Miscellaneous Flashcards
(117 cards)
The existence of mutually conflicting emotions or attitudes; often used to describe the contradictory attitudes an author takes toward characters & societies & also to describe a confusion of attitudes or response called forth by a work.
Ambivalence
The judging of a work of art by the author’s expressed or ostensible intention in producing it. Like the affective -, is an error particularly when view from an objective theory of art, which means it’s worth or value is within itself & is not dependent on things outside the work such as the author’s intent or purpose in writing it.
Intentional Fallacy
Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. Virtueperative (harshly abusive) writing.
Invective
A display of learning for its own sake. Often used in critical reproach. When style is marked by big words, quotations, foreign phrases, allusions, etc.
Pedantry
A term once limited ti the interpretation or religious texts, particularly the allegorical, but now a synonym for theory of interpretation. The theory of perception & understanding alone w/ the premises, procedures, methods, & limitations of interpretatism.
Hermenutic Circle
A form of irony, a pretended refusal that is insincere or hypocritical.
Accismus
The effect resulting from the unsuccessful effort to achieve dignity or sublimation of style. An unintentional anticlimax dropping from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Bathos
The general environment in which a work is produced.
Milieu
The study of rules that enable signs to have meaning. In literary criticism, it refers to the analysis of literature in terms of language, conventions, & modes of discourse.
Semiotics
Words formed by telescoping 2 words in 1, as the making of “squarson” from “squire” & “parson”, “smog” from “smoke” & “fog”, “motel” from “motor car” & “hotel”, “brunch” from “breakfast” & “lunch”, “palimony” from “pal” & “alimony”. James Joyce uses many - - in -Ulipses- & -Finneganswald-.
Portmanteau Words
A witty playing of words, a clever sally, brief, clever pieces of writing.
Jeu d’esprit
A piece of notably fine writing. A colorful passage standing out from the writing around it. Now & then in a strongly emotional passage, writers will give free play to most of the stylistic tricks in their bag, resulting in a - -. Often used derogatorily.
“Purple Patch”
Characterized by the superfluous. Applied to a style marked by verbiage, an excess of repetition, or pleonasm. The use of repetition or pleonasm may, on occasion, be justified for emphasis, but - is usually unjustified repetition. Also a term for identical rhyme, as in cell & sell.
Redundant
The quality in art & literature that stimulates pity, tenderness, or sorrow.
Pathos
Confused speech, resulting particularly from the mingling of several languages or dialects. Any strange language that sounds uncouth to us. In the sense of outlandish speech. Sometimes = nonsense or gibberish. Also signifies the special language of a group or profession, such as legal - or thrives -.
Jargon
The state of having more than 1 meaning; w/ resultant uncertainty as to the intended significance of the statement. The main because of unintentional - are unduebreuity, faulty sequence, indefinite pronoun reference, & use of a word w/ 2 or more meanings. The kind of - that results from the capacity of words to stimulate simultaneously several different streams of thought, all of which make sense, is a characteristic of the richness & concentration that makes great poetry.
Ambiguity
Used to designate the types or categories into which literary works are grouped according to form, technique, or subject matter.
Genre
A concise statement of a principle or precept given in painted words.
Ex: “Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.”
Aphorism
Combines 2 elements: the idea to be expressed & the individuality of the author. No 2 - are exactly alike. A study of - for the purpose of analysis includes diction, sentence structure, & variety, imagery, rhythm, repetition, coherence, emphasis, & arrangement of ideas.
Style
An inapropriateness of speech resulting from the use of 1 word for another for which it resembles. Named for Mrs. -, a character in Rich & Sheridan’s -The Rivals-, who was constantly saying such things as “as headstrong as an allegory (alligator) on the banks of the Nile.” The nurse in -Romeo & Juliet- says she “confidence” for “conference.”
Malapropism
Relates to both subject & style, a gruesome combination of farce & tragedy. - elements are in T.L. Beddoes & Edgar Allen Poe.
Macabre
A term for something expressive in a personal manner of inward convections, beliefs, dreams, or ideas. Opposed to objective, which is impersonal, concrete, & concerned w/ narrative, analysis, or description of exteriors.
Subjective
The emotional-intellectual attitude of the author toward the subject. A group of poems about death may range from a - of noble defiance in Obnne’s “Death Be Not Proud,” to pathos in Frost’s “Out-Out-,” to irony in Hausman’s “To An Athlete Dying Young,” to morbidly joyous acceptance in Whitman’s “When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” If a distinction between - & tone is present then it will be - as the attitude of the author toward the subject while tone as the attitude of the author toward the audience.
Mood
Contrasting light & shade. Originally applied to painting, the term is used in the criticism of various literary forms involving the contrast of light & darkness as in Hawthorne’s work such as -The Scarlet Letter- & in Fualkner’s -Light in August-. Important in film noir, a type of American crime film that flourished in 1940-1960 characterized by gloomy tone, fast pace, complex texture, exaggerated - & voice-over narration.
Chiaroscuro
