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English Literary Terms > 70 Literary Terms > Flashcards

70 Literary Terms Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

ACT

A

Dramas are divided into large units called…

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2
Q

ALLEGORY

A

story or tale with two or more levels of meaning

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3
Q

ALLITERATION

A

repetition of initial consonant sounds

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4
Q

ALLUSION

A

reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

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5
Q

ANALOGY

A

comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike

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6
Q

ANECDOTE

A

brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event told to entertain

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7
Q

ANTAGONIST

A

a character or force in conflict with a main character

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8
Q

ANTICLIMAX

A

“letdown” turning point in a story

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9
Q

ASIDE

A

short speech delivered by an actor in a play

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10
Q

ASSONANCE

A

repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stresses syllables

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11
Q

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

A

a form of nonfiction in which writer tells his/her own story

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12
Q

BALLAD

A

song-like poem that tells a story often dealing with romance and adventure

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13
Q

BLANK VERSE

A

poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines

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14
Q

CHARACTER

A

person or animals who takes part in the action of a literary work

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15
Q

CHARACTERIZATION

A

act of creating and developing a character

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16
Q

CLIMAX

A

high point of interest of suspense

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17
Q

COMEDY

A

a literary work that has a happy ending

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18
Q

COMIC RELIEF

A

technique that is used to interrupt a serious part of a literary work by introducing a humorous character or situation

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19
Q

CONFLICT

A

struggle between opposing forces

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20
Q

CONNOTATION

A

set of ideas associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning

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21
Q

COUPLET

A

a pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter

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22
Q

DENOTATION

A

its dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the
word may have

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23
Q

DENOUEMENT

A

resolution, in
which a general insight or change is conveyed

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24
Q

DIALECT

A

the form of language spoken by people in particular region or group

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25
Q

DIALOGUE

A

conversation between characters

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26
Q

DICTION

A

word choice, including the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the
vividness of the language

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27
Q

DRAMA

A

story written to be performed by actors

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28
Q

DRAMATIC IRONY

A

a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true

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29
Q

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

A

a poem or speech in which a fictional character addresses the listeners

30
Q

END RHYME

A

repetition of sounds at the ends of words

31
Q

EPIC

A

a long narrative poem about the deeds of gods or heroes

32
Q

EXTENDED METAPHOR

A

a writer speaks or writes of a subject as though it were something else.

33
Q

FANTASY

A

highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life

34
Q

FICTION

A

prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events

35
Q

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

A

writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally

36
Q

FOIL

A

a character who provides a contrast to another character

37
Q

FORESHADOWING

A

the use in a literary work of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur

38
Q

FREE VERSE

A

poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern, or meter

39
Q

GENRE

A

a category or type of literature

40
Q

HYPERBOLE

A

a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

41
Q

IMAGERY

A

the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the
reader

42
Q

INTERNAL RHYME

A

occurs when the rhyming words appear in the same line

43
Q

IRONY

A

literary techniques that portray differences between appearances and
reality, or expectation and result

44
Q

METAPHOR

A

figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something
else

45
Q

METER

A

a poem’s rhythmical pattern

46
Q

MONOLOGUE

A

a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem

47
Q

MOOD

A

the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage

48
Q

MORAL

A

a lesson taught by a literary work

49
Q

MYTH

A

a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or the causes of natural phenomena

50
Q

ONOMATOPOEIA

A

the use of words that imitate sound

51
Q

PARADOX

A

a statement that seems contradictory but that actually may be true

52
Q

PERSONIFICATION

A

a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human
characteristics

53
Q

PLOT

A

the sequence of events in a literary work

54
Q

POETRY

A

one of the three major types of literature, the others being prose and drama

55
Q

PROSE

A

the ordinary form of written language

56
Q

PROTAGONIST

A

the main character in a literary work

57
Q

REPETITION

A

the use of any element of language—-a sound, a word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence—-more than once

58
Q

RHYME

A

the repetition of sounds at the ends of words

59
Q

RHYME SCHEME

A

a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

60
Q

SETTING

A

the time and place of the action

61
Q

SIMILE

A

a figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison between two
basically unlike ideas

62
Q

SOLILOQUY

A

a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

63
Q

SONNET

A

a fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter

64
Q

SPEAKER

A

the imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem

65
Q

STANZA

A

a formal division of lines in a poem, considered as a unit

66
Q

SYMBOL

A

anything that stands for or represents something else

67
Q

THEME

A

a central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work

68
Q

TONE

A

he writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject

69
Q

TRAGEDY

A

a work of literature that results in a catastrophe for the main character

70
Q

VERBAL IRONY

A

words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant

English Literary Terms (1 decks)

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