Literary Terms pt. 3 Flashcards
Reader-oriented approach
The literary analysis focuses on the reader’s perception of the text.
Rhetorical question
A question that does not need an answer since it is obvious.
Sarcasm
Intensified irony. Contains little wit, the emphasis is not on the mockery, but on the bitterness.
Satire
The use of humor, irony and exaggeration to expose and criticize other people’s stupidity or vices.
Schemes
Unlike tropes these are used to change the word order.
Set phrase
A commonly used phrase which doesn’t make sense semantically (raining cats and dogs).
Shakespearean sonnet
Modified Petrarchan sonnet. 14 lines, 3x4 lines and a final couples.
Simile
One thing is compared to another (“like”).
Slapstick
A type of comedy that features exaggerated physical activity. It may include intentional violence or mishap.
Spenserian sonnet
A modified version of the Shakespearean sonnet. It is known for the interlocking rhyme.
Spondee
Metric foot. Stressed-stressed.
Syllabic verse
Poetic form with fixed number of syllables per line, but where the stresses are isn’t important.
Synedoche
A part is made to represent the whole and vice verse. “Hungry mouths to feed” or “check out my new wheels”.
Symploce
A repetition of the whole sentence.
Text-oriented approach
An approach where solely the text is analyzed - the use of sentences, phrases and their structure.
Three layers of the metaphor
A concept by I. A. Richards. The metaphor consists of vehicle, tenor and ground. Ground is the connection between tenor and vehicle (what they have in common). Tenor is the word, vehicle is the language used to describe it.
Trochee
Metric foot. Stressed-unstressed.
Tropes
Twist the meaning of words rather than change their structure.
Western
A film or novel about cowboys, set in the late 19th/early 20th century.
Zeugma
A word applies to two others. “She opened the door and her heart.”
