Literary Terms

Question 1

structure

verse

Answer 1

written in lines

line breaks are a part of the poem punctuation

Question 2

structure

line break

Answer 2

where the line stops and goes to the next

black thoughts brim in the grim playground of my mind

Question 3

structure

end-stop

verb: end-stopping

Answer 3

the line is stopped with punctuation; the sentence ends at the end of the line

Question 4

structure

enjambment

verb: enjambing

Answer 4

continuation of a sentence through the end of a line or a line break

Question 5

sound

rhythm

Answer 5

the pattern of stresses within a poem/verse/line

Question 6

structure

stressed syllable

Answer 6

emphasized syllable

Question 7

structure

unstressed syllable

Answer 7

unemphasized syllable

Question 8

structure

prose

Answer 8

writing in which line breaks aren’t part of the work; lines run all the way to the bottom of page and continue

e.g. books, newspapers, etc.

Question 9

figure

simile

Answer 9

a figure of speech that compares a literal thing (tenor) to a figurative thing (vehicle)

Question 10

figure

metaphor

Answer 10

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is figurative

Question 11

figure

tenor

Answer 11

the literal part of a simile/metaphor

Question 12

figure

vehicle

Answer 12

the figurative part of a simile/metaphor

Question 13

structure

anaphora

adj: anaphoric

Answer 13

repetition of certain words or phrases, especially the first part

e.g. “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Question 14

figure

personification

Answer 14

when inanimate objects are given human-like qualities/actions

e.g. “The sun smiles down at me as I walk.”

Question 15

structure

polysyndeton

Answer 15

use of more conjuctions than needed

e.g. “Anna and Kendall and Sam and Stewart came to prom.”

Question 16

structure

asyndeton

Answer 16

use of no conjunctions

e.g. “The teacher was astonished, gaping, awestruck.”

Question 17

sound

tone

Answer 17

writer’s attitude

Question 18

diction

diction

Answer 18

word choice

Question 19

diction

high/elevated/formal register

Answer 19

complex, formal, high-sounding speech

Question 20

diction

low/colloquial/conversational register

Answer 20

casual, everday, easy-to-understand speech

Question 21

structure

verse form

Answer 21

the shape/structure of a poem

like stanzas, groupings of lines, line breaks, etc.

Question 22

general literature

genre

Answer 22

category of literary works; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.

e.g. Romance, comedy, tragedy, etc.

Question 23

general literature

speaker

Answer 23

the voice behind a literary work;

It’s important to note that the speaker isn’t always the author.

Question 24

genre

dramatic monologue

Answer 24

A poem where the voice of the poem is a fictional character and clearly not the poet

Question 25

# structure sonnet

Answer 25

a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter made up of an octave and a sestet with a rhyme scheme

Question 26

# structure Italian sonnet | also called a Petrarchan sonnet

Answer 26

a type of sonnet with an octave and a sestet; tradionally with the following rhyme schemes: ABBA;ABBA;CDC;CDC or ABBA;ABBA;CDCDCD

Question 27

# structure octave

Answer 27

group of eight lines

Question 28

# structure sestet

Answer 28

group of six lines

Question 29

# structure quatrain

Answer 29

a stanza comprised of four lines

Question 30

# structure tercet

Answer 30

group of three lines

Question 31

# structure rhyme scheme

Answer 31

specific rhyming pattern of the last words of every line in a poem

Question 32

# structure end rhyme

Answer 32

last words of each line rhyme

Question 33

# structure internal rhyme

Answer 33

when words within a line rhyme

Question 34

# sound masculine rhyme

Answer 34

a single-syllable rhyme | e.g. "top" and "flop"

Question 35

# sound feminine rhyme

Answer 35

a multi-syllable (2-3 syllables) rhyme | e.g. "beaming" and "steaming"

Question 36

# sound perfect rhyme

Answer 36

a rhyme that perfectly overlaps over the two words | e.g. "face" and "trace"

Question 37

# sound slant rhyme

Answer 37

rhyme of words that are similar, but not identical | e.g. "poncho" and "crunchy"

Question 38

# figure volta | aka turn

Answer 38

shift in subject, tone, pacing, or another element of poem

Question 39

# general literature canon

Answer 39

a body of works deemed authentic, elite, or an essential part of a culture; works that have acheived the status of a "classic" | e.g. Shakespeare

Question 40

# genre epic | (poetry)

Answer 40

- a long, adventerous, narrative poem - written in high register - often involving heros & mythological beings - invocation of the muses

