Below are level two words.  These words should be studied in terms of: Definition and example

Quest 1

 Acrostic [uh-kraw-stik]-a poem in which the initial letters of each line can be read down the page to spell either an alphabet, a name, or some other concealed message

Aesthetics [es-thet-iks]-Philosophical investigation into the nature of beauty and the perception of beauty, especially in the arts; the theory of art or of artistic taste.

Ambiguity [am-bi-gyoo-i-tee]- Openness to different interpretations: or an instance in which some use of language may be understood in diverse ways.  Sometimes known as 'multiple meaning.

Angst [engk-stuh]- Anxiety or dread used by the philosphers; a popular theme in youth music and literature.

Anthem [an-thuh m]-  a term used to denote a song or reprise in which the words affirm a collective identity expressing attachment to some nation, institution, cause, or philosophy.

Anticlimax [an-ti-klahy-maks]- An abrupt lapse from growing intensity to triviality in any passage of a storyline, or descriptive writing, with the effect of disappointed expectation or deflated suspense. 

Anti-hero/Aniti-herione- A central character in a dramatic or narrative work who lacks the qualities of nobility and magnanimity expected of traditional heroes

Apostrophe [uh-pos-truh-fee]- A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object.

Arbitrary [ahr-bi-trer-ee]- Lacking any natural basis or substantial justification.  The relationship between the signifier and its signified has no natural bond.

 Archaism [ahr-kee-iz-uh-m]- The use of words or constructions that have passed out of the language before the time of writing; or a particular example of such an obsolete word or expression.

Quest 2

Archetype [ahr-ki-tahyp]-A symbol, theme, setting, or character type that recurs in different times and places and embodies elements of universal human experience.

Avant-garde [uh-vahnt-gahrd]-dedicated to the idea art as experiment and revolt against tradition.

Baroque [buh-rohk]-Eccentric or lavishly ornate in style; the most artificial poetic style.

Binary Opposition [bahy-nuh-ree  op-uh-zish-uh n]-The principle of contrast between to mutually exclusive terms: On/off, up/down, right left.

Black Comedy-a kind of drama in which disturbing or sinister subjects like death and disease are treated with amusement.

Cadence [keyd-ns]-The rising and falling rhythm of speech, especially that of the balanced phrases in free verse.

Canon [Kan-uh n]-A body of writings recognized by authority and approved by critics deemed suitable for academic study

Carpe diem [kär'pě dē'ěm]-latin phrase for Seize the day or make the best of the present moment.

Chronicle [Kron-i-kuhl]-A written record of events presented in order of time and updated regularly over a prolonged period of time

Closure [kloh-zher]-A sense of completion or resolution at the end of a literary work.

Quest 3

Coinage-a newly invented word or expression

Collage-a work assembled wholly or partly from fragments of other writings like in an artistic collage

Collective Unconscious-inborn unconscious psychic material common to humankind, accumulated by the experience of all preceding generations.

Colloquialism-the use of informal expressions appropriate to everyday speech rather than to the formality of writing.

Conceit-an unusually far-fetched or elaborate metaphor or simile presenting a surprisingly apt parallel between two apparently dissimilar things or feelings

Courtly Love-a highly stylized code of behavior popular chiefly from the 12th to the 14th century that prescribed the rules of conduct between lovers, advocating idealized but illicit love, and which fostered an extensive medieval literature based on this tradition.

Cut-up-a technique used by the novelist William S. Burroughs where written text is cut into segments which are reshuffled at random before being printed in the resulting accidental order.

Deconstruction-applied to the study of literature, that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality and emphasizes that a text has no stable reference or identification because words essentially only refer to other words.

Denouement-The clearing up of the complications of the plot in a play or story

Digression-a temporary departure from one subject to another more or less distantly related topic before before the discussion of the first subject is resumed.

Quest 6

Oratory

Palindromes

Parataxis

Novella

Philistine

Pirate

Pathos

Palandrome

Paradigm

Oral Tradition

Quest 7 

Polemic- a through written attack on some opinion or policy, usually within a theological or political dispute.

Portmanteau- a word concocted by fusing two different words together into one.  Example: Brunch for breakfast and lunch, “motel” (motor and hotel), Chillax (chill and relax).

Proverb - A short popular saying of unknown authorship, expressing some general truth or superstition: “Too many cooks spoil the broth.  Many writers incorporate proverbs into their work!

Recto-The front side of a printed sheet: Thus the right-handed (and odd numbered) page in a book (verso is the left or even side).

Reductionism- The tendency to explain away the complexities of a literary work as the products of a single, much simpler cause.

Repartee- A rapid and witty response in conversation, especially one that turns an insult back on its originator.

Rhapsody- In the modern sense, a work or passage expressing ecstatic or uncontrolled emotion, often in a loosely structured fashion.

Saga- Various kinds of tales with an emphasis on feuds and family histories

Screenplay- The script of a film, comprising dialogue and narration with instructions for sets and camera positions.

Semantics- The philosophical or linguistic study of meanings in language.

Quest 8 

Tragic Flaw-the defect of character that brings about the protagonist’s downfall in a tragedy 

Tragicomedy-a story that combines elements of tragedy and comedy, either by providing a happy ending to a potentially tragic story or by some some more complex bending of serious and light moods. 

Travesty- A mockingly undignified or trivializing treatment of a dignified subject. 

Trope- a figure of speech, especially one that uses words in senses beyond their literal meanings

---somehow changes the meaning of the words such as simile, metaphor 

The Uncanny- A kind of disturbing strangeness evoked in some kind of horror story and related fiction. 

Unreliable narrator- a narrator whose account of events appears to be a faulty, misleading, biased, or otherwise distorted so that it departs in some sense from the truth. 

Vernacular- The local Language or dialect of common speech; or written in such a local language or dialect. 

Weltanschauung- German term for a ‘world-view’ that is either the philosophy of life adopted by a particular person or the more general outlook shared by people in a given period. 

Zeitgeist- German term for ‘time-spirit’ or spirit of the age as it refers to the prevailing mood or attitude of a given period