41-60 Flashcards
oxymoron
a combination of opposites: the union of contradictory terms
- Romeo: “feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health”
parable
a story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question
- allegorical stories
paradox
a statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is true
- “i love but hate her”
parallel structure
a similar grammatical structure within a sentence or within a paragraph
- winston churchill: “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields”
- mlk: “i have a dream” speech depends on parallel structure
parody
a composition that imitates the style of another composition normally for comic effect
- saturday night live
pentameter
a line containing five feet
- iambic pentameter
periodic sentence
a sentence grammatically complete only at the end. a loose sentence is grammatically complete before the period
(1) periodic: “when conquering love did first my heart assail, unto mine aid I summoned every sense.”
(2) loose: “fair is my love, and cruel as she’s fair”
periodic sentences: complete the important idea at the end
loose sentences: put important idea first
personification
a figurative use of language which endows the nonhuman with human characteristics
- keats personifies the nightingale, the grecian urn, and autumn
point of view
points form which a story is told; omniscient, limited to that of a single character, or limited to that of several characters
- first person: wuthering heights, great expectations
- third person: mayor of castbridge, a tale of two cities
polysyndeton
sentences, clauses, phrases, or words are linked by coordinating conjunctions
- milton’s paradise lost: describing satan “and swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or lies”
reliability
a quality of some fictional narrators whose word the reader can trust, there should be reliable and unreliable narrators (tellers of a story who should/should not be trusted)
- reliable narrators: nick carraway, conrad marlow)
- unreliable narrators: tell tale heart
rhetorical question
a question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply.
- “shall i wasting in despair die because a lady’s fair?”
rhetorical techniques
the devices used in effective or persuasive language
- contrast, repetition, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, rhetorical questions
satire
writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule. used mostly in comedies that expose errors with an eye to correct vice and folly. it’s purpose is to promote change
- jonathan swift’s “a modest proposal”
setting
the background to a story (physical location), involves both place and time
- setting of a tale of two cities: london and paris during the french revolution
simile
a directly expressed comparison with like/as/than
- my love is like a fever
soliloquy
a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his/her thoughts aloud. a monologue also has a single speaker, but the monologuist speaks to others who do not interrupt. soliloquist is not heard by anyone on stage, only the audience hears it
sonnet
a 14 line, highly structured poem. the conventional italian sonnet is rhymed abba, abba, cde dce; the english sonnet is rhymed abab, cdcd, eded, gg. modern sonnets may not use the traditional form and meter but usually will be 14 lines
sound devices
the techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry. used to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning
- rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia
stanza
usually a repeated grouping of 3+ lines with the same meter and rhyme scheme
