Literary Device Glossary Flashcards

1
Q

Alliteration

A

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

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2
Q

Allusion

A

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

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3
Q

Ambiguity

A

An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

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4
Q

Anaphora

A

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence.

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5
Q

Antithesis

A

Direct opposite

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6
Q

Apostrophe

A

A figure of speech that addresses an imaginary person or a personified abstraction.

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7
Q

Aside

A

A line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage

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8
Q

Assonance

A

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words.

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9
Q

Asyndeton

A

The absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

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10
Q

Cacophony

A

A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

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11
Q

Caesura

A

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry

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12
Q

Chiasmus

A

A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases

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13
Q

Connotation

A

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

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14
Q

Consonance

A

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words

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15
Q

Couplet

A

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

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16
Q

Denotation

A

The literal meaning of a word

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17
Q

Diction

A

A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words

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18
Q

Enjambment

A

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

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19
Q

Euphony

A

pleasant, harmonious sound

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20
Q

Flashback

A

A scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story.

21
Q

Foot

A

A metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables.

22
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A warning or indication of a future event

23
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

24
Q

Iamb

A

unstressed, stressed

25
Q

Imagery

A

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

26
Q

Irony

A

The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

27
Q

Malapropism

A

The unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar

28
Q

Meiosis

A

A witty understatement belittles something or somebody, particularly by using terms that give an impression that something is less important than it should be.

29
Q

Metaphysical conceit

A

An analogy between one entity’s spiritual qualities and an object in the physical world.

30
Q

Meter

A

Stressed, Unstressed

31
Q

Motif

A

A recurring theme, subject or idea

32
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

33
Q

Oxymoron

A

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

34
Q

Paradox

A

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

35
Q

Point of View

A

The perspective from which a story is told

36
Q

Polysyndeton

A

Deliberate use of many conjunctions

37
Q

Pyrrhic

A

Ruinous; gained at too great a cost

38
Q

Rhyme

A

Repetition of sounds at the end of words

39
Q

Spondee

A

stressed, stressed

40
Q

Symbol

A

A thing that represents or stands for something else.

41
Q

Synesthesia

A

Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another.

42
Q

Syntax

A

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

43
Q

Tone

A

A writer’s attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels.

44
Q

Tragic Flaw

A

The character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall

45
Q

Trochee

A

accented, unaccented

46
Q

Zeugma

A

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings

47
Q

Dramatic Irony

A

When the audience knows something that the characters don’t

48
Q

Situational Irony

A

When the outcome is the opposite or completely different from what was expected