Literary Terms (Cliche-Inversion) Essay Example

Literary Terms (Cliche-Inversion) Paper Cliche is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse Colloquialism a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations Comic Relief the use of a comic scene to interrupt a series of intense dramatic moments Conflict the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story External Conflict conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine, or between a person and a whole society Internal Conflict a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a persons mind Connotation the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition Consonance repetition of internal or ending consonant sounds of words close together in poetry Deus Ex Machina improbable resolution involving the intervention of some outside force Denotation literal dictionary definition of a word Dialect a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area Diction a speaker or writers choice of words Explication act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language Euphemism word consciously chosen for its pleasant connotations passed away instead of died Fable a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life Farce a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched sitiuations Figurative Language words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms Flashback a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time Foil a character who acts as a contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero Foreshadowing the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot Hamartia tragic flaw which causes a characters downfall Hyperbole a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect Hubris tragic flaw of overwhelming pride Idiom an expression whose meaning is not understood from the literal translation it is raining cats and dogs Imagery the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience In Media Res beginning in the middle of the action Inversion the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase