English ​Literary Movements & Theories

 

​Literary Movements & Theories

• ​Modernism: A movement characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, often using stream-of-consciousness.
• ​Postmodernism: A style marked by irony, playfulness, and a rejection of "grand narratives" or absolute truths.
• ​Formalism: A school of literary criticism that focuses on the internal structure of the text rather than external context.
• ​New Criticism: A mid-20th-century theory that emphasizes "close reading" to discover how a work of literature functions as a self-contained object.
• ​Deconstruction: A method of analysis (associated with Jacques Derrida) that aims to expose the contradictions and multiple meanings within a text.
• ​Marxist Criticism: A theory that views literature as a reflection of the social institutions and class struggles from which it emerges.
• ​Feminist Criticism: The analysis of literature through the lens of gender inequality and the role of women in texts.

​Narrative & Poetic Devices

• ​Allegory: A story or poem that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
• ​Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
• ​Alliteration: The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Repetition of consonant letters.
• ​Onomatopoeia: The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., sizzle, buzz).
• ​Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
• ​Irony: The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
• ​Foreshadowing: A warning or indication of a future event in the narrative.

​Linguistics & Language Study

• ​Semantics: The branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning.
• ​Syntax: The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
• ​Phonology: The system of contrastive relationships among the speech sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language.
• ​Morphology: The study of the forms of words, including prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
• ​Pragmatics: The branch of linguistics dealing with language in use and the contexts in which it is used.
• ​Diction: The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

​Character & Perspective

• ​Protagonist: The leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.
• ​Antagonist: A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.
• ​Archetype: A very typical example of a certain person or thing (e.g., "The Hero" or "The Mentor").
• ​Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised, often used to mislead the reader.
• ​Soliloquy: An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.

Classical & Traditional Terms

• ​Epic: A long narrative poem recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero (e.g., The Odyssey).
• ​Tragedy: A drama treatiing a serious subject and involving a protagonist who meets a disastrous end due to a fatal flaw.
• ​Hamartia: The "tragic flaw" or error in judgment that leads to a hero's downfall.
• ​Hubris: Excessive pride or dangerous self-confidence, often the cause of a character's ruin.
• ​Catharsis: The emotional release or "purging" experienced by an audience at the end of a tragedy.
• ​In Medias Res: The technique of starting a story "in the middle of things" rather than at the very beginning.
• ​Satire: The use of humor, irony, or exaggeration to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices.

​Modern & Post-Modern Genres

• ​Magical Realism: A genre where realistic narrative is combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy (e.g., One Hundred Years of Solitude).
• ​Dystopia: An imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.
• ​Bildungsroman: A "coming-of-age" story that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood.
• ​Stream of Consciousness: A narrative style that tries to capture the continuous, disjointed flow of a character’s thoughts.
• ​Metafiction: Fiction in which the author self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, effectively mocking or drawing attention to the writing process.
• ​Southern Gothic: A subgenre of fiction unique to the American South that uses macabre, ironic scenarios and grotesque characters.

​Poetry & Structural Terms

• ​Sonnet: A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.
• ​Stanza: A group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse.
• ​Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
• ​Meter: The rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse.
• ​Iambic Pentameter: A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

​Thematic & Symbolic Terms

• ​Motif: A distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.
• ​Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities (e.g., a dove for peace).
• ​Juxtaposition: The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
• ​Paradox: A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

Sound & Meaning

• ​Assonance: The repetition of the sound of a vowel in non-rhyming stressed syllables (e.g., "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain").
• ​Consonance: The recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity (e.g., "pitter-patter").
• ​Cacophony: A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.
• ​Euphony: The quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words.

Critical & Structural Concepts

• ​Intertextuality: The relationship between texts, especially how one text influences or echoes another.
• ​Pastiche: An artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period (usually as a tribute).
• ​Parody: An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
• ​Epiphany: A moment of sudden and striking realization or discovery for a character.
• ​Denouement: The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained.

Poetic Forms & Structures

• ​Haiku: A Japanese poetic form consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables.
• ​Ode: A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.
• ​Elegy: A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
• ​Limerick: A humorous, frequently bawdy, verse of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba.
• ​Ballad: A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas, traditionally passed down orally.
• ​Free Verse: Poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.
• ​Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter (the standard form for Shakespeare's plays).

Rhetorical & Persuasive Devices

Ethos: An appeal to ethics, used to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character.

Pathos: An appeal to emotion, designed to elicit feelings of pity, anger, or sadness from the audience.

Logos: An appeal to logic and reason, using facts, statistics, and citations to support an argument.

Anaphora: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses (e.g., "I have a dream...").

Chiasmus: A rhetorical device in which words or grammatical constructions are repeated in reverse order (e.g., "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country").

Euphemism: A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt.

Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g., "deafening silence").

​Journalism & Media Terms

• ​Gatekeeping: The process through which information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, or the internet.
• ​Agenda-Setting: The ability of the news media to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda.
• ​Framing: The way a communication source constructs and defines a social or political issue for its audience.
• ​Yellow Journalism: Journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration.
• ​Muckraking: The action of searching out and publicizing scandalous information about famous people in an underhanded way (historically associated with investigative journalism).
• ​Clickbait: Content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.
• ​Confirmation Bias (Media): The tendency of audiences to seek out information that aligns with their existing beliefs.
• ​Editorial: A newspaper article written by or on behalf of an editor that gives an opinion on a topical issue.

​Linguistic Philosophy (Wittgenstein & Others)

• ​Language-Game: A philosophical concept (Wittgenstein) suggesting that the meaning of words is defined by the context and rules of the "game" they are being used in.
• ​Logical Positivism: A philosophy that asserts only statements that are empirically verifiable or logically necessary are meaningful.
• ​Speech Act Theory: The idea that language does not just describe reality but can also be used to perform actions (e.g., promising, ordering).
• ​Signifier & Signified: Concepts in semiotics (Saussure) where the "signifier" is the form (word/image) and the "signified" is the concept it represents.
• ​Verification Principle: The rule that the meaning of a statement is its method of verification; if you can't prove it, it's "senseless."
• ​Private Language Argument: Wittgenstein's argument that a language understandable by only one person is impossible.
• ​Ordinary Language Philosophy: A philosophical school that sees traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings of everyday language.

​Media Effects & Communication

• ​Hypodermic Needle Theory: An early model suggesting that media messages are "injected" directly into the brains of a passive audience.
• ​Cultivation Theory: The idea that long-term exposure to media (especially TV) shapes an individual's perception of reality.
• ​Echo Chamber: An environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.
• ​Media Literacy: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms.

​Logic & Argumentation

• ​Ad Hominem: An attack on the character of the person rather than the content of their argument.
• ​Straw Man: Misrepresenting someone's argument to make it easier to attack.
• ​Tautology: A statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form (e.g., "Socrates is Socrates").