Literary Terms #12

Palindrome: a word, phrase, paragraph, etc. that reads the same backward or forward, like
racecar.

Panegyric: a formal composition praising a person’s life, particular achievement, etc. Unlike a
eulogy, usually about a dead person, a panegyric usually honors the living.

Parable: like a fable, proverb, etc., a parable is a story illustrating a lesion. Unlike the others,
the parable contains exact parallels to the situation it illustrates, and often uses “real” people in
its narrative.

Paradigm: a person, thing, idea, etc., which represents a very clear or typical example, or
archetype, of the entire group or set.

Parallelism: a sentence, paragraph, line of verse, etc. which expresses a comparison giving
equal stress and weight to ideas, concepts, phrases, etc.

Paraphrase: a restating of an idea in different words or forms that retain the same meaning as
the original. Sometimes the paraphrase may be shorter than the original, sometimes it may be
longer, but it is meant to put the idea into clearer perspective.

Parody: is a work that imitates the style and/or tone of another work, often with the intent of
ridicule.

Pastiche: is an imitation of a work that may be used to parody another, or may simply be an
attempt to duplicate the original in style and content.

Pastoral: any work that seeks to celebrate the simple, “country” life

Pathetic fallacy: originally attributed to Victorian art critic John Ruskin to denote the
attribution of human feelings to natural phenomena, such as “The sea is a cruel mistress…” It
had broadened to attribute such emotions to any inanimate object.

Pathos: the stimulation, by a work of art, of deep feelings of pity, tenderness, etc.

Periphrasis (a.k.a. circumlocution): to refer to something in a “roundabout” way. Often used

to obscure an idea that may be unpleasant when stated directly.

Peroration: the conclusion and summing up of an oration.

Persona: an assumed identity, taken from the Greek for “mask”, often applied to an author who
is writing as another character. Persona may also refer to an assumed identity that is different
from one’s true nature.

Personification: giving animals, objects, or even ideas, “human” qualities

Petrarchan: a “conceit”, created by the poet Petrarch, which makes exaggerated comparisons.
For example, a loved one, or an emotional state, or other person/object could be compared with
some hyperbolic other.

Phoneme: the smallest possible unit of meaningful sound within a language.

Picaresque (novel): a novel with a (perceived) scoundrel or rogue as its main character, from
the Spanish picaro. Since these novels usually chronicle the characters’ various adventures over
a long period in an unrelated manner, the term can be used to refer to any novel of this sort.

Plagiarism: the theft of any literary material from plot, to concept to basic idea, etc. it has
proven far too difficult to prove which ideas, etc. are “stolen” and which may have been simply
arrived at independently by two different people.