Literary Terms Flashcards
Concrete
Concrete describes an actual thing or event
Allegory
A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions
Alliteration
The repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words
Allusion
A reference to something literally, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader recognizes
Ambiguity
Something vague or with more than one meaning
Anachronism
Something that is chronically out of place
Anacoluthon
A sentence or construction that lacks grammatical sequence
Abstract
A word free from limitations or qualifications
Anagnorisis
When a person makes a great discovery
Anaphora
The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in the sentence
Anecdote
A short, amusing, or interesting story about a real incident or person
Anthropomorphism
The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object
Anti-hero
A central character who lacks convention heroic behavior
Aphorism/Adage/Maxim
A concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance/ a familiar proverb or saying/offers advice
Aside
A remark by a character that is meant to be heard by the audience but is unheard by the other characters
Assonance
The repetition of a sound or vowel near or next to each other
Consonance
Agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions
Euphony/Dissonance
Opposite of cacophony
Caesura
Break between two words
Canto
One section of a poem
Catharsis
Releasing repressed emotions
Chaismus
Concepts are repeated in reverse order
Conciet
Excessive pride in oneself
Dues ex Machina
Plot twist
Dirge
A somber song
End-Stop Line
A line of poetry that ends in punctuation
Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence without pause beyond the end of line
Epithet
Expresses a quality characteristic of the person
Epistle
A letter
Expletive/Pejorative/Invective
An oath or swear word/expresses contempt or disapproval/insulting language
Hubris
Excessive pride
Malapropism
Mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding one
Melodrama
An overly dramatic piece
Metonymy/Synedoche
A substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant/ one part is meant to represent a whole
Ode
A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject
Rhyme Royal
Seven line iambic pentameter stanza poem- Geoffrey Chaucer
Solecism
A grammatical state
Terza Rima
Has a three-line scheme -Dante Alighieri
Verisimilitude
Appearance of being true and real
Vignette
A brief evocation disruption, account, or episode
Villanelle
Nineteen line poem with five teeters followed by a quatrain
