Literary and Poetic Devices Flashcards
Allegory
story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities
Alliteration
repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together
Allusion
reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture; an indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.)
Ambiguity
deliberately suggestion two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work; an event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way - this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness, and detracts from the work
Analogy
comparison made between two things to show how they are alike
Anaphora
repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row; this is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent
Anastrophe
inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence; purpose is rhythm of emphasis or euphonium; it is a fact word for inversion
Anecdote
brief story , told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something
Antimetabole (also Chiasmus)
repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order; “one should eat to live, not live to eat”
Antithesis
balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted; “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”
Anthropomorphism
attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (personification)
Aphorism (Maxim, Epigram)
brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life, or of a principle or accepted general truth
Apostrophe
calling out to the imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea; if the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation
Assonance
the repetition of similar vowel sounds
Asyndeton
commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z… the writer uses X,Y,Z…
Bathos
an abrupt transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect; “the ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant”
Chiasmus (also Antimetabole)
a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with he parts reversed: “flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike”
Cliche
a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse
Colloquialism
a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations
Conceit
an elaborate/extended metaphor that compares two thing that are startlingly different
Connotation
the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition
Couplet
two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry
Dialect
a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area
Diction
a speaker or writer’s choice of words
Didactic
form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking
Elegy
a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died
Eulogy
great praise or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died
Epigraph
a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme
Epistrophe
device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines/clauses/sentences (opposite of anaphora)
Epithet
an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality; “father of our country” “the great emancipator”
Fable
a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life…usually involves animals
Farce
a type of comedy in which ridiculous/stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations
Flashback
a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time
Foil
a character who acts in contrast to another character; often a funny side kick to the dashing hero or a villain contrasting the hero
Foreshadowing
the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot
Free Verse
poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme
Hyperbole
a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect
Imagery
the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person/thing/place/experience
Irony
a curious discrepancy between appearances and reality; expectation and outcome
Juxtaposition
poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit
Litotes
a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative; “she is not bad looking”
Lyric Poem
a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker; a ballad tells a story
Metaphor
a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparisons as like, as, than, or resembles
Metonymy
a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it; “we requested from the crown support for our petition”
Mood
an atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected
Motif
a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme
Onomatopoeia
the use of words whose sounds echo their sense; “pop” “zap”
Oxymoron
a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase; “jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, bitter-sweet, false truth”
Parable
a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life…without animals
Paradox
a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth
Parallel Structure (parallelism)
the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures
Parody
a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer’s style
Personification
an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
Polysyndeton
sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the items in a series; instead of X, Y, and Z…polysyndeton results in X and Y and Z
Pun
a “play on words” based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things
Refrain
a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem
Rhythm
a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language
Rhetoric
art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse
Rhetorical Question
a question asked for an effect, and not usually requiring an answer
Satire
writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change
Simile
a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as, than, or resembles
Soliloquy
a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage
Stream of Consciousness
writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character’s mind
Style
the distinctive way in which a write uses language: a writer’s distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax
Symbol
a person, place, thing, or even that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more
Synecdoche
a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole; “if you don’t drive properly, you will lose your wheels,”the wheels” represent the entire car
Synesthesia
presenting or expressing one sensory experience in terms of another sensory experience; “all colors immediately fell an octave lower”
Telegraphic Sentence
a sentence shorter than five words in length
Theme
the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work
Tone
the attitude a write takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization
Tragedy
in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end
Understatement
a statement that says less than what is meant as a form of emphasis
Vernacular
the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality
Zeugma
the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one; “he carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men”
