Literary & Poetic Terminology Flashcards
allegory
a story/play/picture…representing an idea/quality or historic event using symbols in order to make a point
e.g. animal farm symbolising russian history
alliteration
when 2 or more consecutive words have the same starting letter
- To make something sound nice
- To help create atmosphere
allusion
something said/written that refers to/compares with a person/subject in an indirect way
- Hints at things
- Deepens the reader’s understanding of what the writer is talking about
(verb: to allude)
apostrophe
not the punctuation
to address someone who is absent, whether they have passed or are absent
- Shows a state of mind – madness or sadness
aside
like a soliloquy – only the audience hears it
- Attempting to make contact with the audience for them to get to know you
assonance
the effect created when 2 syllables in words have the same vowel sound but different consonants (or other way around)
e.g. sonnet + porridge or cold + killed
atmosphere
a feeling/mood created by the author by using setting, objects, internal thoughts of a character…
- Creates a certain atmosphere for the reader
audience
a group of listeners/ spectators/ readers
- Different people view/ understand things differently
ballad
a song or poem that tells a story – often has short stanzas
- Often about romance and relationships
- thoughtful mood due to length and slow pace of the song/poem
beat
like the rhythm but harsher & it breaks up a single line into multiple parts while rhythm breaks up more of a stanza
blank verse
poetry that has a regular rhythm of 5 or 10 syllables per line but doesn’t rhyme
- The iambic pentameter (or other rhythmic pattern) brings about
cacophony
a combination of words/ phrases that sound harsh and unpleasant
- To set an unpleasant tone
characterisation
creating and describing a characters physical and personal traits in detail
- Creates more of a connection between reader and character since they know more personal information about them
cliché
the use of a popular expression that is overused and unoriginal
- Loses individuality & meaning in some cases
- The reader knows what the poet is talking about/referring to without lots of explanation -> makes something obvious quickly (brings immediacy)
- Could also be used in a negative way to point fun at something unoriginal
catharsis
process of releasing strong feelings (through e.g.plays ) as a way of providing relief from anger, mental pain…
Colloquialism
use of words and expressions that a commonly and pften used in everyday life & not in formal writing
- Brings familiarity and perhaps some informality to the poem
- used to show the level of the conversation
- wanna intead of want to/ wee or bonnie -> common for a certain area (Umgangssprache)
conflict
a literary device showing struggle between 2 opposing forces (right or wrong, different wants, needs…)
- Adds suspense and drama
connotation
a suggestion made by the use of a particular word; something you think of/ associate with a word
- Helpful in poetry where the poet doesn’t have multiple pages to talk about something
consonance
the repetition of consonant sounds in a line of text. The consonant sounds con appear at the beginning, middle or end of the word
- Creates a certain sound that can be used to create a certain mood/tone in a poem (soft: n or l; or harsh: c or k…)
contrast
a rhetorical device through which writers identify differences between 2 things (places, people, things…)
- Opposition between 2 things, used to emphasize their differences
couplet
a pair of lines in a stanza/verse where the ending words rhyme
denotation
the act of naming something with a word – the actual object or the idea to which the word refers
e.g. let the angels sing thee to thy sleep
dialogue
a conversation between 2 or more people
diction
the choice of language used by the speaker/writer
For e.g. hey, yo, howdy…
dissonance
the use of inharmonious, impolite and harsh sounding words, deliberately creating harsh sounding and disturbing effects
- Break peace in a poem
dramatic irony
a device used in which the audience knows more about situations (causes of conflict & resolutions for e.g.) than the leading characters
- Causes suspense (will the characters find out???) and helps engage the audience
elegy
a poem/song that expresses sad feelings, especially for someone who has died
epigram
a short witty saying; a short and interesting idea or thought about a subject expressed in a clever or humorous way
euphony
a literary term that refers to the combining of certain words and sounds to create pleasing and soothing sounds
- Brings about peaceful and pleasant feelings to make the reading more enjoyable and pleasant
extended metaphor
a metaphor that extends throughout multiple lines/stanzas/paragraphs in a poem or other piece of literature; comparison between 2 unlike things continuing throughout a series of sentences or lines
(can even last the whole poem)
fable
a short story intended to provide a moral lesson at the end
- Helpful in teaching children good moral lessons
- Can be humorous by making fun of the ways of humans
figurative language
the use of figures of speech
- To be more effective, persuasive and impactful
figures of speech
a word or phrase that is used in a non-literal way; the use of words in other ways than their literal meanings or typical ways of application
- To create effect
- To create imagery
First person point of view
flashback
foreshadowing
hinting towards future events/things
- Makes it a bit mysterious/exciting
- Grabs your attention
form
free verse
poetry that is free from the limitations of a regular structure, rhythm…; often without a rhyme scheme or rhythm
- The poet can give his own shape to a poem
- Gives more possibility for artistic expression in a poem
hyperbole
a way of speaking/ writing making something sound more than it really is – an overstatement or exaggeration
- Used to emphasise the word
- Used for comic effect
imagery
description used to help paint a picture
- Should appeal to some if not all of your senses – descriptions of taste, smell, feeling, sound, look… to help paint the full picture
- Used to pull on your heartstrings and touch your emotions
irony
literary device in which statement/situations contradict what the audience expects form a character or story
- Keeps the audience engaged and interested and willing to find out what happened next
