Study Guide

Nick Hoy 12/14/09 AP English

Allegory

A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. The main

purpose of a n allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a

setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have both

literal and figurative meanings.

The Crucible – The Salem Witch Trials vs. McCarthyism.

The Lord of the Rings was an allegory to the World Wars.


Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or in the

middle of two or more adjacent words

Example:

◦ Instrumural hockey is a strenuous, stimulating,

satisfying sport.

Example:

◦ Puny puma pit their skills against zebras.


Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something the is presumably

commonly Known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or

work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, or

mythical. A work may simulatneously use multiple layers of

allusion to create poignancy or humor.

The Great Gatsby--”He's one the one who fixed the world

series in 1919.”

The Great Gatsby--”secrets that only Midas and Morgan

and Maecenus Knew.”


Anadiplosis

Repetition of th last word of one clause at the beginning of

the following clause.

Example—Mental preparation leads to training; training

builds muscle tone and coordination; muscle tone and

coordination, combined with focused thinking, produce

athletic excellence.

Example--In the beginning God made the heavens and

the earth The earth was without form and void, and

darkness was upon the fence of the deep.


Anagorisis

A moment of clairvoyant insight or understanding in the mind

of the tragic hero as he suddenly comprehends the web fate

in which he is entangled.

The Crucible—John Proctor

Dead man in the movie The Sixth Sense.


Analogy

A comparison between two things that are similar in some

way, often used to help explain something or make it easier

to understanding.

Example—Glove is to hand as paint is to wall.

Example—Citizens are to president as solar system is to

galaxy.


Anaphora

The use of the same word or phrase at the beginning of

several successive clauses, sentences, lines, or verses,

usually for emphasis or rhetoical effect.

Example—Excercise builds stamina in young children;

excercise builds stamina in teenagers and young adults;

exercise builds stamina in older adults and senior

citizens.

· Example

◦ Mine-by the Right of the White Election!

◦ Mine-by the Royal Seal!

◦ Mine-by the Sign in the Scarlet prison

Bars-Cannot conceal (Emily Dickens)


Aposiopesis

A sudden break in speaking, giving the impression that the

speaker does not want to or cannot continue.

« I won't sleep in the same bed with a woman who

thingk's I'm lazy! I'm going right downstairs, unfold the

couch, unroll the sleeping ba—uh, goodnight. » (Homer

Simpson)

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist. . . ."

(Last words of General John Sedgwick, killed in battle

during the U.S. Civil War)


Apostrophe

A rhetorical passage in which an absent or imaginary person

or an abstract or inanimate entity is addressed directly.

Example-- »Hello darkness, my old friend Ive come to

talk with you again. »

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

(Shakespeare)


Archetype

A pattern from which copies can be made.

Ex. Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea.

Cinderella stories.


Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of

two or more adjacent words.

A workout partner is finally a Kind, Reliable, right-minded

helper.

« It beats as it sweeps as it cleans. »


Catharsis

To arouse the feeling of pity and fear in such a way as to

effect that special purging off and relief of these two

emotions.

The climax of the Crucible—John Proctor's death.

Romeo and Juliet


Chiasmus

A rhetorical construction in which the order of the words in

the second of the two paired phrases is the reverse of the

order in the first.

« Nice to see you, to see you, nice! »

"I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid's stuck on me."


Climax

Repetition of words, phrases, or clauses in ordewr of

increasing number or importance.

Example—Excellent Schools need tob e respectful of

themselves, their teammates, their schools, their

schools, and their communities.

« I am the way, the truth, and the life. »


Christ Figure

A literary technique that authors use to draw allusions

between their characters and the biblical Jesus Christ.

Santiago in the Old Man and the Sea.

Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia.


Context

Every speech or written composition arises from a context ..

1. The convergence of the immediate situation calling forth

the text...

2. Any pertinent historical backgrouind information about

the topic...

3. The persona and identity of the rhetor...

4. And the knowledge and beliefs of the audience.

The context of a speech or written composition strongly

shapes how rhetors argue their positions or explore their

ideas.


Dehortatio

Dissuasion; advice against something.

Example-- »Never look down on anybody unless you're

helping him up. » (Jessee Jackson)

« Never answer an anonymous letter. » (Yogi Berra)


Diction

The writers or speakers word choice viewed on scales of

formality / informality, concreteness / abstraction, Latinate

derivation / Anglo-Saxon derivation, and denotative value /

connotative value.

