Literary Terms List 2 Flashcards
Satire
Any form of literature that blends ironic humor and with with criticism directed at a particular folly, vice or stupidity. This kind of writing seeks to correct, improve, or reform through ridicule
Parable
A usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle
Inversion
Reversal of normal sentence order for poetic effect
Refrain
Word or group of words that are repeated in a poem, usually a lyrical poem
Exact Rhyme
The identical sounds which occur between two or more words
Theme
An abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of its subject-matter, or a topic recurring in a number of literary works (Common ex. include love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc.). However, the strongest are dynamic and involve a kind of action (e.g. love kills, war is dehumanizing, revenge leads to tragedy, etc.)
Slant Rhyme
Rhyme based on spelling rather than sounds (Near rhyme, approximate rhyme, e.g. love and move)
Onomatopoeia
Words that seem to imitate the sound to which they refer
Metaphysical
(The prefix with this word [Greek] means about or beyond what follows; loosely translated the prefix means thinking about or beyond the main part of the world) Thinking beyond the physical world to gain a greater and higher understanding of the world ad human existence–In literature, these authors tended to write particularly difficult and complicated subject matter
Rhyme
The similarity of sound between two words
Rhyme Sceme
A structure or system where pattern is established to identify how the rhymes will be used in a poem (Most commonly used with sonnets; most common kinds of these patterns are called Shakespearean in English)
Internal Rhyme
When the identical or similar sound occurs within the same line
Verbal Irony
A contrast between what is said and what is intended
Oxymoron
Placing two relatively contrasting words right next to each other (e.g. bittersweet) (sometimes considered a figure of speech)
Plain Style
Direct or straight forward text using few or no examples of figures of speech
Parallelism
Syntactical element or an element of sentence structure where similar ideas are used in a similar grammatical structure (e.g. a series such as “he enjoyed walking, running, and swimming” where the -ing is a parallelism)
Situational Irony
The contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs
Pseudonym
Pen name, nom de plume, alias; a fictitious name assumed by a writer who wished to remain anonymous or chooses not to use his/her real name professionally
Vernacular
The spoken language; informal speech
Irony
In its broadest sense, the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearance (what seems to be)
Setting
The time and place of a story including historic features
Tragedy
Serious story or play; plays usually have some structured features within the plot and character development all leading to a violent end where one or several characters die
Tone
The feeling or emotion that the author is trying to pass on to the reader
Pastoral
A poem or story dealing with shepherds or rural life (country setting) making this location idealistc
Parodx
When two contradictory and almost completely opposite situations or things are placed together or near each other as a kind of truth that the audience has to seek to understand fully
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows that the character or characters fail to understand, allowing the audience to foresee a result that the character(s) would not
Hypocrisy
A pretending to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially with respect to false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
End Rhyme
When the same sound ends successive lines of poetry
