Lit terms Flashcards
Accent
A syllable given more prominence in pronunciation than its neighbors
Allegory
A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one
Alliteration
The repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words
Allusion
a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in literature
Anapest
A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented symbol
Anapestic meter
A meter in which a majority of the feet are anapests
Anaphora
Repetition of an opening word or phrase in a series of lines
Apostrophe
A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply
Approximate Rhyme
a term used for words in a rhyming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but occasionally in patterns where most of the rhymes are perfect and sometimes are used systematically in place of perfect rhyme
assonance
the repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words
Aubade
A poem about dawn; a morning love song; or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn
Ballad
A fairly short narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form
Blank Verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter
Cacophony
a harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
Caesura
A speech pause occurring within a line. See grammatical pause and rhetorical pause.
Connotation
what a word suggests beyond its basic dictionary definition; a word’s overtones of meaning
Consonance
the repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words
Continuous form
the form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of meaning
Couplet
two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme
Dactyl
a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables
Dactylic meter
a meter in which a majority of the feet are dactyls
Denotation
the basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word
didactic poetry
poetry having as a primary purpose to teach or preach
dimeter
a metrical line containing two feet
Dramatic framework
the situation whether actual or fictional, realistic or fanciful, in which an author places his or her characters in order to express the theme
Dramatic Irony
see irony
Duple meter
A meter in which a majority of the feet contain two syllables. Iambic and trochaic are both duple meters
End rhyme
Rhymes that occur at the ends of the lines
End-stopped line
a line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation
English (Shakespearean)
A sonnet rhyming
Euphony
A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds
Expected Rhyme
The rhythmic expectation set up by the basic meter of a poem
Extended figure
A figure of speech sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem
Extended metaphor
extended simile (extended figure)
Extrametrical syllables
In metrical verse, extra unaccented syllables added at the beginnings or endings of lines; these may be either a feature of the metrical form of a poem
Feminine Rhyme
a rhyme in which the repeated accented vowel is in either the second or third-last syllable of the words involved
Figurative Language
Language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally
Figure of speech
Broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way
Fixed Form
Any form of poem in which the length and pattern are prescribed by previous usage or tradition, such as sonnet, villanelle, and so on
Folk ballad
A narrative poem designed to be sung, composed by an anonymous author, and transmitted orally for years or generations before being written down. It has usually undergone modification through the process of oral transmission
Foot
the basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of metrical verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables
Form
the external pattern or shape of a poem, describable without reference to its content, as continuous form, stanzaic form, fixed form, free verse , and syllabic verse
Free Verse
Non-metrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic form
Grammatical pause
A pause introduced into the reading of a line, usually by a mark of punctuation
Heard Rhythm
the actual rhythm of a metrical poem as we hear it when it is read naturally. The heard rhythm mostly conforms to but sometimes departs from or modifies the expected rhythm
Hexameter
a metrical line containing six feet
Hyperbole
an overstatment
Iamb
A metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable followed by on accented syllable
Iambic meter
a meter in which the majority of feet are iambs; the most common english meter
Imagery
the representation through language of sense experience
Internal rhyme
a rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme words occur(s) within the line
Irony
A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy. Three kinds of irony are distinguished in this book
Verbal irony
A figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said