Question 41

# Greek context/culture rhapsode

Answer 41

illiterate, often blind, storytellers that told stories (like epics)

Question 42

# Greek context/culture kleos

Answer 42

glory; often accumulated from patriarchal ancestry

Question 43

# Greek context/culture xenia

Answer 43

hospitality; expected from the host and the guest

Question 44

# Greek context/culture nostos

Answer 44

journey home; homecoming

Question 45

# Greek context/culture katabasis

Answer 45

journey to the underworld

Question 46

# Greek context/culture anagnorisis

Answer 46

moment of recognition

Question 47

# Greek context/culture aristeia

Answer 47

a person's (often a hero's) shining moment/moment of glory

Question 48

# Greek context/culture deus ex machina

Answer 48

- derived from Greek theatre, when, at the end, a god would be lowered onto the stage to solve all the problems - today's meaning: an "artificial" ending; resolved too neatly | e.g. the end of the Odyssey when Athena stops the impending bloodshed

Question 49

# Greek context/culture supplication | verb: supplicate

Answer 49

to humble oneself and touch another's knees to beg earnestly; often in an act of desperation

Question 50

# Greek context/culture libation

Answer 50

poured offerings to honor anyone who isn't present; traditionally with mixed (diluted) wine

Question 51

# Greek context/culture portent | aka omen

Answer 51

a sign/warning that something, especially important, is likely to occur

Question 52

# literary theory metamorphosis

Answer 52

a change in physical form

Question 53

# Greek context/culture oath

Answer 53

an unbreakable promise

Question 54

# general literature narrative

Answer 54

a work in the 1st person

Question 55

# general literature narration

Answer 55

the action or process of giving a spoken or written account of a story (in the 3rd person)

Question 56

# Greek context/culture in medias res

Answer 56

literal meaning: "in the middle" often how epic poems begin | e.g. *The Odyssey* begins in medias res

Question 57

# Greek context/culture invocation

Answer 57

an address to the Muses in which a poet requests help in composing a poem/telling a story

Question 58

# general literature catalogue

Answer 58

a list

Question 59

# general literature exemplum | pl. exempla

Answer 59

a short story/anecdote (usually from myth/history) used to give advice/shed wisdom regarding a moral situation

Question 60

# general literature epithet

Answer 60

a stock phrase used to get the required number of syllables in lines; like puzzle pieces

Question 61

# figure epic simile

Answer 61

a long, intricate simile that often tells a short story

Question 62

# figure hypallage | aka transferred epithet

Answer 62

when a word that grammatically belongs to another word is moved to another place in the sentence | e.g. "Pale with fear" > "Pale fear".

Question 63

# figure apostrophe

Answer 63

when characters/narrator speak to someone/something who isn't present

Question 64

# figure antithesis | adj. antithetical

Answer 64

assertion of the positive part vs the negative side | e.g. "Your enemies jealous, your friends delighted."

Question 65

# figure irony

Answer 65

when there is tension between two underlying meanings; when the thing said contrasts the underlying meaning

Question 66

# structure meter | adj. metrical

Answer 66

basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse | e.g. iambic pentamer

Question 67

# general literature scansion | verb: scan

Answer 67

looking for stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry as well as feet

Question 68

# structure poetic foot

Answer 68

rhymical unit of meters | e.g. iamb, trochee

Question 69

# structure iamb | adj. iambic

Answer 69

a poetic foot consisting of an unstressed then stressed syllable | to hèlp (` is supposed to be a stress mark) ## Footnote (opposite of trochee)

Question 70

# structure trochee | adj. trochaic

Answer 70

a poetic foot consisting of a stressed then an unstressed syllable | yòu need (` is supposed to be a stress mark) ## Footnote (opposite of iamb)

Question 71

# structure iambic pentameter

Answer 71

meter consisting of 5 iambs

Question 72

# structure trochaic substitution

Answer 72

the subsitution of an iamb for a trochee, usually at the beginning of a line

Question 73

# structure blank verse

Answer 73

verse form of unrhymed iambic pentameter | e.g. Emily Wilson's translation of *The Odyssey*

