All Prose Flashcards
A story or poem in which characters and events represent abstract concepts or qualities; a systemic metaphor throughout a literary work.
Allegory
Lord of the Flies
Animal Farm
The Crucible
Allegory
Sally Sells Sea shells by the Sea shore
“… the sunlight came through the Leaves in Light patches on the grass.” (Hemingway 122)
Alliteration
2 or more words in close proximity with the same initial sound to produce a particular effect.
Alliteration
An indirect reference to something with which the reader is expected to be familiar. Usually biblical, historical, mythological, or literary references.
Allusion
Reference to God(s)
Or
Biblical reference in The Sun Also Rises
Allusion
“Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Hemingway 251)
End of Inception
End of Lord of the Flies
Ambiguity
An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.
Ambiguity
Assignment of something to a time when it was not in existence.
Anachronism
Rose’s clothes in Doctor Who (in 1879 Scotland).
Anachronism
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.
Anaphora
“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” - Winston Churchill
Anaphora
A term used to describe both the individual and the collective anxiety-neurosis of the period following WWII.
Angst
Post WWII only!
Suffering, anxiety
Camus
Angst
A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses.
Antithesis
“To be or not to be.”
“Goodbye because I love you.”
Antithesis
An address to the dead as if living; to the inanimate as if animate; to the absent as if present; to the unborn as if alive.
Apostrophe
“O Julius Caesar thou are mighty yet; thy spirit walks abroad.”
“Roll on, though deep and dark blue ocean, roll.”
Apostrophe
A term formed by repeated experiences in the lives of our ancestors, expressed in myths, religion, fantasies, and literature; recurring in literature and evoke profound emotional responses in the reader.
Archetype
Evil stepmother
MPDG (manic pixie dream girl) - bubbly, shallow, Peter pan syndrome, and help men without pursuing own happiness.
christ figure,
evil twin,
Archetype
A dramatic convention by which an action directly addresses the audience but it is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on the stage.
Aside
Macbeth to Banquo’s murderersat the banquet.
Romeo-“he jests at scars that never felt the wound”
Aside
Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity.
Assonance
“The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.” (Chopin 56)
Assonance
A series of words separated by commas (with no conjunction). The parts of a sentence are emphasized equally; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence.
Asyndeton
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
“As they went in under the light, I saw white hands, wavy hair, white faces, grimacing, gesturing, talking. With them was Brett” (Hemingway 28).
Asyndeton
Construction in which both halves of the sentence are about the same length and importance.
Balance
I waited patiently for the taxi; he drove nonchalantly by me.
Balance
Process by which an unhealthy emotional state produced by an imbalance of feelings is corrected and emotional health is restored.
*Peacefulness
Catharsis
“Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Hemingway)
Catharsis
The method an author uses to develop characters in a work. In direct characterization, the author straightforwardly states the character’s traits. With indirect characterization, those traits are implied through what the character says, does, how the character dresses, interacts with other characters, etc.
Characterization
“He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton.” (Hemingway)
Characterization
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Chiasmus
Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern X Y Y X.
Chiasmus
Deals with the relations and intrigues of gentlemen and ladies living in a polished and sophisticated society; it evokes laughter mainly at the violations of social conventions and decorum and relies on the wit and humor of the dialogue for its effect.
Comedy of Manners
“Dinner for Schmucks”
“Pride and Prejudice”
Comedy of Manners
Literary device that cuts tension in the middle of tragedy. Not just to be funny.
Comic Relief
Drunken Porter in Macbeth
Comic Relief
The drunken porter speech from Macbeth when he compares things such as Drinking and peeing, drinking and sleeping, and drinking and nose painting.
Conceit
Unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things. (a special kind of metaphor or complicated analogy.)
Conceit
Language that describes specific, observable things, people or places, rather than ideas or qualities.
Concrete Language
“After a while we came out of the mountains, and there were trees along both sides of the road, and a stream and ripe fields of grain, and the road went on, very white and straight ahead, and then lifted to a little rise, and off on the left was a hill with an old castle, with buildings close around it and a field Of grain going right up to the walls and shifting in the wind.” (Hemingway)
Concrete Language
“What’s the matter? You sick?”
“Yes.”
Connotation
- Rather than the dictionary definition, the associations associated with a word
- Implied meaning
Connotation
Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.
Consonance
“Isn’T iT preTTy To think so?” (Hemingway)
Consonance
“Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but takes away the performance: therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and giving him the lie, leaves him.” (Shakespeare)
Cumulative
Sentence which begins with the main idea and then expands on that idea with a series of details or other particulars.
Cumulative
Word choice, particularly as an element of style.
Diction
Hemingway’s simple word choice: light, dark, hot, nice, pleasant
Diction
Teaches a specific lesson; the lesson is explicitly stated
Didactic
“Slow and steady wins the race”
“Count no mortal happy till he had passed the final limit of his life secure from pain” (Sophocles)
Didactic
Oedipus before he knows the truth
TSAR - Robert is called the steer when we know Jake is really the steer
Dramatic Irony
The reader is aware of something that the characters do not know
Dramatic Irony
A poem lamenting the death of a particular person
Elegy
“O Captain my captain…”
“The Death of the Toad”
Elegy
Sentence structure which leaves out something in the second half
Elliptical
“If a plant cannot live according to nature, it dies, and so does man.” (Thoreau)
Elliptical
Existential boredom, Post WWII, pointless life
Ennui
Weariness of existence
Ennui
A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work that suggests a theme.
Epigraph
“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever… The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose…”– Ecclesiastes
Epigraph
A major character’s moment of realization or awareness
Epiphany
“How easy it is! To think of all the time I have lost splashing about like a baby!” (Chopin)
Epiphany
A single term used to modify the name of a person or thing
Epithet
“The Great” in Catherine the Great
“O Captain my captain”
Epithet
Words used for sensitive topics
Euphemism
Bits, tushie, rump, behind, pass away, tight
Euphemism
Act of interpreting the meaning of a text
Explication
Edna’s first swim is symbolic of her realization that she has the power to move her life according to her desires, and she wishes to push the boundaries of what society finds acceptable.
Explication
Background information, often early on in a narrative, sets up information about characters/conflicts
Exposition
“‘You are burnt beyond recognition,’ he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage. She held up her hands, strong, shapely hands, and surveyed them critically, drawing up her fawn sleeves above the wrists. Looking at them reminded her of her rings, which she had given to her husband before leaving for the beach.” (Chopin)
Exposition
