Literary Devices Flashcards

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1
Q

Exposition

A

The introduction to a story, including the primary characters’ names, setting, mood and time.

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2
Q

Paradox

A

A statement that appears to contradict itself but upon further inspection reveals a deeper truth, meaning, or joke.

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3
Q

Juxtaposition

A

When you place two concepts or objects next to or near each other, thereby highlighting their innate differences and similarities.

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4
Q

Cliffhanger

A

A literary device that ends a section of a story in a stunning event or a big dramatic question.

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5
Q

Metaphor

A

A comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated.

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6
Q

Extended Metaphor

A

When a writer compares unrelated objects or ideas with figurative language for more than a sentence.

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7
Q

Similie

A

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.”

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8
Q

Analogy

A

A literary device used to compare similarities between two unrelated things as a way to make a point through the comparison.

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9
Q

Allusion

A

An implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text.

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10
Q

Motif

A

A repeated pattern—an image, sound, word, or symbol that comes back again and again within a particular story.

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11
Q

Symbol

A

A literary symbol is an object, a person, a situation, or an action that has a literal meaning in a story but suggests or represents other meanings.

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12
Q

Imagery

A

A vivid, detailed description of an object or scene.

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13
Q

Archetypes

A

A recognizable character type that appears again and again in narratives across cultures.

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14
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

A literary device that uses the letter sounds of a word to imitate the natural sound emitted from an object or action.

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15
Q

Hyperbole

A

A literary device used to emphasize or draw attention to a certain element in a story.

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16
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A narrative device in which suggestions or warnings about events to come are dropped or planted.

17
Q

Suspence

A

The audience’s excited anticipation about the plot or conflict.

18
Q

Flash Forward & Flashback

A

Ways in which a narrative’s discourse re-order’s a given story. Flashbacks reveal things that have occurred in the past, flashforwards reveal things that will occur in the future.

19
Q

Euphemism

A

A word or phrase used to obliquely describe something unpleasant, impolite, or taboo.

20
Q

Mood

A

The emotions that a text evokes from the reader.

21
Q

Dramatic Irony

A

When the audience understands more about a situation than some of the characters do.

22
Q

Situational Irony

A

When the opposite of what is expected actually happens.

23
Q

Verbal Irony

A

When you say something different than what you mean.

24
Q

Diction

A

Specific word choices that a writer uses to affect many things, such as a reader’s connotations, tone, and point-of-view.

25
Q

Alliteration

A

Repetition of the same sound at the start of a series of words in succession whose purpose is to provide an audible pulse that gives a piece of writing a lulling, lyrical, and/or emotive effect.

26
Q

Tone

A

The expression of the author’s attitude

27
Q

Repetition

A

A recurring element in a piece of writing.