VOCAB 5

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: the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.

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.

postmodernism: 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.

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.