Literary Terms Flashcards
apostrophe
a speech or address to a person who is not present or to a personified object,
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” in Romeo and Juliet
extended metaphor
When a metaphor is extended across an entire piece of writing.
The kite in the kite runner
personification
the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman,
The trees seemed to whisper as the wind blew through the forest.
paradox
a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.
Less is more.
antithesis
a literary device that places opposite words, ideas, or qualities parallel to each other
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice. - William Shakespeare
anaphora
the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition
I love eggs, and so do they.
synecdoche
figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.
Jack got some new wheels (car)
antimetabole
the repetition of the same words in reverse order
All for one, one for all.
parallelism
using similar words, clauses, phrases, sentence structure, or other grammatical elements to emphasize similar ideas in a sentence.
Sami likes to cook, bake, and marinate.
colloquialism
a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
Y’all
allegory
narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance
Animal Farm by George Orwell
dramatic monologue
a poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
bildungsroman
story that traces the moral and psychological growth of its protagonist over time
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
irony
the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect
The police station got robbed when the officers were off duty
denotation v connotation
the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
v.
an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning
