Intertext

The shaping of a text meaning by another text. Relates to intertextuality. Sort of like a spin off - almost like an illusion.

The "Percy Jackson" series involves a lot of intertextuality to Greek mythology, affecting its plot and characters.

Jingle

Musical phrase or song that utilizes repetition and jubilant tone to catch the listener's attention and spread awareness for a business or institution.

Now used in media, such as Ricola's song at the end of their commercials. Originally used by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe to implement sound over meaning in short poetry.

Jouissance

French for 'enjoyment." Normally used in a sexual sense, but Jouissance does not necessarily mean "pleasure". Joussance represents bliss in a conventionally erotic way, versus the innocent bliss of "pleasure".

Fifty Shades of Grey showcases Jouissance in the characters dignified enjoyment of sexual enjoyment.

Juvenilia

Word for works written during its writer's youth.

The movie "Superbad" was co-written by Seth Rogen when he was a teenager, and didn't get made until he'd finished co-developing it as an adult, making the movie juvenilia.

Katabasis

Literary narration of a journey to the underworld, land of the dead, etc.

Both "Dante's Inferno" and certain books in "The Odyssey" represent some demonstrations of katabasis in classic literature.

Lampoon

Literary attack toward someone, normally in prose, belittling and insulting their character.

Many television hosts today lampoon Trump, insulting him to the point he's shown as a caricature of a person for his actions.

Literariness

What makes a given work a literary work. Relation between different uses of language, where varying usages contrast each other contextually. Sum of special linguistic and formal properties that distinguish literary texts from non-literary texts (according to Russian Formalism).

Many properties give Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" more literariness than the likes of many novels written today, mainly the time period it was written in.

Manifesto

Assorted collection of justified intentions and philosophies, normally in favor of one's politics.

The Communist Manifesto outlined the perspectives and beliefs of communism, and attempted to justify these rationales in doing so.

Metaphor

Using a phrase comparatively or symbolically to represent a literal phenomenon / experience; when one thing means another

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black" is a metaphor because it involves no pots or kettles, but instead implies that someone is calling out a person or thing for something they are guilty of themselves.

Motif / Lemotif

Symbol, situation, image, or words used in a literature following a uniform theme.

The film "American Beauty" implements a heavy motif on roses, symbolizing innocence and lust, among many other themes seen throughout the movie's plot.

Mythology

A body of relatedness a given belief or system. Set of stories or beliefs about a particular person, institution, or situation.

"The Odyssey" follows Odysseus in the world of Greek mythology, with the writer, Homer, including many acts of divine intervention from Poseidon, Circe, Polyphemus, etc.

Neologism

A word or phrase that has recently been coined into existence.

The word "meme" is a neologism, being just around a decade old, having no prior meaning in linguistic history.

Objective Correlative

An external equivalent for an internal state of mind; thus any object, scene, event, or situation that may stand for or evoke a given mood or emotion instead of a subjective expression of it. "What’s on the inside should match the outside".

T.S. Elliot highlighted tons of objective correlative examples in Hamlet, where Shakespeare wrote Hamlet to verbalize his emotions descriptovely to the audience, rather than showing them.

Old English

Anglo-Saxon: all language specific to the 5-12th century.

"The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," from the 12th century, begins "An. M.LXVI. On þyssum geare man halgode þet mynster æt Westmynstre..." which, in modern English, would translate to "1066 In this year the monastery at Westminster..."

Onomatopoeia

Using letters to form a referential sound via words, in efforts to add effect, imagery, or function to a sentence in exclamatory fashion.

"Zap", "Brr", and "Hiss" are all onomatopoeias invented to give off auditory sounds in reference to real world noises.

Other / Marginalization

The unexplored or undiscussed; excluded from the majority

Jeff Kinney's hit series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" showcased Rowley, the narrator's best friend, as somewhat of a sidekick, making him the other. Rowley escaped this marginalization recently when Kinney released "Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal," which showed audiences the marginalized perspective of the "Wimpy Kid" universe.

Paradox

Seemingly contradictory statement forcing the reader to give second thought on its validity, which usually turns out to be true.

Wadsworth's "The Child is the father of man". At first, this seems wrong, but it's true because men's children grow up to father mankind themselves.

Pastoral

Genre in which shepards or country-dwellers are shown in simplicity/innocence. Biblical terms: live in a wild state of nature, after expulsion from Garden of Eden. “Back-to-nature” often underwrites sense of community and belonging - “a place for everyone and everyone in their place”. Typically, the relationship between these two contrasting views of pastoral literature drives the plot and main issues.

Christopher Marlow's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is clearly pastoral, especially evident in the first couplet of the second quartet "There will we sit upon the rocks / And see the shepherds feed their flocks".

Periodical

Regularly released literary work, being published on a set schedule.

Magazines like National Geographic, Time, and People are periodicals, published weekly or monthly to the public.

Personification

Utilizing literary terms to give inanimate objects lively actions or emotions, representatively.

Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" features the phrase "And when she weeps, weeps every little flower". Obviously, flowers cannot weep, but in personifying them as weeping, the writer shows how the entire scene is "feeling" sadness for the main character.