In psychology, cognitive dissonance is a mental conflict that happens when people hold ideas, beliefs, or actions that do not match. When people face situations that show these differences, they often feel uncomfortable and try to change their thoughts or actions to reduce the conflict. This can happen by changing a belief, explaining away the problem, or acting in ways that make the conflict feel smaller.
A fallacy is when someone uses wrong or bad reasoning to support an argument. Fallacies can appear in any type of communication between people. Fallacies are hard to group into categories because there are so many different kinds.
Prosody is the study and use of how poems are structured. The word comes from the Greek term for “song sung to music” and “pronunciation of syllable.” It also has roots in Latin and French, but its main meaning relates to the way words are arranged in poetry.
Liturgical drama is a type of medieval performance that uses stories from the Bible or tales about Christian saints. The term is no longer commonly used by most researchers today. It was widely shared by famous theater historians such as Heinrich Alt (Theater und Kirche, 1846), E.K.
Litotes is a type of figure of speech that uses negative words to highlight a positive idea. In spoken language, the way someone says a phrase, such as “not bad,” can change its meaning. For example, it might mean “average” or “very good” depending on how it is said.
Literature refers to any group of written works. It is also used to describe writings that are considered an art form, such as novels, plays, and poems. Literature includes both printed and digital writing.
Literary theory is the organized study of literature and the methods used to analyze it. Since the 19th century, literary scholarship has included literary theory along with topics like intellectual history, moral philosophy, social philosophy, and interdisciplinary themes that help people understand meaning. In modern academia, the humanities use this type of literary scholarship, which comes from post-structuralism.
Literary realism is a type of literature that focuses on showing everyday life and common experiences in an accurate and simple way. It avoids unusual or exciting topics, exaggerated descriptions, and imaginary or supernatural events. This style includes both fiction, such as realistic fiction, and nonfiction writing.
Fauvism ( / f oʊ v ɪ z əm / FOH -viz-əm ) is a type of painting and an art movement that began in France at the start of the 20th century. It was the style of a group of artists called les Fauves (French pronunciation: [le fov], meaning “the wild beasts”). These artists focused on how paint was applied and used bold colors instead of realistic details, which was different from the Impressionist style.
A literary device, literary technique, figure of speech, rhetorical device, stylistic device, or trope is an intentional method used by writers or speakers to achieve a specific goal. This goal may include helping the audience focus, guiding their attention, making language or ideas easier to remember, or causing a particular feeling, thought, or reaction. The many names for this concept may have slightly different meanings when used by experts.