| Salient | prominent or conspicuous |
| Sanguinary | eager for bloodshed; bloodthirsty |
| Satirical vignette | a literary sketch that uses wit, folly, or wickedness to criticize or make fun of someone or some aspect of life |
| Sententious diatribe | given to or abounding in excessive moralizing. Bitter and abusive speech or writing; ironic or satirical criticism |
| Simile | a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison such as like, as, than, or resembles. |
| Stasis | a state of static balance or equilibrium; stagnation |
| Syllogistic deduction | an argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion |
| Symbol | using an object or action to mean something more than its literal meaning |
| Synesthesia | the term that describes language that transfers imagery from one sense to another |
| Synecdoche | a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole |
| Syntax | grammar dealing with the arrangemebnt of words in a sentence and their relationship and organization |
| Tautology | a proposition which vonceys no real inormation because it is necessarily true |
| Tenebrous | dark and gloomy |
| Theme | the argument or general idea expressed by a literary work, whether implied or explicitly stated. |
| Tone | the attitude a writer takes toward a literary work, its characters, the events it tells abnout, and its audience |
| Ubiquitous | being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent |
| Understatement | a statement that says less than what it means |
