Lit Terms Continued

Analysis: A method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny.
We will have to do an analysis on analysis for people to analyze our analysis skills. 

Anaphora: A device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases or segments.
I came, I saw, I conquered. 

Anecdote: A very short story used to illustrate a point.
Once there was a frog and a scorpion. The scorpion stung the frog, and the frog died.
Point: Scorpions are dangerous

Antagonist: A person or force opposing the protagonist
Not always evil. If the main character is evil, the antagonist can be good. Or the antagonist and protagonist can be the same person. I'm looking at you Fight Club. 

Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life 
"Time and tide wait for no man." 

Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology 
Supreme Court defends the Constitution. 

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly 
Hamlet talking to his dead, reanimated as a ghost, father. 

Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself 
Now how could a coconut travel to Europe? By African swallow you say?

Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true
Any movie where there are actors deeply sighing in bed next to each other while waking up. 

Audience: the intended listener or listeners
Why you! You reading this. You are my audience! Feels good doesn't it?

Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality
John's hair is brown. He enjoys smiling. Now you know a little more about John.

Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order 
 They don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care

 Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served 
"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin.
Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less.
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three.
Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three.
Five is right out.

Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance 
The Parthenon. It's in Greece and the architecture fits the time. 

Cliché: a phrase or situation overused within society
I'm not even going to write an example. YOLO

Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved 
The big Harry Potter vs. Voldemort fight. 

Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation
Yo dawg waz up? 

Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension 
Finding the Holy Grail in the previous term's example.

Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
That last piece of cake sure looks good...(I want that cake.)

Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity 
I just got a C on my paper. It's not like I created a Death Star or anything.

Denotation: plain dictionary definition 
^

Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion
In the end, Harry and Ginny got together, as did Ron and Hermione. 

Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.
I'm Canadian, eh.