Literary Key Terms and Concepts Flashcards
Alussion
A reference in a literary piece to something outside of the work (especially a well known literary or historical event)
Allegory
A story in which people, things, and events have another meaning
Attitude
A speaker or characters disposition
Autobiography
An authors account of his or her own life
Biography
An accurate history of a single person
Climax
Point of highest interest, where the action reaches the turning point
Connotation
The implication of the word or phrase that isn’t its exact meaning
Convention
A device subject or style so frequently used that it’s become generally accepted
Denotation
The dictionary definition of a word
Diction
Word choice
Euphemism
A figure of speech using indirection to avoid bluntness
Figurative Language
Writing that uses figures of speech (metaphors, smilies, irony, etc)
Genre
Literary form such as a novel essay or poem
Hyperbole
Deliberate exaggeration, overstatement
Imagery
The sensory detail of a work
Irony
Intent and actual meaning differ and is actually contradictory or the opposite in the way it poses a discrepancy
Jargon
The special language of a profession or group
Literal
Not figurative, accurate to the letter
Lyrical
Song-like, characterized by emotion subjectivity and imagination
Metaphor
A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without a use of a comparative “as” “like” “than”
Narrative Technique
The methods involved in telling a story, the procedure (it’s a general term)
Novel
A fictional story in prose of considerable length
Omniscient Point of View
All seeing vantage point, God’s eye, narrator can see and hear anything and go anywhere anytime
Oxymoron
A combination of opposites the union of contradictory terms
Parable
A story designed to suggest a principle or illustrate a moral
Paradox
A statement that seems self-contradicting but is actually true
Parody
A compositing meant to imitate another composition (usually in a humorous way)
Personification
Figurative use of language that gives non-human things or human like qualities
Plot
The intercalated actions of a play or novel that moves to the climax and ends at the denouement
Point of View
Vantage point
Rhetorical Question
A question asked for effect
Rhetorical Technique
The devices used in effective or persuasive language (most common are contrasts, repetition, paradoxes, understatement so, sarcasm, and of course rhetorical questions)
Satire
Writing that aims at arousing a readers disapproval
Setting
Background to a story
Similie
A directly expressed comparison usually with “like” “as” or “than”
Soliloquy
A speech in which a characters one is alone speaks his or her thoughts
Rhetorical Strategy
The management of language. Placing elements of language to produce an effect
Structure
The arrangement of materials within a work
Style
The mode of expression in language
Syllogism
A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them
Symbol
Something that is both itself and a sign of something else
Theme
The main thought expressed by the work
Thesis
The theme, meaning, or position the writer takes
Tone
The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude
Tragedy
Now defined as a play with serious content and an unhappy ending
