Lit Terms Flashcards

1
Q

Climax

A

Most intense part of story

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2
Q

Denotation

A

Dictionary definition

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3
Q

Character

A

Person in story

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4
Q

Couplet

A

2 lines of poetry that rhyme

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5
Q

Carpe diem

A

seize the day, theme of lots of literature

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6
Q

Connotation

A

Feeling a word invokes

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7
Q

Caesura

A

Natural break in poetry (To be-Or not to be)

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8
Q

Conflict

A

Struggle between opposing forces

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9
Q

Catharsis

A

Tragedy, cleansing of emotions, radical change/reinvention

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10
Q

Denouement

A

Outcome/solution of story

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11
Q

Chiasms

A

Parts of a sentence are reversed (we forget what we want to remember and remember what we want to forget)

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12
Q

Conceit

A

Surprising analogy (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)

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13
Q

Characterization

A

Writer reveals personality of character (She is kind/She performed a kind act)

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14
Q

Dialogue

A

Conversation between characters

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15
Q

Cliche

A

Overused expression (diamond in the rough)

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16
Q

Allegory

A

Story interpreted to reveal a moral/political meaning (Tortoise and the Hare)

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17
Q

Cacophony

A

Harsh/discordant mixture of sound (cold chasm is deep and dry)

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18
Q

Blank Verse

A

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

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19
Q

Ballad

A

Poem/song narrating a story

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20
Q

Atmosphere

A

Feeling created by environment

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21
Q

Asyndeton

A

Taking out a conjunction (dog bound, lept, raced through town)

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22
Q

Assonance

A

Repetition of vowel sounds (claps hands and stamps feet)

23
Q

Aside

A

Spoken by actor, intended for audience

24
Q

Apostrophe

A

Addressing the dead/not human (O happy dagger!)

25
Q

Antagonist

A

At conflict with main character (Chase Andrews)

26
Q

Anaphora

A

Repetition of word/phrase to create an effect (We shall fight)

27
Q

Analogy

A

Comparison of 2 things, similar in some way (Juliet is a rose)

28
Q

Archetype

A

An idea/character/circumstance common in literature, universal theme (The Hero, Call to Adventure)

29
Q

Allusion

A

Reference to another literature/person/event

30
Q

Alliteration

A

Repeats first consonant letters

31
Q

Free Verse

A

Poetry with no rhyme or meter (blank verse has meter)

32
Q

Euphemism

A

A substitute word that’s less harsh (downsize instead of cut)

33
Q

Diction

A

Author’s word choice

34
Q

Foot

A

A group of syllables in poetry with one accented and the other not (seen from above)

35
Q

Enjambment

A

A continuation of a sentence from one line of poetry to the next

36
Q

Euphony

A

Pleasing combination of words (leisure, nanny, eerie)

37
Q

Dramatic Monologue

A

Poem in which the speaker carries on alone

38
Q

Flashback

A

An interruption in the narrative to show previous events

39
Q

Exposition

A

Opening scene in which the characters/setting/theme can be introduced

40
Q

Elegy

A

Mourning poem of lament

41
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A hint of what’s to come

42
Q

Hamartia

A

A tragic flaw that comes from one’s strengths

43
Q

Dramatic Irony

A

Reader/audience know something the character doesn’t

44
Q

Epistrophe

A

Repitition of concluding words/word endings (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil)

45
Q

Epiphany

A

Deep realization

46
Q

Juxtaposition

A

Two opposites placed together (it was the best of times it was the worst of times)

47
Q

Imagery

A

Visually descriptive/figurative language

48
Q

Hyperbole

A

An extreme exaggeration

48
Q

Hyperbole

A

An extreme exaggeration

49
Q

Motif

A

A repeated theme/phrase

50
Q

Metonymy

A

Replacing a word with one that means something similar (calling a car “wheels”)

51
Q

Narrator

A

Person telling the story

52
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

A word that sounds like a noise

53
Q

Litotes

A

Negating a positive (not bad, you’re not wrong)