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Engels > Literary Devices > Flashcards

Literary Devices Flashcards

1
Q

Allegory

A
  • Narrative (poetry or prose)
  • characters/events/setting represent deeper truths
  • deals with religious, political or personal issues
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2
Q

Alliteration

A

Ohhhh I love a lilting line of lyrical alliteraaationnn

  • The repetition of similar initial consonant sounds
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3
Q

Allusion

A
  • A brief, indirect reference to a historical or literary person, event or object

So magnus chase

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4
Q

Anaphora

A

Rhetoric - the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

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5
Q

Antithesis

A

The arrangement of contrasting words, sentences or ideas in a balanced grammatical structure

Vb: “Do not doubt the man who tells you he is afraid, but be afraid of the man who tells you he never doubts.”

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6
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

The attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal or object

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7
Q

Anastrophe

A

🎶Turn arouunnndd🎶

English language syntax usually follows a subject-verb-object order, and this one inverts that order for effect (a little too extra if you ask me)

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8
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of similar stressed vowel sounds

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9
Q

Asyndeton

A

Apply human traits or qualities to a non-human thing

So exactly the same as anthropomorphism

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10
Q

Atmosphere

A

The mood or feeling created by the story

Sets up expectations

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11
Q

Cacophony

A

The use of unpleasant sounds or rhythms to create a jarring effect.

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12
Q

Chiasmus

A

When two or more parallel clauses (zinsdelen) are inverted

“Why would I do that?”
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”

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13
Q

Consonance

A

The repetition of FINAL consonant sounds

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14
Q

Colloquialism

A

The use of casaul and informal language in writing, which can include slang

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15
Q

Characters Pt. 1

A
  1. Round Characters- convincing, true to life, exhibit many different and even contradictory personalities traits
  2. Dynamic Characters- these characters undergo some type of change or development in a story, often because something happens to them
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16
Q

Characters Pt. 2

A
  1. Flat Characters- stereotyped, shallow and often symbolic. These characters exhibit only one or two personality traits
  2. Static characters- these characters do not change in the course of the story
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17
Q

Deus ex machina

A

A) a god introduced into a play to resolve the entanglements of the plot
B) any artificial or improbable device resolving the difficulties of the plot

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18
Q

Foreshadowing

A

Foreshadowing is a device which hints or warns the events to happen later in the story. Foreshadowing prepares the reader for the climax, the “denouement” and any changes in the character

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19
Q

Frame story

A

Is any part of a story that ‘frames’ another part of it, such as one character telling about their past, or someone uncovering a dairy or a series of news articles that tell the readers what happened.

Vb: A murder most unladylike

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20
Q

Euphony

A

The musical effect achieved when a poet uses words and phrases that create pleasant, harmonious sounds and rhythms

21
Q

Exposition

A

The first act of a play. - provide information, introduce characters establish mood en good start.

22
Q

Euphemism

A

The use of inoffensive, mild or vague words in place of harsher, more blunt ones. Reduce risk of offending or upsetting peeps

That old lady died —> the old lady passed away

23
Q

Hyperbole

A

Deliberate exaggeration in order to emphasise a fact or feeling

Ik heb honger als een paard ouwhoer
She’s as tall as a skyscraper

24
Q

Hypophora

A

Is much like a rhetorical question, but in hypophora, the person asks a question and answers it immediately themselves - reasoning out loud

25
Q

Imagery

A

Descriptions and figures of speech that help the mind form forceful/bootyful pictures

Sensory imagery:

  1. Visual imagery - sense of sight
  2. Olfactory imagery- sense of smell
  3. Auditory imagery- sense of hearing
  4. Tactile imagery- sense of touch
  5. Gustatory imagery- sense of taste
26
Q

Irony

A

Reveals concealed or contradictory meanings.

  1. Verbal Irony - contrast between what a character says and actually means
  2. Dramatic Irony - Author shares info with the reader not known by the character
  3. Situational Irony - a set of circumstances turns out differently from what is expected or considered appropriate
27
Q

Juxtaposition

A

Places two or more dissimilar characters, themes, concepts, etc. side by side, and the profound contrast highlights their differences

Vb:

  • All is fair in love and war (very different things, still something in common)
  • Better late than never
  • When the cat’s away, the mice will play
28
Q

Litotes

A

Literary device of the double negative. Writers use it to express sentiments through their opposites, by saying that that opposite is not the case.

