Palestine High School English Language Arts Terminology Definitions

Action word/verb a verb that indicates action as opposed to showing a state of being

Adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words.

Adverb The part of speech that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

Advertisement a public announcement via the public media usually for the sale of goods or services

Allegory The word derives from the Greek allegoria ("speaking otherwise): The term loosely describes any writing in verse or prose that has a double meaning. This narrative acts as an extended metaphor in which a person, abstract idea, or event represents not only itself on the literal level, but it also stands for something else on the symbolic level. An allegorical reading usually involves moral or spiritual concepts that may be more significant than the actual, literal events described in a narrative. Typically, an allegory involves the interaction of multiple symbols, which together create a moral, spiritual, or even political meaning. The act of interpreting a story as if each object in it had an allegorical meaning is called allegoresis.

Alliteration Used for poetic effect, a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group. The repetition of the w sound in the first line of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" is an example of alliteration

Allusion A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical references, historical events, or legends. Authors often use allusion to establish a tone, create an implied association, contrast two objects or people, make an unusual juxtaposition of references, or bring the reader into a world of experience outside the limitations of the story itself. Authors assume that the readers will recognize the original sources and relate their meaning to the new context. For instance, if a teacher were to refer to his class as a horde of Mongols, the students will have no idea if they are being praised or vilified unless they know what the Mongol horde was and what activities it participated in historically. This historical allusion assumes a certain level of education or awareness in the audience, so it should be taken as a compliment rather than an attempt at obscurity. Another example of allusion appears in the underlined quote from Perhaps This Time by Kendrick Harmon

"It was the only argument that could have worked. And so he did it. And there was no fanfare. And there was no ceremony. And there was no ceremony. And there was no parting speech. And there was no, "It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known before." And the only people to see him leave were Kiriath and Hannaniah and the scientists. And she wept. And he struggled to hold back the tears. And the scientists did what they had to do. And he stepped through the portal. And he was alone."

The underlined quote is a line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The author intends for the readers to recognize this line and remember the scene at the end of the novel. Sidney faces the guillotine in the place of Charles Darnay, allowing his doppleganger to escape to England with the woman both of them love. It is a moment of supreme sacrifice for the noblest of reasons. The pathos of the scene in the novel, consequently, is magnified when the emotional implications of the scene in the Dickens novel transfer using the technique, allusion.

Ambiguity a word may have more than one meaning and the author does not indicate which one. (ie In John 21, Jesus asks Peter, "Lovest thou me more than these." This is an example of pronoun antecedent ambiguity. It is unclear what noun the word these refers to: these men? these things?)

Analogy the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find.

Anaphora A rhetoric scheme of repetition in which the word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses is repeated for an intended effect. In the quote provided under the definition of allusion, the repetition of "And there was" at the beginning of five successive clauses is an example of anaphora. The repetition of the word and at the beginning of the twelve successive clauses is also an example of polysyndeton.

Anecdote A brief account of a particular incident

Antagonist The character or force that opposes the protagonist. When the story presents a man vs man conflict, the villian of a story is the antagonist. When the story presents a man vs society conflict, the antagonist is the values or rules of the society. In many Naturalist stories, like "The Open Boat" and "To Build a Fire," the antagonist is nature.

Antecedent A substantive word, phrase, or clause whose denotation is referred to by a pronoun (as John in "Mary saw John and called to him"); broadly : a word or phrase replaced by a substitute.

Aphorism A concise sometimes witty saying that expresses a principle, truth, or observation about life. For example: "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Apostrophe the speaker addresses an inanimate object, an abstract idea, or a person who is absent or dead

ie. "O hateful Error, Melancholy's child,
Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not?" Julius Caesar V, iii, 67-69.
This is also an example of personification, Messala is talking to an abstract concept, Error, as though it is a person

Archetype An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life generally. Often, archetypes include a symbol, a theme, a setting, or a character that some critics think have a common meaning in an entire culture, or even the entire human race. Archetypes recur in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals. The psychologist Carl Jung believed that the archetype originates in the collective unconscious of mankind in shared experiences of a race, such as birth, death, love, family life, struggles--all of which would be expressed in the subconscious of an individual who would recreate them in myths, dreams, and literature. The study of these archetypes in literature is known as archetypal criticism or mythic criticism. Archetypes are also called universal symbols.

Aside private words spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character on the stage that is understood to not be heard by the other characters on the stage. Not to be confused with a soliloquy.

Examples:
From the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Caesar: "Trebonius...Be near me, that I may remember you."
Trebonius: "Caesar, I will (aside) and so near will I be, /That your best friends shall wish I had been further."
In this passage, Trebonius' line "Caesar I will" is said for all to hear; the rest of his line is spoken on stage, but no characters respond-- it is to be understood by the audience that this line is not said aloud to the others, but that it is intended only for the audience to hear.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds as in consonance.

Asyndeton A rhetoric scheme in which a conjunction is omitted for an intended effect. (see also polysyndeton)

Atmosphere The attitude created by the physical or emotional setting rather than the author’s mood or tone.

Autobiography The story of a person's life written by himself or herself.

Ballad In common parlance, song hits, folk music, and folktales or any song that tells a story are loosely called ballads. In more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter. Common traits of the ballad are that (a) the beginning is often abrupt, (b) the story is told through dialogue and action (c) the language is simple or "folksy," (d) the theme is often tragic--though comic ballads do exist, and (e) the ballad contains a refrain that is repeated several times. Many of Chaucer's early poetry consisted not only of "many a lecherous lay," as he puts it, but also a number of philosophical ballads or French ballades, though his works do not usually conform to the ballad's genre requirements in the strictest sense, being much closer to the ballade (see below). One of the most important anthologies of ballads is F. J. Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Famous medieval and Renaissance examples include "Chevy Chase," "The Elfin Knights," "Lord Randal," and "The Demon Lover." A number of Robin Hood ballads also exist. See also ballade and common measure.

