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English 111 > Literary Terms > Flashcards

Literary Terms Flashcards

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0
Q

Unified plot

A

A plot in which the action is more or less continuos within a single day

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1
Q

Plot

A

A stories sequence of incidents, arranged in dramatic order

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2
Q

Episodic plot

A

A plot in which the action stretches over weeks or even longer

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3
Q

Dramatic structure

A

Refers to the exact way in which emotional involvement in its plot is increased and relaxed

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4
Q

Exposition

A

Provides readers essential information

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5
Q

Complication

A

The appearance of some circumstance that begins the rising action

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6
Q

Rising action

A

When an event shakes up the stable situation

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7
Q

Moments of crisis

A

Points in the story where resolution of the complication momentarily seems at hand but quickly disappears

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8
Q

Peripety

A

When characters hopes rise and fall

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9
Q

Climax

A

Moment of greatest tension

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10
Q

Falling action

A

When built up tension is released

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11
Q

Epiphany

A

A moment spiritual insight or revelation

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12
Q

Resolution/ dénouement

A

Returns a character to a stable situation

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13
Q

Closed dénouement

A

Ties up everything neatly and explains unanswered questions

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14
Q

Open dénouement

A

Leaves us with a few questions

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15
Q

Archetypes

A

Universal types of characters and situations that all human beings carry in their unconscious minds

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16
Q

Initiation story

A

When a character undergoes a rite of passage to prepare him for adulthood

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17
Q

Protagonist

A

Main character

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18
Q

Anti-hero

A

To designate one who occupies center stage but otherwise seems incapable of fitting the traditional heroic mold

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19
Q

Flat character

A

Usually given one trait, some which may seem contradictory, and explored in depth as the author delves into the characters unconscious mind

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20
Q

Stock characters

A

Stereotypes who may be necessary to advance the plot

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21
Q

Static character

A

Stays the same

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22
Q

Interior monologue

A

A direct presentation of thought that is somewhat like a soliloquy in drama

23
Q

Stream-of-consciousness

A

An attempt to duplicate raw sensory data in the same disordered state the mind receives it

24
Q

Description

A

Helps us understand the authors intent

25
Q

Characterynm

A

Naming characters to draw attention to aspects of their personality

26
Q

Point of view

A

Referring to the question of authority in a story

27
Q

Narrator

A

A voice of character that provides the reader information about and insight into characters and incidents

28
Q

Narrative conventions

A

When a narrator may suddenly jump from simply recording a conversation to telling us what one of its participants is thinking

29
Q

First person narration

A

Where the narrator is participant in action

30
Q

Unreliable narrator

A

Relating events in a distorted manner

31
Q

Third person narration

A

Nonparticipant narrative and a voice of authority that never reveals its sources

32
Q

Omniscience

A

The degree to which the “all-knowing” narrator can reveal the thoughts of characters

33
Q

Total omniscience

A

The narrator knows everything about the characters lives, their past, presents, and futures

34
Q

Authorial intrusion

A

Allowing the God-like author to comment directly on the action

35
Q

Limited omniscience

A

Limiting themselves to the thoughts perceptions of a single character

36
Q

Dramatic point of view

A

Where the narrator simply reports dialogue and action with minimal interpretation and no delving into characters minds

37
Q

Theme

A

The overall meaning the reader derives from the story

38
Q

Allegorical tales

A

Where literal events point to a parallel sequence of symbolic ideas

39
Q

Microcosm

A

A “small world” that reflects the tensions of the larger world outside

40
Q

Atmosphere

A

The emotional aura surrounding a certain setting

41
Q

Setting

A

Time and place of a story

42
Q

Locale

A

Time setting

43
Q

Local color fiction

A

Depends on the unique characteristics of area,p

44
Q

Regionalism

A

Setting most of their(authors) work in one particular area or country.

45
Q

Magic realism

A

When a story draws us into places where past, and present, history and folklore, natural and supernatural seamlessly join

46
Q

Enveloping action

A

The general setting of a story and its sense of the “times”

47
Q

Style

A

Refers equally to the characteristics of language in a story and to the same characteristics in a writers complete works

48
Q

Parody

A

Satirical imitation

49
Q

Tone

A

What we can indirectly determine about the authors own feelings

50
Q

Allegory

A

If details of a plot seem consistently symbolic

51
Q

Traditional symbol

A

A thing that most members of a culture instantly recognize as possessing a shared symbolic meaning

52
Q

Private symbol

A

A symbol an author has made his or her own by repeated use

53
Q

Doppelgänger

A

Character “doubles” who mirror each other in significant ways

54
Q

Incidental symbol

A

A thing of action that ordinarily would have no deeper meaning but acquires one in a story

55
Q

Dynamic character

A

Changes

English 111 (1 decks)

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