Literary Terms Flashcards by Karlette Cubar

Abstract:

something that cannot be perceived by the senses: eg. the word “truth” is abstract

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Act:

a main division of a dramatic piece. Eg. Shakespeare’s plays consist of 5 Acts subdivided into scenes.

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Allegory:

a story that has a second meaning beneath the obvious one: e.g. George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm. The characters often stand for abstract concepts. Generally teaches a lesson by means of an interesting story.

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Alliteration:

the repetition at close intervals of usually initial sounds for a purpose: e.g. wailing in the winter wind

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Allusion:

A reference to something from literature, story mythology, or the Bible: e.g. saying that “someone met his Waterloo” refers to his historical event when Napoleon was sadly defeated in a battle at a place called Waterloo.

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Ambience:

Is the emotional tone that pervades a work of fiction but is created through image imagery, which are words and phrases to create sensory (visual, smell, hearing, taste, and touch) experiences for the reader

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Amplification:

A figure of speech that repeats a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize it

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Anachronism:

and error in chronology: “out of the time context” eg. Clocks in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

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Anadiplosis:

The repetition of the last word of a clause or sentence at the beginning of the next. ex. “ I a, Sam, Sam I am” - Dr.Seuss (Green Eggs and Ham)

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Analogy:

A comparison of two similar things were the familiar is used to explain the unfamiliar: e.g. “An essay outline is like an architectural blueprint.”

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Analysis:

a close examination of a literary work: eg. examining the structure of a poem

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Anaphora:

the repetition of the same word/phrase at the beginnings of consecutive clauses or sentences.

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Anastrophe:

In which the normal sentence structure (subject, then verb) is reversed (verb, then subject) EXAMPLES: Patience I lack, into the water, dove the boy, Yoda: “ Strong in the force, you are.”

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Anecdote:

A short often, amusing narrative: e.g. The sergeant told his men, “ This type of bullet will penetrate 6 inches of solid oak. So remember, men- keep our heads down!”

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Angle:

the position or direction from which an object is viewed

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Angst:

a feeling of anxiety, dread or anguish

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Antagonist:

The force that opposes the main character; it can be an animal, a force, or a weakness of the protagonist. e.g. In William Shakespeare’s play, Claudius is Hamlets antagonist.

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Antecedent:

That which precedes or comes before; in a story, novel or play it is the action of and to the characters which help explain their present situation.

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Antecedent Action:

event that took place before the beginning of the narrative but is important to the work

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Anthology:

a book or other collection of selected writings by an author or various authors

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Anthropomorphism:

attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (see also: Personification)

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Anti- climax:

A drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a dignified from an important idea or situation to a trivial contrast to a previous moment

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Antihero:

a character who lacks qualities needed for heroism: does not possess nobility of life, mind or lofty aims

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Antistrophe:

A figure of speech that repeats the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses, ie. the direct opposite of ANAPHORA

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Antithesis:

a contrast of ideas: e.g. sink or swim

Apostrophe:

A device most often used in poetry addressing the absent as if present, the inanimate as if animate or the dead as if living: e.g. "O Wild Wild West wind, thou breathe of autumns being."

Archaic Language:

outdated language that is no longer used: eg. using "thou" instead of "you"

Archetype:

The original model,form or pattern from which something develops; a model that has typical qualities: e.g. Supermen is an archetypal superhero.

Aside:

A stage convention used by a playwright to indicate words spoken by a character heard by the audience but not by the other characters on stage

Assonance:

the repetition at close intervals of similar vowel sounds eg. free and easy; mad as a hatter

Asyndeton:

When conjunctions are excluded for effect. Ex. "We saw no houses, no smoke, no foot prints, no boats, no people." William Golding) opposite of polysyndeton

Atmosphere:

Used to describe the overall effect of a creative work of literature; the emotional feeling created by the elements in literature: e.g. Setting, description, dialogue

Autobiography:

a person's life story told by him or herself.

Background:

the part of a picture or view that is furthest from the viewer

Ballad:

A narrative poem originally meant to be sung. Ballads are generally about ordinary people who have unusual adventures with a single tragic incident as the central focus. They contain dialogue and repetition and imply more than they usually tell.

Blank Verse:

Cacophony:

Caricature:

Catharsis:

Character:

Characterization:

Character Analysis:

Character Presentation:

Chiasmus:

Chorus:

Chronology:

Cliché:

Climax:

Coincidence:

Colloquial/ism:

Comedy:

Comic Relief:

Complication:

Conceit:

Conclusion:

Conflict:

Concrete:

Connotation:

Consistent:

Consonance:

Controlling Image:

Context:

Convention:

Couplet:

Crisis:

Criticism:

Denotation:

Denouement:

Deux ex Machina:

Dialect:

Dialogue:

Diatribe:

Diction:

Didactic:

Dilemma:

Dirge:

Dissonance:

Double Entendre :

Dramatic Convention:

Dramatic Irony:

Dramatis Personae:

Dynamic:

Einfühlung:

Elegy:

Ellipsis:

Empathy:

End Rhyme:

Enjambment:

Epic:

Epigram:

Epigraph:

Epitaph:

Epilogue:

Epiphany:

Episode:

Escape Literature:

Essay:

Ethos:

Eulogy:

Euphemism:

Euphony:

Excerpt:

Exposition:

Fable:

Falling Action:

Fantasy:

Farce:

Figurative Language:

Figures of Speech:

Flashback:

Flat Character:

Foil:

Folktale:

Foot:

Foreground:

Foreshadowing:

Forward:

Formula:

Frame:

Frame Story:

Free Verse:

Genre:

Gothic:

Gradatio:

Haiku:

Hamartia:

Heroic Couplet:

Heuristic:

Hubris:

Humours:

Hyperbole:

Hypophora:

Hypothetical:

lambic Pentameter:

Icon:

Idiom:

Idyll:

Illusion:

Image:

Imagery:

Imitative Harmony:

Implication:

Indeterminate Ending:

Inference:

Inciting/Initial Incident:

In Media Res:

Innocent Eye:

Innuendo:

Interpretive Literature:

Introduction:

Inversion:

Irony:

Jargon:

Juxtaposition:

Lampoon:

Legend:

Literal Meaning:

Literary Device:

Litotes:

Local Color:

Logorrhea:

Logos:

Loose Sentence:

Lyric:

Malapropism:

Maxim:

Meiosis:

Melodrama:

Memoir:

Metaphor:

Meter:

Metonymy:

Mixed Metaphor:

Milieu:

Monologue:

Mood:

Morality Play:

Motif:

Motivation:

Narration/Narrator:

Narrative Hook:

Nemesis:

Non-Fiction:

Novel:

Ode:

Octet (Octave):

Omniscience:

Onomatopoeia:

Oration:

Overstatement:

Oxymoron:

Palindrome:

Parable:

Paradox:

Parallelism:

Paraphrase:

Parody:

Pastoral:

Pathetic Fallacy:

Pathos:

Pedantry:

Periodic Sentence:

Persona:

Personal Essay:

Personification:

Picaresque:

Plagiarism:

Plausible:

Plot:

Poetic Justice:

Poetic License:

Plausible Character:

Point of View:

Polysyndeton:

Précis:

Prologue:

Proscenium:

Prose:

Protagonist:

Prototype:

Proverb:

Pun:

Purple Prose:

Quatrain:

Quintrain:

Realism:

Refrain:

Repartee:

Repetition:

Resolution

Rhetoric:

Rhetorical Question:

Rhyme:

Rhyme Scheme:

Rhyming Couplet:

Rhythm:

Rising Action:

Round Character:

Saga:

Sarcasm:

Satire:

Scene:

Science Fiction:

Semantics:

Setting:

Sestet (Sextet):

Short

Short Story:

Simile:

Situational Irony:

Slander:

Slang:

Socratic:

Soliloquy:

Sonnet:

Spoonerism:

Sprung Rhythm:

Stage Direction:

Stage Whisper:

Stanza:

Static Character:

Stock Character:

Stock Situation:

Storytelling arc:

Stream of Consciousness:

Strophe:

Style:

Subjective:

Surprise Ending:

Surrealism:

Suspense:

Suspension of Disbelief:

Syllogism:

Symbol:

Synecdoche:

Synonym:

Synopsis:

Syntax:

Tall Tale:

Tanka:

Telestich:

Tenor:

Tension:

Terza Rima:

Tetralogy:

Theatre of the Absurd:

Theme:

Thesis:

Threnody:

Tirade:

Tone:

Topic Sentence:

Tract:

Tragedy:

Transitions:

Triplet:

Trite:

Understatement:

Unities

Three:

Universality:

Unreliable Narrator:

Verbal Irony:

Verisimilitude:

Verse:

Voice:

Vignette:

Villanelle:

Weltschmerz:

Wit: