Literary Terms Flashcards
allegory
Written piece in which ideas or morals are represented by individual characters or things.
allusion
A reference within an artistic work to another artistic work.
antagonist
In a literary work, the character whose actions oppose those of the hero (protagonist).
ballad
A story-poem, often sung aloud.
Beat movement
A group of American poets and artists whose expressions of alienation in the 1950s became a calling card of the underground. (Ginsberg, Kerouac)
blank verse
Non-rhyming verse consisting of 10-syllable lines.
canto
A subdivision of an epic poem.
Classicism
Artistic or literary movement that is aesthetically based on the Ancient Greeks or Romans.
climax
The point in any story at which the action reaches its zenith.
couplet
Two rhyming lines of poetry in succession, most often of a similar or like meter.
denouement
The conclusion or resolution following the climax of a story.
elegy
A poem of remembrance.
Existentialism
French philosophical idea that the individual lives in an indifferent wold and must take responsibility for his or her own choices. (Sartre, Camus)
fable
An allegorical story often employing animals as characters. (Aesop)
genre
A category of work within art or letters, usually of a distinctive style.
haiku
A Japanese poem containing 3 lines and 17 syllables in a structured order (5-7-5).
irony
A literary style in which a situation is shown with the intent of representing its opposite.
lost generation
A group of expatriate writers and artists in Paris in the 1920s centered around Gertrude Stein. (Hemingway, Fitzgerald)
metaphor
The comparison of two things in which one item represents another.
Modernism
High intellectual movement whose goal was the examination of pure art. (Pound, Stein, Woolf)
motif
A recurring element or theme in an artistic work.
ode
A lyric poem of rigidly structured stanzas.
parable
A story depicting a message of a moral or religious nature.
pathos
Evoking pity in a literary work.
Realism
An artistic and literary style in which society and events are depicted as they appear in real life.
Restoration
The period of intensely active literary and artistic activity in England 1660-1688 when Charles II returned to the throne. (Dryden)
Romantic Movement
Predominately English movement in the 19th century whose basic belief was that passion should supercede logic and whose main opposition was Classicism. (Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron)
satire
A literary work in which, through the use of irony, sarcasm and wit, the absurd in humanity is brought to light. (Swift’s A Modest Proposal)
sonnet
A verse of 14 lines and written in one of several rhyme schemes. (Shakespeare, Petrarch)
stanza
One division within a poem, usually of commonly metered verse.
stream of consciousness
A literary device in which a character’s thoughts emerge on the page as they occur. (Joyce, Woolf)
Transcendentalism
American movement in which insight and experience took precedence over logic and reason and that held the belief that all things coexist in nature. (Thoreau, Emerson).
Victorian Age
Nineteenth-century England, considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Characterized by rigid social manners and conservatism. (Dickens, Hardy)
