Literary and Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Active Voice: Definition
The subject of the sentence performs the action.
Active Voice: Example
“Anthony drove while Toni searched for the house.”
Active Voice: Effect
More direct
Allusion: Definition
An indirect reference to something with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.
Allusion: Example
“Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.”
Allusion: Effect
It helps the reader understand and feel the scene much better by referencing a well known character or situation.
Alter-Ego: Definition
A character that is used by the author to speak the author’s own thoughts.
Alter-Ego: Example
In Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest, Shakespeare
talks to his audience about his own upcoming retirement, through the main character in the play, Prospero.
Alter-Ego: Effect
The author can speak to the audience directly.
Anecdote: Definition
A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
Anecdote: Example
“You know, when I was a kid, my dog was my best friend. My childhood was better because of him.”
Anecdote: Effect
Anecdotes are often inserted into fictional or non-fictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.
Antecedent: Definition
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
Antecedent: Example
“If I could command the wealth of all the world by lifting my finger, I would not pay such a price for it.”
Antecedent: Effect
Replaces a pronoun with the actual object name.
Classicism: Definition
Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world.
Classicism: Example
TBD
Classicism: Effect
TBD
Comic Relief: Definition
when a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood somewhat.
Comic Relief: Example
The “gatekeeper scene” in Macbeth is an example of comic relief.
Comic Relief: Effect
Lightens a serious mood.
Diction: Definition
Word choice, particularly as an element of style.
Diction: Example
“The author uses diction…”.
Diction: Effect
Makes a writing more formal and precise.
Colloquial: Definition
Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.
Colloquial: Example
Bamboozle – to deceive
Colloquial: Effect
Help define the communicators’ character and relationship with others.
Connotation: Definition
Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
Connotation: Example
“The Fuzz” - Police Officer
Connotation: Effect
To provide an emotional connection to a word.
Denotation: Definition
The literal, explicit meaning of a word.
Denotation: Example
“Denotation - The literal, explicit meaning of a word.”
Denotation: Effect
To provide an exact definition to a word.
Jargon: Definition
The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.
Jargon: Example
“Absolute Divorce – type of divorce that allows the parties to end a marriage and terminate property rights. Often referred to as a ‘simple divorce’”
Jargon: Effect
Used to emphasize a situation.
Vernacular: Definition
Plain everyday speech (exclusive to a certain region.)
Vernacular: Example
Pop vs. Soda
Vernacular: Effect
Gives a sense of where a story takes place
Didactic: Definition
A term used to describe fiction.
Didactic: Example
Religious writings
Didactic: Effect
To impact or present morals.
Adage: Definition
A folk saying with a lesson.
Adage: Example
“A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
Adage: Effect
To present a lesson
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
Reveals an abstract truth
Aphorism: Definition
A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.
Aphorism: Example
“God helps them that help themselves.”
Aphorism: Effect
A way of presenting fact
Ellipsis: Definition
The deliberate omission of a word done for effect by the author.
Ellipsis: Example
“The only way is to…”
Ellipsis: Effect
To build suspense or mystery, also to represent emotions such as reluctancy.
Euphemism: Definition
A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.
Euphemism: Example
“Physically challenged” in place of “Crippled”
Euphemism: Effect
To maintain a sense of political correctness or overall politeness.
Figurative Language: Definition
Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.
Figurative Language: Example
I am about to explode after eating all of that.
Figurative Language: Effect
Makes a comparison that is not meant to be read literally.
Analogy: Definition
Comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.
Analogy: Example
America is to the world as the hippo is to the jungle
Analogy: Effect
Writers useanalogyto link an unfamiliar or a new idea with common and familiar objects.
Hyperbole: Definition
Exaggeration
Hyperbe: Example
“My mom will kill me if I dont get this done.”
Hyperbole: Effect
Used to evoke strong feelings, to create an impression, or for comiceffect.
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.”
Metaphor: Definition
Making an implied comparison, not using like or as and other such words.
Metaphor: Example
“My feet are popsicles.”
Metaphor: Effect
To make a comparison using relatively familiar concepts.
Metonyny: Definition
Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept.
Metonymy: Example
“Relations between London and Washington have been strained.”