Question 74

# structure monometer

Answer 74

meter with one foot

Question 75

# structure dimeter

Answer 75

meter with two feet

Question 76

# structure trimeter

Answer 76

meter with three feet

Question 77

# structure tetrameter

Answer 77

meter with four feet

Question 78

# structure pentameter

Answer 78

meter with five feet | most common meter in English language

Question 79

# structure hexameter

Answer 79

meter with six feet

Question 80

# general literature aesthetics

Answer 80

study of beauty and the appreciation of arts

Question 81

# general literature aesthetic experience

Answer 81

an experience of a work of art

Question 82

# figure ekphrasis | adj. ekphrastic

Answer 82

the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device | e.g. "The Archaic Torso of Apollo"

Question 83

# figure pastoral | (noun and adj.)

Answer 83

description of nature as a literary device

Question 84

# general literature utopia | adj. utopian

Answer 84

an world in which everything is perfect

Question 85

# general literature grotesque | (noun and adj.)

Answer 85

distortion, weird, unnatural | also means gross/disgusting

Question 86

# general literature elegy | adj. elegiac

Answer 86

a form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief, sadness, or loss

Question 87

# figure anachronism | adj. anachronistic

Answer 87

the presence of something in a time period in which it doesn't belong in | e.g. jeans in Ancient Greek society

Question 88

# figure allusion | adj. allusive

Answer 88

an indirect reference to something

Question 89

# figure intertextuality | adj. intertextual

Answer 89

when a text is intricately intertwined with another so you need to know the latter to understand the former | e.g. "Ulysses" and *The Odyssey* are intertextual.

Question 90

# diction archaic diction

Answer 90

old-fashioned way of speaking

Question 91

# structure ellipsis | adj. elliptical

Answer 91

omitting a portion of the sequence of events | leaving out words that can be implied by a parallel structure

Question 92

# figure litotes

Answer 92

ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary | e.g., you won't be sorry, meaning you'll be glad ## Footnote understatement through double negatives

Question 93

# general literature Aristotle’s *Poetics*

Answer 93

the work in which Aristotle introduces elements that he thought literature include, like mimesis

Question 94

# literary theory mimesis | adj. mimetic

Answer 94

the representation of reality in works of art

Question 95

# general literature lyric | adj. lyrical

Answer 95

a short poem, often with songlike qualities, that expresses the speaker’s personal emotions and feelings. | e.g. elegies, odes, and sonnets ## Footnote Historically intended to be sung and accompany musical instrumentation, lyric now describes a broad category of non-narrative poetry

Question 96

# general literature drama | adj. dramatic

Answer 96

a genre, or style of writing used to create a play/performance in theatre | pretty self explanatory

Question 97

# general literature tragedy | adj tragic

Answer 97

a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible/sorrowful events that befall a main character | traditionally intended to invoke catharsis in audience

Question 98

# Greek context/culture dithyramb

Answer 98

a choral hymn sung to Dionysus

Question 99

# general literature dialogue

Answer 99

spoken conversation between two people

Question 100

# general literature monologue

Answer 100

a long speech a character gives

Question 101

# figure paradox | adj. paradoxial

Answer 101

a contradictory statement, idea, or figure of speech | something that seems impossible; direct contradiction

Question 102

# figure oxymoron | adj. oxymoronic

Answer 102

two-word paradox | e.g. black sunlight

Question 103

# structure stichomythia

Answer 103

quick/rapid/short exchanges between characters in a dialogue

Question 104

# drama chorus | adj. choral

Answer 104

1. group of actors who describe and comment upon the main actions in a play 2. long, complex poems at the ends of each section/scene of a play

Question 105

# drama choral lyric

Answer 105

a lyrical poem sung by the chorus in a play

Question 106

# drama parados

Answer 106

1st song/stanza sung by the chorus when it first comes onto the stage

Question 107

# drama stasimon

Answer 107

all chorus stanzas starting from the second until the end of the play; all chorus stanzas apart from the parados

Question 108

# general literature Hegelian dialectic | adj dialectical

Answer 108

the fusion of two opposing concepts so that they make sense together ## Footnote having a contradiction in conflict and resolving it by combining the aspects of the things on polar opposites

Question 109

# drama tragic hero

Answer 109

the hero in a tragedy | often makes a fatal mistake that causes their downfall

Question 110

# Greek context/culture Κάθαρσις | catharsis - adj. cathartic

Answer 110

greek word for unbottling all emotions, purging oneself of negative emotions ## Footnote pity and fear you feel when a tragic hero undergoes a downfall; means purgation

Question 111

# drama peripeteia

Answer 111

turning point where people's positions are flipped ## Footnote e.g. the high of society learn they might lose everything at a turning point of a play

Question 112

# Greek context/culture hamartia

Answer 112

the moment of error that leads to the downfall of a character in a tragedy

Question 113

# general literature Nietzsche's *The Birth of Tragedy*

Answer 113

Nietzsche thought that Greek tragedy was a way that Greeks tried to grapple with despair & to combine Dionysian and Apollonian ideas.

