Literary Terms Flashcards
For the BC English 12 Provincial Exam
1
Q
Active Voice
A
A direct statement.
2
Q
Passive Voice
A
Inverting the normal pattern. (It’s harder to define passive voice than it is to recognize it.)
3
Q
Allegory
A
A narrative that has a second meaning beneath the surface.
A story with at least two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic one.
e.g. George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
4
Q
Alliteration/Assonance/Consonance
A
Alliteration: Repetition of the initial consonant sounds (e.g. terrible truths and lullaby lies)
Assonance: Repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually on stressed syllables. (e.g. mystery disguised within)
Consonance: Repetition of similar consonant sounds (e.g. glooMy woMan)
5
Q
Allusion
A
A reference to a person, place, event, or literary work that the writer expects the reader to recognize and respond to. Adds layers of meaning.
6
Q
Ambiguity
A
With writing, can refer to a carelessness that produces two or more meanings where a single one is intended.
With literature, it generally refers to a richness of poetic expression. Can show a fundamental division in the author’s mind, as well as challenge the reader to invent interpretations based on these contradictions.
7
Q
Analogy
A
A comparison between things similar in a number ways; often used to explain the unfamiliar by the familiar. Sometimes used to justify conclusions logic would not allow.
8
Q
Anecdotal evidence
A
A short narrative, usually presented as true and incorporated into essays as supporting evidence. Can be emotionally compelling.
9
Q
Antagonist
A
The major force that opposes the protagonist.
10
Q
Anti-climax
A
A sudden descent from the impressive to the trivial, especially at the end of an ascending series, for ludicrous or humorous effect.
11
Q
Antithesis
A
The juxtaposition of contrasting or opposite ideas, often in parallel structure. e.g. “Though studious, he was popular; though argumentative, he was modest”
12
Q
Apostrophe
A
A figure of speech in which an abesent or dead person, or an abstract quality or something non-human is addressed directly. e.g. “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean - roll!”
13
Q
Archaic language
A
Language that is old-fashioned or obsolete. Deliberately used to imply that something was written in the past.
14
Q
Aside
A
In theatre, a speech given to the audience that is apparently unheard by the other characters in the play, who continue in their roles without the knowledge thus given the spectators.
15
Q
Atmosphere (or mood)
A
The prevailing feeling created by the story, created by descriptive diction, imagery, and dialogue.
16
Q
Audience
A
The person or people gathered to hear, see, or read a work.
17
Q
Autobiography
A
The description of a life, or a portion of it, written by the person who has lived it. Contrast “biography”, which presents a life as written by another person.
18
Q
Ballad
A
A narrative poem, usually simple and fairly short, originally meant to be sung. Often begins abruptly, utilizes simple language, tells the story tersely, and makes use of refrains (a line or lines repeated at intervals).
19
Q
Ballad stanza
A
The name for common meter as found in ballads: a quatrain in iambic meter, alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines, usually rhyming abcb. e.g.
There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
And a wealthy wife was she’
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And sent them o’er the sea.
20
Q
(Quatrain)
A
Four line stanza, could be rhymed or unrhymed. Most common form of stanza in English.
21
Q
Bias
A
An inclination or preference towards one side; a kind of prejudice. Can make it difficult or impossible to judge fairly in a particular situation.
22
Q
Blank verse
A
Unrhymed iambic pentameter. “Blank” means the lines don’t rhyme, “iambic” is a meter that begins unstressed and ends stressed, “meter” refers to a regular pattern.
23
Q
Cacophony
A
“Bad-sounding”. Contrast euphony. Cacophony signifies discordant, jarring, unharmonious language. e.g. Tennyson’s Morte D’Arthur:
Dry clashed his harness in the icy caves
And barren chasms, and all to left and right
The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based
His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang
Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels -
And on a sudden, lo! the level lake,
And the long glories of the winter moon.
The alliteration and assonance of the first five lines are rough; the last two lines are mellifluously smooth and euphonious.
24
Q
Caricature
A
In literature and art, a portrait that ridicules a person by exaggerating and distorting his most prominent features and characteristics.
25
Case study
A detailed analysis of a single person or group, especially as an exemplary model of medical, psychological, or social phenomena.
26
Catastrophe
The final disaster of a tragedy, usually including a resolution back to order.
