Literary Terms Flashcards
Absurdism
The idea that human existence is irrational and meaningless
Anachronism
Placing something in a time period where it wasn’t in existence
Anagnorisis
An epiphany experienced by a protagonist
Anaphora
Repeating a word or phrase in the beginning of a successive clause
Ancillary characters
secondary characters
Angst
Feeling of deep anxiety and dread pertaining to human condition or exsistence
Antecedent Action
Events leading up to climax
Anticlimax
Disappointing and underwhelming resolution
Antithesis
“To be or not to be”
Aphorism
Statement that expresses a general truth or principle
Assertion
Statement with confidence but without proof
Bildungsroman
Novel that focuses on the moral growth of a protagonist’s life
Blank verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter poetry
Blocking
Movement and positioning of characters on stage
Cacophony
Harsh sounds used for artistic effect (sounds of battle)
Caesura
Pause or break in line of poetry
caricature
exaggerated protrayal of person’s facial features
catharsis
Release of tension by audience
Chiasmus
Order of words in first clause is reversed in second
Chorus
Characters who are commentators/narrators
Colloquial
Informal language, everyday conversation
Conceit
Extends metaphor that relates two unrelated things
Concrete poetry
Visual arrangement of words that contribute to meaning in a poem
Denouement
Resolution or conclusion of a story’s plot
Deus Ex Machina
An unsolvable problem is solved by an unexpected entity (supernatural)
Didacticism
Intentional teaching of morals using literature
Elegy
Poem or song done in lamentation
Enjambment
Continuation from one line to another without pause
Ethos
Appeal to credibility
Eulogy
Praise speech delivered for the dead
Euphemism
Word substituted for another that is harsh or blunt
Euphony
pleasant, harmonious sound
Existentialism
belief that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice
Exposition
provides background information
fable
short story with moral
Foil
character contrast
Framing
Structure where something is presented
Free verse
Poetry that doesn’t follow rhyme or meter scheme
Hamartia
fatal flaw
Huris
Excessive pride and arrogance
Iambic rhythm
The unstressed and stressed pattern of rhythm
In media res
Starting a stay in middle of action instead of beginning
Indirect characterization
character traits that are not immediately present
Kinesthetic images
words that evoke a physical sensation
Limited omniscient POV
story that is told from a single character without insight
Lyric
Poetry that expresses thoughts and feelings
Malapropism
Funny misuse of word
Melodrama
dramatic mark, absurd statement
Metonymy
A word or phrase is substituted without another that is closely associated
Octet
Stanzas of 8 lines
Oedipus complex
Unconscious desire for opposite sex parent
Omniscient point of veiw
narrator knows thoughts and feelings of characters
Parody
humorous imitation with prepare of satire or ridicule
Pastoral
Indealizes rural life and nature
Peripeteia
Sudden reversal of fortune
Plausibility
Quality of being believable or realistic
Premise
Underlying context
Prologue
Introductory section of literature
Quatrain
Stanza of four lines
Raisonneur
Character in a play who expresses the author’s moral perspective
Rhetoric
Art of persuasive speaking or writing
Scrim
thin, transparent fabric used as background
Sestet
stanza of six lines
Sight rhyme
Words that look alike but are pronounced differently
Situational irony
Outcome is opposite than what is expected
Slant rhyme
Words that have similar sounds
Sonnet
14 line poem with rhyme meter
Stock character
stereotypical character
Synecdoche
reference to part which represents the whole
Verbal irony
when speaker says one thing but means the opposite
Verisimilitude
Appearance of being true and real
