Lit Terms #6

simile - noun a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like' or `as')

soliloquy - noun a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections; speech you make to yourself

spiritual - adj. lacking material body or form or substance;  concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church

speaker - noun someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)

stereotype - noun a conventional or formulaic conception or image

stream of consciousness - a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue.

structure - planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization

style - noun the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking

subordination - noun the couching of less important ideas in less important structures of writing

surrealism - noun a 20th century movement of artists and writers (developing out of dadaism) who used fantastic images and incongruous juxtapositions in order to represent unconscious thoughts and dreams

suspension of disbelief - suspend not believing in order to enjoy

symbol - noun something visible that by association or convention represents something else that is invisible; an arbitrary sign (written or printed) that has acquired a conventional significance

synesthesia - noun a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated

synecdoche - noun name changing; part stands for whole

syntax - noun the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences

theme - noun a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work

thesis - noun an unproved statement put forward as a premise in an argument

tone - noun device used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work

tongue in cheek - type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness

tragedy - noun drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity; an event resulting in great loss and misfortune

understatement - noun opposite of hyperbole, saying less than you mean

vernacular - adj. everyday speech

voice - the textural features such as diction and sentence structures that convey a writer or speakers persona

zeitgeist - noun the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation