Literary Terminology Flashcards
Terminology
Alliteration
Alliteration = Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of adjacent words.
• e.g., ”She sells seashells by the sea shore”
Assonance
Assonance: = Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.
• e.g., ”The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain”
Metaphor
Metaphor = Implied comparison between two unlike things.
• e.g., ”Time is a thief.”
Simile
Simile: = Explicit comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
• e.g., ”As brave as a lion.”
Personification
Personification: = Giving human characteristics to non-human entities.
• e.g., ”The wind whispered through the trees.”
Symbolism
Symbolism: = Use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
• e.g., a rose symbolizing love or passion.
Irony
Irony: = A contrast between expectation and reality.
• e.g., verbal irony when someone says the opposite of what they mean.
Imagery
Imagery: = Vivid and descriptive language that appeals to the senses.
• e.g., ”The autumn leaves danced in the breeze.”
Hyperbole
Hyperbole: = Exaggerated statements for emphasis or effect.
• e.g., ”I’ve told you a million times.”
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia: = Words that imitate the sound they represent.
• e.g., ”buzz,” “clang,” “murmur.”
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition: = Placement of two things side by side for contrast.
• e.g., contrasting light and dark scenes.
Enjambment
Enjambment: = The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, stanza, or paragraph.
• e.g., ”I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,”
Allusion
Allusion: = A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
• e.g., ”She has the patience of Job.”
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing: = A literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.
• e.g., a character’s ominous dream that hints at future events.
Oxymoron
Oxymoron: = A figure of speech in which two seemingly contradictory terms are combined.
• e.g., ”bitter sweet,” “deafening silence.”
Paradox
Paradox: = A statement that appears contradictory but may contain a hidden truth.
• e.g., ”Less is more.”
Anaphora
Anaphora: = The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
• e.g., ”I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
Epiphany
Epiphany: = A moment of sudden realization or understanding.
• e.g., a character experiencing a profound revelation.
Euphemism
Euphemism: = The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
• e.g., ”passed away” instead of “died.”
Satire
Satire: = The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize or mock people’s stupidity or vices.
• e.g., Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.”
Anastrophe
Anastrophe: = Inversion of the usual word order for emphasis or poetic effect.
• e.g., ”Strong in the Force, you are.”
Chiasmus
Chiasmus: = A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases.
• e.g., ”Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Cliché
Cliché: = Overused phrase or idea.
• e.g., ”time will tell,” “once upon a time.”
Colloquialism
Colloquialism: = The use of informal, everyday language.
• e.g., ”gonna,” “wanna,” “ain’t.”
Diction
Diction: = The choice of words or vocabulary used by an author.
• e.g., using formal or informal language to set a tone.
Mood
Mood: = The emotional atmosphere or tone in a literary work.
• e.g., creating a mysterious mood through descriptive language.
Motif
Motif: = A recurring element, theme, or idea in a literary work.
• e.g., the motif of water symbolizing purification.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche: = A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.
• e.g., “all hands on deck” (referring to the whole crew).
Understatement
Understatement: = A figure of speech in which a situation is deliberately represented as less important or serious than it is.
• e.g., ”It’s just a scratch” about a deep cut.
Zeugma
Zeugma: = The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
• e.g., ”He stole my heart and my wallet.”
Cacaphony
Cacophony: = Harsh, discordant sounds used for poetic effect.
• e.g., ”I detest war because cause of war is always trivial.”
Epanalepsis
Epanalepsis: = Repetition at the end of a clause of the word or phrase that occurred at the beginning.
• e.g., ”Next time there won’t be a next time.”
Polysyndeton
Polysyndeton: = The use of several conjunctions in close succession.
• e.g., ”I walked and talked and laughed and cried.”
Sibilance
Sibilance: = Repetition of the ‘s’ sound.
• e.g., ”The serpent hissed softly in the grass.”
Litotes
Litotes: = A figure of speech that uses understatement to emphasize a point.
• e.g., ”Not a bad idea” instead of “a good idea.”
Apostrophe
Apostrophe: = A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction.
• e.g., ”O, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Malapropism
Malapropism: = The use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound.
• e.g., ”He is the pineapple of politeness” instead of “pinnacle.”
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism: = Giving human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.
• e.g., ”The wind whispered secrets in my ear.”
Connotation
Connotation: = The emotional or cultural associations of a word.
• e.g., ”home” might have connotations of warmth and comfort.
Epistrophe
Epistrophe: = Repetition of the same word or group of words at the end of successive clauses.
• e.g., ”I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Metonymy
Metonymy: = A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted with another with which it is closely associated.
• e.g., ”The White House issued a statement” (referring to the President or administration).
Pathetic Fallacy
Pathetic Fallacy: = Attributing human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or nature.
• e.g., ”The gloomy clouds wept with rain.”
Paralipsis
Paralipsis: = Emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it.
• e.g., ”I won’t mention the time you were late again.”
Plosive sounds
Plosive Sounds: = The use of harsh consonant sounds for poetic effect.
• e.g., ”Clash of swords echoed in the silence.”