Blank verse (also called unrhymed iambic pentameter): Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents. Blank verse has been called the most "natural" verse form for dramatic works, since it supposedly is the verse form most close to natural rhythms of English speech, and it has been the primary verse form of English drama and narrative poetry since the mid-sixteenth Century. Such verse is blank in rhyme only; it usually has a definite meter. (Variations in this meter may appear occasionally). The Earl of Surrey first used the term blank verse in his 1540 translation of The Aeneid of Virgil.

Cadence The melodic pattern just before the end of a sentence or phrase--for instance an interrogation or an exhortation. More generally, the natural rhythm of language depending on the position of stressed and unstressed syllables. Cadence is a major component of individual writers' styles. A cadence group is a coherent group of words spoken as a single rhythmical unit, such as a prepositional phrase, "of parting day" or a noun phrase, "our inalienable rights."

Caesura A pause in a line of poetry for an effect: to prolong the thought or heighten the mood

Characterization The method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work: Methods may include (1) what the character says about himself or herself; (2) what others reveal about the character; (3) the character's own actions and (4) direct exposition.

Chiasmus A rhetoric scheme in which the words of the first clause are inverted in the second clause, usually changing meaning. For example: John F. Kennedy's line, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Clarity the overall style that is easily understood, as opposed to “muddy” convoluted

Classic A work of literature whose merit has been observed over a significant period of time by critics and scholars

Cliché A hackneyed or trite phrase that has become overused. Clichés are considered bad writing and bad literature. Cliché rhymes are rhymes that are considered trite or predictable.

Climax The decisive moment in a drama, the climax is the turning point of the play to which the rising action leads. This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the outcome of the conflict.

Colloquialism A word or phrase used everyday in plain and relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing.
Typically colloquialisms are expressions that are commonly associated with one region of the country.
(ie ya'll in Texas would be stated as you guys in some parts of the north and simply as you in many parts of the country.(Compare with cliché, above and jargon and slang).

Comedy (from Greek: komos, "songs of merrimakers"): In the original meaning of the word, comedy referred to a genre of drama during the Dionysia festivals of ancient Athens. Derived from Greek komos--songs of merry-makers--the first comedies were loud and boisterous drunken affairs. Later, in medieval and Renaissance use, the word comedy came to mean any play or narrative poem in which the main characters manage to avert an impending disaster and have a happy ending. The comedy did not necessarily have to be funny, and indeed, many comedies are serious in tone. It is only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that comedy's exclusive connotations of humor arose.

Coming-of-age story (Bildungsroman) The novel has a strong tradition in English literature. In Great Britain, it can trace its roots back to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in 1719 (Kroll 23). Since then, the British novel has grown in popularity. It was especially popular in Victorian England. The type of novel that was particularly popular in Victorian England was the novel of youth. Many authors of the time were producing works focused on the journey from childhood to adulthood: Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre, George Eliot wrote The Mill on the Floss, and Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield and Great Expectations. All of these novels trace the growth of a child. In this respect, some of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century were part of the genre called the Bildungsroman. In the simplest sense of the word, a Bildungsroman is a novel of the development of a young man (or in some cases a young woman). In fact, the Webster's College Dictionary definition of Bildungsroman is "a novel dealing with the education and development of its protagonist".

Commentary a form of elaboration, commentary includes inferences, opinions, and interpretations

Comparative Adjective modification of an adjective used when two people, things, or actions are compared

Complex sentence A sentence that has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

Compound sentence A sentence that has two or more independent clauses and no dependent clauses.

Compound/ complex sentence A sentence that has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Conceit A far-fetched simile or metaphor, a literary conceit occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things.

Conclude To bring to an end.

Conclusion Also called the Resolution; the conclusion is the point in a drama to which the entire play has been leading. It is the logical outcome of everything that has come before it. The conclusion stems from the nature of the characters.

Concrete detail the backbone of an essay, it includes specific events, quotes, or paraphrases

Conflict In the plot of a drama, conflict occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or force in the play. Conflict can be internal or external. Common conflicts are Man vs Man, Man vs Self, Man vs Society, and Man vs Nature.

Conjunction part of speech—a word or phrase that links words, phrases, clauses, or sentences

Connotation and Denotation The denotation of a word is its dictionary definition. The connotation of a word is its emotional content.

Contemporary There are two meanings of this word. (1) Alive and writing now or (2) Alive at the same time as another who is provided for the comparison. Thus, Maya Angelou is a contemporary poet-- she is alive and writing poetry today. AND Frederick Douglass was a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln.

Couplet A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. Most couplets rhyme aa, but this is not a requirement. Poetry in rhyming couplets is one of the simplest rhyme schemes: aa bb cc dd ee ff... etc.
Example:
I think that I shall never see -a
A poem lovely as a tree. -a

Credibility the degree to which one can trust the source. For example information found in the Encyclopedia Britannica has a high level of credibility; whereas, information found on a personal webpage tends to have a lower level of credibility.

Debate a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides

Denotation and connotation The denotation of a word is its dictionary definition. The connotation of a word is its emotional content.

Denouement A French word meaning "unknotting" or "unwinding," denouement refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, which usually occurs toward the final stages of the plot. It is the unraveling of the main dramatic complications in a play, novel or other work of literature. In drama, the term is usually applied to tragedies or to comedies with catastrophes in their plot. It usually takes place in the final chapter or scene, after the climax is over. Usually the denouement ends as quickly as the writer can arrange it--for it occurs only after all the conflicts have been resolved.

