Miscellaneous Advanced Terms

Question 1

Apollonian

Answer 1

having to do with the god apollo

Question 2

Archetype

Answer 2

a repeated pattern in a culture’s literature

Question 3

aubade

Answer 3

a poem about dawn, or about lovers in the morning

Question 4

connotations

Answer 4

the cultural associates, whether positive (honorific) or negative (pejorative), charged or not, that make the true meaning of a word more than its denotation

Question 5

denotation

Answer 5

the dictionary meaning of a word-its most basic meaning

Question 6

didactic

Answer 6

preaching or lecturing

Question 7

dionysian

Answer 7

having to do witht he god dionysus

Question 8

editorializing

Answer 8

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

Question 9

epigram

Answer 9

a brief verse or statement that is clever in its concise and witty use of words

Question 10

epiphany

Answer 10

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

Question 11

grotesque

Answer 11

irregular, extravagant, and fantastic in form

Question 12

in media res

Answer 12

a story that is already in progress at the point when the narrative begins

Question 13

indeterminate ending

Answer 13

an ending in which the central conflict is not resolved or is resolved ambiguously

Question 14

internal monologue

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

invective

Answer 15

speech or writing the abuses, denounces, or vituperates against

Question 16

motif

Answer 16

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

Question 17

prose poem

Answer 17

a short composition having the intentions of poetry but not written in verse

Question 18

shift

Answer 18

a change in structure, in tone, in narrative point of view, in mood or atmosphere etc.

Question 19

synesthesia

Answer 19

a presentation of one sense in terms usually associated with another sense

Question 20

unreliable narrator

Answer 20

a narrator who is, for any number of reasons not capable of accuracy and whom we are encouraged to distrust.