Literary Terms List 3 Flashcards
Dramatic Irony
a literary and theatrical device in which the reader or audience knows more than the characters they are following
Situational Irony
when the outcome of a situation is contrary to or different from what is expected
Verbal Irony
a statement in which the speaker’s words are incongruous with the speaker’s intent.
Colloquial
writing that is presented in the way an individual would talk on a day-to-day basis
Common forms of colloquialism include: proverbs and aphorisms (“You only live once.”) profanities (“Damn!”) idiomatic expressions (“You’ve hit the nail on the head.” “She chickened out.”)
Invective
the literary device in which one attacks or insults a person or thing through the use of abusive language and tone
“you dirty rotten scoundrel.”
Inversion
a literary technique that changes up the order of words so that particular qualities or terms can be emphasized
“Bang, bang went the drum,” “green were my jealous eyes,” and “cool was the summer breeze”
Absolutes
a group of words that modify an entire sentence.
Hands shaking, I sat down to take the test. In this sentence, ‘hands shaking’ is the absolute phrase.
Her voice floating over the crowd, Maria awed everyone with her natural singing ability.
Sam could be heard all the way down the hall, his loud laughter carrying across the school.
Her fur matted and her legs shaking, the lost puppy finally found her way home.
Enumeration
a rhetorical device used for listing details, or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. It is a type of amplification or division in which a subject is further distributed into components or parts. Writers use enumeration to elucidate a topic, to make it understandable for the readers. It also helps avoid ambiguity in the minds of the readers.
“I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for her,
And she balanced in the delight of her thought … “
Catalogue
a literary device used in poetry and prose to give a list of things and create a rhetorical effect. Writers use it to make a list of multiple thoughts in a unified form. The list is deliberately inserted to make the audience enjoy the conventional style of poetry. Etymologically, Catalog refers to a list.