Dependent and Independent clauses An independent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that can stand alone as a complete thought. One independent clause can be written as a simple sentence. When a writer/ speaker begins a clause with a subordinating conjunction, it makes the clause dependent. For example the word When in sentence above is a subordinating conjunction, which makes the whole clause "When . . .conjunction" a dependent clause. A dependent clause must be linked to an independent clause, or the resulting sentence is a fragment. (see also Complex sentence, compound sentence, and compound/complex sentence)

Descriptive writing that employs imagery to create a vivid picture of a person, an object, or a scene

Diagrams A method by which the relationship of words within a sentence can be mapped visually

Dialect Writing that attempts to imitate the sound and structure of a given region's use of langauge. It usually employs a phonetic spelling of words, in addition to use of colloquialisms and idioms. For example: "A guy can talk to you an' be sure you won't go blabbin'. Couple of weeks an' them pups'll be all right. George knows what he's about. Jus' talks, an' you don't understand nothing" (Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, 70-71).

Dialogue In literature, a conversation between characters.

Diction An author's choice of words. Since words have specific meanings, and since one's choice of words can affect feelings, a writer's choice of words can have great impact in a literary work. Diction can be formal or informal, simple, complex, elevated, or pompous, general or specific, modern or old-fashioned. Connotation and denotation are important aspects of diction

Didactic Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, "didactic essays." Inclined to teach or moralize excessively; moralistic.

Documentary A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration.

Dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know. (see defintion irony)

Dramatic Monologue A poem in which a poetic speaker addresses either the reader or an internal listener at length. t is similar to the soliloquy in theater, in that both a dramatic monologue and a soliloquy often involve the revelation of the innermost thoughts and feelings of the speaker. Two famous examples are Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister". Not to be confused with a soliloquy.

Drawing Conclusions see inference

Elaboration The act of developing an idea in more depth and clarity, including clarification: a technique of commentary in which the writer rephrases an idea or provides additional information to make the idea more understandable.

Elegy A lyric poem lamenting death.

Epic An epic in its most specific sense is a genre of classical poetry. It is a poem that is (a) a long narrative about a serious subject, (b) told in an elevated style of language, (c) focused on the exploits of a hero or demi-god who represents the cultural values of a race, nation, or religious group (d) in which the hero's success or failure will determine the fate of that people or nation. Usually, the epic has (e) a vast setting, and covers a wide geographic area, (f) it contains superhuman feats of strength or military prowess, and gods or supernatural beings frequently take part in the action. The poem begins with (g) the invocation of a muse to inspire the poet and, (h) the narrative starts in medias res (see above). (i) The epic contains long catalogs of heroes or important characters, focusing on highborn kings and great warriors rather than peasants and commoners. The term applies most directly to classical Greek texts like the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Epigram : A short, humorous poem, often written in couplets, that makes a satiric point. Coleridge once described the epigram using an epigram himself: "A dwarfish whole, / Its body brevity, / and wit its soul."

Epigraph (1) An inscription in verse or prose on a building, tome, or coin. (2) a short verse or motto appearing at the beginning of a longer poem or the title page of a novel, at the heading of a new section or paragraph of an essay or other literary work to establish mood or raise thematic concerns. The opening epigraph to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is one such example.

Epiphany Christian thinkers used this term to signify a manifestation of God's presence in the world. It has since become in modern fiction and poetry the standard term for the sudden flare into revelation of an ordinary object or scene. In particular, the epiphany is a revelation of such power and insight that it alters the entire world-view of the thinker who experiences it.

Epitaph An inscription on a tomb or tombstone, or a verse written on the occasion of a person's death. Epitaphs may be serious or humorous.

Epithet In literature, a word of phrase preceding or following a name which serves to describe the character.

Essay a short nonfiction work about a given subject

Euphemism A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive. This may also be done for humerous effect, (for example, I call detention "quality time with Mr. Smith.")

Exposition In drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to the beginning of the play.

Fable A brief story illustrating a moral. Unlike the parables, fables often include talking animals or animated objects as the principal characters. The interaction of these animals or inanimate things reveals general truths about human nature, i.e., a person can learn practical lessons from the fictional antics in a fable. However, the lesson learned is not allegorical. Each animal is not necessarily a symbol for something else. Instead, the reader learns the lesson as an exemplum--an example of what one should or should not do. The sixth century (BCE) Greek writer Aesop is most famous as an author of fables, but Phaedrus and Babrius in the first century (CE) expanded on his works. A famous collection of Indian fables was the Sanskrit Bidpai (circa 300 CE), and in the medieval period, Marie de France (c. 1200 CE) composed 102 fables in verse. After the 1600s, fables increasingly became common as a form of children's literature. (See also allegory and parable).

Fact a statement that can be proven

Farce (from Latin Farsus, "stuffed"): A farce is a form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations. Traits of farce include (1) physical bustle such as slapstick, (2) sexual misunderstandings and mix-ups, (3) broad verbal humor such as puns. Many literary critics (especially in the Victorian period) have tended to view farce as inferior to "high comedy" that involves brilliant dialogue.

Fiction a genre of literature that is based at least partially in the imagination

Figurative Language Language that intentionally departs from the normal construction or meaning of words in order to create a certain effect or to make an analogy between two seemingly dissimilar things; the author temporarily interrupts the order, construction, or meaning of the writing for a particular effect.

Figure of Speech An example of figurative language that states something that is not literally true in order to create an effect. Similes, metaphors and personification are figures of speech which are based on comparisons. Metonymy, synecdoche, synesthesia, apostrophe, oxymoron, and hyperbole are other figures of speech.

Flashback A reference to an event which took place prior to the beginning of a story or play.

Foreshadowing The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature. An excellent example of this occurs in Steinbeck's The Pearl. (see symbolism for the example)

Fragment an incomplete sentence, this can be accomplished by writing a dependent clause without linking it to an independent clause or by writing a phrase that lacks either a subject or verb

Frame Story The result of inserting one or more small stories within the body of a larger story that encompasses the smaller ones. Often this term is used interchangeably with both the literary technique and the larger story itself that contains the smaller ones, called "framed narratives" or "embedded narratives." Examples include Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which the overarching frame narrative is the story of a band of pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury, who pass the time in a storytelling contest. The framed narratives are the individual stories told by the pilgrims who participate.

Free verse A form of poetry that does not employ a set scheme of rhyme and meter; instead free verse poetry relies on other poetic devices of sound such as: cadence, alliteration, assonance, figurative language, and parallel structure.

Generalization A statement that applies to more than one thing; this technique is useful for sorting or summarizing observations. Generalization often leads to logical fallacy; for example, "all snakes are bad."

Genre A category or type of literature, art, music, or film

Gothic Novel a type of romance wildly popular between 1760 up until the 1820s that has influenced the ghost story and horror story. The stories are designed to thrill readers by providing mystery and blood-curdling accounts of villainy, murder, and the supernatural. Conventions include wild and desolate landscapes, ancient buildings such as ruined monasteries, cathedrals, castles with dungeons, torture chambers, secret doors, and winding stairways; apparitions such as phantoms, demons, and necromancers; an atmosphere of brooding gloom; and youthful, handsome heroes and heroines who face off against corrupt aristocrats, wicked witches, and hideous monsters.

Haiku a Japanese form of poetry that consists of three lines, the first line has five syllables; the second line has seven syllables; and the third line has five syllables

Historical Fiction Writing that is based at least partially on real events of the past in which the author uses his/her imagination to provide dialogue and detail

Hyperbole A figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration for the effect of humor or of pathos (ie The locker room smells like a skunk that has been dead on the side of the road for seven days in August.)

Iambic Pentameter the most commonly used meter. Iambic indicates the pattern: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, (commonly represented u /). Pentameter indicates the number of times the pattern repeats: five times. So the scansion for iambic pentameter would read u/ u/ u/ u/ u/. Iambic pentameter is a required element in both blank verse poetry and in the sonnet.

Idiom Expressions that are common to one geographic location or language that cannot be taken literally, nor can be understood by looking at the denotation of individual words (ie "Give me a hand" meaning "Help," or "Can you crack the window?" meaning "Open it about 1/4 of an inch," or "Shake a leg" meaning "Hurry up.")

Imagery A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work.

Visual imagery paints a picture in the reader's mind.
ie Like a princess, she floats into the room, ebony curls sliding carelessly over ivory shoulders draped elegantly in emerald velvet.

Auditory imagery causes the reader to "hear" within his/her mind the sounds described and often incorporates the technique of onomatopeoia.
Example: In excerpts taken from "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe, readers can practically hear the jingle of the sleigh bells.

Hear the sledges with their bells--
Silver bells
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night . . .
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of runic rhyme
To the tintintabulation that so musically wells . . .

Using kinesthetic imagery, an author can create a sense of movement in the mind of the reader
ie The lap, lap, lapping of the waves carressed the small craft. Barely perceptible, the rocking back and forth, back and forth, was accentuated only occasionally by the swoosh of a line pulled through the water. Fishing with Grandpa was comfort, not sport.

Tactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch.
ie Like the fur on a kitten, like a fluffy yellow chick, or a rose petal on a bright April morning, Momma's hands stood in stark contrast to Daddy's sandpaper callouses.

Although seldom employed olfactory imagery can be effective as well.
ie The locker room smells just slightly worse than a skunk that has been dead on the side of the road for seven days in August.
[Note: this is also an example of Hyperbole]

Imagery can also appeal to the sense of taste.
ie I will never forget Grandma's biscuits that just sort of melted on the tongue, home-churned butter and honey, with a glass of ice cold milk.

In Media Res (Latin: "In the middle[s] of things") The classical tradition of opening a story not in the chronological point at which the sequence of events would start, but rather at the midway point of the story. Later on in the narrative, the hero will recount verbally to others what events took place earlier. Usually in medias res is a technique used to heighten dramatic tension or to create a sense of mystery.

Indirect Object a noun or pronoun that receives the direct object—answers the questions to whom or from whom, to what or from what

Inference A judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement.

Interjection part of speech—a word that shows excitement and emotion, generally set apart from the sentence by an exclamation point or comma

Irony An implied discrepancy between what is expected and what is meant. There are three kinds of irony: 1. verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else. 2. dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know. 3. irony of situation is a discrepency between the expected result and actual results.

Irony of situation see above entry

Kenning a metaphorical phrase written in the form of a compound noun used to describe a person, place, or thing indirectly. For example in Beowulf, the sea is called "the whale road" and in Biblical allusions the devil is called "the father of lies"

Limerick a nonsensical or humorous poem of five anapestic lines, usually with the rhyme scheme aabba. The content is often ribald, or bawdy.

Linking verb a verb (most commonly a form of the verb to be) that connects the subject with a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. For example: Predicate adjective--She is sick. or She looks sick. Predicate nominative-- He is the principal.

Literal Language Language that incorporates the normal construction or meaning of words, the speaker/ writer intends to be mean simply what is said

Local Color A detailed setting forth of the characteristics of a particular locality, enabling the reader to "see" the setting.

Litotes A form of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. As in, "she is not a bad singer." or "Orlando Bloom is not the ugliest man on the planet."

Lyric Poem A short poem wherein the poet expresses an emotion or illuminates some life principle.

Media The substance or means of conveying a message (ie film, audiotape, canvas, text), this term is also used to refer to the news reporting agencies of our country (ie tv, radio, and newspaper)

Metaphor A figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object.

Directly Stated Metaphor: the comparision is stated outright
ie "the fog is a cat that curls up into a ball around the house."

