Prose terminology

Alliteration-  Series of repeated consonantal sounds. Matching consonants are normally at the beginning of the word. 

Allusion: Passing references, e.g Morrison, through her many allusions to the pain of losing children etc. 

Analogy- A literary parallel. A word, thing, story which can explain whatever it is simular to. 

Assonance: Correspondence or near correspondence of words with similar vowel sounds. Vowel version of alliteration.

Associative- Relationships between ideas of the mind.

Asyntactic: Language that is lacking full grammatical arrangement. 

Cathartic- The 'purging' effect of tragic drama on the reader.

Canon: Canon has come to mean the collected 'great works' of texts. Morrison being a black female doesn't traditionally fit into this category, her works threaten their established values. 

Contextualize- To put into context

Denouement: The final unfolding of the plot. 

Dialogic- Texts that allow the expression of a variety of points of view. (Leaves the reader with open questions)

Eponymous: The Character of a book whose name is used as its title.

Interior Monologue- An attempt to convey in words the process of consciousness or thought. 

Intertextual: Any relationships between texts. 

Irony- Saying one thing but conveying another.

Juxtaposition: Placing side by side.

Lexical- realting to items of vocabulary in a language.

linear narrative: narrative recounted chronologically

Metaphor- The description as one thing as another thing.

Multi-accentuality: The capacity for words to have different meaning depending on context. E.g. 'nurse' 

Onomatapia- Words which sound like the noise they describe.

Paradox- A self-contradictory statement.

Paratactic-  The placing of clauses, sentences or propositions side by side without connecting words.

Polyphonic: Where two or more strands (instruments of voices) sound simultaneously. 

Polysemic- The capacity for words to have multiple meanings

Protagonist: The leading character in a novel 

Stream of consciousness: An attempt to convey all the contents of a character 

Symbol- Mark, token, sign. 

Synecdoche: A figure of speech which is used to describe something e.g. mossy teeth comes to stand for schoolteacher's nephews. 

Synonym: A word with a meaning identical to another word. 

Tokenism- The impropriety of drawing too many assumptions about African'American's literature in its entirety after reading one text.

Zeugma: Words/phrases with different meanings are linked with comic effect by being made more syntactically dependent on the same word, often a verb. (e.g. John and his driving licence expired last week ).

Abjection: The process of discarding a person/thing which repels. E.g. Corpse.

Allegory: A story or situation with different meanings. Where characters and event symbolise deeper meanings.

Ambiguous: The capacity to have multiple or uncertain meanings. 

Aphorism: A short pithy saying. (Basically, all the **** Lord Henry says). 

Cliche: A widely used expression, which with overuse has lost impact/originality. 

Comedy: Story with a happy ending. 

Crisis: Moment in the novel/play where tension peaks. 

Dialogic form: Written as conversation. 

Direct speech: the reporting of speech by repeating the actual words of a speaker, for example ‘I'm going,’ she said.

Development and complication: Central section of a play that creates suspense/complexity. 

Epigram: A clever remark expressed in a witty/quotable way 

Epiphany: A moment of life-changing revelation 

Euphemism: An inoffensive word or phrase substituted for one considered offensive or harmful.

Exposition: The opening of a play which explains all the information the audience needs to understand the situation. 

Faustian bargain: Literally or metaphorically selling one's soul.  

Flaneur: Figure frequently found in late 19th-century literature, a man of leisure who wonders the city observing life. 

free indirect speech: Third-person narrative dealing with the thoughts of a character, using their own language rather than that of an omniscient narrator. 

Genre fiction: Novels or stories which are aimed particularly at a section of the market. 

Ideology: Shared beliefs of a culture that are taken for granted and never questioned. 

Imagery: Descriptive language making a character/thing more vivid. 

Malcontent: A character that who's perceived a lack of social position or advantages leaves them with a grudge against society. Characters like this were popular the 17th-century plays. 

Melodrama: a Popular theatrical genre of the 19th century, distinguished by moralistic plots, with sensational effect. 

Metafiction: Fiction that is aware of its own status as a literary construct, even commenting upon it. 

Motivation: The desires and intentions that drive a character in naturalistic, fiction to behave the way they do. 

Naturalistic, naturalism: Style that tries to reflect the everyday world and it's language. 

Omniscient narrator: A narrator who uses the third-person narrative and has god-like knowledge of the thoughts/feeling of the characters. 

Orientalism: Western attitude to the East shaped by European imperialism.

Pluperfect: Past tense action e.g. 'had' 

realism: the literary portrayal of the 'real' world. 

Resolution: Final moments of a play of which loose ends are tied up. 

Romantic Movement: Rebellion against the scientific rationalism and aristocracy social order. 

Satire: Literature where certain issues are held up to scorn through ridicule, irony etc. 

Social comedy: Comedy with a upper-class setting. Lots of witty dialogue. 

Soliloquy: Speech by a character on stage, revealing inner thoughts.

Subtext: Theatrical term to describe a pattern of emotions and energies not directly spoken about but are showed through actions/ casual remarks. Wilde was a pioneer of the technique in England. 

Suspense: Excitement about the outcome of a story. 

Synaesthesia: The experience of 'mixing' sensory perceptions. 

Third person: (he, she, they)