Literary and Rhetorical devices Flashcards
Active voice: Definition
The subject of the sentence performs the action. This is a more direct and preferred style of writing in most cases
Allusion: Definition
An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text, although it can be other things commonly known, such as plays, songs, historical events) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar
Alter-ego: Definition
A character that is used by the author to speak the author’s own thoughts; when an author speaks directly to the audience through a character
Anecdote: Definition
A brief recountion of a relevant episode often inserted into fictional texts.
Classification: Definition
Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures
Comic relief: Definition
when a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood somewhat
Diction: Definition
Word choice, particularly as an element of style
Colloquial: Definition
Ordinary or familiar type of conversation
Connotation: Definition
Implied meaning rather than literal meaning
Denotation: Definition
The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations
Passive voice: Definition
When the subject of the sentence receives the action
Passive voice: Ex
“The car was driven by Anthony”
Passive voice: Effect
This obscures/de-emphasizes the actor of the sentence making it less direct
Active voice: Ex
“Anthony drove while tony searched for the house”
Active voice: Effect
This reveals/emphasizes the actor of the sentence making it more direct
Allusion: Example
“You’re acting like a Scrooge”
Allusion: Effect
This can essentially give a deeper meaning to the story
Alter-ego: Example
Shakespeare speaking to his audience about his upcoming retirement, through the main character of the play, Prospero
Alter-ego: Effect
This can help bridge gaps within the reader
Anecdote: Example
Someone telling as story about their cat going downstairs at only certain times at night when a group of coworkers are discussing pets
Anecdote: Effect
This can develop a point of inject humor to the text
Classicism: Example
Strict, rigid and logical diction and theme
Classicism: Effect
This allows your readers completely understand the subject of your paper
Comic relief: Example
The “gatekeeper” scene in Macbeth
Comic relief: Effect
This allows for a lift in the mood of a story
Diction: Example
Informal Diction
Diction: Effect
This is used to evoke specific emotions in the author’s audience
Colloquial
Words like “ain’t” or “gonna”
Colloquial
This helps to give the text a conversational tone, as well as a more casual and relaxed effect
Connotation: Example
Blue being a color but also being used in the sentence “She was feeling blue”
Connotation: Effect
This can help create emotional associations, whether positive, negative, or neutral, to the text
Denotation: Example
“She was cold”
Denotation: Effect
This allows for words to be understood by readers
Antecedent: Definition
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun
Antecedent- Example
Sally walked her dog (Sally)
Antecedent- Effect
This makes the sense of a sentence clear to the readers
Jargon- Definition
The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession
Jargon- Example
Terms like AWOL used in the military
Jargon- Effect
This helps to show dexterity of the writer because of knowledge of other spheres and can make a character seem real in fiction
Vernacular: Definition
Can be language or dialect of a particular country or of a regional clan or group, or just plain everyday speech
Vernacular: Example
Everyday speech
Vernacular: Effect
This made literature more accessible to the general public
Didactic: Definition
A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking
Didactic: Example
Aesop’s Fables
Didactic: Effect
This gives a way for the readers to better themselves
Adage: Definition
A folk saying with a lesson
Adage: Example
“A rolling stone gathers no moss”
Adage: Effect
This helps serves as a symbol of collected wisdom and becomes accepted wisdom
Allegory: Definition
A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events, represent qualities or concepts
Allegory: Example
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Allegory: Effect
This helps to reveal an abstraction or a truth
Aphorism: Definition
A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle
Aphorism: Example
“God helps them that help themselves”
Aphorism: Effect
This helps to summarize the author’s point in a memorable way
Ellipsis: Definition
The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author
Ellipsis: Example
“The whole day, rain. torrents of rain.”
Ellipsis: Effect
This creates suspense or allows the reader to fill the gaps while acting or reading it out
Euphemism: Definition
A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts
Euphemism: Example
“Physically challenged”
Euphemism: Effect
This exaggerates correctness to add humor
Figurative Language: Definition
Language that’s not meant to be taken literally
Figurative Language: Example
Metaphors
Figurative Language: Effect
This can transform ordinary descriptions into evocative events, enhance the emotional significance of passages, and turn prose into a form a poetry
Analogy: Definition
A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables, arguing that the relationship between a 2 pairs of variables is the same.
Analogy: Example
“America is to the world as the hippo is to the jungle”
Analogy: Effect
This creates imagery and deeper understanding of concepts
Hyperbole: Definition
Exaggeration
Hyperbole: Example
“My mother will kill me if I am late”
Hyperbole: Effect
This adds an amusing effect in the text
Idiom: Definition
A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally
Idiom: Example
“I got chewed out by my coach”
Idiom: Effect
This can amplify messages in a way that draws readers in
Metaphor: Definition
Making an implied comparison, not using “like,”as” or other such words
Metaphor: Example
“My feet are popsicles.”
