Literature Key Terms and Concepts Flashcards
allegory
a story in which people, things, and events have another meaning.
Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
allusion
a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work.
attitude
a speaker’s, author’s, or character’s disposition toward or opinion of a subject.
Hamlet’s attitude toward Gertrude is a mixture of affection and revulsion, changing from one to the other within a single scene.
autobiography
an author’s account of his or her own life.
biography
an accurate history of a single person.
climax
normally the point of highest interest in a novel, short story, or play.
the place where the action reaches a turning point, where the rising action (the complication of the plot) ends, and the following action (the resolution of the plot) begins.
connotation
the implications of a word or phrase, as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation).
convention
a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.
a lover observing the literary love conventions cannot eat or sleep and grows pale and lean.
denotation
the dictionary meaning of a word, as opposed to connotation.
diction
word choice. essay questions on a passage of prose or a poem could ask you to talk about the diction or about “techniques” that include diction.
any word that is important to the meaning and the effect of a passage can be used in your essay.
euphemism
a figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness, such as, deceased for dead.
genre
a literary form, such as an essay, novel, or poem.
within genres like the poem, there are also more specific genres based upon content (love poem, nature poem) or form (sonnet, ode).
hyperbole
deliberate exaggeration, overstatement.
rule: hyperbole is self-conscious, without the intention of being accepted literally.
“the strongest man in the world” or “a diamond as big as the Ritz”
setting
the background to a story; the physical location of a play, story, or novel. setting of a narrative will normally involve both time and place.
simile
a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects usually with like, as, or than. it is easier to recognize a simile than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit.
“my love is like a fever”
soliloquy
a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud.
a monologue also has a single speaker, but the monologuist speaks to others who do not interrupt.
syllogism
a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them.
begins with a major premise (“all tragedies end unhappily”) followed by a minor premise (“Hamlet is a tragedy”) and a conclusion (“therefore, Hamlet ends unhappily”).
symbol
something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.
winter, darkness, and cold are real things; but in lit could be used as symbols for death.
theme
the main thought expressed by a work.
thesis
the theme, meaning, or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support.
tone
the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning.
described by adjectives; possibilities are nearly endless.
single adjective will be enough, and tone may change from chapter to chapter.
tone may result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, or style.
tragedy
now defined as a play with a serious content and an unhappy ending.
imagery
the images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work.
the visual, auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work and the images that figurative language evokes.
figurative language
writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted)
irony
a figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ, characteristically praise for blame or blame for praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning
jargon
the special language of a profession or group. usually has pejorative associations, with the implication that jargon is evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders.
literal
not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.
personification
a figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics.
metaphor
a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without use of a comparative term like “as”, “like”, or “than”. A simile would say, “Night is like a black bat”; a metaphor would say, “the black bat night.” When Romeo says, “it is the east, and Juliet is the sun,” his metaphors compare her window to the east and Juliet to the sun.
paradox
a statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is true. the figure in a Donne sonnet that concludes “I never shall be chaste except you ravish me” is a good example of the device.
parable
a story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question. parables are allegorical stories.
parody
a composition that imitates the style of another composition, normally for comic effect.
a contest for parodies of Hemingway draws hundreds of entries each year.
lyrical
songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination.
style
the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author.
style techniques- can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone.
structure
the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole, the logical divisions of a work.
series: A, B, C, D, E
contrast: A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. A
repetition: AA, BB, AB
most common-
play: scene, act
novel: chapter
poem: line, stanza
strategy (rhetorical strategy)
management of language for a specific effect.
satire
writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule. usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correcting vice and folly.
examples of satire found in: Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Joseph Heller
rhetorical techniques
the devices used in effective or persuasive language. most common examples include devices like contrast, repetitions, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, and rhetorical question.
rhetorical question
a question asked for effect, not expectation of a reply. no reply is expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer.
point of view
any several possible vantage points from which a story is told.
may be omniscient, limited to that of a single character, or limited to that of several characters, as well as other possibilities. teller may use the first person and/or the third person.
plot
the interrelated actions of a play or a novel that move to a climax and a final resolution.
oxymoron
a combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms.
ex. jumbo shrimp
omniscient point of view
the vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses. narrator is free to describe the thoughts of any of the characters, to skip about in time or place to speak directly to the reader.
novel
a fictional narrative in prose of considerable length. shorter works are called novellas, even shorter are called short stories.
narrative techniques
the methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts.
a general term that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story.
ex. point of view, manipulation of time, dialogue, or interior monologue.