Metonymy: Effect
Used to clarify a subject with less obscure concepts
Synecdoche: Definition
A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.
Synecdoche: Example
“The cattle rancher owned 500 head.” “Check out my new wheels.”
Synecdoche: Effects
Used to sound more colloquial and use everyday language
Simile: Definition
Using words such as “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison between two very different things.
Simile: Example
“My feet are so cold they feel like popsicles.”
Simile: Effect
To make a previously unlikely comparison
Synesthesia: Definition
a description involving a “crossing of the senses.”
Synesthesia: Example
“A purplish scent filled the room.” “I was deafened by his brightly-colored clothing.”
Synesthesia: Effect
Used to awaken a reader’s senses to the story
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
To bring more attention to the state of an inanimate object
Foreshadowing: Definition
When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.
Foreshadowing: Example
a pipe is going to burst, but before it does, the author writes a scene where the family notices a small dark spot on the ceiling
Foreshadowing: Effect
To give the reader a taste if you will of what’s to come
Genre: Definition
The major category into which a literary work fits.
Genre: Example
The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genres can be subdivided as well poetry can be classified: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.
Genre: Effect
Used so the reader can easily differentiate types of literature
Gothic: Definition
Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.
Gothic: Example
Anything written by Edgar Allan Poe
Gothic: Effects
Used to convey both thrill and intrigue
Imagery: Definition
Word or words that create a picture in the reader’s mind.
Imagery: Examples
“The bright, vibrant, night sky. Like liquid satin scattered with diamonds above Italy.”
Imagery: Effects
To paint a mental picture.
Invective: Definition
A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.
Invective: Example
“A vile beastly rotten-headed fool-begotten brazen-throated pernicious piggish screaming, tearing, roaring, perplexing, splitmecrackle crashmecriggle insane asinine woman is practicing howling below-stairs with a brute of a singing-master so horribly, that my head is nearly off.” - Edward Lear
Invective: Effect
the insult 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
To provide a comical light to an odd situation
Verbal Irony: Definition
When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.
Verbal Irony: Example
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
Used to help the reader gain insight into each character’s personality
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
in many horror movies, we (the audience) know who the killer is
Dramatic Irony: Effect
stimulate strong emotions in a reader because the reader knows what awaits a character
Situational Irony: Definition
- Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie.
Situation Irony: Example
Johnny spent two hours planning on sneaking into the movie theater and missed the movie.
Situational Irony: Effect
can make a plot twist more interesting.
Juxtaposition: Definition
Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.
Juxtaposition: Example
an author my juxtapose the average day of a typical American with that of someone in the third world in order to make a point of social commentary
Juxtaposition: Effects
used for etching out a character in detail, creating suspense or lending a rhetorical effect.
Mood: Definition
The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice
Mood: Example
P.L. Travers in Mary Poppins creates a cheerful mood throughout the story by using silly words, such as “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
Mood: Effect
Helps in creating atmosphere
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.”
Motif: Effect
help readers to comprehend the underlying messages that writers intend to communicate to them.
Oxymoron: Definition
When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox
Oxymoron: Example
“wise fool,” “eloquent silence,” “jumbo shrimp.”
Oxymoron: Effect
produces a dramatic effect in both prose and poetry
Pacing: Definition
The speed or tempo of an author’s writing
Pacing: Example
An author’s pacing can be fast, sluggish, stabbing, vibrato, staccato, measured, etc.
Pacing: Effect
Used to alter the mood or tone of the story
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
The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought.
Parallelism: Definition
Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns
Parallelism: Example
“Cinderella swept the floor, dusted the mantle, and beat the rugs.”
Parallelism: Effect
It is used to help organize ideas.
Anaphora: Definition
Repetition of a word, phrase, 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
It works by allowing your reader or listener to participate in the process.
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.”
Chiasmus: Effect
to make a significant point or quote
Antithesis: Definition
Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure
Antithesis: Example
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
Antithesis: Effect
emphasizes the idea of contrast
Zeugma (Syllepsis): Definition
When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies.
Zeugma (Syllepsis): Example
‘The butler killed the lights, and then the mistress.”
Zeugma (Syllepsis): Effect
It’s a clever play on words that surprises and thus catches our attention.
