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English 9 > Literary Terms > Flashcards

Literary Terms Flashcards

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1
Q

Allegory

A

A story which has meaning on both the literal and figurative/moral level.

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2
Q

Alliteration

A

The repetition of sounds in a group of words.

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3
Q

Allusion

A

A reference to a person, place, or thing-often literary, mythological, or historical.

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4
Q

Anachronism

A

Refers to an element of a story which is in conflict with the story’s time period.

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5
Q

Analogy

A

A literary device that creates a relationship based on connections between two ideas.

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6
Q

Anecdote

A

A brief story usually featuring real people and events.

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7
Q

Antagonist

A

A major character that opposes the protagonist in a story or play.

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8
Q

Archetype

A

A character who represents a certain type of person.

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9
Q

Aside

A

A speech or short comment delivered to the audience or another character where others can’t hear.

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10
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of vowel sounds
“And so, all the n𝘪ght-t𝘪de, 𝘐 l𝘪e down by the s𝘪de.”

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11
Q

Atmosphere

A

The overall feeling of a work, which is related to tone and mood.

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12
Q

Audience

A

Who the work is directed to. (Can be one person or a group of people)

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13
Q

Ballad

A

A type of poem that tells a story and was traditionally set for music.

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14
Q

Bard

A

A poet, especially one who writes impassioned, lyrical, or epic verse.

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15
Q

Bildungsroman

A

A literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood, in which the character change is maturing.

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16
Q

Blank verse

A

Unrhymed lines of poetry usually in iambic pentameter.

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17
Q

Characterization

A

The means by which an author establishes character.

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18
Q

Climax

A

The point at which the action in a story or play reaches its emotional peak.

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19
Q

Comic relief

A

The inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious or dramatic work, often to relieve tension.

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20
Q

Conflict

A

The struggle in the story.
(Person vs. Self)
(Person vs. Person)
(Person vs. Society)
(Person vs. Nature)

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21
Q

Connotation

A

1) The definition of a word found outside of the dictionary.
2) Figurative meaning of a word.
3) The verb form is “to connotate” which means to “suggest or imply a meaning beyond the literal meaning of a word.”

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22
Q

Consonance

A

The repetition of constant sounds.
“The fair 𝘣reeze 𝘣lew, the white 𝘧oam 𝘧lew, the 𝘧urrow 𝘧ollowed 𝘧ree;”

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23
Q

Contrast

A

To explain how two things differ. To compare and contrast is to explain how two things are alike and how they are different.

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24
Q

Couplets

A

A pair of rhyming lines in a poem often set off from the rest of the poem.

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25
Q

Crisis

A

Decision or dilemma.

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26
Q

Denotation

A

1) The definition of a word found in the dictionary.
2) Literal meaning of a word.
3) The verb form is “to denote” which means “to mean.”

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27
Q

Denouement

A

The resolution of the conflict in a plot after the climax. It also refers to the resolution of the action in a story or play after the principal drama is resolved.

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28
Q

Diction

A

1) Word choice.
2) The author’s choice of words in order to create a certain tone.

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29
Q

Dramatic monologue

A

A poem in which the speaker reveals his or her character through an extended speech or a one-way dialogue.

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30
Q

Elegy

A

A poem mourning the dead.

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31
Q

End rhyme

A

Rhyming words that are at the ends of their respective lines- what we typically think of as normal rhyme.

32
Q

Epic

A

A long poem narrating the adventures of a heroic figure.

33
Q

Fable

A

A story that illustrates a moral often using animals as characters.

34
Q

Figurative language

A

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or subject.

35
Q

Flashback

A

An interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point of the story.

36
Q

Foil

A

A character who contrasts with another character.

37
Q

Foreshadowing

A

A technique in which an author gives clues about something that will happen later in the story.

38
Q

Free verse

A

Poetry with no set meter or rhyme scheme.

39
Q

Genre

A

A term used to describe a particular category or type of literature.

40
Q

Hyperbole

A

An extreme exaggeration.

41
Q

Iambic pentameter

A

Ten-syllable lines in which every other syllable is stressed.

42
Q

Imagery

A

The use of description that helps the reader imagine how something looks, sounds, feels, smells, or tastes. Most of the time it refers to appearance.

43
Q

Internal rhyme

A

A rhyme that occurs within one line such as “He’s king of the swing.”

44
Q

Irony

A

Language that conveys a certain idea by saying just the opposite.

45
Q

Lyric

A

A type of poetry that expresses the poet’s emotions. It often tells some sort of brief story, engaging the reader in the experience.

46
Q

Metaphor

A

A comparison of two unlike things using any form of the verb “to be.”

47
Q

Meter

A

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the lines of a poem.

48
Q

Monolouge

A

A long speech by one character in a play or story.

49
Q

Mood

A

The feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage.

50
Q

Motif

A

A recurrent image, word, phrase, or action that tends to unify the literary work or that forms the theme in a work of literature.

51
Q

Myth

A

A legend that embodies the belief of people and offers some explanation for natural and social phenomena.

52
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

The use of words that sound like what they mean such as “buzz” or “boom.”

53
Q

Oxymoron

A

A figure of speech that places contradictory terms next to each other in a word or phrase.

54
Q

Paradox

A

A statement that is apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really contains a possible truth.

55
Q

Parallelism

A

The use of similar grammatical structures for effect. (I saw, I came, I conquered)

56
Q

Parody

A

A humorous, exaggerated imitation of a work of literature.

57
Q

Personification

A

Giving inanimate objects human characteristics.

58
Q

Plot

A

The series of events that form the story.

59
Q

Point of view

A

The perspective from which the story is told.

60
Q

Prose

A

Writing organized into sentences and paragraphs that is not poetry.

61
Q

Protagonist

A

The main character of a novel, play, or story.

62
Q

Pun

A

The use of a word in a way that plays on its different meanings.

63
Q

Quatrain

A

A four-line stanza.

64
Q

Rhetorical question

A

A question not meant to be answered but is used to make a deeper impression on the reader.

65
Q

Sarcasm

A

Language that conveys a certain idea by saying just the opposite.

66
Q

Satire

A

A work that makes fun of someone or something.

67
Q

Setting

A

The time, place, and environment in which a story occurs.

68
Q

Simile

A

Comparing two unlike things with “like” or “as.”

69
Q

Soliloquy

A

A monologue in which a character expresses his or her thoughts to the audience and does not intend the other characters to hear them.

70
Q

Sonnet

A

A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter.

71
Q

Stanza

A

A major subdivision in a poem.

72
Q

Subplot

A

The secondary action of a story, complete and interesting in their own right, that reinforces or contrasts with the main plot.

73
Q

Symbolism

A

The use of one thing to represent another. Something that stands for something else.

74
Q

Theme

A

The central idea of a work.

75
Q

Tone

A

The author’s attitude toward the subject of the work.

76
Q

Understatement

A

A literary device by which a particular quality of a person, object, emotion, or situation, is downplayed or presented as being less than what is true to the situation.

77
Q

Voice

A

The authorial presence in a piece of literature whether in the first, second, or third person.

English 9 (1 decks)

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