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literary terms Flashcards

1
Q

allegory

A

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

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2
Q

alliteration

A

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

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3
Q

allusion

A

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

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4
Q

antagonist

A

a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

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5
Q

antihero

A

a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality

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6
Q

apostrophe

A

a speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object

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7
Q

archetype

A

a very typical example of a certain person or thing.

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8
Q

assonance

A

the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together in a sentence or verse.

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9
Q

character/characterization

A

the creation or construction of a fictional character.

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10
Q

hero

A

a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

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11
Q

static character

A

a character that does not undergo important change in the course of the story, remaining essentially the same at the end of the story.

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12
Q

dynamic character

A

a character who undergoes some important change in the course of the story.

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13
Q

flat character

A

two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work.

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14
Q

stock character

A

a character in a drama or fiction that represents a type and that is recognizable as belonging to a certain genre.

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15
Q

round character

A

a character who is complex, layered, and multidimensional.

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16
Q

cliche

A

a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

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17
Q

colloquial

A

(of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.

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18
Q

conflict

A

a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

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19
Q

connotation

A

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

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20
Q

denotation

A

the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

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21
Q

denouement

A

the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.

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22
Q

dialect

A

a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

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23
Q

dialogue

A

conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie.

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24
Q

diction

A

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

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25
Q

formal diction

A

a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language.

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26
Q

informal diction

A

the language of everyday speech.

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27
Q

middle diction

A

essentially neutral; that is, it isn’t especially formal or informal, and it can be used in a variety of settings to reach a broad audience.

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28
Q

epiphany

A

the moment when a character is suddenly struck with a life-changing realization.

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29
Q

exposition

A

the background information on the characters and setting explained at the beginning of the story.

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30
Q

farce

A

a comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay.

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31
Q

figures of speech

A

any intentional deviation from literal statement or common usage that emphasizes, clarifies, or embellishes both written and spoken language.

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32
Q

flashback

A

interrupts that chronological sequence, the front line action or “present” line of the story, to show readers a scene that unfolded in the past.

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33
Q

foreshadowing

A

a narrative device in which suggestions or warnings about events to come are dropped or planted.

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34
Q

hubris/hybris

A

excessive pride or self-confidence.

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35
Q

hyperbole

A

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

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36
Q

image

A

a representation in words of a sensory experience or of a person, place, or object that can be known by one or more of the senses.

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37
Q

irony

A

whenever a person says something or does something that departs from what they (or we) expect them to say or do.

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38
Q

verbal irony

A

when someone says something that is sharply different from the reality of the situation.

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39
Q

dramatic irony

A

a literary device by which the audience’s or reader’s understanding of events or individuals in a work surpasses that of its characters.

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40
Q

tragic irony

A

when the audience is aware in advance that tragedy will occur.

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41
Q

cosmic irony

A

occurs when a higher power (e.g., God, fate, the Universe) intervenes to create an ironic situation.

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42
Q

situational irony

A

when the outcome is the opposite or completely different from what was expected.

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43
Q

litotes

A

a phrase that uses negation to create an affirmative understatement. (e.g., “that wasn’t half bad”)

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44
Q

metaphor

A

a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated.

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45
Q

implied metaphor

A

a more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so specifically explained.

46
Q

extended metaphor

A

a metaphor in a literary work, such as a novel or poem, that isn’t just used in one line but is extended over multiple lines or throughout the work.

47
Q

synecdoche

A

figure of speech in which a part represents the whole.

48
Q

metonymy

A

figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested by the original.

49
Q

narrator

A

the fictional construct the author has created to tell the story through.

50
Q

first-person narrator

A

the narrator is a person in the story, telling the story from their own point of view.

51
Q

unreliable narrator

A

a narrator that is not trustworthy, whose rendition of events must be taken with a grain of salt.

52
Q

neutral narrator

A

the story is told from an objective or neutral point of view.

53
Q

omniscient narrator

A

has an all-knowing perspective on the story.

54
Q

onomotopaeia

A

the naming of a thing or action by imitation of natural sounds.

55
Q

oxymoron

A

a word or group of words that is self-contradicting

56
Q

paradox

A

a statement that appears to contradict itself but upon further inspection reveals a deeper truth, meaning, or joke.

57
Q

parody

A

an imitation of the style and manner of a particular writer or school of writers.

58
Q

personification

A

a type of metaphor that describes non-humans’ looks, actions, and purposes with language typically reserved for human characters.

59
Q

plot

A

the sequence of events that make up a story.

60
Q

pyramidal plot pattern

A

a five part dramatic structure that goes from the introduction into the rise, to the climax, falling action, and finally the resolution.

61
Q

rising action

A

the section of the plot leading up to the climax.

62
Q

climax

A

the point at which the highest level of interest and emotional response is achieved.

63
Q

falling action

A

everything that takes place immediately after the climax.

