Literary Terms 3 Flashcards
Onomatopoeia
A word whose sound mimics the sound it means. E. g., buzz, screech, beep, and so on.
Ottava Rima
An Italian Stanza of eight eleven-syllabled lines with rhyme abababcc. E. g. from Byron’s “Don Juan”:
“Go, little book, from this my solitude!
I cast thee on the waters – go thy ways!
And if, as I believe, thy vein be good,
The world will find thee after many days.”
When Southey’s read, and Wordsworth understood,
I can’t help putting in my claim to praise –
The four first rhymes are Southey’s every line:
For God’s sake, reader! take them not for mine.”
Paean
A song of praise, joy, triumph, or thanks sometimes directed at a god.
Parable
A story told to illustrate a moral or religious lesson. E. g., the Prodigal Son.
Pastoral
A poem portraying a poet’s nostalgia for the idealized country live
Pathetic Fallacy
A term invented by John Ruskin identifying the practice of ascribing human emotions to all aspects of nature. E. g., clouds seem sullen, leaves dance, rocks seem indifferent, and so on.
Prosopopeia / Personification
An inanimate object or an idea given human attributes.
Picaresque
A narrative that portrays in a realistic, and sometimes satiric, manner the adventures of a rogue-hero. E. g. “Don Quixote” or “Huckleberry Finn”
Round Character
A character who is complex and individuated
Simile
A comparison between two different things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’
Sonnet
A poem of fourteen lines of rhymed iambic pentameter; different rhyme schemes differentiate the Petrarchan sonnet (Octave-abbaabba, sestet-cddece), Shakespearean sonnet (Three quatrains and a couplet-abab cdcd efef gg), and the Spenserian sonnet (Three quatrains and a couplet-abab bcbc cdcd ee)
Stream-of-Consciousness
The representation of the flow of a character’s psychic processes, including the intermingled thoughts, memories, associations, and feelings of the mind. Episode 18 “Penelope” of Joyce’s Ulysses where the entire chapter is an unpunctuated outpouring of Molly Bloom’s thoughts and memories.
Synedoche
A part of something stands in for the whole, or the whole stands in for a part. E. g., “My wheels” meaning “my car”.
Terza Rima
Rhyming scheme developed by Dante in the Divine Comedy consisting of interlocking three line rhymes. ABA BCB CDC DED, and so on. E. g. “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Shelley.
Narratology
Literary theory that examines novels and prose.