Metaphor: Effect
This allows writers to convey vivid imagery that transcends literal meanings
Extended Metaphor
When the metaphor is continued later in the written work
Extended Metaphor
Saying “my feet are popsicles” and continuing to call them that in later paragraphs
Extended Metaphor
This allows the writers to elaborate on a comparison between two objects or ideas
Conceit
A particularly elaborate extended metaphor
Conceit
“A broken heart is a damaged clock”
Conceit
This is demands attention from readers
Metonymy: Definition
Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word of concept
Metonymy: Example
“Relations between London and Washington have been strained”
Metonymy: Effect
This enhances literary symbolism
Synecdoche: Definition
A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts. or vice versa
Synecdoche: Example
“Check out my new wheels”
Synecdoche: Effect
This allows speaker to emphasize certain parts of a whole, highlighting their importance
Simile: Definition
Using words such a “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison between two very things
Simile: Example
“My feet are so cold they feel like popsicles”
Simile: Effect
This allows writers to create imagery for reader
Synesthesia: Definition
A description involving “crossing of the senses”
Synesthesia: Example
“A purplish scent filled the room”
Synesthesia: Effect
This creates a interest in the work
Personification: Definition
Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human
Personification: Example
“The tired old truck groaned as it inched up the hill”
Personification: Effect
This stretches the boundaries of reality to make literature and poetry more vivid
Foreshadowing: Definition
When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story
Foreshadowing: Example
Dialogue like “I have a bad feeling about this”
Foreshadowing: Effect
This creates suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that thins may not be as they seem
Genre: Definition
The major category into which a literary work fits
Genre: Example
Autobiography
Genre: Effect
This sets a certain horizon of expectations and offers a key to understanding the text
Gothic: Definition
Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death
Gothic: Example
“The Castle of Otranto”
Gothic: Effect
This elicits intense, suspenseful feelings of fear, shock, dread, or disgust in the reader
Imagery: Definition
Word or words that create a picture in the reader’s mind that usually involve the five sense
Imagery: Example
“Her lips tasted as sweet as sugar.”
Imagery: Effect
This makes something abstract seem more concrete and tangible to the reader
Invective: Definition
A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language
Invective: Example
“You’re going to be alone forever!”
Invective: Effect
This can arouse negative emotion in the audience as well as the target of the insult
Irony: Definition
When the opposite of what you expect to happen does
Irony: Example
A fire station burns down
Irony: Effect
This can spark strong feelings in the reader
Verbal Irony: Definition
When you say somethin and mean the opposite/something different
Verbal Irony: Example
If your gym teacher wants you to run a mile in eight minutes or faster but calls it a “walk in the park”
Verbal Irony: Effect
This develops funny and dramatic situations
Dramatic Irony: Definition
When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn’t and would be surprised to find out
Dramatic Irony: Example
When we know who the killer is in the movie but the soon to be victim doesn’t
Dramatic Irony: Effect
This encourages the audience to anticipate, hope, and fear the moment when a character learns the truth about things in the story
Juxtaposition: Definition
Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison
Juxtaposition: Example
The author putting the day of an american against the day of someone in a third world country
Juxtaposition: Effect
This encourages the reader to make comparisons otherwise ignored or unapparent
Mood: Definition
The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (Diction)
Mood: Example
Cheerful
Mood: Effect
This creates an emotional response in the audience
Motif: Definition
A recurring idea in a piece of literature
Motif: Example
In to Kill a Mockingbird, the idea that “you never really understand another person until you consider things from his or her point of view” being brought up several times throughout the novel
Motif: Effect
Adds depth, conveys meaning, and/or shape to the way a reader receives, responds to, or understands a text
Oxymoron: Definition
When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox
Oxymoron: Example
Jumbo shrimp
Oxymoron: Effect
This can support a lighthearted mood and emphasize conflict
Pacing: Definition
The speed or tempo of an author’s writing
Pacing: Example
Sluggish
Pacing: Effect
This is used to appeal to different audiences
Paradox: Definition
A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true
Paradox: Example
“You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without getting a job”
Paradox: Effect
This allows readers to understand concepts in a different and even non-traditional way
Parallelism: Definition
Sentence construction which places equal grammatical patterns
Parallelism: Example
“Cinderella swept the floor, dusted the mantle, and beat the rugs”
Parallelism: Effect
This adds emphasis, organization, or sometimes pacing to writing
Anaphora: Definition
Repetition of a word, phase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row
Anaphora: Example
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Anaphora: Effect
This helps make the writer’s point more coherent
Chiasmus: Definition
When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed
Chiasmus: Example
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”