Final Literature Flashcards
Alliteration
The recurrence of consonant sounds at the beginning of nearby stressed syllables
Allusion
A reference within a work of literature to something outside it
Antagonist
Opponent of the protagonist
Aphorism
A pithy observation that contains a general truth
Apostrophe
The addressing of a no personal object as if it was able to reply
Ballad
A short, simple, narrative song
Biography
A story that details the events of someone’s life
Blank verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Caesura
Major pauses within lines
Character
Representations of people in literature
Comedy
Drama that ends happily
Conceit
A fanciful expression in writing or speech
Conflict
Battle between two opposing forces
Couplet
Two lines stanza
Dialect
Conversations between characters in the story
Diction
The choice and use of words in writing and speaking
Drama
A story consisting of action and dialogue designed for stage performance
Dramatic monologue
A poem consisting of a speech
by a character (who is not the author) addressing an audience at a critical moment in his life.
Elegiac poetry
Mournful poetry
Elegy
Any poem of solemn meditation
Enjambment
Lines of poetry that flow from one line of poetry to the next without pause
Epic
A long stylized, narrative poem
Fantasy
Any story that takes place outside the real world
Allegory
A story with a literal and an implied level of meaning.
Figurative language
Tools used to add detail to the story
Folk ballad
Folk ballads are characteristically impersonal, compressed, dramatic (in use of dialogue and absence of transitions), rit- ualistic in effect (through the use of various devices and repetition), and simple in stanza form
Folktale
Stories that are passed down from generation to generation by words rather then book
Foreshadowing
Hints in the story signaling what’s happening next
Frame story
A story within a story that has nothing to do within the major plot
Irony
A figure of thought that contrasts appearances and reality
Kenning
A compound expression in old English poetry
Literary ballad
The literary ballad is a narrative poem created by a poet in imitation of the old anonymous folk ballad
Lyrical poetry
poem that is not long, narrative, dramatic (in the sense of being written to be acted out), or expository
Metaphysical conceit
Extended analogy that does not fully describee the picture
Meter
The regular recurrence of accented syllables in poetry
Metaphor
The expression of one thing in terms of another
Narrative poetry
Poetry that follows the story of a single character
Ode
A long, highly stylized poem
Personification
Adding human qualities to anything that is not human
Poetic justice
Literary device where virtue is ultimately rewarded and vice is ultimately punished
Protagonist
The main character of the story
Quatrains
4 line stanza
Realism
Poem or story in which the details described are very realistic
Refrain
Stop oneself from doing something
Rhyme
Two or more words having the same sound
Rhythm
A more or less regular recurrence of stressed syllables in written or spoken utterance.
Romanticism satire
A reaction against the cultural climate and values of neoclassicism
Scoop
A piece of news published by a some kind of public information center
Simile
stated comparison of two things using a linking word or phrase
Sonnet
lyric poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines conventionally rhyming according to one of two patterns
Stream of consciousness
A narrative method de- signed to reproduce the mental process of a character, mingling conscious with half-conscious thoughts and sensations, past with present experi- ence, and rational and irrational associations, in an unbroken flow.
Symbolism
object that stands for something else as well as for itself
Syntax
The arrangement of words and phrases to create well formed sentences
Theme
A recurring or emerging idea in a piece of work or literature
Tone
The attitude of a work toward its subject
Tragedy
Drama that ends unhappily
