Entertainment / Literature Glossary

Antimetabole: (Greek, 'turning about') A rhetorical scheme involving repetition in reverse order: One should eat to live, not live to eat. Or, 'You like it, it likes you.' The witches in that Scottish pla . . . View Full Definition

Antithesis: (pluralantitheses): Using opposite phrases in close conjunction. Examples might be, 'I burn and I freeze,' or 'Her character is white as sunlight, black as midnight.' The best antitheses exp . . . View Full Definition

Antitype: A figure, event, or symbol in the New Testament thought to be prefigured by a different figure, event, or symbol in the Old Testament. See extended discussion under typology.

Aphaearesis: (also spelled apheresis, pluralaphaeareses, adj. Apheretic): Rhetorically deleting a syllable--unaccented or accented--from the beginning of a word to create a new term or phrasing. For inst . . . View Full Definition

Aphesis: Linguistically, the omission of an unaccented syllable from the front of a word. Contrast with the more general rhetorical term, aphaearesis.

Apocalypse: From the Greek word apocalypsis (unveiling'), an apocalypse originally referred to a mystical revelation of a spiritual truth, but has changed in twentieth-century use to refer specifically . . . View Full Definition

Apocopated Rhyme And Meter: Poetic use of apocope to create a rhyming word at the end of a line or to balance the number of syllables to stay within metrical restraints (see meter). (The latter type might be more accur . . . View Full Definition

Apocope: Deleting a syllable or letter from the end of a word. In The Merchant of Venice, one character says, 'when I ope my lips let no dog bark,' and the last syllable of open falls away into ope b . . . View Full Definition

Apologue: Another term for a moral fable--especially a beast fable.

Apophasis: Denying one's intention to talk or write about a subject, but making the denial in such a way that the subject is actually discussed. For instance, a candidate for the senate might start his . . . View Full Definition

Aporia: (Greek: impassable path) The deliberate act of talking about how one is unable to talk about something. For instance, 'I can't tell you how often writers use aporia.' The term dubitatio refe . . . View Full Definition

Aposiopesis: Breaking off as if unable to continue, stopping suddenly in the midst of a sentence, or leaving a statement unfinished at a dramatic moment. Sometimes the interruption is an artificial choic . . . View Full Definition

Apostrophe: Not to be confused with the punctuation mark, apostrophe is the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present: For instance, John Donne commands, 'Oh, . . . View Full Definition

Apotropaic: Designed to ward off evil influence or malevolent spirits by frightening these forces away. In many cultures, elaborate artwork depicting monsters would be created to have an apotropaic affe . . . View Full Definition

Apron Stage: A stage that projects out into the auditorium area. This enlarges the square footage available for actors to walk and move upon. This feature was not common in the days of classical Greco-Ro . . . View Full Definition

Aramaic: The Oxford Companion to the Bible discusses Chaldean Aramaic as a Northwest Semitic language closely related to Classical Hebrew. Classical Hebrew developed as an offshoot of proto-Canaanite . . . View Full Definition

Arête: The Greek term arête implies a humble and constant striving for perfection and self-improvement combined with a realistic awareness that such perfection cannot be reached. As long as an ind . . . View Full Definition

Archaism: A word, expression, spelling, or phrase that is out of date in the common speech of an era, but still deliberately used by a writer, poet, or playwright for artistic purposes. Until fairly r . . . View Full Definition

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