E List Literary Devices Flashcards
writing that departs from the narrative or dramatic mode and instructs the reader how to think or feel about the events of a story or the behavior of a character
editorializing
a lyric poem that laments the dead
elegy
a form of poetry that comments on a work of art in another genre, such as a painting or a piece of music
ekphrastic poetry
the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry; the omitted syllable or vowel is replaced by an apostrophe
elision
line that concludes with punctuation that marks a pause; the line is completely meaningful in itself, unlike run-on lines, which require the reader to move to the next line to grasp the poet’s complete thought
end-stopped line
rhyme at the end of two or more lines of poetry
end rhyme
a run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next
enjambment
a long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero; epics typically chronicle the origins of a civilization and embody its central values
epic
a short, witty statement designed to surprise an audience or reader
epigram
a quotation preceding a work of literature that helps set the text’s mood or suggest its themes
epigraph
a character’s transformative moment of realization
epiphany
the plot develops through a series of causally related episodes which build through rising action to a climax and then to a resolution (denouement)
episodic novel
the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues
elipsis
literature written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life or behavior
escape literature
a poem, speech, or other work written in a great praise of someone, usually a person no longer living
eulogy
a smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
euphony
the rhythmic expectation set up by the basic meter of a poem
expected rhyme
contextual and background info told to readers (rather than shown through action) about the characters, plot, setting, and situation
exposition
a figure of speech (usually metaphor, simile, personification, or apostrophe) sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem
extended/sustained figure
in metrical verse, extra unaccented syllables added at the beginnings or endings of lines; may be either a feature of the metrical form of a poem or occur as exceptions to the form
extra-metrical syllables
a rhyme that only works because the words look the same
eye/sight rhyme
a metaphor that continues over several lines or throughout an entire literary work
extended metaphor