« Words Strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the

burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with

imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still. »

(T.S. Elliot)

"There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and

wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply

calisthenics with words."

(Dorothy Parker, 1956)


Dramatic Irony

When the audience nows something that the character(s)

don't.

Oedipus – Killed his mother and married his mother.

The Crucible, the audience knows the girls are not really

crazy.


Encomium

A formal expression of praise.

"Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the

American novel. It might even be fair to call him the

inventor of the American short story. And he surely

deserves an additional encomium: the man who

popularized the sophisticated literary attack on racism."

(Stephen L. Carter, "Getting Past Black and White," Time

magazine, July 3, 2008)

"The greatest thing about this man [President George W.

Bush] is he's steady. You know where he stands. He

believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on

Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can

change; this man's beliefs never will."

(Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report")


Epistrophe

Repetition of the same group of words at the end of

successive vlauses.

To become a top-notch player, I thought like an athlete, I

trained like an athlete, I ate like an athlete.

« There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern

problem. There is no Northern Problem. There is only an

American problem. »


Epizeuxis

Repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis, usually with no

words in between.

« When it comes to compliments, women are ravenous

blood-sucking monsters always wanting more... more...

MORE! »

« I undid the lantern cautiously—oh, so cautiously—

caustiously. »


Erotesis

A figure of speech whereby a question is asked in confident

expectation of a negative answer.

« Donuts. Is there anything they can't do? »

« You may think that you are not superstitious. But

would you walk under a burning building? »


Ethos

People's belief in you based upon your credibility.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."

(1960s TV commercial for Excedrin)

Actually being a doctor.


Figures of Speech

A use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning or a

phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal

meaning of the words in it. Often provide emphasis,

freshness of expression, or clarity.

« It's rainging cats and dogs » means it is raining

intensely.

« Break a leg, » Good Luck.


Hamartia

A fatal error or simple mistake on the part of the protagonist

that eventually leads to the final catastrphe.

The Crucible—John Proctor's affair with Abigail

Oedipus


Hubris

Insolent daring that gets a person in deep trouble. Other

known as « false pride ».

The Crucible—John Proctor challenges authority.

Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet.


Hyperbole

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or

overstatement.

« These books weigh a ton. »

« I'm so hungry, I could eat a watermelon. »


Hypophora

A figure of speech where the speaker poses a qustion and

then answers the question.

« What's a wedding? Webster's dictionary describes it as

the act of removing weeds from one's garden. »

« Ask any mermaid you happen to see, 'What's the best

tuna?' Chicken of the Sea. »


Intention

What the rhetor wants to happen as a result of the text, or

what he or she wants the audience to believe or do after

hearing or reading the text.

The Crucible—Arthur Miller's intention in writing the

Crucible was to tell the acts of McCarthyism by writing a

story bused on The Salem Witch Trials to explain

McCarthyism.

The Great Gatsby and partying hard.


Irony

A contradiction between what is expected and what actually

happened.

The Crucible—Abigail claimed to be « pure » and « holy »

when she was accusing innocent people of witchcraft.

The crucible—In Scene II, Paris says « All innocent and

Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem, »

When, in fact, few innocent and truly christian people

were happy for the courts of Salem.


Litotes

The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents

something at less than it is.

« Not bad, » meaning « Good. »

« You're not wrong, » meaning « You're right. »


Logos

When the rhetor appeals to the audience with their good

sence of logic.

Obama's speech was very logical.

Water will put out fire.


Malapropism

Is the substitution of a word with a similar sound, in which the

resulting phrasemakes no sence but often creates a comic

effect.

"He is the very pineapple of politeness." (Mrs. Malaprop

in Richard Sheridan's The Rivals)

« A witness shall not bear falsies against thy neighbor."


Nemesis

Retribution; the inevitable payback or cosmic punishment for

acts of hubris.

Marlin vs Santiago

Capulet vs Montague


Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines normally contadictory

terms.

Jumbo shrimp

Icy-hot stare


Pathos

Represents an appeal to the audience's emotions.

Sympathetic conflict.

Donate to the Animal hospitals.


Peripeteia

A pivotal or crucial action on the part of the protagonist that

changes the situation from seemingly secure to vulnerable.

Fire on a hot-air balloon.

A crack apears on Chickamauga Dam.


Persona

The character or voice an author or actor portrays to be.