Question 114

# Greek context/culture Apollonian

Answer 114

lawfulness, order, rationality, intellect | named after Apollo, Greek god of order and knowledge, among other things ## Footnote traits of Apollo; more serious than Dionysian

Question 115

# Greek context/culture Dionysian

Answer 115

ecstasy, frenzy, excitement, freedom | traits of Dionysus; more relaxed/intoxicated

Question 116

# Greek context/culture satyr play

Answer 116

a comedic play often shown in between tragedies to lighten the mood of the audience

Question 117

# general literature parody | adj. parodic

Answer 117

an imitation of the style and manner of a particular writer or school of writers ## Footnote often with a negative/satirical intent

Question 118

# general literature translationese

Answer 118

awkwardness or ungrammaticality of translation, such as due to overly literal translation of idioms or syntax

Question 119

# genre Romance

Answer 119

a long work of prose that contains both realistic and supernatural elements ## Footnote not to be confused with the contemporary definition of romance: a love story

Question 120

# genre novel | adj. novelistic

Answer 120

a realistic, long work of prose

Question 121

# genre short story

Answer 121

a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20 minutes to an hour | the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500 words

Question 122

# genre fiction | adj. fictional

Answer 122

a work of prose pertaining of unrealistic elements

Question 123

# genre drama | adj. dramatical

Answer 123

plays, choreography, screenplays, and other art that is intended to be performed

Question 124

# genre free verse

Answer 124

poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter

Question 125

# structure parallelism

Answer 125

the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose which correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc

Question 126

# structure ballad stanza | aka hymn stanza

Answer 126

four lines where the first and third lines are iambic tetrameter and the second and fourth are iambic trimeter ABCB rhyme scheme ## Footnote **Example:** ["The Brain—is wider than the Sky—"] *Emily Dickinson* The Brain—is wider than the Sky— (*iambic tetrameter*) For—put them side by side— (*iambic trimeter*) The one the other will contain (*iambic tetrameter*) With ease—and you—beside— (*iambic trimeter*)

Question 127

# general literature hymn

Answer 127

a religious song or poem of praise to God or a god

Question 128

# miscellaneous feminism

Answer 128

the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes

Question 129

# figure synecdoche

Answer 129

where a part of a whole represents the whole | eg. mast (the pole to hold the sails) representing ship

Question 130

# figure chiasmus

Answer 130

a sentence where 2 words in the first half are reversed in the second half | (eg. All for one and one for all!”)

Question 131

# general literature semiotics | adj. semiotic

Answer 131

the study of signs and their use/interpretations

Question 132

# general literature signified

Answer 132

the meaning or idea expressed by a sign

Question 133

# general literature sign

Answer 133

anything that communicates a meaning that is not the sign itself to the interpreter of the sign

Question 134

# general literature signifier

Answer 134

a sign's physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image)

Question 135

# general literature proverb

Answer 135

a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice

Question 136

# general literature necessary condition

Answer 136

a condition that must be present for an event to occur

Question 137

# general literature sufficient condition

Answer 137

a condition or set of conditions that will produce the event

Question 138

# figure allegory

Answer 138

a conceit that can be interpreted to reveal another meaning, often a moral or political one

Question 139

# miscellaneous subjunctive

Answer 139

relating to or denoting a mood of verbs expressing what is imagined or wished or possible. | Ex: I wish he were here.

Question 140

# miscellaneous archaic

Answer 140

old linguistic terms used to generate an older/ancient feel

Question 141

# Greek context/culture Δεινος (Deinos)

Answer 141

Greek word that means horrifying and brilliant; extraordinary, awe-inspiring.

Question 142

-dos

Answer 142

way

Question 143

# miscellaneous compensation

Answer 143

something, typically money, awarded to someone as a reward/amend/gift for loss, injury, or suffering

Question 144

# general literature interpolation

Answer 144

later insertions of text in a work

Question 145

# Greek context/culture maenads

Answer 145

female cult worshippers of Dionysus

Question 146

# Greek context/culture Dionysia

Answer 146

yearly festival in honor of Dionysus where people would compete to make the best theatrical performance.

Question 147

# structure periphrasis | adj. periphrastic

Answer 147

the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression; a roundabout or indirect manner of writing or speaking.

