Non-fiction [Non-fik-shuhn] A work that draws its information from history or fact, rather than the imagination. John Adams, David McCullough Parody [par-uh-dee] A literary form in which the style of an author or particular work is mocked in its style for the sake of comic effect. The clowns in Dr. Faustus Prose [Prohz] Writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. Any fiction or nonfiction is prose Satire [sat-ahyuhr] A literary work which exposes and ridicules human vices or folly. Historically perceived as tending toward didacticism, it is usually intended as a moral criticism directed against the injustice of social wrongs. Jonathan swift's "Gulliver's Travels" satirizes the English people, making them seem dwarfish in their ability to deal with large thoughts, issues, or deeds. A literary mode based on criticism of people and society through ridicule. Sermon [sur-muhn] An oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathon Edwards A technique that records the multifarious thoughts and feelings of a character without regard to logical or narrative sequence. The writer attempts by the stream of consciousness to reflect all the forces, external and internal, influencing the psychology of a character at a single moment. “A piece of dangling driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!” “Occurrence at ,” Ambrose Bierce Rhetorical Strategies: Strategies that aid the attempt to sway the mind of the audience Term and Pronunciation Definition Example Student Notes Allusion [uh-loo-zhuhn] An indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not explained by the writer but relies on the reader’s familiarity with what is thus mentioned. “You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first. 'Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size.” Ambiguity [am-bi-gyoo-i-tee] Something of doubtful meaning; an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context, may have more than one meaning open-ended conclusion to ’s Young Goodman Brown
Figures of Speech Figurative language-means saying one thing but meaning another Literal language-means saying exactly what you mean. Term and Pronunciation Definition Example Student Notes Analogy [/uh-nal-uh-jee] The comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical purpose of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore by more extended. “Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself.” Samuel Johnson Apostrophe [uh-pos-truh-fee] The direct address of a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back. “O value of wisdom that fadeth not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty, descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial nourishment of the intellect . . . .” --Richard de Bury Cliché [klee-shey] An expression so often used that its original power has been drained away. “Where’er you find ‘the cooling western breeze’,/In the next line it ‘whispers through the trees’;/If crystal streams ‘with pleasing murmurs creep’./The reader’s threatened (not in vain) with ‘sleep’. Essay on Criticism, Pope Conceit [kuhn-seet] An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an analogy or metaphor in which, say a beloved is compared to a ship, planet, etc. “See! How she leans her cheek upon her hand:/O! That I were a glove upon that hand/That I might touch that cheek.” Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet