Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Final Literary Terms

Today we reviewed the final literary terms:  

character sketch- a written piece that is a person's personality and behavior or a theatrical portrayal of a unique character
             
syntax-  Syntax is an order of words and phrases to form proper sentences.
( Ex. “I'm going to the movies" versus "to the movies I'm going."
             
chiasmus –inversion of the second of two parallel phrases, clauses, etc.
(Ex. “She went to Paris”;” To New York went he.”)
             
anaphora- using the same word or words to start two or more sentences or paragraphs that follow one another.
(Ex.  “Because I understand, because I want to, because I love you.”)

epistrophe or epiphora- the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses. 
(Ex. “For no government is better than the men who compose it, and I want the best, and we need the best, and we deserve the best."
(Senator John F. Kennedy, speech at Wittenberg College, Oct. 17, 1960)

polysyndeton- The repetition of conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical effect.
(Ex.  here and there and everywhere)

foil - character who provides a contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the other’s traits; a character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.

paradox -  a statement which contains seemingly contradictory elements or appears contrary to common sense, yet can be seen as perhaps true when viewed from another angle, such as Alexander Pope's statement that a literary critic would "damn with faint praise" Or “That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me.” (a statement that is seemingly impossible at first, but very logical once it is explained. Ex. The child is father to the man)

parody -  ludicrous imitation, usually for comic effect but sometimes for ridicule, of the style and content of another work.

satire - a piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work. While satire can be funny, its aim is not to amuse, but to arouse contempt. It arouses laughter or scorn as a means of ridicule and derision, with the avowed intention of correcting human faults





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