Lit Terms 109-137

Romanticism- movement in western culture beginning in the 18th and peaking in the 19th 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
Simile- a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison
Soliloquy- an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage
Spiritual- a folk song, usually on a religious theme
Speaker- a narrator, the one speaking
Stereotype- cliche, a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story
Stream of Consciousness- the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them
Structure- the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization
Style- the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking
Subordination- the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of language
Surrealism- a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man's existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal
Suspension of Disbelief- suspend not believing in order to enjoy it
Symbol- something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own
Synesthesia- the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense
Synecdoche- another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole
Syntax- the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence
Theme- main idea of the story; its message
Thesis- a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea
Tone- the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author's perceived point of view
Tongue in Check- a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness
Tragedy- in literature; any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically flawed
Understatement- opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis
Vernacular- everyday speech
Voice- the textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer's or speaker's persona
Zeitgeist- the feeling of a particular era in history