64
Q

in media res

A

technical term for the epic convention of beginning “in the middle of things,” rather than at the very start of the story.

65
Q

point of view

A

the writer’s way of deciding who is telling the story to whom.

66
Q

protagonist

A

the character who drives the action–the character whose fate matters most.

67
Q

satire

A

the art of making someone or something look ridiculous, raising laughter in order to embarrass, humble, or discredit its targets.

68
Q

sentimentality

A

interested in the experience, display, effect, and interpretation of emotion (pleasurable or otherwise) and in stirring up emotion in readers.

69
Q

setting

A

the time and place in which a story is told.

70
Q

simile

A

a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that are often introduced by like or as.

71
Q

subplot

A

a secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot.

72
Q

suspense

A

the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery.

73
Q

symbol

A

an object, a person, a situation, or an action that has a literal meaning in a story but suggests or represents other meanings.

74
Q

theme

A

a central, unifying idea.

75
Q

thesis

A

the sentence that states the main idea of a writing assignment and helps control the ideas within the paper.

76
Q

tone

A

a literary device that reflects the writer’s attitude toward the subject matter or audience of a literary work.

77
Q

understatement

A

the description of something as having much less of a particular quality than it does.

78
Q

allusion

A

a reference to another story, person, or idea within a piece of literature.

79
Q

apostrophe

A

a poetic device in which the speaker references or speaks to someone or something who is deceased.

80
Q

epithet

A

a characterized word used to describe a person.

81
Q

speaker

A

often called the persona, especially when a poet creates/uses a voice other than him/herself.

82
Q

synaesthesia

A

mixing one type of sensory input with another in an impossible way, such as speaking of how a color sounds, how a smell looks, what a texture tastes like.

83
Q

spoonerism

A

the interchange of the initial letters of two words, usually as a slip of the tongue.

84
Q

puns

A

types of word play which are usually humorous, sometimes clever and call attention to the meanings of words.

85
Q

paragram

A

in which the wordplay involves altering one or more letters in a word. it is often considered a low form of humor, as in various knock-knock jokes.

86
Q

equivoque

A
87
Q

paronomasia

A

the words are similar in sound, but spelling and meaning differ.

88
Q

approximate/slant rhyme

A

a rhyme scheme where words have similar (but not identical) sounds.

89
Q

exact rhyme

A

the repetition of a vowel sound and the consonant sound that follows it.

90
Q

eye-rhyme

A

words that are spelled similarly but do not have the same pronunciation.

91
Q

enjambment

A

continuing a sentence without a pause at the end of a line, stanza, or couplet.

92
Q

caesura

A

a break between words.

93
Q

carpe diem

A

a poem that embraces the literal meaning, “seize the day”.

94
Q

dramatic monologue

A

a poem in which the speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader.

95
Q

anagram

A

rearranging the letters of words to create new ones.

96
Q

epic

A

a lengthy narrative poem about extraordinary characters/actions, usually involving deities.

97
Q

ode

A

a lyric poem that addresses and celebrates a thing, place, person, etc.

98
Q

english/shakespearean sonnet

A

a fourteen lined poem that has a fixed rhyme scheme.

99
Q

italian/petrarchan sonnet

A

a sonnet with an octave rhyme scheme and a sestet rhyming in various patterns.

100
Q

haiku

A

a poem with 17 syllables arranged in 5,7,5 format, with no rhyme scheme.

101
Q

elegy

A

a form of poetry where the poet expresses on death and/or loss.

102
Q

limerick

A

a humorously rude poem with a five-line anapestic trimeter and a strict rhyme scheme of aabba.

103
Q

sestina

A

a fixed verse form with six stanzas containing six lines each, normally followed by a three line envoi.

104
Q

villanelle

A

a nineteen line poem consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain.

105
Q

parody

A

imitating another style of work, writer, or genre to achieve a humorous effect.

106
Q

clerihew

A

light, humorous verse which pokes fun at a famous person; first line is the person’s first and last name four lines long with a AABB rhyme scheme; no regular meter necessary.

107
Q

cinquain

A

5 lines long; 2-4-6-8-2 syllables respectively; AABAB or ABABB or ABCCB rhyme scheme can be either humorous or serious in tone .

108
Q

tanka

A

a lyric poem; 5 lines long; syllable count for lines is 5-7-5-7-7; intense imagery; usually serious; frequently about nature.

109
Q

iambic foot

A

1 foot monometer 2 lines couplet anapestic foot: 2 feet dimeter 3 lines tercet.

110
Q

trochaic foot

A

3 feet trimester 4 lines quatrain dactylic foot: 4 feet tetrameter 5 lines cinquain.

111
Q

spondee

A

5 feet pentameter 6 lines sestet pyrrhic: 6 feet hexameter 7 lines heptastich 7 feet.

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