Vb:

  • You won’t be sorry (you’ll be happy)
  • You’re not wrong (You’re right)
  • I didn’t not like it (I did like it)

Sounds like there is a ‘but..’ coming after

29
Q

Metre

A

The rhythmic arrangement of syllables in verse, usually according to the number and kind of -metrical- feet in a line

Vb:

  • Humpty dumpty sat on a wall etc.
  • zeg kortjakje waar ga je heen, zo alleen, zo alleen
  • who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf
  • Jack be nimble, jack be quick, jack, jump over the candlestick
30
Q

Meiosis

A

An understatement

31
Q

Metaphor

A

An implied comparison between two different things, which does NOT use the words LIKE or AS in the comparison.
A word or phrase that ordinarily means one thing is used to describe another thing in orde to suggest a likeness between the two

Vb:

  • it was raining cats and dogs
  • never look a gift horse in the mouth
  • people who live in glass houses should not throw stones
32
Q

Metonymy

A

The use of a closely related term to represent an object with which it is associated. “Its like symbolism, but even more so”

Vb:

  • The Crown - representing the monarchy
  • Washington- representing the us government
33
Q

Motif

A

A recurring subject, theme, idea, etc. especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work. It helps develop the theme of the narrative. This might be a symbol, concept, or image.

The camera van Damokles

34
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

The use of a word that closely resembles the sound to which it refers.

“Bark.”

35
Q

Oxymoron

A

Comes from two contradictory words that describe one thing.

Vb:

  • “Parting is such, sweet, sorroww”
  • “Random Order”
  • “Deafening Silence”
  • “Almost Always”
36
Q

Paradox

A

It is a statement that asks people to think outside the box by providing seemingly illogical, and yet true, premises

Vb:

  • Schrödinger’s Cat: cat in box, could be alive or dead, exists in both states
  • A male barber shaves all and only those men who don’t shave themselves. Doe the barber shave himself? Yeahhh try to solve this one - you can’t
  • It’s weird not to be weird - John Lennon
  • I know one thing: that I know nothing - Socrates
37
Q

Personification

A

A special form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to animals, inanimate objects or ideas

38
Q

Perspective

A

The point of view from which a story is told

  1. First person — narrator refers to themselves as I
  2. Second person — the reader is included in the story
  3. Third person — the narrator refers to characters as he/she/them and is omniscient
39
Q

Point of view

A

The mode of narration in a story

40
Q

Polysyndeton

A

Instead of using a single conjunction in a lengthy statement, polysyndeton uses several in succession for a dramatic effect.
- Basically een opsomming

Vb:
The dinner was so good; I ate the chicken, and the salad, and the turkey, and the wild rice, and the bread, etc.

The repetition of ‘and’ is not necessary, but it adds a sense of the amazing abundance of the dinner and how the speaker could not eating and describing the dishes

41
Q

Rhyme

A

A) End Rhyme - occurs at the end of a line of poetry

B) Internal Rhyme - occurs when a word within a line rhymes with another word within the same line

42
Q

Repetition

A

Though too much repetition is rarely good, it may be used to drill home a point, or create a certain atmosphere

Shatter me

43
Q

Satire

A

To make fun of some aspect of human nature or society - usually through exaggeration, ridicule or irony

44
Q

Simile

A

A comparison using the words “like” and “as”

Her lips were red AS blood
Her eyes were like the sea

45
Q

Symbolism

A

The use of symbols that stand for or represent something else

46
Q

Synecdoche

A

Usage of a part to represent the whole

Vb:

  • “Nice wheels you got there” (meaning the whole car)
  • “Stanford won the game” (meaning the Stanford football team)
47
Q

Theme

A

The central idea of a story, usually implied than directly stated.
Not to be confused with either moral or plot

48
Q

Tone

A

The attitude of the author toward their subject.

Examples: serious, playful, formal and informal

49
Q

Thesis

A

The main argument (claim) in a non-fiction work expressed in a statement. A strong thesis expresses a significant assertion.

Engels (2 decks)

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