27
Cause and effect
A common strategy in argumentative essays. It is the explaining of the "why" of something. They often work both ways: one can argue from an effect back to a cause, or take a cause and argue a possible effect.
28
Character
Both a fictional person in a story, and the moral, dispositional, and behavioral qualities of that fictional person.
29
Flat character
A character with few qualities. Not well developed.
30
Round character
A realistic character with several dimensions. A more complex, fully-developed person.
31
Static character
A character who does not change by the end of the story.
32
Dynamic (or developing) character
One who undergoes a significant, lasting change, usually in his or her outlook on life. In a short story, this is often the protagonist.
33
Stereotyped (or stock) character
A predictable, one-dimensional character who is recognizable to the reader as "of a type", e.g. the jock, the brain, the yuppe, the absent-minded professor, and so on.
34
Character foil
A character whose behaviour, attidues, and/or opinions contrast with those of the protagonist.
35
Characterization
The creation or description of a character in a work of fiction.
36
Chorus
In Greek drama, the group of singers and dancers that appears at intervals within a play to comment on the action or sing the praises of the gods. Generally, the chorus expresses the judgment of objective bystanders not directly involved in the passions of the protagonist and other major characters.
37
Chronological order
Arranging events in the order that they happened.
38
Cliché
An overused expression, once clever or metaphorical but now trite and timeworn.
39
Climatic order
Ideas arranged in the order of least to most important. A common strategy in composing an argument.
40
Climax
The point of greatest intensity in a plot.
41
Coincidence
A remarkable concurrence between two events that appear not to have any causal connection.
42
Colloquial language
Everyday speech and writing, relaxed and idiomatic. May contain slang or cliché.
43
Comedy
A literary work that ends happily with a healthy, amicable armistice between the protagonist and society. Frequently depict the overthrow of rigid social fashionis and customs.
44
Comic relief
A comic element usually insterted into a tragic or somber work to relieve its tension, widen its scope, or heighten by contrast the tragic emotion.
45
Compare and contrast
Two strategies that are often paired as a device for exploring literary work.
46
Comparison
A consideration of separate things in the light of their similarities. Similarity is the basic principle behind inductive argument and analogy.
47
Conflict (and the three types)
The struggle between opposing characters or forces.
Man versus man, man versus environment, and man versus self.
48
Connotation
All of the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse. e.g. "Springtime" has the connotations of youth, rebirth, and romance.
49
Contrast
The juxtaposition of disparate or opposed images, ideas, or both.
50
Couplet
Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. Shakespeare often closes a scene with a couplet. e.g. from Hamlet:
It shall be so.
Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.
51
Denotation
The dictionary or literary meaning of a word.
52
Dénouement
A French term for the "unknotting" or resolution of the plot.
53
Deus ex machina
"God out of the machine", refers to the resolution of the plot from outside forces or by highly improbable chances or coincidence.
54
Dialect
A variety of language belonging to a particular time, place, or social group. For example, an eighteenth-century cockney dialect, or a New England dialect.
55
Dialogue
A conversation between characters.
56
Diary
A daily record of events and observations, especially personal ones.
57
Diction
A writer's choice of words. Can be formal or informal, abstract or concrete.
58
Didactic
When the primary aim of a work is to expound some moral, political, or other teaching.
59
Dilemma
A situation requiring a choice between two equally balanced alternatives.
60
Direct presentation
A type of characterization where the author directly tells the readers what a character is like, perhaps by description or by having another character talk about the character in question. (e.g. Eustace was a very naughty boy)
61
Dissonance
A harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds; discord; cacophony.
e.g. Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est":
Gas! Gas! Quick boys! - An ecstacy of fumbling,
fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
62
Drama
A form of fiction acted out in front of an audience, distinguishing it from poetry, short stories, and other works.
63
Wit
Intellectual acuity, an amused indulgence of human deficiencies. Quick perception coupled with creative fancy.
64
Voice
Describes a person's writing-incorporates things such as dictions, imagery, vigour, ton, irony and the audience's perception of the writer's purpose.
65
Universality
Quality of a story that gives it relevance beyond the narrow confines of its particular characters, subject or setting. Universal stories reveal truths about human nature or society.
66
Understatement
Opposite of hyperbole. It is the minimizing of something, in order to emphasize it.
