Literary Terms Flashcards
quest
a search for immortal life or some sort of secret knowledge
archetype
symbols, images, or patterns that appear in the myths, literature, and visual art of many different peoples
hero
a character whose actions are inspiring or noble
conflict
a struggle between two forces
pastoral poetry
poems that deal with the pleasures of a simple rural life or treat the longings and desires of simple people
concrete language
the language that appeals to the senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, sound
diction
a writer’s choice of words
theme
the central idea, concern, or insight into life
psalms
150 poems and hymns composed by many psalmist over a period of time known as “songs of praise” and express human feelings related to God such as joy, gratitude, fear, and despair
personification
a figure of speech in which something nonhuman is described in human terms
extended metaphor
a metaphor that is developed at length and includes several points of comparison
qasidas
Arabian odes or poems
prose
written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
metaphor
a type of comparison that prompts us not only to see the similarities between two seemingly different things but to pretend that one thing is something totally different
rubai
from the Arabic word for “four”
poems consisting of four lines, the first, second, and fourth of which rhyme with one another
poets use concise and vivid imagery to convey their message to the reader
didactic literature
central to many religions
imparts moral lessons through simple stories that may take the form of short tales or fables and its purpose is to define the values of a society
aphorism
a short pointed statement that expresses human truths
folk tales
stories that were originally handed down orally among the common people of a particular culture and told in simple language that can be understood by virtually anyone
parallelism
the use of similar grammatical constructions - words, phrases, or clauses - to express similar ideas
antithesis
the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, expressed in parallel grammatical constructions
synonym
a word that means roughly the same thing as another word
antonym
a word that means the opposite of another word
analogy
a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification
