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English Praxis > Literary Terminology > Flashcards

Literary Terminology Flashcards

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1
Q

Allegory

A

A story in which people represent an idea or a generalization about life.

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2
Q

Alliteration

A

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words.

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3
Q

Allusion

A

A reference to a familiar person, place, or thing, or event.

Ex: Brave new world

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4
Q

Analogy

A

A comparison of objects or ideas that appear to be different but are alike in some important way.

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5
Q

Anapestic meter

A

Meter that is composed of feet that are short-short-long.

Ex: contradict

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6
Q

Anaphora

A

Repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of several clauses.

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7
Q

Anecdote

A

A brief story that illustrates or makes a point

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8
Q

Antagonist

A

Person working against the protagonist. The anti hero

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9
Q

Anthropomorphism

A

Writer attributes human characteristics to an animate being or an inanimate object.

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10
Q

Antithesis

A

A contrast or opposition between two things

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11
Q

Anxiety of influence

A

Way of interpreting poetry.

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12
Q

Aphorism

A

A wise saying, usually short and witty.

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13
Q

Apostrophe

A

A turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons.

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14
Q

Archetype

A

A character, plot, image, theme, or setting that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated over time

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15
Q

Assonance

A

A repetition of the same sound in words close to one another.

Ex: white stripes

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16
Q

Blank verse

A

I rhymed verse, most often occurring in iambic pentameter

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17
Q

Cadence

A

The natural rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken

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18
Q

Caesura

A

A break in the rhythm of language, particularly, a natural pause in a line of verse

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19
Q

Canon

A

A group of literary works considered by some to be central or authoritative to the literary tradition

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20
Q

Characterization

A

A method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits

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21
Q

Cliche

A

An expression that has been used so often that it loses its expressive power.

Ex: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

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22
Q

Conceit

A

A specific type of metaphor of figure of speech, often elaborate, that compares two things that are very different.

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23
Q

Consonance

A

Repetition of the final consonant sounds in words containing different vowels.

Ex: stroke of luck

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24
Q

Couplet

A

A stanza made up of two rhyming lines

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25
Q

Dactyl

A

A metrical foot of three syllables in which the first syllable is stressed and the next two are unstressed

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26
Q

Denouement

A

The resolution of conclusion of a story

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27
Q

Dialect

A

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain region or social group

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28
Q

Diction

A

An author’s choice of words

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29
Q

Archaic

A

Old-fashioned words that are no longer used in common speech

Ex: thee, thy, thou

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30
Q

Colloquialism

A

Expressions that usually are accepted in informal situations or regions

Ex: wicked awesome

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31
Q

Jargon

A

Specialized language used in a particular field or content area

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32
Q

Doublespeak

A

Language that intentionally distorts or disguised meaning.

Ex: passed away instead of dies

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33
Q

End rhyme

A

Rhyming that occurs at the end of lines of verse

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34
Q

Enjambment

A

Also known as a run-on line in poetry, enjambment occurs when one line ends and continues onto the next line to complete the meaning

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35
Q

Epithet

A

A descriptive phrase or word frequently used to characterize a person or thing

Ex: Father of psychology

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36
Q

Euphemism

A

A word or phrase that substitutes for an offensive or suggestive one

Ex: lost their lives means killed

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37
Q

Existentialism

A

A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility

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38
Q

Flashback

A

A literary device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of a narrative

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39
Q

Foil

A

A character who acts in contrast to another character

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40
Q

Foot

A

A metrical foot is one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables

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41
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A literary technique in which the author gives hints or clues about what is to come at some later point in the story

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42
Q

Frame story

A

A literary device in which a story is enclosed in another story

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43
Q

Free verse

A

Verse that contains an irregular metrical pattern and line length

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44
Q

Genre

A

A category of literature defined by its style, form, or content

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45
Q

Hermeneutics

A

The art of science of text international

46
Q

Heroic couplet

A

A pair of rhyming lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter

47
Q

Hubis

A

The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero

48
Q

Hyperbole

A

An exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect

49
Q

Idiom

A

An expression specific to a certain language that means something different from the literal meaning

50
Q

Imagery

A

The use of words to create pictures or arouse senses in the reader’s mind

51
Q

Incongruity

A

The joining of opposites

52
Q

Interior monologue

A

A narrative technique that reveals a character’s internal thoughts and memories

53
Q

Internal rhyme

A

A rhyme that occurs within a line of verse

54
Q

Intertextuality

A

The relationship between texts.

55
Q

Irony

A

The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning.