Question 148

# structure iambic tetrameter

Answer 148

a meter of 4 iambs

Question 149

# structure iambic trimeter

Answer 149

a meter of 3 iambs

Question 150

# general literature pathetic fallacy

Answer 150

projecting one's emotions onto nature or interpreting nature as sharing one's mood/feelings

Question 151

# miscellaneous Essentialism

Answer 151

the idea that people and things have 'natural' characteristics that are inherent and unchanging

Question 152

# miscellaneous Anti-Essentialism

Answer 152

the idea that for every individual and every property, there are possible worlds in which the individual has the property and possible worlds in which it does not; **social constructionism** | instead of a universal truth, there is no one truth

Question 153

parody

Answer 153

funny or humored imitation of something

Question 154

maenads

Answer 154

female cult worshippers of Dionysus; killed Pentheus

Question 155

# miscellaneous ambiguity | adj. ambiguous

Answer 155

having an unclear answer, result, or reason; having multiple potential reasons/outcomes

Question 156

novella

Answer 156

little novel ## Footnote novel: a long work of narrative fiction, traditionally so realistic that it “could be real”; however, modern-day the term just refers to a book in general

Question 157

# figure parataxis | adj. paratactic

Answer 157

the omission conjunctions in a list of clauses/phrases | *omission (of) conjunctions?

Question 158

# figure hypotaxis | adj. hypotactic

Answer 158

the arrangement of a sentence in which the main clause is built upon by phrases or subordinate clauses | list?

Question 159

# general literature aphorism

Answer 159

a short statement that has a deeper meaning ## Footnote Ralph Waldo Emerson is known for these.

Question 160

# general literature sonnet sequence

Answer 160

a collection of sonnets which tradionally track a love story

Question 161

# structure English sonnet | aka Shakespearean sonnet

Answer 161

comprised of 3 quatrains and one couplet, often with the rhyme scheme ABAB;CDCD;EFEF;GG

Question 162

# figure couplet

Answer 162

2 rhyming lines often at the end of a larger poem

Question 163

# general literature Hermeneutics

Answer 163

the theory/methods of interpretation

Question 164

# diction alliteration | adj. alliterative

Answer 164

the repetition of the same consonant sound (in poems, on a stressed syllable)

Question 165

# Greek context/culture Triumph

Answer 165

a ceremony after a battle of a victor in which the victor parades around showing his/her spoils of war and prisoners of war.

Question 166

# Greek context/culture Triumph of Love

Answer 166

a triumph in which Cupid parades around with his prisoners (people in love) ## Footnote This represents everyone who is in love because they aren't in control of their actions/feelings/behavior; everything they do and think is controlled by Love, so in a sense, those in love are Cupid's prisoners (hence the Triumph of Love).

Question 167

# structure Spenserian sonnet | aka Spenserian stanza

Answer 167

a sonnet with the rhyme scheme ABAB;BCBC;CDCD;EE | invented by Edmund Spenser

Question 168

# genre devotional poetry

Answer 168

poetry praising/about devotion to God

Question 169

# structure caesura

Answer 169

an abrupt break in the middle of a line

Question 170

# genre Polemic | adj. polemical

Answer 170

writing about or relating to war

Question 171

# general literature metapoetic

Answer 171

the self-reference, self-acknowledgement, or self-reflexive nature of a poem

Question 172

# figure conceit

Answer 172

an extended metaphor/simile

Question 173

# figure pun

Answer 173

a joke that plays on a double-meaning of a word

Question 174

# Greek context/culture epithalamion

Answer 174

a bridal song

Question 175

# drama aside

Answer 175

when a character in a play says something to the audience and/or themselves, which cannot be heard by other characters

Question 176

# genre verse drama

Answer 176

a drama written in verse | like the play *The Murder of Gonzago* within *Hamlet*

Question 177

# structure metonymy | adj. metonymic

Answer 177

the replacement of one word with another word that is logically connected to it ## Footnote e.g. "He is the sharpest sword in the army." "sword" replaces what is really meant here, which is "soldier".

Question 178

# figure free indirect discourse

Answer 178

a prose writing technique of presenting a character's voice partly mediated by the voice of the author with their voices effectively merged

Question 179

# genre literary realism

Answer 179

realistic fiction

Question 180

# genre modernism

Answer 180

a very experimental period of literature and poetry that began around the early 1900s and continued until the early 1940s.

Question 181

# structure epigraph

Answer 181

a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme