Lit. Terms #5 REMIX

Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form

Parody:  an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.

Pathos:  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.

Pedantry:  a display of learning for its own sake.

Personification:  a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

Plot:  a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.

Poignant:  eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

Point of View:   the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the
  physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.

Postmodemism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple  meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary

Prose:  the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

Protagonist:  the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.

Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or
applications.

Purpose:  the intended result wished by an author.

Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightforward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

Refrain:  a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

"Just move on up
Move on up
What move on up
Oh child but just a move on up
Just move on up
Move on up"

Requiem: any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.

Restatement:  idea repeated for emphasis.

Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.

Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

Romanticism:  movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups,
institutions, or humanity in general.

Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.



Setting:  the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.