Extra terms Flashcards
Allegory
A form of narrative in which abstract ideas or principles are represented in the form of characters and plot events.
Allusion
A brief and indirect reference in a text to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, political, or other significance
An allusion is not a quotation and
does not describe the thing to which it refers in detail; instead, the author expects to recognize
the reference and to understand its importance or significance in the text
Analepsis
A technique of non-chronological narration, in which an event from the narrative past is narrated at a point later than its chronological place in a story (= flashback)
Anagnorisis
A key moment in a narrative where the protagonist makes a startling discovery that causes a shift from ignorance to knowledge and has a strong impact on the course of the plot
Antagonist
A character in a narrative who opposes the protagonist in some way or acts as an obstacle, hindrance, or problem for the protagonist
Atmosphere
The feeling, emotion, or mood that the author creates in a text, or in a specific scene or section of a text
Through descriptive language, imagery, and so forth
Autodiegetic narrator
A homodiegetic narrator who is also the protagonist of the story being told
Ballad
A poetic form that evolved from folk songs, and which in more literary contexts is used for long narrative poems
They usually consist of four-line stanzas rhymed abab or abcb with alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter lines
Blank verse
A poetic form consisting of unrhymed iambic pentameter lines
Blazon
A poetic convention in which the poetic speaker lists the physical attributes of a subject, usually a beloved lady or a beautiful woman
Block characterization
A characterization technique in which the information about a character is provided all at once, in a single descriptive “block”
Catastrophe
The final resolution of a tragic play or narrative, in which the plot comes to a conclusion, and usually, one or more characters dies
Catharsis
Refers to the idea that works of literary art can create then release powerful emotions (usually negative emotions, such as fear, pity, or sadness), thereby helping the readers or audiences go through an emotional cleansing
Cliché
Any figure of speech or identifiable literary device that has been used so often that is has become predictable and thus lost its original meaning, novelty, or impact can be described as cliché
Covert narrator
a narrator who does not overtly or explicitly display their own personality, who appears to have no thoughts or opinions of their own, and who, generally speaking, is not noticeable to the reader as an active participant in the narrative act. A covert narrator does not refer to themselves or address the reader or any other narratee, has a more
or less neutral or nondistinctive voice and style, has no particular character traits or features of their own (such as gender, personality, a name, etc.), and does not provide exposition, explanation, or commentary on the events being narrated. In effect, a covert narrator is simply
a voice that communicates the story.
Cross rhyme
abab
also known as alternating rhyme
Diction
Choice of words, or the vocabulary that an author chooses to use
Direct characterization
= explicit characterization
Direct discourse
A narrative mode in which the speech or thought of a character is reproduced exactly, word for word
Discourse time
Also called reading time and refers to the time it takes to read a narrative text
Dramatic monologue
A poetic form in which an imagined speaker (persona) addresses an implied but unheard audience in a particular situation, usually at length and in natural or
vernacular speech, and usually in a way that is designed to reveal the speaker’s character and
temperament to the reade
Dramatis personae
The characters in a work of drama
Dynamic character
A character who changes in a meaningful or significant way over the course of a narrative
Elegy
A poem form that focuses on mourning or that mediates upon the death of an individual, usually a loved one but sometimes a prominent cultural figure
Elision
A poetic device in which a part of a word, often unstressed syllable, is omitted from a word for the purpose of reducing the number of syllables and making a word fit a given metrical pattern
Marked by an apostrophe
English / Shakespearean sonnet
A variant on the sonnet form in which the fourteen lines are organized into three quatrains and a concluding couplet. The Volta usually comes between the final quatrain and the couplet
Epigraph
A short passage, often a quotation, that appears at the beginning of a text or a section of a text, often on or before the title of a book or at the top of the first page of a chapter or section of a longer text
Epilogue
A section at the end of a text (usually a longer text such as a novel, play, or work of nonfiction) that is separate from the main body of the text and serves as a comment on or conclusion to the text itself
In drama, epilogues often take the form of a direct address to the audience
Figural characterization
A narrative technique in which information about a character is provided by a character in the narrative, not by the narrator
Figurative language
Any use of language in which the intended meaning differs in some way from the standard or literal meaning of the words used
First-person narrator
same as homodiegetic narrator
Flashback
= Analepsis
Flash-forward
= Prolepsis
Foreshadowing
A literary device in which the text offers in advance a hint of what is to come later in the story
Hamartia
A convention of tragedy
It is the fateful error of judgement that leads to the downfall of the hero or heroine
According to Aristotle, the misfortune suffered by a tragic hero results from an error or moral shortcoming, not from vice or random circumstance
Hyperbole
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for rhetorical effect / an overstatement
Implicit metaphor
A metaphor in which the tenor is not explicitly given
Indirect discourse
A narrative mode in which the speech or thought of a character is reported by the narrator in the narrator’s own words
Interior monologue
A narrative technique that reproduces the thoughts passing through the mind of a character
It represents thoughts as a character talking to themselves
Interior
monologue is closely related to “stream of consciousness,” but the two techniques can be
distinguished by the fact that interior monologue represents thoughts in coherent, grammatically complete sentences, whereas stream of consciousness does not.
Intradiegetic narrator
A narrator who is a character within the story and tells a story to another character, resulting in a “story within a story”
Leitmotif
A significant phrase or image that occurs repeatedly within a single work of literature
Litotes
A figure of speech in which a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite
E.g. it’s not bad = it’s good
Malapropism
A misuse of words or phrases that reveals the speaker’s ignorance or misunderstanding
Metafiction
A kind of fiction that draws attention to and reflects upon its own status as fiction
Metra-narration
a form of self-reflexivity, in which a narrator reflects or comments on the act and processes of narration itself
Narratorial characterization
A narrative technique in which information about a character is provided by the narrator
Ode
A form of lyric poem, usually rather long and featuring an elaborate stanza structure and a relatively formal or elevated style
Odes are usually “on” or “to” something or someone,
and can act either as celebrations of events or public figures or as mediations on intense private experiences or moments
Overt narrator / Intrusive narrator
A narrator who seems to have a distinct personality, makes their opinions known to the reader, and is, generally speaking “present” to the reader as an active participant in the act of narrations
Paradox
An apparently self-contradictory statement
Paratext
Material that accompanies a work of literature, but is not part of the text itself
E.g. footnotes, titles, covers, the list of dramatis personae in a play, front matter, dedication, publication information, epigraph, prologue, epilogue, etc.
Parody
The imatitve use of the words, style, attitude, tone, and/or ideas of another writer, genre, or tradition in a way that makes them seem comical or ridiculous
Peripety / peripeteria
Refers to a sudden change in fortune or condition, or a turning point in the action of a narrative
Play
A single work of (long and short) drama
Prolepsis
A narrative technique in which an event that takes place in the narrative future is narrated at a point earlier than its chronological place in the story
= flash-forward
Protagonist
The central figure oe main character in a narrative. The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who usually makes the key decisions that move the plot forward and also gains/suffers from the consequences of those actions.
Reader address
Also known as direct address, a narrative technique technique in which the narrator or a character addresses the reader directly
Rhetorical question
A question that is asked without expecting an answer, either because the answer is self-evident or because it is immediately provided by the speaker who asks the question
Rhythm
The sense of movement created in a work of verse of prose by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, the relative
length of syllables, and the repetition/variation of sounds
Satire
A form of literary writing in which vices, follies, hypocrisy, and other moral failings are mocked and ridiculed, generally with the goal of exposing and shaming morally bankrupt individuals, groups, or societies as a whole and thus provoking reform or improvement
Slant rhyme / half rhyme / imperfect rhyme
A rhyme in which the endings of two words are similar but not identical in sound, so that the second word echoes but does not repeat the the sound of the first
Spenserian sonnet
A variation of the English sonnet. This means that, overall, fewer rhyming sound are used in a Spenserian sonnet than in a standard English sonnet; the
rhyme scheme of the Spenserian sonnet is ababbcbccdcdee.
Static character
A character who does not change in any substantial or meaningful way during the course of a narrative
Stichomythia
A technique in dramatic writing in which sequences of single lines are
spoken by alternating characters. This back-and-forth technique, which imbues dialogue with a
rapid and intense rhythm, is particularly well suited to scenes of conflict or dispute.
Stock character
A generic figure that appears repeatedly in different works of literature, usually as a minor character which little or no character development, and always with the same characteristics and features
E.g. wicked stepmother in fairytales
Story time
Refers to the time span that is covered by the events in a narrative
Stream of consciousness
A narrative technique in which a character’s thoughts and feelings are depicted in a continuous and unorganized flow, uninterrupted by objective description, conventional dialogue, or clarifications/explanations
Synecdoche
A form of metonymy in which the term for a part of something is used to signify the whole
He had seven mouths to feed = signifies children or dependents
Synesthesia
A figure of speech in which an experience involving one field of sensory perception is described using words that refer to another
Teichoscopy
A character’s report of events that are the happenings off stage
Telling name
A name that provides information about a character, including information about their personality and/or their role in the story
Third-person narrator
= heterodiegetic narrator
Tone
refers to the inflections given to a poetic speaker’s, narrator’s, or character’s words, which reveal information about his/her attitudes, beliefs, feelings, or intentions
Topos
Topoi are argumentative commonplaces, standard forms of rhetorical argumentation that speakers drew upon when composing and that audiences would recognize
Trope
Refers to the usage of words that affect a conspicuous change in their standard meaning
A general term for rhetorical devices such as metaphor, personification, allegory, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, and verbal irony
Understatement
Any statement that represents something as being less substantial, significant, or important than it really is
Such statements are often ironic
Wit
The clever expression of thought via an apt expression or turn of phrase that evokes both laughter and insight
Often has a paradoxical and mocking quality
Word scenery
A technique of dramatic writing, in which details of scenery are established not through the use of props or sets on stage, but through words spoken by the characters
Zeugma
A figure of speech in which one word (usually a verb, adjective, or preposition) or phrase is linked grammatically to two very different words or phrases
This often produces a comical or paradoxical effect
