Lit Terms #5

parallelism:repetition for effect: in writing, the deliberate repetition of words or sentence structures for effect
-"beside one another."

parody: amusing imitation: a piece of writing or music that deliberately copies another work in a comic or satirical way
-Saturday Night Live is famous for it's political and pop culture parodies.

pathos: quality that arouses pity: the quality in something that makes people feel pity or sadness
-The ASPCA commercials utilize pathos.

pedantry: a pedantic attitude or an example of pedantic behavior
-A friend standing in line for a show not letting another friend cut in line in front of them.

personification: an embodiment or perfect example of something
-"The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky."

plot: the story or sequence of events in something such as a novel, play, or movie
-Some people found the plot of American Hustle hard to follow.

poignant: particularly penetrating and effective or relevant
-The death of Simba's father was a poignant moment in the movie.

point of view: somebody's way of thinking about or approaching a subject, as shaped by his or her own character, experience, mindset, and history
-In an argument you should always try and see the other person's point of view.

postmodernism: a style in architecture, art, literature, and criticism developed after and often in reaction to modernism, characterized by reference to other periods or styles in a self-conscious way and a rejection of the notion of high art
-"The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot."

prose: writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic or visual line structure of poetry
-"The cheetah is the fastest land animal."

protagonist: the most important character in a novel, play, story, or other literary work
-Harry Potter.

pun: a humorous use of words that involves a word or phrase that has more than one possible meaning
-"Why do people study gravity? It's a pretty attractive field."

purpose: the goal or intended outcome of something
-Most authors don't write for the sole purpose of making money.

realism: a  practical understanding and acceptance of the actual nature of the world, rather than an idealized or romantic view of it
-Mark Twain.

refrain: to avoid doing something or hold yourself back from doing something
-I should refrain from using the word "like" so much.

requiem: a piece of music written to commemorate somebody who has died
-The Oscars do a live requiem each year.

resolution: the process of resolving something such as a problem or dispute
-I know the movie is going to end soon if the resolution begins.

restatement: to state again or in a new way
-Puck, from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

rhetoric: speech or writing that communicates its point persuasively
My uncle was an expert in rhetoric when he was the speech writer for Diane Feinstein.

rhetorical question: a question asked for effect that neither expects nor requires an answer
-"Is the pope Catholic?"

rising action: a related series of incidents in a literary plot that build toward the point of greatest interest
-The rising action really hooks me into a book or a movie.

romanticism: romantic quality or spirit in thought, expression, or action
-Daffodils by William Wordsworth.

satire: the use of wit, especially irony, sarcasm, and ridicule, to criticize faults
-Jimmy Fallon uses some satire in his opening monologue.

scansion: the analysis of verse according to the rules of meter
-I never quite mastered scansion when writing poetry.

setting:  the surroundings or environment in which something exists or takes place
-Usually when the character is sad their setting is dark and gloomy.