A-E definitions Flashcards
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Absolute
A word free from all limitations or qualifications.
Accismus
a form of irony in which a person feigns indifference to or pretends to refuse something he or she desires.
Acronym
A word formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as a separate word.
Acrostic
Verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line forms a word or message.
Adage
a familiar proverb or wise saying.
AD Hominem Argument
An argument attacking an individual’s character rather than his or her position on an issue.
Agroikos
Rustic, straight-talking, unsophisticated, not anxious about his image, unfazed by other’s joking.
Allegory
A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions.
Alliteration
The repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words
Allusion
a reference to something literary, mytho-logical, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize
Alterity
the state of being other or different; otherness
Ambiguity
An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.
Analogy
a comparison between different things that are similar in some way
Anaphora
A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences.
Anecdote
a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event
Anglo-Norman Period
the period in English literature between 1100 and 1350, which is also often called the Early Middle English Period and is frequently dated from the Conquest in 1066
Anthology
A collection of various writings, such as songs, stories, or poems
Antihesis
a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced
Aphorism
a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance
Apostrophe
a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary per-son, or some abstraction
Archetype
a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response
Argument
a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work
Asyndeton
a constructions in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions
Auditory
Having to do with the sense of hearing
Augustan Age
a style of English literature produced during the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George Il in the first half of the 18th century, ending in the 1740s with the deaths of Pope and Swift (1744 and 1745, respectively)
Balanced sentence
a sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against each other tc emphasize a point
Ballad
A narrative poem written in four-line stan-zas, characterized by swift action and narrated in a direct style.
Baroque
An artistic style of the seventeenth century characterized by complex forms, bold ornamentation, and contrasting elements
Bathos
insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity
Beat Generation
Group highlighted by writers and artist who stressed spontaneity and spirituality instead of apathy and conformity.
Biblical Allusion
reference from the Bible, ex: eyes like heaven, the crowd parted like the red sea.
Bildungsroman
A German word referring to a novel struc tured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal
Blood and Thunder
A class of work specializing in bloodshed and violence. Many of these have to do with crime and high emotion. Sometimes abbr. to “blood,” “blood books,” or “penny bloods.”
Bowdlerize
(v.) to remove material considered offensive (from a book, play, film, etc.)
Caesura
A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.
Carpe Diem
“Seize the day”; a Latin phrase implying that one must live for the present mo-ment, for tomorrow may be too late.
Chiaroscuro
An Italian word designating the contrast of dark and light in a painting, drawing, or print.
Chiasmus
a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed (Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary)
Cliche
an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off
Climax
the point of highest interest
Colloquialism
informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing
Colonial
styles of the British colonies in America in the 17th and 18th centuries, mainly adapted to local materials and demands from prevailing English styles
Complex Sentence
a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause
Compound Sentence
a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions
Conceit
a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor
Concordance
An alphabetical list of the most pertinent works in a given text and a notation of where the words might be found within that text
Concrete Details
details that relate to or describe actual, specific things or events
Concrete Poetry
poetry that is visually arranged to represent a topic
Connotation
the implied or associative meaning of a word
Consonance
Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.
Controlling image
an image or metaphor that runs throughout and determines the form or nature of a literary work
Couplet
A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.
Cumulative Sentence
a sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated bu the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases
Dactylic
A 3 syllable foot; 1st syllable is stressed. next 2 are unstressed. ex. “merrily,”:
MER- ri - ly
Dead Sea Scrolls
A collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s.
Declarative
a sentence that makes a statement or declaration
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