56
Q

Dramatic irony

A

The reader sees a character’s errors, but the character does not.

57
Q

Verbal irony

A

The writer says one thing and means another

58
Q

Situational irony

A

The purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result

59
Q

Malapropism

A

A type of pun or play on words that results when two words become mixed up in the speakers mind.

60
Q

Metaphor

A

Comparison is made between two unlike things

61
Q

Meter

A

A rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.

62
Q

Metonymy

A

A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.

Ex: Hollywood for Los Angeles

63
Q

Mood

A

The feeling a text evokes in the reader.

Ex: sadness

64
Q

Moral

A

A lesson a work of literature is teaching.

65
Q

Motif

A

A term for themes or ideas that are often repeated in a literary work

66
Q

Narration

A

The telling of the story

67
Q

Oedipus complex

A

A complex set of emotions based on sexual attraction to their parent of the opposite sex

68
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

The use of words to suggest sounds

Ex: buzz, click

69
Q

Oxymoron

A

A phrase that consists of two contradictory terms

Ex: jumbo shrimp
Deafening silence

70
Q

Paradox

A

A contradictory statement that makes sense.

Ex: man learns from history that man learns nothing from history

71
Q

Pathetic fallacy

A

The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals

72
Q

Personification

A

A literary device in which animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits

73
Q

Point of view

A

The perspective from which a story is told

74
Q

First person point of view

A

The story is told from the point of view of one character in the story

75
Q

Third person

A

The story is told by someone outside the story

76
Q

Omniscient

A

The narrator of the story shared the thoughts and feelings of all the characters

God-like

77
Q

Limited omniscient

A

The narrator shares the thoughts and feelings of one character

78
Q

Camera views

A

The narrator records the action from his or her point of view, unaware of any of the other characters thoughts or feelings.

Objective view

79
Q

Pun

A

A play on words based on multiple meanings or on words that sound alike but have different meanings

Ex: Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt

80
Q

Refrain

A

The repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals

81
Q

Repetition

A

The multiple use of a word, phrase, or idea for emphasis or rhythmic effect

82
Q

Rhetoric

A

Persuasive writing

83
Q

Rhetorical question

A

Question that is posed but doesn’t actually require an answer

84
Q

Rhyme

A

Repetition of sounds in two or more words, usually at end of line, but not always

85
Q

Rhythm

A

The regular or random pattern of sounds in poetry

86
Q

Setting

A

Time and place in which action of a fictional work takes place

87
Q

Simile

A

Comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”

88
Q

Slant rhyme

A

A rhyme that is not exact such as “Queen” and “Afternoon”

89
Q

Soliloquy

A

A long speech made in a play while no other characters are speaking.

90
Q

Spondee

A

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both which are stressed

91
Q

Stanza

A

A division of poetry named for the number of lines it contains

Couplet: 2 lines
Triplet: 3 lines
Quatrain: 4 lines
Quintet: 5 lines 
Sestet: 6 lines
Septet: 7 lines
Octave: 8 lines
92
Q

Stream of consciousness

A

A style of writing that portrays the inner thoughts of a character

93
Q

Style

A

How the author uses words, phrases, and sentences to form ideas

94
Q

Symbol

A

A person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else

95
Q

Synecdoche

A

A figure of speech in which a part represents a whole

96
Q

Synesthesia

A

The juxtaposition of one sensory image with another that appeals to an unrelated sense.

97
Q

Tone

A

The overall feeling created by an author’s use of words

98
Q

Total effect

A

The overall impression a literary work leaves on the reader

99
Q

Transcendtalism

A

Their philosophy focuses on protesting Puritan ethics and materialism. They valued individualism, freedom, experimentation, and spirituality

100
Q

Trochee

A

A metrical foot made up of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable

101
Q

Vernacular

A

Language spoken by people who live in a particular region

102
Q

Verse

A

A metric line of poetry. A verse is named based on the kind a number

103
Q

Voice

A

Distinctive features of a persons speech and speech pattern

104
Q

Semantics

A

How something works in a sentence

105
Q

Diagraph

A

2 letters that create one sound

106
Q

Dangling modifier

A

Doesn’t have a subject

107
Q

Formative assessment

A

Day-to-day assessing

108
Q

Summarize assessment

A

End of chapter or unit

109
Q

Jigsaw

A

Differing portions of reading

Puts group me of people who read, partially read, and didn’t read at all

110
Q

Portmanteau

A

Blending distinct form of words

111
Q

Ebonics

A

American black English regarded as a language in its own right rather than as a dialect of standard English

English Praxis (2 decks)

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