Sunday, March 25, 2012

Key Terms

Learning the language of literary criticism has been a focal point of our year so far. The vocabulary we have been absorbing is essential in labeling all the literary devices author's use to create meaning and effects in their writing. Without these terms we wouldn't be able to discern our run of the mill repetition from our anadiplosis or anaphora. Iced coffee at burger king is a dollar. Non-sequiturs would go tragically unlabeled as well, and they would be just as confusing and unexpected. Some of these terms are just head and shoulders above the others though. They have a way of sticking with you. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Paraprosdokian: A surprise ending. Think the end of "The Planet of the Apes". SPOILER ALERT: The planet is earth.

Epizeuxis: I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely love this word. Its repetition of a word for emphasis.

Cacophany: Its the use of harsh, caustic, cantankerous, creaky words.

Didactic: Its what every authority figure does always. No exceptions.

Synesthesia: This term means one sense in terms of another. I wonder how the color red smells.

Fun Fact: Only one of these four words passed spell check.




1 comment:

  1. Of course, there's a lot more to be covered, here. You have written two good entries, but I'd also like to see critical lenses, Foster, history of lit, AP test-prep, allusions, and so on.

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