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English 3-4 > Literary Terms 2014 > Flashcards

Literary Terms 2014 Flashcards

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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
Q

Connotation

A

The association evoked by a word beyond its denotation

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25
Q

Chiasmus

A

A rhetorical figure in which certain words concepts or syntactic structures are reversed and repeated in reverse order

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26
Q

Conceit

A

An elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently highly dissimilar things

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27
Q

Cumulative sentence

A

A sentence that begins with the main clause that is followed by phrases or clauses that modify the main clause

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28
Q

Canto

A

A division of a long poem

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29
Q

Couplet

A

Two successive lines of rhyming verse often of the same meter and generally either octosyllabic or Decasyllabic

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30
Q

Denouement

A

Events following the climax which implies a resolution or explanation to a conflict

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31
Q

Deus ex Machina

A

Specifically intervention of a nonhuman force to resolve a seemingly impossible conflict in a literary work

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32
Q

Drama

A

A serious literary work intended to be performed to an audience

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33
Q

Denotation

A

A word literal and primary definition

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34
Q

Didactic

A

Literature meant to instruct and teach readers a lesson

35
Q

Enjambment

A

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
Q

Epilogue

A

Concluding section of work

37
Q

Exposition

A

The part of the play that provides background information to understand the characters and action

38
Q

Explication

A

Interpretation (by implication an explanation) of a difficult passage in the Bible. Literature using close reading to analyze passage

39
Q

Euphony

A

Pleasing harmonious sounds

40
Q

Falling action

A

The portion of the plot that follows the climax and leads to the catastrophe or resolution

41
Q

Farce

A

A type of low comedy that employs improbable situations mixups and crude dialogue

42
Q

Foil

A

A character that distinctly contrasts the main character in order to accentuate each other’s quality or personality

43
Q

Foot

A 
Iamb: u /
Spondee: / /
Anapest: u u /
Trockee: / u
Pyrrhic: u u
Dactyl: / u u
44
Q

Frame story

A

A story within another story (usually explains why an interior story is being told)

45
Q

Foreshadowing

A

The technique using narrative materials that prepares the reader for future events actions or revelations

46
Q

Free verse

A

Poetry that lacks a certain meter does not have rhyme and uses irregular or short line lengths

47
Q

Hubris

A

Excessive pride in a protagonist that leads to his downfall

48
Q

Hero

A

Synonymous with protagonist; A term referring to the chief character of the work

49
Q

Hyperbole

A

A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve and effect whether serious comical or ironic

50
Q

Half rhyme

A

A form of rhyme in which words contain similar sounds but do not rhyme perfectly

51
Q

Iambic tetrameter

A

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables unaccented and accented occurring four times in a line

52
Q

Italian sonnet

A

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
Q

Lampoon

A

A satirical often vicious attack on an individual or on occasions institution or society in general

54
Q

Loose sentences

A

A sentence characterized by its informal or conversational style opposite of a periodic sentence

55
Q

Monologue

A

And extended narrative of a character

56
Q

Metonymy

A

One thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it
The crown= monarch

57
Q

Meter

A

For a regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry

58
Q

Motif

A

A re-current image symbol theme, character, type, subject, or narrative detail

59
Q

Prologue

A

An introductory statement proceeding a literary work

60
Q

Protagonist

A

The most important leading character in a work

61
Q

Play

A

A story that is intended to be performed on stage

62
Q

Poetic syntax

A

The way words are organized in a poem

63
Q

Poetic form

A

A certain structure of stanzas and lines in poetry

Haikus etc

64
Q

Periodic sentences

A

A sentence that is not syntactically complete until the very end

65
Q

Palindrome

A

Writing, word, sentence, line where the letters are exactly the same and read forward and backwards

66
Q

Pastoral

A

A literary mode historically and conventionally associated with shepherds and country living

67
Q

Quatrain

A

A stanza containing four lines sometimes referred to a four lined poem

68
Q

Rising action

A

A part in drama follows the inciting moment and precedes the climax

69
Q

Rhetorical device

A

The art of persuasion through speaking and writing

70
Q

Stanza

A

A group of set lines in a poem with regular and recurrent form

71
Q

Scene

A

A subdivision of an act in drama

72
Q

Soliloquy

A

A monologue by a character on stage alone that reveals his inner thoughts or feelings

73
Q

Synecdoche

A

A figure of speech we are a part of something that represents a whole
Car=’wheels’

74
Q

Symbolism

A

The use of symbols to represent or suggest other things or ideas

75
Q

Stream of consciousness

A

A form of narrative that approximates the flow of thoughts and sensory impressions that pass through the mind each instance

76
Q

Syntax

A

Fee arrangement grouping ordering and placing of words within a sentence

77
Q

Sestina

A

A tightly structure French verse consisting six sextet and three line envoy

78
Q

Spondee

A

A metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables (‘’)

79
Q

Shakespearean sonnet

A

A 14 line sonnet consisting of three quatrains with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef following a couplet, ee

80
Q

Tragedy

A

A serious somber drama that typically ends in a disaster

81
Q

Tragic flaw

A

A character trait in the hero that brings about his downfall

82
Q

Transcendentalism

A

A religious philosophical movement that originated in Europe became very popular in America in the 1900s

83
Q

Understatement

A

To describe something in a way that, taken literally minimizes it’s evident significance or gravity

84
Q

Villain

A

A wicked or evil person

85
Q

Villanelle

A

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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