Literary Devices H-N Flashcards
Define HAMARTIA
- in tragedy, it’s a hero’s tragic flaw that leads to his downfall
- EX: Macbeth’s ambition
Define HYPERBOLE
- completely over-the-top exaggeration
- can be humorous or serious
- to highlight the absurd or seriousness
Define IAMB
- a type of poetic food made up of an UNSTRESSED and STRESSED syllable (da-DUM)
- this is a v. v. common foot in poetry
Define IAMBIC PENTAMETER
- iamb: a metrical foot that consists of an US followed by a SS (da-DUM)
- penta: means five
- meter: refers to a regular rhythmic pattern in poetry
SO
IP: 5 iambs per line, almost like 5 heartbeats
Define INTERNAL RHYME
- rhyme that occurs within a line, or in the middle of lines that are near each other
- think of a poem like an echo chamber- when it rhymes internally, those echoes are bouncing off the walls.
PERFECT internal rhyme: EX– “loud” “crowd”
IMPERFECT internal rhyme: EX– “heavy”, “already” - there are more subtle forms of internal rhyme like:
1) assonance
2) alliteration
3) consonance
Define JUXTAPOSITION
- are kind of like the FOILS of language
i.e. put 2 things next to each other, and their similarities and differences are easier to discern - sometimes used just for the sake of creating ABSURD SITUATIONS
Define KENNING
- is a figurative compound word used to stand in for a noun
-i.e. when 2 nouns COMBINE to create another noun
EXAMPLES:
instead of “blood”– “battle-sweat”
instead of “accident”- “fender-bender”
Define LAMENT
A lament is an expression of grief, usually in the form of a song or a poem
Define LITERAL LANGUAGE
As opposed to figurative language, literary language means EXACTLY what it says: so no metaphors, similes, etc
- writing that is factually presented
Define LOGOS
- logos= think logic
In Aristotle’s ‘Rhetoric’, logos is a type of appeal- along with ethos and pathos- that you might make to get your audience on board - use stats to prove your point as logos is all about logic and reasoning
Define MALAPROPISM
When someone uses one word when they mean another.
Ex: “I am not one to be truffled with” (Michael Scott)- used the verb truffle instead of trifle
Define MASCULINE/ FEMININE RHYME
- in poetry, a masculine rhyme is a rhyme that matches up SINGLE syllables
~ you’ll see it most often in END RHYMES:
“Look! It’s a zombie MOUSE!/ Run inside the HOUSE”
both mouse and house are 1 syllable words - Feminine rhyme, rhymes 2 syllables- the 1st stressed, the second unstressed. That’s why it’s also called DOUBLE RHYME
~ “I kidnapped some WEA-SELS/ And now I have MEA-SLES”
that’s a feminine rhyme because “wea” and “mea” rhyme and “sels” and “sles” rhyme
Define METER
think of meter as a poem’s underlying structure- the rhythm BENEATH the words in each line
- meter are composed of FEET
- the type of foot being used and the number of times that feet is repeated in each line will give you the NAME of the meter you’re reading
EX: If the foot is an IAMB (daDUM) and is repeated 5 times, the meter is IP
How many times is that foot repeated?
MONOMETER: 1
DIMETER: 2
TRIMETER: 3
TETRAMETER: 4
PENTAMETER: 5
HEXAMETER: 6
HEPTAMETER: 7
OCTAMETER: 8
Define METONYMY
- an example of figurative language
- type of metaphor in which an object is used to describe something that’s CLOSELY RELATED to it:
i.e. when the writer REPLACES “a part for a part”, choosing one noun to describe a different noun
EX: “the crown” used when talking about the power of the king. the crown is the physical object that is usually ASSOCIATED with royalty and power