Implied Metaphor: the comparison is not stated outright
ie "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
. . . Curled once about the house and fell asleep.
(Excerpt from "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot

Extended Metaphor: several comparisons are made between the two objects; (see also allegory)

Dead Metaphor: A metaphor that has been used so frequently, people do not even realize it is a metaphor.
ie "time flies"

Meter A regular pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in a line or lines of poetry. Usually denoted u for unstressed and / for stressed. Metric patterns include iamb (u /), trochee (/ u), anapest ( u u /), and dactyl (/ u u). A Foot is the basic unit of measurement in a line of poetry. Five iambic feet (u/ u/ u/ u/ u/) is called iambic pentameter; Four anapestic feet (uu/ uu/ uu/ uu/) is called anapestic tetrameter.

Metonymy A figure of speech in which a word represents something else which it suggests. For example in a herd of fifty cows, the herd might be referred to as fifty head of cattle. The word "head" is the word representing the herd.

Mood The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work, partly by a description of the objects or by the style of the descriptions. A work may contain a mood of horror, mystery, holiness, or childlike simplicity, to name a few, depending on the author's treatment of the work.

Motif A conspicuous recurring element, such as a type of incident, a device, a reference, or verbal formula, which appears frequently in works of literature. For instance, the "loathly lady" who turns out to be a beautiful princess is a common motif in folklore, and the man fatally bewitched by a fairy lady is a common folkloric motif appearing in Keat's "La Belle Dame sans Merci."

Motivation The reasons or forces behind the actions of a character

Mythology/ myth an anonymous traditional story that usually serves to explain a belief, custom, or mysterious natural phenomenon.

Narration, Narrative Narration is the act of telling a sequence of events, often in chronological order, or alternatively, any story, whether in prose or verse, involving events, characters, and what the characters say and do. A narrative is the story or account itself. Some narrations are reportorial and historical, such as biographies, autobiographies, news stories, and historical accounts. In narrative fiction common to literature, the narrative is usually creative and imaginative rather than strictly factual, as evidenced in fairy tales, legends, novels, novelettes, short stories, and so on. However, the fact that a fictional narrative is an imaginary construct does not necessarily mean it isn't concerned with imparting some sort of truth to the reader, as evidenced in exempla, fables, anecdotes, and other sorts of narrative. The narrative can begin ab ovo (from the start and work its way to the conclusion), or it can begin in medias res (in the middle of the action, then recount earlier events by the character's dialogue, memories, or flashbacks). See exemplum and fable.

Narrative Poem A poem which tells a story.

Narrator The "voice" that speaks or tells a story. Some stories are written in a first-person point of view, in which the narrator's voice is that of the point-of-view character. For instance, in The Adventures of Huck Finn, the narrator's voice is the voice of the main character, Huck Finn. It is clear that the historical author, Mark Twain, is creating a fictional voice to be the narrator and tell the story--complete with incorrect grammar, colloquialisms, and youthful perspective. In other stories, such as those told in the third-person point of view, scholars use the term "narrator" to describe the authorial voice set forth, the voice "telling the story to us." For instance, Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist presents a narrative in which the storyteller stands outside the action described. He is not a character who interacts with other characters in terms of plot. However, this fictionalized storyteller occasionally "intrudes" upon the story to offer commentary to the reader, make suggestions, or render a judgment about what takes place in the tale.

Neoclassicism The revival of classical standards and forms during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The neoclassicists valued the ideals of order, reason, balance, harmony, clarity, and restraint.

Nonverbal Communication using methods other than words (ie gestures, body language, etc)

Noun part of speech—anything with a name, a person place or thing. The five basic functions of a noun are: subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, predicate nominative,

Novel Long fictional prose narrative, usually of more than fifty thousand words

Object of the preposition The noun or pronoun that follows a preposition and closes the prepositional phrase

Objectivity A quality in writing characterized by the absence of the author's opinion or feeling about the subject matter.

Occasion The real life event that leads a writer to create a poem or other work of literature

Octave An eight-line stanza which may be rhymed or unrhymed.

Ode A complex, generally long lyric poem about a serious subject. There are two basic types of odes. One is highly formal and dignified in style and is generally written for ceremonial or public occasions. The other is more personal and reflective.

Onomatopoeia A literary device wherein the sound of a word echoes the sound it represents. The words "splash." "knock," and "roar" are examples.

Opinion a judgment about a person or thing, a statement that, although it is true, cannot be proven

Oxymoron (plural oxymora, also called paradox): Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense. Examples include such oxymora as jumbo shrimp, sophisticated rednecks, and military intelligence. The best oxymora seem to reveal a deeper truth through their contradictions. These oxymora are called paradoxes. For instance, "without laws, we can have no freedom." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar also makes use of a famous oxymoron: "Cowards die many times before their deaths" (2.2.32).

Parable A brief story, told or written in order to teach a moral lesson.

Paradox A situation or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not.

Parallel Structure/ Parallelism A repetition of sentences using the same structure.

Paraphrase A brief restatement in one's own words of all or part of a literary or critical work, as opposed to quotation, in which one reproduces all or part of a literary or critical work word-for-word, exactly.

Parody A literary work that imitates the style of another literary work.

Pastoral An artistic composition dealing with the life of shepherds or with a simple, rural existence. It usually idealized shepherds' lives in order to create an image of peaceful and uncorrupted existence. More generally, pastoral describes the simplicity, charm, and serenity attributed to country life, or any literary convention that places kindly, rural people in nature-centered activities.

Persona (Latin: "Mask"): An external representation of oneself which might or might not accurately reflect one's inner self, or an external representation of oneself that might be largely accurate, but involves exaggerating certain characteristics and minimizing others. (Contrast with Character)

Personification A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics.

Persuasion/ Persuasive writing writing or speaking that states an opinion and uses facts, examples, and reasons to convince readers

Plagiarism Claiming another person's written material as one's own. Plagiarism can take the form of direct, word-for-word copying or the theft of the substance or idea of the work.

Plot The structure of a story. Or the sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure of a five-act play often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by antagonist, creating what is called, conflict.