Parenthetical Idea: Definition
Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence
Parenthetical Idea: Example
“In a short time (and the time is getting shorter by the gallon) America will be out of oil.”
Parenthetical Idea: Effect
Used to help make something clearer or give extra information.
Parody: Definition
An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes.
Parody: Example
Saturday Night Live also parodies famous persons and events
Parody: Effect
Used to achieve a comedic effect whilst imitating another works
Persona: Definition
The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.
Persona: Example
Beyoncé performs as her alternate personal Sasha Fierce
Persona: Effect
Used for a character to portray a different version to portray a different story line
Poetic Device: Definition
A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.
Poetic Device: Example
Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia, and Internal Rhyme are some examples of Poetic Devices
Poetic Device: Effect
enhances imagery ofpoetry and develops an image (positive or negative) by creating a sound word
Alliteration: Definition
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.
Alliteration: Example
“Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore”
Alliteration: Effect
To give a sense of repetition and coherence
Assonance: Definition
The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.
Assonance: Example
“From the molten-golden notes”
Assonance: Effect
used in the poetry to grab the reader’s attention and make something intriguing thing that can be remembered for a long
Consonance: Definition
The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.
Consonance: Example
“Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door”
Consonance: Effect
the use of the device makes the structure of poetry or prose appealing for the reader.
Onomatopoeia: Definition
The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.
Onomatopoeia: Example
Snap, rustle, boom, murmur
Onomatopoeia: Effect
To add “sound” to the story by activating the readers internal sense of hearing
Internal Rhyme: Definition
When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.
Internal Rhyme: Example
“To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!”
Internal Rhyme: Effect
it adds to the meanings of words, and enhances musical theeffectof apoem
Slant Rhyme: Definition
When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly
Slant Rhyme: Example
“I sat upon a stone, / And found my life has gone.”
Slant Rhyme: Effect
When there may not be a direct rhyme it is use as to not lose the flow of the poem or writing
End Rhyme: Definition
When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.
End Rhyme: Example
“Roses are red, violets are blue, / Sugar is sweet, and so are you.”
End Rhyme: Effect
used throughout thepoemto create arhymingpattern orrhymescheme, then thepoemhas a musical quality to it because it flows in a rhythmic way.
Rhyme Scheme: Definition
The pattern of a poem’s end rhymes.
Rhyme Schme: Example
the following lines have a rhyme scheme of a b a b c d c d:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate. b Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. a And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. b Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines c And often is his gold complexion dimmed d And every fair from fair sometime declines c By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed d
Rhyme Scheme: Effect
It gives rhythm and a pace to the poem
Stressed and unstressed syllables: Definition
In every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed, or said with more force than the other syllable(s).
Stressed and unstressed syllables: Example
In the name “Nathan,” the first syllable is stressed. In the word “unhappiness,” the second of the four syllables is stressed.
Stressed and unstressed syllables: Effect
.
Meter: Definition
A regular pattern to the syllables in lines
Meter: Example
Iamb meter has the first syllable unaccented and the second accented. Here are examples:
That time l of year l thou mayst l in me l behold
Meter: Effect
helps readers understand rhythm as it relates to words and lines in a poem
Free Verse: Definition
Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.
Free Verse: Example
“A noiseless patient spider,
I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself….”
Free Verse: Effect
the primary effect of free verse poetry is that of narration. In other words, these kinds of poems often sound as much like storytelling of various kinds as they do poetry.
Iambic Pentameter: Definition
Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Iambic Pentameter: Example
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Iambic Pentameter: Effect
a way to add rhythm to the poem in one specific way
Sonnet: Definition
A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.
Sonnet: Example
“Death be not proud.” —John Donner
Sonnet: Effect
The Petrarchan sonnet characteristically treats its theme in two parts.
Polysyndeton: Definition
When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions.
Polysyndeton: Example
“I walked the dog, and fed the cat, and milked the cows.”
Polysyndeton: Effect
Polysyndeton is often used to slow down the pace of the writing and/or add an authoritative tone.
Pun: Definition
When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way
Pun: Example
“My dog has a fur coat and pants!”
Pun: Effect
puns add profound meanings to texts, and shape the way in which the text is interpreted by the readers