67
Tragedy
Literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or disastrous end.
68
Tone
The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters or audience. It could be serious, playful, ironic, detached, etc.
69
Third person narrative
Narrative told from a "he/she/they/it" perspective. First is "I", second is "you"
70
Thesis Statement
This is the sentence expressing an essay's main point, its main focus.
71
(Dead metaphor)
| Mixed metaphor
Dead: A metaphor that has become so commonplace that it seems literal rather than figurative. e.g. "A jacket" for the paper around a book.
Mixed: Using two or more inconsistent metaphors in one expression. For instance, "the population explosion has paved the way for new intellectual growth.". It looks good until we realize that explosions do not pave and that grass does not sprout through pavement. Usually a fault with the writing, but can occasionally be effective as in Hamlet's famous "take arms against a sea of troubles".
72
Theme
The theme of a story is the central idea, usually implied rather than directly stated. It is
the story's observation about life or human nature, the controlling insight.
73
Synecdoche
The understanding of one thing by another - a kind of metaphor in which a part stands
for the whole. Obvious examples would be "sail" for ship, "hands" for helpers as in "all
hands on deck!" It can also be the matter from which something is made: "silver" for
money or change, "steel" for sword, "canvas" for sail."
74
Symbolism
A term ordinarily applied to self-conscious uses more common in literature than in other
writing generally. In this sense, symbolism is a heightened use of symbol, presenting the
word first for its ordinary meaning (as when the word "rose" stands for the flower) and
then for some idea lying behind the ordinary meaning (as when the word "rose" stands
for the flower rose, which stands for beauty).
75
Symbol
Simplest form: Something that stands for something else.
76
Suspense
A state of uncertainty, anticipation, or curiosity concerning the outcome of a plot or the
resolution of a conflict. Suspense is in some measure a part of the effect of all stories,
as the reader is impelled forward by the questions, "What will happen?" "When?" "In
what manner?"
77
Subjective
With regard to language and tone, this adjective refers to personal or emotional
expression -- as opposed to objective, impersonal expression. When applied to writing,
subjectivity suggests that the writer is primarily concerned with conveying personal
experience and feeling -- as in an autobiography, or an autobiographical novel.
Objectivity suggests that the writer is "outside" of and detached from what he is writing
about: he or she is writing about other people rather than about himself or herself.
78
Stylistic technique
This refers to aspects of a writer's method of expression. It is an immense area involving
diction, sentence type and length, description, dialogue, archaic language, connotations,
figurative language, and so on.
79
Style
A huge, all-encompassing term for the characteristic way an author writes.
80
Meter
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. There are specific names for unstressed/stressed patterns:
e.g. Iambic: U S
e.g. Anapestic: U U S
(as well as trochaic, dactylic, spondaic; message me if you think these would be important to know.)
Number of feet in a line also gives the verse a name (which follow chemistry covalent compound nomenclature!)
monometer, dimeter, tri, tetra, penta, hexa, hepta
81
Stream of conciousness
The style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character's thoughts,
feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences
them.
82
HERMAN'S SKIPPED WORDS
```
Mood
Mystery (genre)
Myth
Octave (first unit in an Italian sonnet)
Ode (A complex and often lengthy lyric poem)
Parody (definition was tortuous)
Plagiarism
Prologue
```
83
Mood
the atmosphere of the literary work.
84
Narrator
One who tells a story. Determines the story's point of view. (e.g. first person, third person)
85
Narration (mode of writing)
The telling of a story.
Other modes are argument, description, and exposition.
86
Oxymoron
combining opposite or contradictory ideas or terms for effect. It suggests a paradox, but only briefly, such as living death, dear enemy, sweet sorry, and wise fool.
87
Onomatopoeia
The use of words formed sounding like what they signify - buzz, crack, smack, whinny.
88
Stanza
A division of a poem consisting of a group of lines
89
Speaker
| Persona
(Author)
The person who is understood to be speaking in a particular work. A distinction can
be made with the term persona who is invariably distinct from the author; it is the
voice chosen by the author for a particular purpose. Speaker and persona can be
synonymous.
90
Personification
Treating abstractions, things, or animals as persons. A type of metaphor. E.g. "blow, thou winter wind. blow!"
91
Soliloquoy
(Latin: soliloquium, from solus "alone" and loqui "to speak") A soliloquy is a speech,
often of some length, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his thoughts and
feelings.
92
Slang
The special vocabulary of a class or group of people (for example, truck drivers, jazz
musicians, salespeople, drug dealers), generally considered substandard, low, or
offensive when measured against formal, educated usage. Some slang, however, is
familiar to all, especially during the periods when it is in vogue
93
Simile
A comparison using "like" or "as"
E.g. Mr. Grant is like a bear in the morning.
94
Rhetorical question
A question that doesn't expect an answer.
Eg. Wherefore art thou Romeo?
95
Propaganda
Literary work that is devoted to the spreading of a particular idea or belief. Designed to convince and persuade to action.
96
Sarcasm
A cutting personal remark, from Greek sarkazein, "to tear flesh." Because the "tearing" is
frequently ironic, people often misapply the term to any ironic statement. "You ugly little
thing" addressed to a dwarf would be sarcastic but not ironic.
97
Repitition
Basically, anything repeated. (Duh!) Could be words, syllables, sounds, phrases, stanzas, patterns, allusions, etc.
98
Rhythm
The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern. Rhythm is most
apparent in poetry although it is a part of all good writing.
99
Rhyme Scheme
It is the pattern of rhymes in a stanza or poem. It is usually represented by small letters:
for example, the rhyme scheme of a ballad stanza is abcb.
100
Rhyme
The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each
other in a poem. For example, river/shiver, song/long, leap/deep. If the rhyme occurs at
the ends of lines, it is called end rhyme.
101
Resolution
The ending of the conflict in favour of one side or the other.
102
Research (verb)
To engage in looking for information, usually to support an essay. This involves reading
and putting together source material to support a discussion. It is a way of bringing
together expert opinion and organizing the information in a meaningful way, and not
facing your audience alone.
103
Repitition
Basically, anything repeated. (Duh!) Could be words, syllables, sounds, phrases, stanzas, patterns, allusions, etc.
104
Refrain
A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated regularly throughout the poem, usually at the end of each stanza.
105
Question and answer
Like the rhetorical question, this is a stylistic technique in a composition. Questions are
an effective way of arousing interest or concern in a subject which can then be answered
within the essay.
106
Purpose
In literature, it is the main effect the work is intended to achieve. Authors usually have a
specific intention. They may wish to enlighten, entertain, persuade, inform, and so on.
107
Paradox
An apparently untrue or self-contradictory statement or circumstance that proves true upon reflection or when examined in another life.
108
Parallelism
A common device in writing of all sorts, it is arrangign ideas in ways that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording.
Grammatically, it means writing things like "John is wealthy, handsome, and unmarried" instead of "John is wealthy, handsome, and a bachelor".
109
Pastoral
A poem that deals with shepherds and rustic life in an ideal way.
110
Pathos
The feeling of pity, sympathy, tenderness, compassion, or sorrow evoked in us by characters who are helpless and innocent. E.g. what occurs to Lady Macduff and her son in Macbeth
111
Personification
Treating abstractions, things, or animals as persons. A type of metaphor. E.g. "blow, thou winter wind. blow!"
112
Persuasive technique
Any technique used to convince an audience of a thesis. Can involve logic, the emotional appeal, expert testimony, compare and contrast, pro and con, diction, and so on.
113
Plot
The sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed. Some stories have a great deal of plot (many events), while others may have very little. Plot answers, "What happened?"
114
Point of view
(first person)
(omniscient)
(limited omniscient)
(objective)
The perspective from which a story is seen or told. There are four:
1. first person (via a major or minor character)
"I" point of view.
2. omniscient: third person by an all-seeing narrator.
3. limited omniscient (via a major or minor character)
distinguished from omniscient in that the revealing of thoughts are limited to only one character in the narrative.
4. objective: third person, but the narrator disappears into a kind of roving camera, offering no interpretation.
115
Pro and con argument
A persuasive technique of comparison and contrast. In arguing any point, it can be effective for the author to show a willingness to explore all sides of an issue.
116
Propaganda
Literary work that is devoted to the spreading of a particular idea or belief. Designed to convince and persuade to action.