Point of view The way a story gets told and who tells it. It is the method of narration that determines the position, or angle of vision, from which the story is told. Point of view governs the reader's access to the story. Many narratives appear in the first person (the narrator speaks as "I" and the narrator is a character in the story who may or may not influence events within it). Another common type of narrative is the third-person narrative (the narrator seems to be someone standing outside the story who refers to all the characters by name or as he, she, they, and so on). When the narrator reports speech and action, but never comments on the thoughts of other characters, it is the dramatic third person point of view or objective point of view. The third-person narrator can be omniscient--a narrator who knows everything that needs to be known about the agents and events in the story, and is free to move at will in time and place, and who has privileged access to a character's thoughts, feelings, and motives. The narrator can also be limited--a narrator who is confined to what is experienced, thought, or felt by a single character, or at most a limited number of characters. Finally, there is the unreliable narrator (a narrator who describes events in the story, but seems to make obvious mistakes or misinterpretations that may be apparent to a careful reader). Unreliable narration often serves to characterize the narrator as someone foolish or unobservant.

Polysyndeton A rhetoric scheme in which a conjunction is repeated for an intended effect. In the quote provided under the definition of allusion, the repetition of the word and at the beginning of the twelve successive clauses is an example of polysyndeton. Percy Shelley uses polysyndeton in line four his poem "Ode to the West Wind": "Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red" (See also asyndeton)

Predicate Adjective An adjective that modifies that subject that follows a linking or being verb

Prewrite the first stage of the writing process in which the writer plans for drafting based on subject, occasion, audience, and purpose of writing

Pronoun part of speech—a word that takes the place of a noun or nouns

Propaganda an effort to persuade by distorting and misrepresenting information or by disguising opinions as facts

Prose Any material that is not written in a regular meter like poetry. Short stories, novels, letters, essays, and treatises are typically written in prose.

Protagonist The hero or central character of a literary work.

Proverb (from the Latin proverbium) is a pithy saying which had gained credence through widespread or frequent use. Most proverbs express some basic truth or practical precept. A proverb which describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a "maxim". If a proverb is distinguished by particularly good style it may be known as an aphorism.

Pun (also called paranomasia): A play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning. For example, in Matthew 16:18, Christ puns in Greek: "Thou art Peter [Petros] and upon this rock [petra] I will build my church." Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, puns upon Romeo's vile death (vile=vial, the vial of poison Romeo consumed). Shakespeare's poetic speaker also puns upon his first name (Will) and his lover's desire (her will) in the sonnets, and John Donne puns upon his last name in "Hymn to God the Father." Originally, puns were a common literary trope in serious literature, but after the eighteenth century, puns have been primarily considered a low form of humor. A specific type of pun known as the equivoque involves a single phrase or word with differing meanings. For instance, one epitaph for a bank teller reads "He checked his cash, cashed in his checks, / And left his window. / Who's next?" The nineteenth-century poet, Anita Owen, uses a pun to side-splitting effect in her verse: O dreamy eyes, They tell sweet lies of Paradise; And in those eyes the lovelight lies And lies--and lies--and lies! Another type of pun is the asteismus, in which one speaker uses a word one way, but a second speaker responds using the word in a different sense. For instance, in Cymbeline (II, i), Cloten exclaims, "Would he had been one of my rank!" A lord retorts, "To have smell'd like a fool," twisting the meaning of rank from a noun referring to "noble status" to an adjective connoting a foul smell. Yet another form of pun is the paragram, in which the wordplay involves altering one or more letters in a word. It is often considered a low form of humor, as in various knock-knock jokes or puns such as, "What's homicidal and lives in the sea? Answer: Jack the Kipper." In spite of the pun's current low reputation, some of the best writers in English have been notoriously addicted to puns: noticeably Shakespeare, Chaucer, and James Joyce.

Quatrain A four-line stanza which may be rhymed or unrhymed. A heroic quatrain is a four line stanza rhymed abab.

Realism An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. First, it refers generally to any artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner. It is an attempt to reflect life "as it actually is"--a concept in some ways similar to what the Greeks would call mimesis. Typically, "realism" involves careful description of everyday life, "warts and all," often the lives of middle and lower class characters in the case of socialist realism. In general, realism seeks to avoid supernatural, transcendental, or surreal events. It tends to focus as much on the everyday, the mundane, and the normal as events that are extraordinary, exceptional, or extreme.

Refrain A word, phrase, or line that is repeated througout a poem for a specific effect. For example the line "Quoth the raven, "Nevermore" from Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven." A refrain that has gained symbolic meaning is called a motif.

Resolution The denouement, the portion of a story following the climax, in which the conflict is resolved.

Rhetoric The skillful use of languague; the art of speaking or writing effectively; the study and application of the principles, devices, and rules of compostion formulated by critics of ancient times. In classical rhetoric, tropes and schemes fall under the canon of style. These stylistic features certainly do add spice to writing and speaking. And they are commonly thought to be persuasive because they dress up otherwise mundane language; the idea being that we are persuaded by the imagery and artistry because we find it entertaining. There is much more to tropes and schemes than surface considerations; indeed, politicians and pundits use these language forms to create specific social and political effects by playing on our emotions (see also mood and tone). There are three basic rhetorical appeals: logos- appeals to logic and reason, pathos- appeals to emotion, and ethos- appeals to the audience's trust of the speaker.

Rhyme/ rhyming Rhetoric Scheme--The repetition of the ending vowel (and following consonant) sound of a word; the similarity between syllable sounds at the end of two or more lines. In poetry, a set pattern of rhyme is called a rhyme scheme; one such rhyme scheme, terza rima, can be observed in the definition of tercet.

