General Vocabulary & Misc. Flashcards
What is a portemanteau
one word that shortens two words and puts them together - ex. brunch
What famous poem includes lots of portemanteaus?
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
What is a nonce
word made up for the occasion but (typically) has no other use - ex. brillig
What famous poem includes lots of nonce words?
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
What is a stanza?
a ‘paragraph’ in poetry
What is a couplet
a two-line stanza
What is a tercet
a three-line stanza
What is a quatrain
a four-line stanza
What is the dragon called in the famous poem
a jabberwock (not jabberwocky although it is the name of the poem)
What is a lying tale
poem that makes one assertion, but contradicts that assertion
What is a famous example of a lying tale
Sir Gammer Vans
What is a summary of the short story “Reunion”
a young son and his dad get together in NYC, they only have an hour to hang out so they go to a restaurant, the dad acts increasingly irrational and they have to go to multiple restaurants
What is an interesting element of the short story “Reunion”
it starts and ends with the same phrase -> an embodiment of repetition as growing into one’s adult self
What is Lewis Carroll a pseudonym for
Charles Dodgeson
What is Carlos Collodi a pseudonym for
Carlos Lorenzini
What did Carlos Collodi write
Pinocchio
What did Lewis Carroll write
Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Jabberwocky, among other pieces
What does inchoate mean
unformedness, important to think about when reviewing nonsense
What are two tenets of fiction?
change and repetition
Why is genre important?
a lot of children’s literature is folk tales (its own form/genre)
What is exposition
where the world of the story and its rules are laid out -> the “exposing of the world”, usually prepares readers for the resolution
What is resolution
the ending where everything is put into place
What is Fryetag’s Pyramid
shows how narrative prose moves from beginning to end (not specifically a timeline)
What elements are represented on Fryetag’s Pyramid
exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, conclusion
What does Fryetag’s Pyramid look like
a line, a triangle, a line
What are two ways to narrate time?
diachronically (across linear time) and synchronically (everything happens in one moment)
What are characteristics of a limerick
fairly short 5 line poem, AABBA rhyme scheme, anapaestic meter, generally full of lilting lines and innuendo
What is anapaestic meter
a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line.
Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (short, short, long)
What are ways to describe lines of poetry
rhyme scheme & meter
What is rhyme scheme
simple code for the way rhymes/poems work -> start with the first sound (at the end of a line) call it A, and all new sounds (end rhymes) get the following letters
What is meter
syllabic (determined by syllables in English)
determined by the number of “feet” in a line
What is iambic pentameter
foot of 2 syllables
5 feet total
What is blank verse
poetry written in unrhymed but metered lines (almost always iambic pentameter)
What is free verse
poetry written without consistent patterns of rhyme or meter
What are letters to language
signifiers that create words, however they are arbitrary and built into binaries (which makes a matrix/system of binaries) -> a thing is only a thing because it’s another thing
ex. nonsense is nonsense, but has to look like real words (not nonsense)
How do you show someone how to recognize contrast before they understand even the concept of elements which will be contrasted?
repetition - sounds, rhythms
Why do adults feel pleasure in the incohate?
nostalgia,
freedom within limits (arguably the only kind of freedom),
emphasis on very legible/reliable devices,
lack of content mimics dream logic/lucid dreaming (surreal aspect)
general activation of interest
