Miscellaneous Advanced Terms Flashcards
Apollonian
having to do with the god apollo
Archetype
a repeated pattern in a culture’s literature
aubade
a poem about dawn, or about lovers in the morning
connotations
the cultural associates, whether positive (honorific) or negative (pejorative), charged or not, that make the true meaning of a word more than its denotation
denotation
the dictionary meaning of a word-its most basic meaning
didactic
preaching or lecturing
dionysian
having to do witht he god dionysus
editorializing
writing the departs from the narrative or dramatic mode and instructs the reader how to think or feel about the events of a story or behavior of a character
epigram
a brief verse or statement that is clever in its concise and witty use of words
epiphany
a moment in which a character achieves spiritual insight into life or into his or her own circumstances; the moment at which a character most truly knows him/her self
grotesque
irregular, extravagant, and fantastic in form
in media res
a story that is already in progress at the point when the narrative begins
indeterminate ending
an ending in which the central conflict is not resolved or is resolved ambiguously
internal monologue
a character actual thoughts, rather than a summary of these thoughts given as they happen, not altered to suit the needs of a reader or the tense of the narrative.
invective
speech or writing the abuses, denounces, or vituperates against
motif
a repeated pattern (of symbols, images, etc) found in a piece of literature; more individual to an author or a particular work than the archetype, which is culturally determined
prose poem
a short composition having the intentions of poetry but not written in verse
shift
a change in structure, in tone, in narrative point of view, in mood or atmosphere etc.
synesthesia
a presentation of one sense in terms usually associated with another sense
unreliable narrator
a narrator who is, for any number of reasons not capable of accuracy and whom we are encouraged to distrust.
