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English 3-4 > Literary Terms 2014 > Flashcards

Literary Terms 2014 Flashcards

0
Q

Antagonist

A

The character pitted against the protagonist of the work

Not necessarily a villain

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1
Q

Act

A

A major division of a play or drama usually subdivided in scenes

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2
Q

Aside

A

It convention in drama where the character reveals thoughts and feelings to the audience but remains hidden to the other characters of the play

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3
Q

Annotation

A

To write comments or mark on the text

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4
Q

Allegory

A

The presentation of an abstract idea through a more concrete means

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5
Q

Archetype

A

A model of a stereotypical image figure setting and story universally shared throughout culture

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6
Q

Antithesis

A

A rhetorical figure in which two ideas are directly oppose presented in a grammatically parallel way

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7
Q

Anaphora

A

A rhetorical figure involving exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences (A form of parallelism)

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8
Q

Anapest

A

A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one

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9
Q

Bildungsroman

A

A novel where protagonist recounts his/her developments from childhood to maturity

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10
Q

Blank verse

A

Broadly defind any unrhymed verse but usually referring to unrhymed iambic pentameter

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11
Q

Catastrophe

A

The culmination of a play’s falling action which in turn follows the climax or the crisis of the drama

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12
Q

Catharsis

A

Emotional effect of exaltation or relief a tragic drama has on its audience

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13
Q

Character

A

A figure in a literary work

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14
Q

Flat character

A

Characters defined by single ideas or quality

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15
Q

Round character

A

Characters with three dimensional complexity of a real human

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16
Q

Static character

A

Stay same throughout the novel

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17
Q

Dynamic character

A

Changes in response to circumstance and experience– either for good or worse

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18
Q

Stock character

A

A stereotypical character that can be easily identified

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19
Q

Climax

A

The point of greatest tension or emotional intensity in a plot

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20
Q

Comic relief

A

A Humorous scene or passage to provide an emotional outlet in a otherwise serious work

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21
Q

Conflict

A

A confrontation or struggle between opposing characters which causes action in the work

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22
Q

Crisis

A

A moment in the plot where the main character is required to make a decisive choice for the better or for the worse in a moments of intense pressure

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23
Q

Caesura

A

A pause in a line of poetry usually indicated by the rhythm not meter of the poem sometimes expressed with punctuation

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24
Connotation
The association evoked by a word beyond its denotation
25
Chiasmus
A rhetorical figure in which certain words concepts or syntactic structures are reversed and repeated in reverse order
26
Conceit
An elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently highly dissimilar things
27
Cumulative sentence
A sentence that begins with the main clause that is followed by phrases or clauses that modify the main clause
28
Canto
A division of a long poem
29
Couplet
Two successive lines of rhyming verse often of the same meter and generally either octosyllabic or Decasyllabic
30
Denouement
Events following the climax which implies a resolution or explanation to a conflict
31
Deus ex Machina
Specifically intervention of a nonhuman force to resolve a seemingly impossible conflict in a literary work
32
Drama
A serious literary work intended to be performed to an audience
33
Denotation
A word literal and primary definition
34
Didactic
Literature meant to instruct and teach readers a lesson
35
Enjambment
A jump from one line to the next to connect the meaning of the poem. To jam together two lines to understand the lines
36
Epilogue
Concluding section of work
37
Exposition
The part of the play that provides background information to understand the characters and action
38
Explication
Interpretation (by implication an explanation) of a difficult passage in the Bible. Literature using close reading to analyze passage
39
Euphony
Pleasing harmonious sounds
40
Falling action
The portion of the plot that follows the climax and leads to the catastrophe or resolution
41
Farce
A type of low comedy that employs improbable situations mixups and crude dialogue
42
Foil
A character that distinctly contrasts the main character in order to accentuate each other's quality or personality
43
Foot
``` Iamb: u / Spondee: / / Anapest: u u / Trockee: / u Pyrrhic: u u Dactyl: / u u ```
44
Frame story
A story within another story (usually explains why an interior story is being told)
45
Foreshadowing
The technique using narrative materials that prepares the reader for future events actions or revelations
46
Free verse
Poetry that lacks a certain meter does not have rhyme and uses irregular or short line lengths
47
Hubris
Excessive pride in a protagonist that leads to his downfall
48
Hero
Synonymous with protagonist; A term referring to the chief character of the work
49
Hyperbole
A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve and effect whether serious comical or ironic
50
Half rhyme
A form of rhyme in which words contain similar sounds but do not rhyme perfectly
51
Iambic tetrameter
A metrical foot consisting of two syllables unaccented and accented occurring four times in a line
52
Italian sonnet
14 line sonnet consisting of two parts the octave eight lines with the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA and the sestet six lines usually following the CDE CDE rhyme scheme
53
Lampoon
A satirical often vicious attack on an individual or on occasions institution or society in general
54
Loose sentences
A sentence characterized by its informal or conversational style opposite of a periodic sentence
55
Monologue
And extended narrative of a character
56
Metonymy
One thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it The crown= monarch
57
Meter
For a regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry
58
Motif
A re-current image symbol theme, character, type, subject, or narrative detail
59
Prologue
An introductory statement proceeding a literary work
60
Protagonist
The most important leading character in a work
61
Play
A story that is intended to be performed on stage
62
Poetic syntax
The way words are organized in a poem
63
Poetic form
A certain structure of stanzas and lines in poetry | Haikus etc
64
Periodic sentences
A sentence that is not syntactically complete until the very end
65
Palindrome
Writing, word, sentence, line where the letters are exactly the same and read forward and backwards
66
Pastoral
A literary mode historically and conventionally associated with shepherds and country living
67
Quatrain
A stanza containing four lines sometimes referred to a four lined poem
68
Rising action
A part in drama follows the inciting moment and precedes the climax
69
Rhetorical device
The art of persuasion through speaking and writing
70
Stanza
A group of set lines in a poem with regular and recurrent form
71
Scene
A subdivision of an act in drama
72
Soliloquy
A monologue by a character on stage alone that reveals his inner thoughts or feelings
73
Synecdoche
A figure of speech we are a part of something that represents a whole Car='wheels'
74
Symbolism
The use of symbols to represent or suggest other things or ideas
75
Stream of consciousness
A form of narrative that approximates the flow of thoughts and sensory impressions that pass through the mind each instance
76
Syntax
Fee arrangement grouping ordering and placing of words within a sentence
77
Sestina
A tightly structure French verse consisting six sextet and three line envoy
78
Spondee
A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables ('')
79
Shakespearean sonnet
A 14 line sonnet consisting of three quatrains with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef following a couplet, ee
80
Tragedy
A serious somber drama that typically ends in a disaster
81
Tragic flaw
A character trait in the hero that brings about his downfall
82
Transcendentalism
A religious philosophical movement that originated in Europe became very popular in America in the 1900s
83
Understatement
To describe something in a way that, taken literally minimizes it's evident significance or gravity
84
Villain
A wicked or evil person
85
Villanelle
A French verse form with 19 lines 5 tercets and a quatrain with the rhyme scheme of aba(x5) abaa

English 3-4 (4 decks)

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