Literary Terms Flashcards
Allegory
A narrative written so that is has two different meanings (eg. the Russian revolution in animal farm)
Alliteration/Alliterative
The repetition of consonant sounds in neighbouring words (eg. bouncing ball)
Allusion
A direct or indirect reference to a person, place or thing
Analogous
Showing an analogy: a comparison between two or more things that infers a conclusion about something else.
Anaphora
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of sentences, paragraphs or verses.
Anthropomorphism
The attribution of human characteristics to a inanimate object, animal or deity.
Apostrophe
(With reference to an ode) Speech that addresses someone not present, or to a personified object or idea (eg. “O Death, where is thy sting?”)
Assonance
A form of rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are repeated to set an intended mood (eg. “Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far”)
Auditory
Aural imagery/devices, sound imagery
Augustan
The eighteenth century in English literature
Autodidact
Someone who has learnt a subject without the benefit of a teacher, self taught .
Ballad
A simple narrative poem of folk origin, composed in short stanzas.
Blank Verse
An unryhmed verse, especially unrhymed iambic pentameter verses found in English dramatic and epic verse.
Cacophony/cacophonous
The use of harsh or jarring sounds in language for literary effect
Caesura
A pause, usually during the middle of a verse lone
Dramatic Monologue
A poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects about their character while describing a particular situation.
Connotation/connotative
The associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning.
Consonance
The correspondence of consonants, especially at the end of a word, in a passage of prose or verse.
Couplet
A pair of successive lines of verse, especially those that rhyme.
Diatribe
A forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something.
Dialectic
The contrast of two conflicting point of views or the art of logical debate between to theories or opinions.
Didactic
Intended for instruction, instructive, especially morals instructions.
Dissonance
Inharmonious or harsh sound; discord or cacophony
Eidetic image
An unusually vivid, elaborate and apparently exact mental image resulting from a visual experience.
Ekprasis
A literary description and or critique on a visual work of art. (eg. a poem about a photograph or film)
Elegy/elegiac
A mournful and melancholy poem, especially a lament for the dead.
Ellision
(in verse) The omission of a vowel at the end of one word where the next wot
Ellipsis
Marks as in … or *** to indicate an omission or suppression of letters or words
End Rhyme
A rhyme that occurs betweens the end of lines of a poem, as opposed to internal rhyming.
End-stopped line
The opposite of enjambment, where a single phrase, clause or sentence corresponds with the length of the line.
English/Shakespearean Sonnet
A sonnet with three quatrains, a concluding rhyming couplet, iambic pentameter and the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg.
Enjambment
The running over of a sentence from one line to another
Epic
An extended narrative poem with dignified language, celebrating the feats of a traditional hero.
Euphony/euphonic
A pleasant sound, especially in speech and pronunciation
Fricatives
Words that when said, create audible friction in the throat such as th, v, h
Hegemony/Hegmoic
The domination or ascendency of power of a state within a larger league or empire. The political, economic, ideological or cultural dominance of one group over another group.
Hendiadys
The expression of a single idea by two words connected with an ‘and’, for example nice and warm
Heroic Couplet
A verse consisting with two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
Hyperbole
An exaggeration not meant to be taken literally
Iamb
A foot of two syllables, an unstressed and then stressed syllable.
Iambic Pentameter
Poetry structured in five iambs per line, not necessarily rhyming and not having to follow the structure at all times.
Iambic Tetrameter
A line consisting of four iambs per feet.
Iconoclast
Somebody who challenges or overturns traditional views within a society.
Idyll
A short poem or prose depicting a idealised rural setting with romantic themes.
Imagery
Figurative language or descriptions which invokes feelings in the senses.
Invocation
The act of calling upon a god or deity for aid or protection or inspiration.
Irony
Incongruity between what has actually occurred and what might be expected.
Juzxtaposition
The placing of verbal elements side by side so that he reader can establish connections between the two elements and create meaning.
Lyric
A poem which expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet, it does not portray characters or actions.
Mellifluous
Quite, gentle, sweet sounding and flowing.
Metonymy
The use of a word as substitute for another word which is closely associated, such as the use of sword for war or Washington as the United States.
Metaphor
Comparing something to something else completely out of place in order to create meaning. “She is the Sun’ or ‘A sea of troubles.
Mythopoeia
The creating of a myth
Neo-classical
a revival of classical art and culture.
Neologism
The practice of coining a new word or extending the meaning of a new word, a recerntly coined word or phrase
Octave/Octet
A group of eight lines of poetry
Ode
A lyric poem, usually very long, expressing enthusiastic emotion with a formal structure.
Oxymoron
A rhetorical device which features two opposite words or phrase used in conjunction with each-other to create meaning. “Parting is such sweet sorrow” “Deafening silence”
Onomatopoeia
The formation or use of words such as “bang” or “pop” to represent sounds associated with the action they refer to.
Pastoral
Portraying or referring to the idyllic life of a Shepard in the country.
Persona
A voice or character adopted by the writer in a piece of literature.
Personification
A figure of speech in which inanimate objects are attributed human or organic characteristics, “the trees danced in the breeze”.
Prosody
The study of meters in poetry and the structure of verses.
Quatrain
A stanza or poem with four lines.
Masculine rhyme
A rhyme that matches with only one syllable, usually at the end of a line. (i.e. “end-mend, condescend-transcend”
Feminine rhyme
A rhyme that matches with two syllables, usually at the end of a line. (i.e. “painted-passion, acquainted-fasion”
Internal rhyme
Thyme that occurs in the middle of lines in-between verses.
End rhyme
Line that occurs at the end of the line in-between verses.
Satire
The use of irony, sarcasm or ridicule to denounce and shame and individual, organization or society.
Sestet
A group of six lines of poetry, especially the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet.
Sibilance
Having a hissing sound, “the sibilant sound of wing among the leaves”.
Similie
A figure of speech in which two completely unlike things are compared, often in phrase using like or as “How like the winter hath my absence been”
Sonnet
A 14 line poem in traditionally in Shakespearean or Petrarchan form. The latter consists of an eight line octet with a rhyme scheme of abba cddc followed by a concluding sestet of varying rhyme scheme. A Shakespearean sonnets consist of three quatrains rhyming abab cdcd efef in iambic pentameter, ending with a rhyming couplet.
Sonorous
Deep sounding, echoing and resonant.
Soporific
Sleep inducing, hypnotic or monotonous.
Stanza
A fixed number of verse lines creating a pattern of units in a poem.
Symbol
Something that represents or stands out as something else, usually via convention or association, especially a material or tangible object.
Synaesthesia
A literary device where one kind of sensation is described in terms of another, “felt the sounds” “shining words”.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech which refers to part of something to reference the whole of something. i.e. , boards in place of state, society for high society.
Tone
The mood of the poem, which can be used to indicate the feelings of the writer and in some cases the persona.
Trimeter
A line consisting of three metrical feet.
Verisimilitude
The appearance of being true or real.
Vernacular
The plain language used in everyday by ordinary people, the native language of a place.
Volta
the 9th line of a Petrarchan sonnet which indicates a turn or shift in mood for the poem.