117
Proverb
A short pithy saying, such as "a stitch in time saves nine" or "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"
118
Pun
The use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time: a play on words.
e.g. "To England will I steal, and there I'll steal"
119
Dramatic Form
A narrative that focuses on the journey of a protagonist in conflict with an antagonist and includes these 5 elements:
(1) exposition - the unfolding of events necessary to understand later plot
development
(2) rising action - the complication of events after the exciting force has initiated the
conflict between protagonist and antagonist
(3) climax - the high point of the pyramid, the major crisis that brings about the turn
in the fortunes of the protagonist
(4) falling action - the events leading away from the climax, as the protagonist
attempts to escape his or her fate
(5) catastrophe - the final disaster, involving also, usually, a resolution, or
restoration of order to the disturbed world of the play.
120
Dramatic Monologue
A narrative in which one character speaks and no replies are given
121
Editorial
A newspaper or magazine commentary on an issue of public concern
122
Elegy
A lyric poem, usually formal, and solemn or melancholy in tone. (Usually a poem mourning a person's death)
123
Emotional Appeal
A strategy of persuasion that stirs and audience's emotions in hope of moving people into action.
124
Epic
A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.
125
Epigram
A short, witty, pointed statement often in the form of a poem
126
Epiphany
A significant realization
127
Epitaph
An inscription on a gravestone or monument memorializing a person buried there.
128
Escape Fiction
Stories written primarily to entertain, thus helping the reader escape the daily concerns an problems of reality.
129
Essay
A literary composition on a single subject; usually short, in prose and nonexhaustive.
130
Argumentative Essay
Attempts to lead the reader to share the writer's belief on a topic
131
Descriptive Essay
Provides readers with a picture of what it is like to be somewhere
132
Expository Essay
Explanatory writing
133
Formal Essay
An essay dealing with a serious subject, characterized by careful organization and formal diction and sentence structure.
134
Informal Essay
Usually brief and written as if the writer is talking informally to the reader about the topic.
135
Narrative Essay
Essay in the shape of a narrative or story
136
Personal Essay
Usually in the first person POV, an informal essay on a personal subject
137
Persuasive Essay
Like argumentative but has a more emotional approach
138
Euphemism
The substitution of a mild and pleasant expression for a harsh and blunt one (eg. to pass away - to die)
139
Euphony
Melodious sound (opposite of cacophony)
140
Expert Testimony
Information given by an expert in a field
141
Exposition
Explaining an idea or developing a thought
142
Fable
A brief story told to present a moral/lesson
143
Falling Action
Follows the climax in a story which shows the fortune of the protagonist
144
Fantasy
Transcends the bounds of known reality
145
Farce
A wildly comic play frequently with satiric intent
146
Figurative Language
Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense (eg. metaphor, personification)
147
Flashback
A switch in the plot from the present of the story to the past
148
Foreshadowing
Hinting or warning of events to come in the story
149
Free Verse
Verse that lacks regular meter and line length
150
Graphic Text
A work told in pictures
151
Historical Reference
Any reference to an actual event from the past
152
Hyperbole
An exaggeration
153
Iambic Pentameter
A poetic line consisting of five verse feet where each foot has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
154
Idiom
An expression peculiar to a language, not literally translatable. (It's raining cats and dogs)
155
Imagery
Language that is appealing to the senses
156
Internal Rhyme
Rhyme within a line
157
Interpretive Fiction
Interpretive literature that has meaningful, usually realistic plots, conflicts, settings and characters and is meant to broaden and deepen and sharpen our awareness of life
158
Irony
```
A contrast between two elements that provides depth, impact and suggests a complexity of experience.
3 types:
-verbal irony
-situational irony
-dramatic irony
```
159
Verbal Irony
What is said is the opposite from what is meant (sarcasm)
160
Situational Irony
When what happens is not what is expected or seems appropriate
161
Dramatic Irony
When what the character says or thinks contrasts with what the reader knows to be true
162
Jargon
1) Language peculiar to trade or calling (useful for those communicating within a group but a mystery to outsiders)
2) Confused or confusing language
163
Juxtaposition
Placing elements side by side that would not normally be associated with each other
164
Legend
A folk story concerning historical or reputedly historical figures
165
Lyric
A lyric is usually fairly short and expresses the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker in a personal and subjective fashion. (comprises the bulk of all poetry)
166
Melodrama
A drama that has stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions, and a conflict that pits an all-good hero or heroine against and all-evil villain