jargon
the use of specific phrases and words in particular situations used to convey hidden meanings
Limited omniscient point of view
when an author is limited to one person but remains in third person (rather than 1st)
- Author can provide lots of detail to that one character making the audience learn more about/ connect with the character
Lyric
a collection of verses and choruses making up a complete song; uses a single speaker who expresses personal emotions and thoughts
- Lyrical poems are also pleasing to the ear and can be used as a song
Metaphor
the comparison of 2 unlike things, saying something IS something
e.g. the snow is a white blanket
metonym
a figure of speech in which one object or idea takes the place of another with which it has a close association
- A way of replacing an object or idea with something related to it instead of stating what is actually meant
mood
the emotional response the writer wants to evoke in the reader through a story/poem – can feature more than one mood
- Allows the writer to create a memorable and meaningful story with which the reader can connect
narrative
(a story) the account of events, experiences… for the purpose of entertaining/ educating/ communicating with readers/listeners
ode
a form of poetry like a sonnet or elegy; a short lyric poem that often praises people or things
onomatopoeia
the use of words that sound like what it refers to or describes
E.g. bang, splash, drip…
oxymoron
a phrase combining 2 words that seem to be opposites
e.g. a deafening silence
paradox
a statement that appears at first to be contradictory, but upon reflection then makes sense
- Allows readers to understand concepts in a different and untraditional way
parody
an imitation of the style and manner of a particular writer or thing that is deliberately exaggerated to create a comedic effect
- Makes the read more enjoyable for the reader
pastoral
a literary work dealing with rural life/ life in the countryside, often by comparing it to city life
- emphasizes the gentle, leisurely and often pleasurable aspects of that life, in contrast to the corruption and misery of city life
personification
giving human features/ emotion/ feelings to inhuman things
- To make it more relatable
point of view
indicates the angle or perspective from which a story is being told
- Governs the reader’s access to the story by limiting it to one person (the person telling the story)
- Reader only gets one perspective of the story (could be seen as negative)
pun
the clever or humourous use of a word that has more than 1 meaning, or of words that have different meaning but sound the same
E.g. we’re banking on them lending us money
repetition
using a phrase/word often
- Puts emphasis on the repeated word and its meaning
rhetorical devices
a technique or type of language that is used for the purpose of evoking a particular reaction from the audience making them think in a certain way
- Repetition, figurative language and rhetorical questions are examples of rhetorical devices
rhyme
a literary device in which identical or similar concluding syllables in different words are repeated, often occurring at the ends of lines in poems
- Mainly referring to sound rather than spelling
rhyme scheme
a pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse or line in poetry
- Used to create balance and relieve tension, manage flow, create rhythm and highlight important ideas in a poem
rhythm
a literary device that demonstrates long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables helping/creating the flow of a poem;
- (rhythm is more harmonious than beat and is more considering the beat/rhythm/flow of each line put together instead of the breaking up of a single line)
satire
a literary device generally making fun of/exposing human actions
- Utilizes tones of amusement, scorn or annoyance towards a flawed subject hoping to create awareness and change
scansion
marks the pattern of a poem and divides the poetic form into feet and highlighting accented and unaccented syllables
setting
a literary device in which the writer establishes the time, location and environment in which a narrative takes place
- Helps the reader create more of a picture of the story and its events
simile
a figure of speech in which 2 different things are compared with one another through the use of “like” or “as”
- Helps emphasize things/ create imagery
soliloquy
a speech in play in which a character, who is alone on stage, speaks their thoughts
- Helps audience connect to the character
sonnet
a poem by Shakespeare, consisting of 14 lines and written in iambic pentameter
stanza
a paragraph in a poem
stereotype
the construction of the image of a person, group, object… through generalizations
- (a fixed idea or image that many people have of a particular type of person or thing, but which is often not true in reality and may cause hurt and offence)
style
the way in which the writer writes
- The style of a writer influences the mood and picture created by his work
synecdoche
a figure of speech in which part of something is used to signify the whole (or vice-versa)
- (a word or phrase in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, or a whole is used to represent a part of something. For example, in ‘Australia lost by two goals’, Australia is used to represent the Australian team.)
symbol
an object, person, situation or action that has a literal meaning and is used to represent/suggest other meanings
- Helps with imagery and understanding
theme
refers to the central, deeper meaning/ main idea of a piece of literature
thesis
a statement in a non-fiction or fiction work that a writer intend to support or prove
- (often known as a long piece of writing completed by a student as part of a degree)
third person point of view
a perspective in which the narrator exists outside the events of the story and relates to the actions of the characters in third person (he, she, they)
- Allows the reader to have more than one view of the story
tone
reflects the writer’s attitude towards the subject or audience of a literary work, sometimes reflecting the writer’s personal attitude or opinion
- The writer creates a particular relationship with the reader, influencing the meaning and intention of the written words
- Used to convey the attitudes and feelings of a certain character or narrator
