Dialect: the language of a particular district, class, or group of persons; the sounds , grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.
An example of Southern American dialect, from Uncle Remus: Br'er Fox, he lay low= Brother Fox is hiding.
Dialectic: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.
Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.
Example: pride vs. humility
sacrifice vs. selfishness
Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.
Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education.
"Four-score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Abraham Lincoln
Dogmatic: rigid beliefs and principles.
Dogmatic that the universe is meaningless, especially when so few people around you really believe it.
Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting.
"Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,/Compels me to disturb your season due:/For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,/Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer"-"Lycidas" by John Milton
Epic: a long narrative poem unified be a hero who reflects the customs, morals, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution).
An example would be The Iliad or The Odyssey by Homer.
Epigram: witty aphorism.
Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone.
"Gone, but not forgotten"
Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that may insult someone's character, characteristics.
"The Prince of Peace" is an epithet for Jesus Christ.
"The Queen of Soul" is an epithet for Aretha Franklin.
"The King of Pop" is an epithet for Michael Jackson.
Euphemism: the use of indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one though to be coarse, offensive, or blunt.
Passed away instead of died
Correctional facility instead of jail
Departed instead of died
Differently-abled instead of handicapped or disabled
Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensation; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.
Geoff brown was showing his three books, which are wonderfully evocative of life in the last century.
Exposition: the beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.
Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling.
Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.
Fallacy: a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.
RED HERRING: attempting to hide a weakness in an argument by drawing attention away from the real issue. A red herring fallacy is thus a diversionary tactic or an attempt to confuse or fog the issue being debated. The name of the fallacy comes from the days of fox hunting, when a herring was dragged across the trail of a fox in order to throw the dogs off the scent.
example: accused by his wife of cheating at cards, Ned replies "Nothing I do ever pleases you. I spent all last week repainting the bathroom, and then you said you didn't like the color."
Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the falling action is when Harry talks to Dumbledore in the infirmary, the banquet, and the train ride home
Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.
Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest" is a good example of farce in which the characters are stereotypical English upper-class through which Wilde made fun of the elite.
Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech.
busy as a bee
clean as a whistle
brave as a lion
stand out like a sore thumb
as easy as shooting fish in a barrel
Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.
Effective black and white flashbacks show the missing person's life before the disappearance.
Foil: a person that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.
Good examples are Watson (from Sherlock Holmes) or Ron & Hermoine (from Harry Potter).
Folk Tale: a story passed on by word of mouth.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; "planning" to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.
He didn't know what was in store for him she will soon find out the truth. He felt a cold chill as he walked through the dark alley ( foreshadowing something bad will happen).
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