Diction

Diction is a selection of words used by authors to create specific effects and shape readers' perceptions of a text. This often includes tone, mood, and character portrayal

Self-reflectivity

A device where a text highlights its own creation process. (Often used in novels where authors reveal decisions and challenges while crafting a story).

Formalism

Cultivation of artistic technique at the expense of subject matter, whether in literary practice or criticism. It can duly refer to art or the making of art.

An Italian sonnet/pentecrate

- 14 lines, iambic pentometer, follows a rhyme scheme

Volta

A turn in the argument or mood of a sonnet

Parapraxis

A temporary dysfunction of the memory, which is often seen as a revealing of unconscious thoughts or desires.

Defamilarization

Works to engage readers in new ways; however, it also disrupts our interpretation and deranges and disorders linguistic habits.

2 aspects of defamilarization

1. Concern with the representation of the cognitive effects of the reader or viewer and other concerns of literary methods.

Human Liberalism

A critical approach that emphasizes universal human experince, indivdual autonomy, moral values, and the close readings of texts, often independent of social or historical contexts

Touchstone

Employed as a way of standard comparison for judging the values of other works, however is also a literal hard stone used to test the quality of gold and silver.

Ekphrasis

The verbal representation of visual representation. It is imagery used to describe a physical picture and/or piece of art.

Heresy of paraphrase

the idea that literature and poetry express things in such a way that trying to put a poem into your own words, you are doing a disservice to the original poem. It is to neglect the singularity of a text. 

End-stopped

brought to a pause at which the end of the verse line coincides with the completion of a sentence, clause, or other independent unit of syntax.

The Canon

A curated set of texts is allowed in institutions that is deemed essential for understanding literary history, theory, and culture. "What shall indviduals who still desire to read this late in history?"

Paradox

a statement of situation that seems contradictory but reveals a deeper truth when examined closely—e.g., less is more.

Liberal Humanism

A critical approach that prioritizes an individual's ability to interpret and find meaning in a text. Typically, literature seems to be a means to understand and improve human condition through the portrayal of complex characters and sutuations.

Caesura

A pause in a line of verse often coincides with a break between clauses or sentences (a line can have more than one of these, which could be in the middle or the end).

affective fallacy

a mistake of judging a piece of writing based solely on emotional response. It envokes on the reader rather than analyzing the inherent structure and meaning of a text.

sestet

A poem or stanza with 6 lines, which often serve as a 2nd part of a sonnet or as a stand alone

Octet

A stanza by sections of 8 lines

Literariness

The language is used to distinguish the poetic works from ordinary ones. It is a particular quality of expression and writing that makes language disingushes able language forms and able to be used for other purposes.

Autotelic

refers to work that exists for its own sake without a specific moral or didatic purposes. It emphasises intrinsic value of the text itself allowing readers to engage independently of external influences.

New criticism

A way of analyzing literature based on text alone and looking at the meaning of the indivudal text.

Intertextuality

Each text draws on earlier cultural or literary materials, whether deliberately or unconsciously

A sonnet is defined as...

A sonnet is a 14‑line poem of Italian origin, typically written in iambic pentameter and following a prescribed rhyme scheme, such as the Petrarchan or the Shakespearean.

foregrounding

denotes the use of devices and techniques that "push" the act of expression into the foreground so the language will draw attention to itself.

Enjambment

The continuation of the sense and grammatical structures from one verse, line, or couplet to the next without a punctuated pause. It is the completion of a phrase, clause, or sentence being held so that the following lines ending is not as emphasiszed.

anaphora

A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same work or phrase is being repeated at the beginning of the successive lines, clauses, or sentences.

Intentional Fallacy

the practice of basing interpretations on expressed or implied intentions of the authors. The critic's real purpose is to show what is actually in the text and not what the author intended to be there

Affective fallacy is the mistake of confusing a piece with its...

Results

Consonance

the repetition of identical or similar constants in neighbouring words whose vowels are different

Assonance

Vowels sound the same

A volta takes place during a...

sestet (subunit of six lines)

A word that changes the source of a poem (Volta)

"But!"

What to look for in a sonnet...

Why the poem is being written, who is speaking, the structure, etc.

"End stopped" can be easier explained as...

The end of a sentence, which creates a pause

Enjambment is easier explained as...

When the pause carries over to the next line with no punctuation

Ceasure can be easier explained

a pause in the middle of a line but could occur close to the beginning or the end. e.g., "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."