figurative language/ literary devices Flashcards
allegory
a story in which people (or things or actions) represent an idea or a generalization about life. They usually have a strong lesson or moral
Alliteration
repetition of initial consonant sounds in words, such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Allusion
a reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event.
Analogy
a comparison of objects or ideas that appear, at first, to be different but are alike in some important way.
Anapestic meter
meter that is composed of feet that are short-short-long or unaccented-unaccented-accented, usually used in light or whimsical poetry, such as a limerick.
Anaphora
a rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of several clauses.
Anecdote
a brief story that illustrates or makes a point.
anthropomorphism
a device in which the writer attributes human characteristics to an animate being or an inanimate object.
antithesis
a contrast or opposition between two things
aphorism
a wise saying, usually short and witty
apostrophe
a turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons who is present or absent. EX: Hamlet turned to the audience and spoke directly to one woman about his father’s death.
archetype
a character, plot, image, theme, or setting that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated over time.
assonance
a repetition of the same sound in words close to one another. For example: white stripes.
blank verse
unrhymed verse, often occurring in iambic pentameter
cadence
the natural rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken.
caesura
a break in the rhythm of language, particularly a natural pause in a line of verse, marked canonin prosody by a double vertical line (//).
canon
a group of literary works considered by some to be central or authoritative to the literary tradition. For example, many critics agree that the Western canon includes the literary works of Homer, Shakespeare, Hemingway, Faulkner, Dickinson, and so on.
characterization
a method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits.
cliche
an expression that has been used so often that it loses its expressive power, for example, “dead as a doornail” or “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
conceit
a metaphor or figure of speech, often elaborate, that compares two things that are very different.
consonance
repetition of the final consonant sound in words containing different vowels, for example: “stroke of luck”
couplet
a stanza made up of two rhyming lines
dactyl
a metrical foot of three syllables in which the first syllable is stressed and the next two are unstressed.
death of the author
a literary criticism that rebuts the traditional literary criticism notion that the biography of an author provides a context for interpretation of text; instead, the writing and the creator are unrelated.
denouement
the resolution or conclusion of a story.
dialect
a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain region or social group
dialogic
a literary theory term that advances the idea that works of literature carry on a dialogue with other works of literature and other authors.
diction
an author’s choice of words based on their clarity, conciseness, effectiveness, and authenticity.
archaic
old fashioned words that are no longer used in common speech such as thee, thy, and thou.
colloquialisms
expressions that usually are accepted in informal situations or regions, such as “wicked awesome.”
dialect
a variation of a language used by people from a particular geographic area.
jargon
specialized language used in a particular field or content area.
profanity
language that shows disrespect for others or something sacred.
slang
informal language used by a particular group of people among themselves.
vulgarity
language widely considered crude, disgusting, and often, offensive.
doublespeak
language that intentionally distorts or disguises meaning. It may take the form of a euphemism, suchas “let go” for fired or “passed away” for died.
end rhyme
rhyming the ends of lines of verse
enjambment
also known as a run-on line in poetry. occurs when one line ends and continues onto the next line to complete the meaning.
epithet
a descriptive phrase or word frequently used to characterize a person or thing, such as “the father of psychology” refers to Sigmund Freud.
euphemism
a word or phrase that substitutes for an offensive or suggestive one. examples: “in a family way” means pregnant; “lost their lives” means killed; “ I misspoke” means “ I lied.”
existentialism
a philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility.
flashback
a literary device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of a narrative.
foil
a character who acts in contrast to another character.
foot
a metrical foot is one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables.
iambic
unstressed, stressed
trochaic
stressed, unstressed
anapestic
unstressed, unstressed, stressed
dactylic
stressed, unstressed, unstressed
one foot
monometer
two feet
dimeter
three feet
trimeter
four feet
tetrameter
five feet
pentameter
six feet
hexameter
frame story
a literary device in which one story is enclosed in another story
heroic couplet
a pair of lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter.
hermeneutics
the art and science of text interpretation.
hubris
the flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero
hyperbole
an exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect
idiom
an expression specific to a certain language that means something different from the literal meaning.
imagery
the use of words to create pictures in the reader’s mind
incongruity
the international joining of opposites.
interior monologue
a narrative technique that reveals a character’s internal thoughts and memories
interior monologue
a narrative technique that reveals a character’s internal thoughts and memories
irony
the use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning.
irony
the use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning.
dramatic irony
the reader sees a character’s errors, but the character does not.
dramatic irony
the reader sees a character’s errors, but the character does not.
verbal irony
the writer says one thing and means another
verbal irony
the writer says one thing and means another
situation irony
the purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result.
situation irony
the purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result.
malapropism
a type of pun or play on words that results when two words become mixed up in the speaker’s mind. For example, “The police are not here to create disorder, they’re her to preserve disorder.”
malapropism
a type of pun or play on words that results when two words become mixed up in the speaker’s mind. For example, “The police are not here to create disorder, they’re her to preserve disorder.”
metaphor
a figure of speech in which a subtle or implicit comparison is made between two unlike things.
metaphor
a figure of speech in which a subtle or implicit comparison is made between two unlike things.
meter
a rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.
meter
a rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.
mood
the feeling a text evokes in the reader, such as sadness, tranquility, or elation.
mood
the feeling a text evokes in the reader, such as sadness, tranquility, or elation.
moral
a lesson a work of literature is teaching.
moral
a lesson a work of literature is teaching.
narration
the telling of a story
onomatopoeia
the use of words to suggest sounds, as in buzz, click, or vroom.
oxymoron
a phrase that consists of two contradictory terms, for example, “deafening silence.”
paradox
a contradictory statement that makes sense. EX: “Man learns from history that man learns nothing from history.”
pathetic fallacy
the attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals.
personification
a literary device in which animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits.
