End Of Year Vocab ✏️ Flashcards
Apostrophe
Rhetorical device in which speaker addresses dead, absent or imaginary person or object
Alliteration
Repitition of initial consonant sounds in speech or writing
Ballad
Narrative poem, sometimes sung, often about a person
Couplet
Two lines of poetry with same rhyme and meter, often expressing a complete thought
End rhyme
Rhyming words that occur at the ends of lines of poetry
Enjambment
Running over of a sentence from one line of verse into another
Meter
Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line
Blank verse
Verse with no rhyme but meter, usually iambic pentameter
Foot
Basic unit of meter consisting of a set group of stressed and unstressed syllables
iamb
Metrical foot of one unstressed syllable then one stressed, like heartbeat
idyll
Simple work in poetry or prose that presents peaceful rustic life or pastoral scenes
Ode
Lyric poem using exalted emotion on a specific subject
Quatrain
Four line stanza
Sonnet
Poem of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme
Elizabethan, Petrarchan, Spenserian
Tercet
Three line stanza
Archetype
In art, a pattern, character, or idea that recurs and conveys a universal symbolic meaning
Caricature
An exaggerated depiction of a character or incident, often using ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics
Dynamic/round character
A character whose personality changes or evolved through a work
Static/flat character
A simple character who does not change or evolve during the course of a narrative; one who is not developed
Stock character
A very simple literary character who remains undeveloped in a work; one who is a stereotype
Foil
Character that serves as contrast to highlight opposing traits in another character
Persona
Voice/character representing speaker in literary work; the role a character plays in work
Tragic hero
A hero in a tragedy who makes an error on judgement or has a fatal flaw that combines with fate and/or external forces to bring about his/her downfall
Denouement
The ending; final outcome of a work, usu, including resolution of main complication
Montage
A composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing images or designs; a cascade of images in cinema/literature
In media res
The opening of an epic midway in a story- “in the middle of things” usually the hero recounts what occurred earlier
Deus ex machina
An unexpected, improbable character, device or event that is introduced suddenly to resolve a situation or untangle a problem
Aside
In play, a brief moment when a character speaks “under his breath”; only audience hears
Colloquialism
A local or regional dialect expression
Monologue
A dramatic soliloquy or long speech
Internal monologue
A type of narration in which the author depicts the interior thoughts of a single individual
Stream of consciousness
Narration like internal monologue, but when little coherence to convey jumble of thoughts
Soliloquy
In drama, a section in which a character reveals thoughts without addressing a listener; usually proses a dilemma and weighs the pros/cons, declaring final decision at the end
Omniscient narrator
3rd person narrator who knows all characters’ thoughts and motivations. Limited omniscient has knowledge of one or more characters but not all
Avant-garde
Referring to an innovative group in the arts; “cutting edge” of an artistic field
Black comedy
Comedy that uses “dark” humor
Comedy of manners
Dramatic work that satirizes the manners/behaviors of a social class
Didactic literature
Instructional or informative literature
Epic
A narrative poem of the life of a heroic or mythological person or group
Mock epic
Parody that mocks common romantic or modern stereotypes of heroes
Epistle/epistolary literature
Literature written in letter format
Fable
A short tale with a moral lesson at the end
Farce
A light dramatic work marked by satiric comedy and an improbable plot
Frame story
Narrative technique of a story within a story
Morality play
An allegorical play (from 15th-16th C) in which characters personify abstract qualities or concepts (ie death)
Mystery/miracle play
A medieval drama based on scriptural (biblical) incidents or life of a saint
Hymn
Song of praise, usually religious
Novel of manners
A work that recreates a social world, conveying in detail the customs, values, and morals of a developed and complex society
Novella
A short novel
Bildungsroman
A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological and intellectual development of a youthful protagonist
Pastoral
A poem that draws on the natural world and rustic human society
Satire
Writing which ridicules it’s subject to provoke or prevent social change
Tragedy
Drama in which hero is overcome by superior force, fate, and/or his/her own doing
Tragicomedy
Drama that combines certain elements of both tragedy and comedy
Courtly romance
A medieval tale based on chivalric love, adventure, and supernatural elements
Parable
A story with a moral or religious lesson
Parody
A work that ridicules the style of an author or a work for comic effect
Classical
Referring to ancient Greeks/Romans (~6th to C BC to 5th C AD), especially the art, architecture, and literature of the empires
Medieval period/Middle Ages
Period extending from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the Renaissance
Renaissance
The period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries
Elizabethan Age
A period associated with the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) considered a part of the renaissance
Humanism
A renaissance movement emphasizing the importance of human existence and seeking knowledge and understanding of all matters pertaining to earthly, secular life
Neoclassical age
Era (18th C) of a revival of art/literature characterized by classical ideals of reason, form, and restraint
Romanticism
An artistic and intellectual movement originating of the late 18th/early 19th C, characterized by interest in nature, emphasis on emotion and imagination, and departure from the attitudes/techniques of 18 C
Gothic
Works characterized by a taste for the medieval or morbid; gothic novels (usually from 19th C) feature elements of horror, supernatural, gloom and violence
Realism/naturalism
19 C movement advocating the literal, objective portrayal of reality
Fin de Siecle
A French term meaning “end of century” the term denotes the last decade of the 19 C, a transition when writers/artists abandoned old conventions for new techniques and objects
Modernism
The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguished many styles in the art and literature of the 20th century; self-conscious break from previous genres
Lost generation
A term used to describe the post WWI generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war
Surrealism
A 20th century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter
Harlem Renaissance
Time in American history (1920s-1930s) when African American literature, art and music flourished in NYC
Existentialism
A 20th C philosophy concerned with the nature and perception of human existence. Followers often believe that the condition is one of suffering and loneliness. Never less, individuals can create their own meaning
Theater of the Absurd
A form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development
Postmodernism
Period/movement (~1944 to present) which carried modernist styles or practices to extremes and/or rejects modernism for new approaches to art/literature
Beat poets
Group of American writers of the 1950s whose work strongly influenced the cultural transformation of the ’60s
Magical realism
A literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realist setting; also a genre of Latin American literature from the 1960s in which magical themes were combined with realistic subject matter