« Robin Hood and Allin a Dale, » in which an anonymous

Character recounts the events of the meeting and

adventures with Robin Hood.

Nick telling the story of Gatsby through his own

perspective.


Personification

A figure of speech where in an inanimate objject is given

human qualities.

The chair moaned as Craig began to sit on it.

The wind whistled as the storm grew explosively.


Polyptoton

The stylistic scheme in which words clerived from the same

root are repeated.

« Marge, what's wrong? Are you hungry? Sleepy?

Gassy? Gassy? Is it gas? It's gas, isn't it? »

« Craig, what's wrong? Are you hungry? Sleepy?

Gassy? Gassy? Is it gas? It's gas, isn't it? »


Repetition

Just the repetition of a word or phrase within the same root

that is repeated.

« I want to shake off dust of htis one horse town. I want

to explore the world. »

What is that over there? What is that pile of tomato pie

for?


Rhetoric

Explains how communications works and presumes that the

speaker or writer is searching for methods to persuade

hearers or readers beause he or she has something valuable

to say, something that arises from his or her position as an

honest, inquiring, ethical person.

« Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a

drug were the drugs. »

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men as said by

Plato.


Rhetorical Question

Is a figure of speech in the form of question posed for its

persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply.

« Do I know what 'rhetorical' means? »

« Do you really think that cow is floating in mid-air

Craig? »


Sarcasm

A mocking, often ironic or satinical remark intended to

wound.

« Oh, a sarcasm detector. That's a really useful

invention. »

The cow jumped over the moon.


Satire

A piece of work that tries to expose, attack, and/or ridicule

the foolishness, wrongdoings, or strange behavior of society.

Example—South Park

Example—Family Guy


Scheme

Any artful variation from the typical arrangement of words

ina sentence.

« One binge does not a bulemic make. »

« I got, so far as the immediate moment was concerned,

away. »


Situationaly Irony

Contradiction between whathappens and what is expected to

happen.

The Crucible—Abigail started the witchcraft crap to get

John Proctor to leave his wive and be with her, he ended

up getting tried for witchcraft and getting killed.

Expecting to play a violin concerto and your bridge

collapses.


Tone

The writer's or speacker's attitude toward the subject matter.

The Crucible—Judge Danworth's tone towards the little

girls was sympathetic.

Nick's tone was being disgusted by all the people who

did not attend the funeral for Gatsby.


Tragedy

An artistic imitation of an action that is serious, complete in

itself, and of adequate magnitude. The imitation is produced

in language embellished in more than one way and is itsekf

an action directly presented, not narrated. And as for the

proper function; it is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear;

and to arouse this puty and fear in such a way as to effect

that special purging off and relief of hese two emotions.

The Crucible was a tragedy.

Romeo and Juliet


Tricolon

A sentence with three clearly defined parts of equal length,

usually independent clauses and of increasing power.

« Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover. »

« I think we've all arrived at a very special place.

Spritually, ecumenically, grammatically. »


Trope

Any artful variation from the typical or expected way a word

or idea is expressed.

"For the Roman rhetorician Quintilian, tropes were

metaphors and metonyms, etc., and figures were such

forms of discourse as rhetorical questions, digression,

repetition, antithesis, and periphrasis (also referred to as

schemes). He noted that the two kinds of usage were

often confused (a state of affairs that has continued to

this day)."

"What was abandoned in the course of the 19th century

was the traditionally strict distinction between tropes

and figures/schemes (Sharon-Zisser, 1993). It gave way

to the overall terms 'figures du discours' (Fontanier),

'figures of speech' (Quinn), 'rhetorical figures' (Mayoral),

'figures de style' (Suhamy, Bacry), or simple 'figures'

(Genette)."


Verbal Irony

Contradiction between what is said and what is expected to

be said.

The Crucible—Abigail claimed to be so « pure » and

« holy » when she was accusing innocent people of

witchcraft and sending them to their deaths, she also

had an affair with a married man.

The Crucible—In Scene II, Paris says « All innocent and

Christian people are happy for the courts in Salem, »

When, in fact, few innocent and truly christian people

were happy for the courts of Salem.


Wit

Powers of thinking and reasoning; intellectual and perceptive

powers.

« It is a truth universaly acknowledged that a young man

in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a

wife. » (Pride and Prejudice)

« I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural

ignorance. Ignorance is a delicate exotic fruit, touch it

and the bloom is gone. » (The Importance of Being

Earnest.)

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