Rhythm The alternation of stressed/ accented and unstressed/ unaccented syllables in language

ROMANCE
ROMANCE, MEDIEVAL In medieval use, romance referred to episodic French and German poetry dealing with the chivalric adventures of knights in warfare and courtly love. The medieval metrical romances resembled the earlier chansons de gestes and epics. A large number survive due to their popularity, including the works of Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1190), Hartmann von Aue (c. 1203), Gottfried von Strassburg (c. 1210), and Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1210). England produced its own romances in the 14th century, including the Lay of Havelok the Dane and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In 1485, Caxton printed the lengthy romance Le Morte D'arthur, a prose work that constituted a grand synthesis of Arthurian legends. Gradually, the poetic genre of medieval romance was superseded by prose works of renaissance romance. See romance, renaissance, above.
ROMANCE, MODERN In contrast with medieval romance and Renaissance meanings of romance, which can be found just above this entry, in the 20th century, the meaning of a romance has become more restricted. Modern speakers refer to romances when they mean formulaic stories recounting the growth of a passionate sexual relationship. The conventional plotline involves a third-person narrative or a first-person narrative told from the viewpoint of a young woman between the ages of eighteen and her late twenties. She encounters a potential paramour in the form of a slightly older man. The two are prevented from forming a relationship due to social, psychological, or interpersonal constraints. The primary plot involves the two overcoming these constraints through melodramatic efforts. The story traditionally ends happily with the two characters professing their love for each other and building a life together. See melodrama, romance, medieval, and romance, renaissance.
ROMANCE, RENAISSANCE The original medieval genre of metrical romances gradually were replaced by prose works in the 1500s. At that point the meaning of a "romance" expanded to include any lengthy story involving episodic encounters with supernatural or exciting events in Spanish and French stories written in the 1500s and 1600s. The connotations were of wild adventures, rather than romantic longing. See romance, medieval and romance, modern, below.

ROMANTIC COMEDY Sympathetic comedy that presents the adventures of young lovers trying to overcome social, psychological, or interpersonal constraints to achieve a successful union. Commedia delle arte is a general type of drama that falls into this category.

ROMANTICISM The term refers to the artistic philosophy prevalent during the first third of the nineteenth century (about 1800-1830). Romanticism rejected the earlier philosophy of the Enlightenment, which stressed that logic and reason were the best response humans had in the face of cruelty, stupidity, superstition, and barbarism. Instead, the romantics asserted that reliance upon emotion and natural passions provided a valid and powerful means of knowing and a reliable guide to ethics and living. The romantic movement typically asserts the unique nature of the individual, the privileged status of imagination and fancy, the human need for emotional outlets, a rejection of civilized corruption, and a desire to return to natural primitivism and escape the spiritual destruction of urban life. The major romantic poets included William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Gordon Byron. Simile A figure of speech which takes the form of a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison can be found, and which uses the words "like" or "as".

Run on sentence Two or more sentences that are linked by either a comma or no punctuation at all

Sarcasm A form of sneering criticism in which disapproval is often expressed as ironic praise.

Satire A work that uses ridicule, humor, and wit to criticize and provoke change in human nature and institutions. Examples of satire include Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain "A Modest Proposal" and Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and Candide by Voltaire.

Scheme A change in standard word order or pattern; tropes and schemes are known collectively as figures of speech. See also rhetoric.

Science Fiction Literature that is based on the imagination that predicts technological advancements and their effects on society and the individual

Sensory language see imagery

Setting An elementary definition of setting might be: the time and place in which a story occurs; however, setting is the total environment for the action of a fictional work—includes time period, place, as well as the social, political, and perhaps even spiritual realities.

Sextet A six-line stanza which may be rhymed or unrhymed.

Short Story Short piece of narrative fiction. The elements of a short story include: character, plot, setting, narrator/ narration, exposition, tone, and theme.

Simile A comparison, usually using "like" or "as", of two essentially dissimilar things, as in "coffee as cold as ice" or "He sounded like a broken record."

Simple sentence A sentence containing only one independent clause and no dependent clauses

Soliloquy In drama, a legnthy speech when a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud. The soliloquy typically springs from self-introspection, self-analysis of motivation, or internal declaration of intent. There are typically no other characters on stage or in the scene during a soliloquy.

Often on film, soliloquies employ the technological device of voice-over, where the character's voice is heard, but his lips do not move; modern audiences interpret this technique to mean the character is thinking and the audience can hear his thoughts. On stage this technique is impractical-- the actor speaks, and the audience is to draw the same conclusion.

Solution An answer to a problem or conflict

Sonnet A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose ryhme scheme is fixed. The two main types of sonnet are the Petrarchan (or Italian) and the Shakespearean. The Petrarchan Sonnet is divided into two main sections, the octave (first eight lines) and the sestet (last six lines). The octave presents a problem or situation which is then resolved or commented on in the sestet. The most common rhyme scheme is A-B-B-A A-B-B-A C-D-E C-D-E, though there is flexibility in the sestet, such as C-D-C D-C-D. The Shakespearean Sonnet is divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Speaker it is the imaginary voice assumed by the writer in poetry

Spencerian stanza A nine line stanza with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc, the first eight lines in the stanza are in iambic pentameter, the ninth line is an alaxandrine-- iambic hexameter

Stanza A subdivision of a poem consisting of lines grouped together, often in recurring patterns of rhyme, line length, and meter. Stanzas may also serve as units of thought in a poem much like paragraphs in prose. A two line stanza is a couplet, three = tercet, four = quatrain, six = sextet, eight = octave

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS Writing in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax. Often no distinction is made between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception. William James coined the phrase "stream of consciousness" in his Principles of Psychology (1890).

Stereotype An author's method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group. A character may be associated with a group through accent, food choices, style of dress, or any readily identifiable group characteristic.

Style The manner of expression of a particular writer, produced by choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of language use. Some general styles might include scientific, ornate, plain, and emotive.

