Lit Terms

Associated with external reality, and thus with empirical fact and absolute truth.

The omission of conjunctions in syntactic structure, often a stylistic choice.

When a part of something is used to represent the whole. Ex: Hey, give me a hand over here.

When the vantage point is from the perspective of "you."Ex: You ran through the field of grass.

Ex: I went to the beach. The beach with lots of sand. Sand that burns my feet.

Ex: As the man's car rocked upon the 100 foot cliff, he stated that this was a rather bad day.

Images, figures, settings & story patterns that are universally shared across cultures and time

Combining two word parts with meanings of each part. Ex: "Slithy" for "lithe" and "slimy"

Ex: you are unique/at last. Alas/it is a boring song/but it works every time.

An extended narrative delivered uninterrupted and exclusively by one person.

Ex: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

Exact repetition Ex: Tonight is our night.Tonight we defeat our foe. Tonight we eat like kings.

When the vantage point is from a character who refers to himself or herself as "I."

An indirect reference, often to a person, event, statement, theme, or work.

A statement that seems self-contradictory on the surface but may express an underlying truth

The weaving into the plot of essential prior matters or past events. Helps develop context.

Ex:John Donne's poem "The Flea" which compares marriage and the consummation thereof to a flea.

Ex: I have a dream. You have a dream. We all have a dream

Speaker uses an inoffensive expression. Ex: "Mr. Pierce, may I please use the restroom?"

Something outside of its proper historical time period.

Ex: O death, I will be thy plagues.

The repetition of conjunctions(such as and) in syntactic structure, often a stylistic choice.