Literary Terms #2 Flashcards
Alliteration
repetition of similar sounds close together
‘‘while I nodded, nearly napping…’’
allegory
figurative work which carries a symbolic, metaphorical meaning (lion rep. Christ in Narnia)
Allusion
Reference to something known (e.g. from history, culture, literature, religion etc.)
Ambiguity
writer suggest two+ meanings in a work (e.g. heaven’s just a sin away)
anaphora
repetition that occurs in beginning of sentence/clause/phrase (e.g. first letter in almost every word)
apostrophe
addressing a person/object that is not present/addressing someone/thing directly
assonance
deliberate repetition of internal vowel sounds to create rhythm, mood, emphasis
blank verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter
caesura
pause/comma in a line of poetry
canon
those whose work is accepted as ‘‘the great ones’’
characterization
protagonist, antagonist, antihero, persona, foil
protagonist vs. antagonist
main character vs. the opponent
antihero
lacks/seems to lack heroic traits
persona
fictional character, often to distinguish the writer from the character in his work
foil
character that contrasts another (e.g. Horatio to Hamlet)
Characters:
dynamic (changes in important way ‘cause of plot)
static (does not change)
round (complex char., has dimensions to pers.)
flat (one-dimensional, can be summed up in a single phrase (e.g. loyal sidekick)
coming-of-age
character is initiated into adulthood through experience/knowledge/loss of innocence
plot
struggle/conflict in fiction. internal or external
euphemism
substitution of negative/blunt words
died->passed away
foreshadowing
use of hints to suggest what will happen later in the work
free verse
poetry that is not rhymed and metered
genre
literary form, e.g. tragedy, epic, comedy, novel, essay, biography, lyric poem
hyperbole
overstatement/exaggeration
understatement
states less than what is true/real
imagery
use of language to evoke a concrete sensation of a person, thing, place, experience (words that appeal to touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing)
inverted sentence
reverse normal word order (used for emphasis, to catch attention)
irony
discrepancy between appearances and reality
verbal irony
sarcasm, say one thing but mean another
situational irony
discrepancy between what is appropriate to happen and what really happens
dramatic irony
character thinks one thing is true but audience knows better
meter
measurement of rhythm in poems, patterns resulting from heavy and light stresses on syllables
foot: iamb
trochee
anapest
U /
/ U
U U /
monometer
one foot
dimeter
two feet
trimeter
three feet
tetrameter
four feet
pentameter
five feet
hexameter
six feet
iambic pentameter
five pairs of U /
trochaic tetrameter
four feet of / U
metonymy
name of one thing is used for another (e.g. gray hair = age and wisdom, the crown = monarch)
onomatopoeia
word whose sound echoes its meaning
oxymoron
two contradictory terms combined (true lies, living dead)
parable
short story that teaches a moral lesson
paradox
a statement that seems self-contradictory but has valid meaning (I have a degree, but I know nothing)
Parallel structure
repetition of words/phrases that have similar grammatical structures
personification
giving human characteristics to objects, ‘‘personify’’
point of view
perspective. first person (‘‘I’’)
omniscient narrator (knows everything
limited third person (p.o.v. of one char.)
objective p.o.v. (presents actions without comment)
rhetorical question
asked for effect, does not need answering
satire
based on criticism of people/society through ridicule
simile
uses the words ‘‘as’’ or ‘‘like’’ to compare things (as soft as lamb)
metaphor
does not use ‘‘as’’ or ‘‘like’’, compares things without those extra words (John’s head is a computer)
stanza form
(stanza: group of lines) couplet: two lines
trecet: three lines
quatrain: four lines
cinquain: five lines
sestet: six lines
octave: eight lines
symbol
something that has a meaning for itself and stands for something else as well (dove=peace)
lyric poem
short poem, speaker expresses feelings/comment about life/descriptive. speaker is often the poet
dramatic poem
tells a story, character(s) talk, speaker is not the poet
ballad
story in song form, usual theme is love
elegy
mournful poem (e.g. In Memoriam by Tennyson)
ode
song in honor of gods or heroes, many of Greek origin
sonnet
poem of fourteen lines, many types
Shakespearian sonnet
iambic pentameter, three quatrains and one couplet, rhyme: abab, cdcd, efef etc.
Spenserian sonnet
first 12 lines form a single unit, last two are separated, rhyme: ababbcbccdcd,,ee
Italian sonnet
eight line stanza (octave) and sestet stanza, rhyme: abba, abba, cde, cde (e.g. Sonnets from the Portugese)
epic
long serious poem that tells a story of a hero, he often has superhuman traits (e.g. Beowulf, Odyssey)
haiku
three line poem which makes a statement, lines have 5-7-5 syllables
