Lit Terms #6

simile: a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid
-"Brave as a lion."

soliloquy: an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play
-Hamlet gives many famous soliloquies.

spiritual: of or relating to religion or religious belief
-Many Native American stories were spiritual.

speaker: a person who speaks
-The author lets you know what the speaker in the story thinks.

stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
-"All Asians are good at math."

stream of consciousness: a person's thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow
-To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

structure: the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex
-Some authors are very structured in their writing while others are more scattered.

style: a distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed
-My writing style is sort of scattered.

subordination: the action or state of subordinating or of being subordinate
-"The subordination of medicine to political expediency."

surrealism: a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images
-"The Magnetic Fields."

suspension of disbelief: infusing a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale so the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative
-Highlander.

symbol: a thing that represents or stands for something else, esp. a material object representing something abstract
-Godot was a sort of symbol of hope in Waiting for Godot.

synesthesia: the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body
-The Devine Comedy by Dante

synecdoche: figure of speech: a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole
-"Sail" in place of "boat".

syntax: organization of words in sentences: the ordering of and relationship between the words and other structural elements in phrases and sentences
-"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."

theme: distinct and unifying idea: a distinct, recurring, and unifying quality or idea
-Most of the books I read have a theme of love.

thesis: a proposition advanced as an argument
-Your thesis statement is arguably the most important part of your essay.

tone: the general quality or character of something as an indicator of the attitude or view of the person who produced it
-I don't generally enjoy books with a melancholy tone.

tongue in cheek: a figure of speech used to imply that a statement or other production is humorously or otherwise not seriously intended, and it should not be taken at face value
-The comedian's material was a little tongue in cheek.

tragedy: a disastrous circumstance or event
-Hamlet is a tragedy.

understatement: restrained or muted statement: a statement, or a way of expressing yourself, that is deliberately less forceful or dramatic than the subject would seem to justify or require
-Saying that Brave New World is weird is an understatement.

vernacular: the everyday language of the people in a country or region, as distinct from official or formal language
-Typically young adult books use a more modern vernacular.

voice: the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator
-The author's voice is usually portrayed through the main character.

zeitgeist: ideas and spirit of time: the ideas prevalent in a period and place, particularly as expressed in literature, philosophy, and religion
-The zeitgeist in the 70s was love everyone.