Lit Terms 83-108

Omniscient POV - knowing all things, usually the third person

Onomatopoeia - use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning

Oxymoron - a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

Pacing - rate of movement, tempo

Parable - a story designed to to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth.

Paradox - a statement apparently self-contradictory 

Parallelism -  the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.

Parody -  an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.

Pathos -  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.

Pedantry - a display of learning for its own sake.

Personification - a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or  abstract ideas.

Plot - a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.

Poignant - eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

Point of View - the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.

Postmodernism - literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.

Prose -  the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

Protagonist - the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.

Pun -  play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.

Purpose - the intended result wished by an author

Realism -  writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightfoward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

Refrain - a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

Requiem - any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

Resolution - point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.

Restatement - idea repeated for emphasis.

Rhetoric - use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

Rhetorical Question - question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.