All Terms

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

When a writer or speaker refers to something from history or literature and expects the audience to understand what they are referring

Question 2

Antagonist

Answer 2

Opposes the protagonist

Question 3

Archetype

Answer 3

Recurring symbolic situations, Patterson or model that serves as the basis for different but related versions of a character plot or theme

Question 4

Blank verse

Answer 4

Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents. Most close to natural rhythms of English speech and is the primary verse form of English drama and narrative poetry

Question 5

Conflict

Answer 5

Issue to be resolved in the story. Usually occurs between the protagonist and antagonist, or between the protagonist and society, or the protagonist against themself

Question 6

Connotations

Answer 6

Emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word

Question 7

Couplet

Answer 7

Stanza of two lines, usually rhyming

Question 8

Denotation

Answer 8

Strict dictionary meaning of a word

Question 9

Denouement

Answer 9

French word meaning “unknotting” or “unwinding”, refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath or resolution that usually occurs near the final stages of the plot, unraveling of the main complications in a play, novel or other work of literature, usually takes place in the final chapter after the climax is over

Question 10

Epic

Answer 10

A long story usually told in poetry, contain elemints of myth, legend, folk tale, and history. Very serious themes, present portraits of the culture that produced them. The larger than life hero embodies the values of the particular society and undertakes a quest to achieve something of great value for the people and himself

Question 11

Fable

Answer 11

Brief story illustrating a moral. Often include talking animals or talking animated objects as the principal characters. The interaction of these characters reveal general truths about human nature

Question 12

Figurative Language

Answer 12

In literature, a way of saying one thing and meaning another

Question 13

Foil

Answer 13

A character whose personality and attitude is opposite the personality and attitude of another character. Because these characters contrast, they make the other personality stand out

Question 14

Iamic pentameter

Answer 14

A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. An iambic foot consists of one unsurpassed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Question 15

Imagery

Answer 15

Words and phrases that describe something in a way that creates pictures or images that appeal to the reader’s senses. Many writers will use words that suggest the way things sound, smell, or taste, or feel to touch

Question 16

Irony

Answer 16

Three forms of irony in the literary world. Verbal Irony is an expression or statement where the meaning of the words used is the opposite of their sense. Irony of Situation is where an action done by a character is the opposite of their sense. Irony of Situation is where an action done by a character is the opposite of what was meant to be expected. In Dramatic Irony the audience of a play knows something that the main character does not. Most common is Irony of Situation

Question 17

Metaphor

Answer 17

A figure of Speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object.

Question 18

Myth

Answer 18

A story used to describe the origins of basic elements and assumptions of cultures. These myths were written to show a proper way of knowing reality. These stories take place before our world came into being. They all have gods and goddesses. They control the events that take place in the story Humans are usually present in myths . The gods can help or punish the humans if they wanted to.

Question 19

Personification

Answer 19

A figure of Speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects.

Question 20

Protagonist

Answer 20

Main character of the story. Action of the plot center about that person. The protagonist is often the good guy or hero, but it can be the villain in a work

Question 21

Simile

Answer 21

A comparison, usually using ‘LIKE’ or ‘AS’, of two essentially dissimilar things, as in coffee as cold as ice or he sounded like a broken record

Question 22

Soliloquy

Answer 22

A long speech given by an actor alone on the stage which expresses the private inner thoughts of the character

Question 23

Theme

Answer 23

Central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point lf view, symbols, and other elements are organized. The theme is not the subject of work it is the message the author wants the audience to extract from the work

Question 24

Tone

Answer 24

The tone of work is the attitude or character that the writer is trying to create in a piece of writing. It tells you what sort of voice the writing has, sad, happy, angry, bitter, peaceful, serious, humorous, ironic, or sarcastic. It is determined by its intended audience and is made up of such elements as choice of vocabulary and sentence structure

Question 25

Tragedy

Answer 25

A serious play in which the chief figures, by some peculiarity of character, pass through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe. Tragedy, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself.

Question 26

Guidelines for Tragedy

Answer 26

The tragic hero who should be of high worth or standing, but not perfect
A tragic flaw, weakness or transgression in the hero which leads to the hero’s downfall
The recognition scene where the hero realizes what he has doNE
The effect of the inevitable disaster on the spectators is the cleansing. The cleansing process is due to the emotions of pity for the tragic hero and terror through what they have seen.