Literary Terms Flashcards
Allegory
A form of extended metaphor. An underlying meaning that has moral,social,religious,or political significance,and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas. It is a story with 2 meanings,a literal and symbolic meaning.
Allusion
A reference within a piece of work. An allusion draws on outside sources to provide greater context or meaning to the selection.
Atmosphere
The feeling surrounding a piece of work.
Climax
The highest point of suspense in a piece of work. The turning point before the plot is resolved.
Complication
A series of difficulties forming the central action in a piece of work.
Conflict
The struggle between opposing forces. 3 types: internal; a struggle within a character. Interpersonal; a struggle between 2+ characters(an argument or a fight). External; a struggle against nature or society.
Connotation
The attitudes and feelings associated with a word.these can be negative or positive,and have an important influence on style and meaning.
Denotation
The dictionary meaning of a word.
Diction
Word choice. The significance of an authors word choice.
Eulogy
A speech or writing in praise of a person who has died.
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor used throughout a piece of work or is continued for a few lines of a selection.
Figurative Language
A form of language in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words.
Flashback
An interruption of a work’s chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time frame of a work’s action.
Foreshadowing
Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story are given.
Hyperbole
Intended exaggeration used to create a desired effect such as humour or sarcasm.
Imagery
Language which describes something in detail,using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation.
Irony
Dramatic:occurs when the audience and/or 1+ characters in a work are aware of info that another character(s) are not. Situational:evident where an unexpected event occurs,in the sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking opposition to what would be expected or appropriate. Verbal:speech in which what is said is the opposite to what is meant. It is a form of sarcasm.
Juxtaposition
The arrangement of 2+ ideas,characters, actions,settings,phrases,or words side by side or in a similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison,contrast, or character development.
Lyrics
Words to a song.
Memoir
Autobiography writing.
Metaphor
Comparing 2+ things not using the words like or as.
Monologue
A composition,written or oral,by a single individual.(in a drama or other public entertainment)
Mood
The feeling you get after reading a piece of work.
Oxymoron
Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper level.
Personification
Giving non living things living characteristics.(human traits)
Poetic Forms
Ballad:a story,usually a narrative poem,in a song.
Elegy:a type of lyric poem that expresses sadness for someone who has died.
Epic:a long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero.
Free Verse:poetry without a regular pattern of Of meter or rhyme.
Lyric:a poem used to express feelings.
Narrative:a poem that tells a story.
Ode:a long,elaborate poem of varying line lengths and sometimes intricate rhyme schemes dealing with a serious subject matter.
Sonnet:a poem that has 14 lines,3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet, along with iambic pentameter and rhyming “abab cdcd efef gg “.
Point of View
1st:a character narrates the story.”I”
2nd:the narrator directly addresses the protagonist.”you”
3rd:told by a narrator who is not in the story.
Limited:knowledge of character is limited,can describe only what can be seen or heard.”he/she/they”.
Omniscient:knowledge of everything about the characters.
Pun
A humorous play on words.
Refrain
A phrase,verse,or group of verses repeated at intervals throughout a song or poem, especially at the end of each stanza.
Sarcasm
Use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be praising something,but is actually insulting it.
Satire
A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices,
stupidities,and follies.
Setting
The time,place and circumstances of a literary work that establish its context.
Simile
Comparing 2+ things using the words like or as.
Speaker
The voice in a poem.
Stanza
In poetry, a “stanza” is a unit within a larger poem.
Stereotype
Putting a person or persons into a category. Usually a negative and derogatory category.
Suspense
Excited anticipation of an approaching climax.
Symbolism
When an object or action means more than itself. When and object represents an idea.
Theme
The message you get analyzing and reflecting a piece of work. Written in a sentence.
Tone
The implied attitude of a writer towards the subject and characters of a piece of work.
