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Literary studies > Extra terms > Flashcards

Extra terms Flashcards

1
Q

Allegory

A

A form of narrative in which abstract ideas or principles are represented in the form of characters and plot events.

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2
Q

Allusion

A

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

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3
Q

Analepsis

A

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)

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4
Q

Anagnorisis

A

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

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5
Q

Antagonist

A

A character in a narrative who opposes the protagonist in some way or acts as an obstacle, hindrance, or problem for the protagonist

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6
Q

Atmosphere

A

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

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7
Q

Autodiegetic narrator

A

A homodiegetic narrator who is also the protagonist of the story being told

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8
Q

Ballad

A

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

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9
Q

Blank verse

A

A poetic form consisting of unrhymed iambic pentameter lines

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10
Q

Blazon

A

A poetic convention in which the poetic speaker lists the physical attributes of a subject, usually a beloved lady or a beautiful woman

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11
Q

Block characterization

A

A characterization technique in which the information about a character is provided all at once, in a single descriptive “block”

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12
Q

Catastrophe

A

The final resolution of a tragic play or narrative, in which the plot comes to a conclusion, and usually, one or more characters dies

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13
Q

Catharsis

A

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

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14
Q

Cliché

A

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

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15
Q

Covert narrator

A

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.

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16
Q

Cross rhyme

A

abab

also known as alternating rhyme

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17
Q

Diction

A

Choice of words, or the vocabulary that an author chooses to use

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18
Q

Direct characterization

A

= explicit characterization

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19
Q

Direct discourse

A

A narrative mode in which the speech or thought of a character is reproduced exactly, word for word

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20
Q

Discourse time

A

Also called reading time and refers to the time it takes to read a narrative text

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21
Q

Dramatic monologue

A

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

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22
Q

Dramatis personae

A

The characters in a work of drama

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23
Q

Dynamic character

A

A character who changes in a meaningful or significant way over the course of a narrative

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24
Q

Elegy

A

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

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25
Q

Elision

A

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

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26
Q

English / Shakespearean sonnet

A

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

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27
Q

Epigraph

A

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

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28
Q

Epilogue

A

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

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29
Q

Figural characterization

A

A narrative technique in which information about a character is provided by a character in the narrative, not by the narrator

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30
Q

Figurative language

A

Any use of language in which the intended meaning differs in some way from the standard or literal meaning of the words used

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31
Q

First-person narrator

A

same as homodiegetic narrator

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32
Q

Flashback

A

= Analepsis

33
Q

Flash-forward

A

= Prolepsis

34
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A literary device in which the text offers in advance a hint of what is to come later in the story

35
Q

Hamartia

A

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

36
Q

Hyperbole

A

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for rhetorical effect / an overstatement

37
Q

Implicit metaphor

A

A metaphor in which the tenor is not explicitly given

38
Q

Indirect discourse

A

A narrative mode in which the speech or thought of a character is reported by the narrator in the narrator’s own words

39
Q

Interior monologue

A

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.

40
Q

Intradiegetic narrator

A

A narrator who is a character within the story and tells a story to another character, resulting in a “story within a story”

41
Q

Leitmotif

A

A significant phrase or image that occurs repeatedly within a single work of literature

42
Q

Litotes

A

A figure of speech in which a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite

E.g. it’s not bad = it’s good

43
Q

Malapropism

A

A misuse of words or phrases that reveals the speaker’s ignorance or misunderstanding

44
Q

Metafiction

A

A kind of fiction that draws attention to and reflects upon its own status as fiction

45
Q

Metra-narration

A

a form of self-reflexivity, in which a narrator reflects or comments on the act and processes of narration itself

46
Q

Narratorial characterization

A

A narrative technique in which information about a character is provided by the narrator

47
Q

Ode

A

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

48
Q

Overt narrator / Intrusive narrator

A

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

49
Q

Paradox

A

An apparently self-contradictory statement

50
Q

Paratext

A

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.

51
Q

Parody

A

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

52
Q

Peripety / peripeteria

A

Refers to a sudden change in fortune or condition, or a turning point in the action of a narrative

53
Q

Play

A

A single work of (long and short) drama

54
Q

Prolepsis

A

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

55
Q

Protagonist

A

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.

56
Q

Reader address

A

Also known as direct address, a narrative technique technique in which the narrator or a character addresses the reader directly

57
Q

Rhetorical question

A

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

58
Q

Rhythm

A

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

59
Q

Satire

A

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

60
Q

Slant rhyme / half rhyme / imperfect rhyme

A

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

61
Q

Spenserian sonnet

A

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.

62
Q

Static character

A

A character who does not change in any substantial or meaningful way during the course of a narrative

63
Q

Stichomythia

A

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.

64
Q

Stock character

A

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

65
Q

Story time

A

Refers to the time span that is covered by the events in a narrative

66
Q

Stream of consciousness

A

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

67
Q

Synecdoche

A

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

68
Q

Synesthesia

A

A figure of speech in which an experience involving one field of sensory perception is described using words that refer to another

69
Q

Teichoscopy

A

A character’s report of events that are the happenings off stage

70
Q

Telling name

A

A name that provides information about a character, including information about their personality and/or their role in the story

71
Q

Third-person narrator

A

= heterodiegetic narrator

72
Q

Tone

A

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

73
Q

Topos

A

Topoi are argumentative commonplaces, standard forms of rhetorical argumentation that speakers drew upon when composing and that audiences would recognize

74
Q

Trope

A

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

75
Q

Understatement

A

Any statement that represents something as being less substantial, significant, or important than it really is

Such statements are often ironic

76
Q

Wit

A

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

77
Q

Word scenery

A

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

78
Q

Zeugma

A

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

Literary studies (4 decks)

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