Subject-verb agreement the technique of matching the number of subjects (singular or plural) with the appropriate verb

Subordinating conjunction a word used in a complex sentence that introduces the dependent (aka subordinate) clause

Summarize/ summary (to present) information written in a condensed, concise form, touching only the main ideas

Supportive detail specific events, facts, examples, or reasons that explain or prove the topic sentence

Suspense The uncertainty or anxiety the audience/ reader feels about what is going to happen next in the story

Symbolism A device in literature where an object represents an idea. A symbol is a concrete object that represents both its literal sense and a deeper, abstract meaning. For example, in The Pearl by John Steinbeck, when Kino strikes the doctor's gate with his fist. The gate is a literal wooden gate that causes his hand to bleed; it is also a symbol representing the abstract principle of the domination of the Spanish authority. This scene foreshadows the fate of Kino when he opposes the authority and tries to rise above his station in society.

Synecdoche A figure of speech wherein a part of something represents the whole thing. In this figure, the head of a cow might substitute for the whole cow.

Syntax The arrangement of words for a desired effect in a literary work.

Technology the methods or tools for the exploration, acquisition, application or presentation of knowledge

Tercet A three-line stanza which may be rhymed or unrhymed. The rhyme scheme terza rima uses a repeating pattern of tercet in which the end-sound of the middle-line introduces the rhyme for the outer-lines in the next stanza. Thus in terza rima the rhyme scheme would be "aba bcb cdc" ... For example notice in the two stanzas below that dead, red and bed rhyme; the pattern continues throughout the poem.

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, - - a
Thou, from whose unseen presence, the leaves dead - b
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, - - - a

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, - - - - - -b
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, - - - - - - - - - c
Whose chariotest to their dark wintry bed - - - - - - - b
(excerpt from "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Shelley)

Theme An ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity. The theme provides an answer to the question What is the work about? Message. The theme is the author's opinion about the major subjects of the work. Major works of literature will have more than one theme.

Thesis A thesis is both an essay and the point argued in the essay. Thesis novels and thesis plays share the quality of containing a thesis which is supported through the action of the story. The thesis sentence is a sentence found in the introductory paragraph that indicates the intended subject and opinion of the paper. One way to create this sentence is to write the outline into sentence form

Tone Tone expresses the author's attitude toward his or her subject.

Topic sentence A statement of the main idea of a paragraph, traditionally the first sentence of the paragraph

Tragedy A drama in prose or poetry about a noble, courageous hero of excellent character who, because of some tragic character flaw or hamartia, brings ruin upon him- or herself. (see also tragic hero, tragic flaw)

Tragic Hero in a tragedy, the protagonist.
As defined by Aristotle (384-322 BC)
1. The protagonist must be a man of great position and influence in order for the story of his downfall to engage the feelings of their audience in the deepest possible way. Consequently, the protagonists are always princes (Hamlet), kings (Lear), generals (Othello), or at least members of socially prominent families (Romeo) so their downfall affects great populations or nations. The important idea is that tragedy bear universal implications.
2. A tragic hero is a man who is not especially good or virtuous. (The hero is indeed human; therefore, he is like us.)
3. Tragedy requires that a tragic hero must oppose some conflicting force, either external or internal.
4. The tragic hero does not fall because he has vices (bad habits). He does fall (destroyed), however, because he makes an error in judgment; for example, his inability to "read" people and situations.
5. The tragic hero makes an error in judgment because of a flaw (hubris) in his character.
6. The tragic hero must fall "heavily enough" (a severe punishment such as death [death of tragic hero because of disease for example is not worthy of tragedy] as to instill pity and fear within the onlookers reader/audience). In other words, the tragic hero's suffering must be real; it must never be petty or insignificant.
7. The tragic hero must undergo great mental torment and suffering which causes pity and fear in the reader. The reader must be able to identify with the fallen hero. As witnesses to the slow decline of a potentially good man, the reader says, "What a waste of potential."
8. The tragic hero must have the capacity for deep feeling and imagination. His downfall is, therefore, imposing and powerful implying the greatness of human nature.

Tragic Flaw In a tragedy, the quality within the hero or heroine which leads to his or her downfall. Also known as hamartia the tragic flaw is a concept identified by Aristotle in his book, Poetics. Hamartia is the fall of a noble man caused by some excess or mistake in behavior, not because of a willful violation of the gods' laws. The idea of hamartia/tragic flaw is often ironic; it frequently implies the very trait that makes the individual noteworthy is what ultimately causes the protagonist's decline into disaster. For instance, what makes Brutus an honorable and respected man is his unstinting love of the Roman Republic, but this same patriotism causes him to kill his best friend, Julius Caesar. Similarly, for the character of Macbeth, the same ambition that makes him so admired is the trait that also allows Lady Macbeth to lure him to murder and treason. These normally positive traits of patriotism and self-motivation cause the two protagonists to "miss the mark" and to realize too late the ethical and spiritual consequences of their actions. One of the most common tragic flaws is ambition; another is hubris, excessive pride or self confidence. Hubris can also be defined as arrogant disregard of reality/fate/the gods

Transition words words and phrases that show how ideas are related or that indicate a change in topics

Trope The use of a word, phrase, or image in a way not intended by its normal signification; tropes and schemes are known collectively as figures of speech. See also rhetoric.

Understatement The writer states the case as though it is less than it is. One form of understatement is litotes: understatement through negation: ie "The visit to the dentist was not the most pleasant experience of my life." Another form of understatement is meiosis: understatement through diminishing: ie "The doctor said I would feel slight discomfort; this is kind of like saying the Titanic was a slight boating accident."

Verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else. (see defintion irony)

Verb a word that shows an action or state of being

Wit a quality of speech or writing that combines verbal cleverness with keen perception, especially of the incongruous; also an ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse; or a talent for amusing banter

Word origins (etymology) The study of the history of a word, shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurance in the language, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing its component parts: prefix, root word, and suffix, and/or by tracing its cognates to their ancestral language
For example: the etymology of the word etymology: etym comes from the Greek word etymos meaning "true", and ology meaning "the study of" comes from the Greek word logos meaning "reason or speak"