Literary terms Flashcards
Anaphora
Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. (Oh lord, oh lord)
Apostrophe
Addressing someone or something, usually not present, as if they are present. Ex: Death, be not Proud
Asyndeton
A figure of speech in which one or several conjunctions are omitted from a series of related clauses ex: I came, I saw, I conquered.
Caesura
A pause for effect (period, dash, semicolon)
Connotation
The idea or meaning that a word invokes in addition to its primary meaning
Diction
The choice of words in a phrase of speech or writing
Denotation
Literal meanings of a word (dictionary definition)
Hyperbole
An unreal exaggeration to emphasize a real situation (she weighed a ton!)
Rhythm
A rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which part represents a whole. (The word “wheels” usually refers to the whole vehicle)
Kenning
Elaborate metaphors that indirectly name persons, things or events ( ankle-biter: very young child)
Alliteration
He repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together
Allusion
A direct or indirect reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, science, etc.
Imagery
The use of language to evoke a picture or concrete sensation of a person
Irony
A discrepancy between appearances and reality (“I didn’t see it coming, and then it hit me”)
Personification
Personal nature or human characteristics attributed to something nonhuman
Metaphor
Comparison between two unlike things without using like or as
Mood
Atmosphere created by a writers diction
Pun
A play on words (she had a photographic memory but never developed it)
Onomatopoeia
Sound words
Simile
A figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using words such as “like” or “as”
Antithesis
Figure of speech in which a thought is balanced with a contrasting thought in parallel arrangements of words and phrases, such as, “ he promised wealth and provided poverty.”
Conceit
A metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it..
Paraphrase
Summing up in ones own words
Personification
A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings/characteristics
Symbol
A person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself
Understatement
A statement that says less than what is meant
