Literary Terms 109-136 Remix

Rising Action: Plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancements towards climax.

  Does this really need to be explained?

Romanticism: Movement beginning into the eighteenth and peeking into the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

  I love this painting. It has plenty of imagination in it.

Satire: Ridicules or condemns the weakness or wrongdoings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.

One of my favorite videos of all time. They also do other great satire videos and songs.

Scansion: The analysis of verse in terms of meter.

Behold! An example of scansion.

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

  Futurama setting for nearly every episode.

Simile: Figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word or comparison.

  This is the best book to read if you want examples of simile.

Soliloquy: An extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage.

David Tennant is inspiring as the character of Hamlet and this speech gives me chills.

Spiritual: A folk song, usually on a religious theme.

Song called Down by the River to Pray in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? I love this song.

Speaker: The narrator, the one speaking.

  <--- Speaker reading a book.

Stereotype: Cliche; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group.

  I can't cook... Just saying.

Stream of Consciousness: Style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them.

  Some information that we are able to gather from her mind.

Structure: The planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization.

 A really lazy representation of structure.

Style: The manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking.

  In case you can't read the bottom part: UNINTENTIONALLY START TO MIMIC AUTHOR'S WRITING STYLE.

Subordination: Couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language.

  For real, man...

Surrealism: A style of literature/painting that stresses the subconscious or the non rational aspects of a man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and banal.

  Surrealism is my favorite art style.

Suspension of Disbelief: Suspend not believing in order to enjoy it.

  This movie was hilarious.

Symbol: Something that stands for something else, yet has meaning of its own.

  The Scarlet Ibis is a very depressing story that uses many symbols between the bird and the mentally handicapped brother.

Synesthesia: The use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense.

  Music and colors blended together.

Synecdoche: Another form of name changing, in which a part stands for a whole.

  I honestly had nothing better to use as an example, but it shall suffice.

Syntax: The arrangements and grammatical relations of words in a sentence.

  This is rather self explanatory.

Theme: Main idea of the story; it's message(s)

 I've read a lot of books with these themes.

Thesis: A proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea.

  I wish I had that coffee cup...

Tone: The devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view.

A video that put together scenes from an episode of Spongebob Squarepants and made it look like a horror film trailer, which I find hilarious. The tone is daunting.

Tongue in Cheek: A type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness.

Example: (After wife cleans the house) Husband: Oh, hun! Did you even clean today? Look at this house! (Laughs) I'm only kidding with you! You did a great job!

I could not find an example I liked so I decided to write up one just for the hell of it.

Tragedy: In literature, any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event.

  Rather tragic, wouldn't you say?

Understatement: Opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis.

 HA! I get it.

Vernacular: Everyday speech.

  The worst example yet but the easiest term to remember.

Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona.

  Calvin and Hobbs is my jam.

Zeitgeist: The feeling of a particular era in history.

Happy Days has been consuming me lately so I thought I might make a tribute to it. This takes us back to the 50's, which is an era I wouldn't mind living in.