English Finals Vocabulary Flashcards
Tragedy
A drama in which the central character, who is of noble stature, meets with great disaster or misfortune. The tragic hero’s downfall is usually the result of some combination of
· fate, or the idea of a predetermined destiny
· a character flaw
Soliloquy
A lengthy speech in which a character, usually alone on stage, expresses his or her true thoughts or feelings
Soliloquies are not heard by other characters.
Aside
A character briefly reveals his or her thoughts or feelings, sometimes actually addressing the audience, in a remark that is not heard by other characters
Monologue
A lengthy speech by one person addressed to other characters
Blank Verse
Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter
Meter
Poem’s rhythmical pattern
Feet
Divisions of stressed/unstressed syllables
Iamb
A foot with one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: again
Iambic Pentameter
Ten syllables, unstressed/stressed pattern
Couplet
Two successive rhyming lines
sonnet
14 line poem with a rhyme scheme
allusion
An allusion is a passing reference to a familiar person, place, or thing drawn from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.
Simile
A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between dissimilar things using “like” or “as.” Ex.“The fighter’s hands were like stone.”
Metaphor
An implicit comparison in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else; one thing is compared to or identified with another, dissimilar thing in order to suggest something about it. Ex. All the world’s a stage.
Personification
A figure of speech in which ideas or objects are described as having human qualities or personalities. Ex. “The engine coughed and then stopped.”
foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a purposeful hint placed in a work of literature to suggest what may occur later in the narrative.
hyperbole
A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. (The literal Greek meaning is “overshoot.”) Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony. The opposite of hyperbole is understatement.
imagery
The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman’s cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection.
irony
The incongruity or difference between reality and appearance or expectation and result.
Situational irony is the contrast between what is expected or intended and what actually occurs.
Dramatic irony occurs when the author makes the readers or audience aware of something that the character(s) are not.
Verbal irony is the contrast between what is said and what is meant.
juxtaposition
When two contrasting things - ideas, words, or sentence elements - are placed next to each other for comparison, a juxtaposition occurs.
motif
A motif is a repetition that tends to unify a work, such as a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or image that appears throughout the piece.
oxymoron
An oxymoron combines two contradictory words in one expression. The results of this combination are often unusual or thought provoking. For instance, if you praise a child for her “wild docility,” in essence you change the separate meanings of the words “wild” and “docility” and create a new, hybrid image.
paradox
A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. Ex: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….”.
parallelism
Also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, this term comes from Greek roots meaning “beside one another.” It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as a preposition or verbal phrase. The effects of parallelism are numerous, but frequently they act as an organizing force to attract the reader’s attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm.
The opening of Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities is an excellent example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of believe, it was the epoch of incredulity….”)
