GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Onomatopoeia – (imitative harmony): The sound of the word resembles the sound of what is being expressed. Eg. The murmuring of the innumerable bees, or words such as bark, snap and squeak.
Alliteration – repetition of first letters or consonant sounds. E.g. ghostly galleons, long languid ladies, five meandering miles.
Euphony – certain words are combines to give a pleasing effect. Eg. And moveless fish in the water gleam, cool blue umbrellas
Cacophony – harsh sounding words. Eg. Stark black crabs scrape barnacles.
Archaic – words no longer used, or words used with a meaning that is no longer accepted. Eg. Thou dost, methought
Colloquial – conversational, informal, comfortable, everyday ways of saying something
Eg. Formal: I have a great appetite. Colloquial: I’m hungry.
Formal - I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. Colloquial: Glad to meet you.
Abstract – words which have no tangible referent; that is, which refer to things which cannot be perceived by the senses. Eg. Hope, love, democracy, adolescence, education, success, sensitivity, freedom.
Slang – faddish expressions which are considered non-standard English. Idioms are a form of slang, specific to a region, province, town, etc. Eg. Uptight, hang-up, groupie, mod, right-on, gotcha, “that’s lame”.
Cliché – a trite, hackneyed, overworked expression such as “all’s well that end well”, “last but not least”, “pitter patter of little feet”.
Jargon – overly wordy, “in-group” way of saying something. Eg “peer group” instead of saying “people the same age”. “Disadvantaged” instead of “poor”.
Allusion – a reference to literature, history, mythology, the Bible; to result in enrichment by suggestion.
Eg. “Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labours;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam’s neighbours…
Rhetorical Devices – techniques used in writing to elicit a particular response. Eg questions, emotional language, anecdotes, bandwagon technique (everybody is coming on board).
Rhetorical Question – questions asked without expecting an answer.
Analogy – a comparison used for illustrative purposes which compares two things that are alike in more than one respect. It is used to make the unfamiliar intelligible through something familiar which is similar in many respects. It is used to clarify a point, not prove a point.
Eg. Using a pump to explain the workings of the heart. Using the solar system to explain atoms.
Beware the False Analogy. For example, just because Coke will corrode a wrench does not mean that it will also corrode the stomach. The two are in no way similar.
Anecdote – a brief relation of an incident to illustrate a point.
Parody (lampoon; also burlesque, travesty, caricature) – a piece of writing that makes fun of a particular literary style by imitating its features and applying them to an inappropriate subject.
Eg – The golf pro is my instructor;
He maketh me hit straight down green fairways…”
Pastoral - idyllic – a type of writing in which the simple joys of nature (usually in springtime), youth, love are emphasized. It is full of babbling brooks, fluffy white clouds, etc.
Lyric (lyrical) – when a writer’s (usually a poet) chief concern is to express his emotion, he writes a lyric. Suggests mystical qualities as well. Eg. “My love is like the Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns.
Anachronism – a person, an object, an expression, out of its proper time, historically.
Eg. Supposed one were to make a movie about the Crimean War. To have the soldiers dressed in khaki or riding around in tanks would be anachronistic. It would be equally anachronistic to show WW I soldiers using bows and arrows.
A person might be considered anachronistic if he were decidedly behind the times or ahead of the times.
Didactic – writing which attempts to teach or present moral instruction. Eg “And above all, to thine own self be true…” “Desiderate…”
Superlative – A word or phrase that expresses something is the most, the biggest, the best – words such as fantastic, greatest, tallest, fastest, magnificent, grandest, outstanding, etc. You should be suspicious of a writer who uses to many superlatives.
Antithesis- sharply contrasted ideas are set off against each other in the same sentence. Eg – “Crafty men condemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them.”
Epigram – a brief and witty expression of a worthwhile thought. After repeated usage, an epigram may become a cliché.
Paradox – a statement which is apparently contradictory but which upon examination is actually true. “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing badly.” Or “The child is father of the man.”
Oxymoron – a device in which the idea is expressed in words or phrases usually considered contradictory. Eg. “an open secret”
Irony – always involved some sort of discrepancy or incongruity between the expected and what happens, between what is said and what is meant, between the supposed and the actual, etc
Balanced Sentence – symmetry in sentence structure with the clauses on either side of a coordinate conjunction (but, and yet) being approximately equal grammatically.
Eg – He could not love her, yet he could not hate her.
Parallel Structure – Balancing one statement against another in words, clauses or phrases of similar length and grammatical structure.
Eg. “I do not doubt by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and by your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over the enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”
Euphemism – a substitution or a less distasteful word or expression for the harsh or unpleasant truth.
Eg. “He was under the influence of liquor.”