Slave Narrative Vocabulary #1 - Flashcards due Thurs. Nov. 4, 2010

A. Elegy(n)— a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
2. A poem written in the elergiac meter

3. dirge

synonyms = death song, funeral song, knell, lament, plaint

B. philanthropy(n) altruistic concern for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money, property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.
2. the practice of performing charitable or benevolent actions
3. love of mankind in general

synonyms = humanitarianism, alms, altruism, good works, helping hand


C. apostrophize—(v)
1. to address by apostrophe
2. to utter an apostrophe (used without a noun)
syns.= accost, declaim, exhort,

apostrophe (n) Rhetoric .
a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as “O Death, where is thy sting?”
syn: deviation; straying

D. rabble(n)-a disorderly crowd

Syn= horde, throng, mob


E. ode (n) a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and
expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion.

2.(originally) a poem intended to be sung.

Syn=ballad, limerick, lyric, verse

F. encomium–noun
a formal expression of high praise; eulogy
Syn: accolade, commendation, eulogy, laudation, panegyric, praise,
salutation, tribute

Antonym = Demerit

G. panegyric –noun
1. a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy.
2. formal or elaborate praise.

Syn: (adj) acclamatory, complimentary, praising Laudatory

H. trope–noun
Rhetoric .
1a. any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.

2. a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.



I. Chiasmas—(n)
1. Anatomy .
a crossing or decussation, as that of the optic nerves at the base of the brain.

2. Cell Biology . a point of overlap of paired chromatids at which fusion and exchange of genetic material take place during prophase of meiosis.

J .synecdoche –noun Rhetoric .
a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships

Syn= allegory, allusion, anticlimax, apostrophe

The allegorical play, “The Crucible” was a synecdoche of those persecuted during the 1940s-‘50s “Red Scare” reign.

K. rhetoric—(n) 1. (in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration or
display; bombast.

2. the art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech.

3. the study of the effective use of language.

4. the ability to use language effectively.

Syns= address, bombast, discourse
Antonym= conciseness

L. indict (v) (n) = indictment
1. (of a grand jury) to bring a formal accusation against, as a means of bringing to trial: The grand jury indicted him for murder.
2. to charge with an offense or crime; accuse of wrongdoing; castigate; criticize

Synonyms =Accuse, summon, incriminate impeach