Metalanguage Flashcards
All the literary terms you're ever likely to need, with definitions and examples.
Personification
Giving human qualities to an inanimate object.
Example: ‘The Indian Ocean gnawed relentlessly at the rocks along The Back Beach.
Conjunction
A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, but, if ).
Tone
The sound of a voice at a particular point of a text.
Euphemism
An understatement, used to lessen the effect of a statement; substituting something innocuous that might be offensive or hurtful.
Example: “she is at rest now” instead of “she has died”
Irony-Dramatic
Where the characters are oblivious of the situation, but the audience is not.
Example: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we all know well before the characters that they are going to die.
Rhyme
Words close together that have a different opening sound but the same ending sound. Rhyme may be internal (in the same sentence) or end rhyme (occuring at the end of different lines.)
Example: ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’
In medias res
(Latin for in the midst of things)
Opening of the plot in the middle of the action, and then filling in past details (if required) by means of flashback.
Mood
The overall feeling of the piece (or part of a piece)
Setting
Where a story takes place. This can be spatial (the physical setting) or temporal (the time and culture considerations.)
Connotations
The meaning taken from specific words beyond the literal dictionary definition.
Example: “ A distinctive odour wafted from the direction of Austin’s shoes”
Pronoun
Pronouns are short words that English speakers use in lieu of continually using someone’s name.
Example: He/Him
Antagonist
A character or a non human force that opposes, or is in conflict with the protagonist. A protagonist may even be their own antagonist!
Characterisation
How a character is constructed by the author.
Example: The possibilities are endless- usally relates to what the character says, thinks, and does, as well as their appearance.
Polysyndeton
Several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve and artistic effect. Multiple repetitions of the same conjunction (and, but, if, etc), most commonly the word ‘and’.
Example: ‘Let the white folks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books and mostly-mostly-let them have their whiteness.’
Symbolism
The use of an object, event, person, the weather (amongst other things) to create and stand for a complex idea.
Example: ‘Piggy’s glasses symbolise intelligence.’
Juxtaposition
The placement (or analysis) of words, language, objects, plot, events, characters– anything really–near each other to create a particular effect.This is often a contrast.
Example: In Jack and his group are juxtaposed against Ralph and his group to symbolise the good and evil present in humanity.
Oxymoron
A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.
Example: “Their reunion was bittersweet”
“The room was filled with a thunderous silence”
Rhetorical Question
A question made to make a point. The answer should be so obvious that it does not require an answer.
Example: ‘Who doesn’t love chocolate.’
Understatement
A form of speech or information which contains an expression of lesser strength than what would be expected.
Example: “Your assignment is a little overdue” (assignment is two months overdue.)
Motif
A recurring pattern of imagery or language in a text.
Example: The lord of the flies contains a motif of things falling.
Preposition
A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in ‘the man on the platform’, ‘she arrived after dinner’, ‘what did you do it for ?’.
Alliteration
Rhyming consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Irony
Where the words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words it is a difference between appearance and reality.
Example: The worlds biggest dog was named tiny.
Synaesthesia
An attempt to fuse different senses by describing one kind of sense impression in words normally used to describe another.
Example: “She had a velvety smile”
“The sound of her voice was sweet”
Imagery
Description that encourages the reader to invoke their senses. Includes, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinaesthetic, auditory, visual and organic.
Foreshadowing
A clue about what will happen later in the plot or about a coming change in tone.
Protagonist
The main character in a work, whether male or female, heroic or non-heroic.
Adverb
A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there ).
Anastrophe
Rearrangements os parts of a sentence that changes the proper or accepted word order.
Example: Yoda I am.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things by stating one as the other.
Example: ‘Evelyn is a real firecracker in class discussion’
Asyndeton
It is a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases, and in the sentence, yet maintain grammatical accuracy. Usually a comma is used.
Example:”I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Simile
A form of comparison where something is being described like something else.
Example: ‘She ran like the wind’
Noun
A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).
Example: cat”, “dog”, “table”, “chair”, “happiness”, and “freedom”
Idiom
A phrase that has understood meaning that differs from its literal meaning.
Example:’It’s raining cats and dogs’
Verb
A verb is a word that indicates a physical action (e.g., “drive”), a mental action (e.g., “think”), or a state of being (e.g., “exist”).
Anaphora
The repeating of the same word or sequence of words at the beginning of several clauses.
Example: The voice of the lord is powerful; the voice of the lord is full of majesty. The voice of the lord breaks the cedars.
Euphony
A pattern of pleasant sounding or elegant language.
Example: ‘Butterflies, off Banks of Noon Leap, splash-less as they swim.
Conceit
An extended metaphor. This often continues throughout an entire text.
Dehumanisation
The process of depriving a person or group of positive human qualities.
Example: The goblin sitting at the high chair across from me let out a banshee wail. It gurgled and drooled.
Diction
Deliberate word selection for effect.
Metonymy/Menonym
A figure of speech in which a person, place or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it.
Example:”Canberra has been making some unusual decisions lately.” (The Australian Government)
Emotive language
Language that reflects and expresses an emotional or subjective reaction rather than a logical or rational reaction.
Example: “These animals cannot be allowed to set a single foot back onto our precious English soil!”
Infer/Inference
When a text leads the reader to draw a conclusion without specifically saying it.
Example: In Lord of the Flies, the reader can infer that Jack Merridew is a spoilt, upper class boy because of his position in a prestigious private school, as well as his rude and domineering behaviour towards those he views as inferiors.
Dialogue
Conversation between characters in a story. Formatting rules differ depending on text type.
Example: ‘And if we fail’ ‘We fail’
Voice
The overall sound of the voice in a piece of writing.
Interjection
An exclamation, especially as a part of speech (e.g. ah!, dear me! ).
Anadiplosis
Type of repetition in which the last words of one sentence are used to begin the next sentence.
Example: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred. Hatred leads to suffering.
Sibilance
A more specific form of alliteration that relies on the repetition of soft constant sounds in words to create a whooshing or hissing sound in the writing.
Example: ‘She sells sea shells by the sea shore.’
Jargon
Specialised language used within a particular field or by a particular group.
Example: He’s flatlining! Get me 20CC of sodium chloride, stat!
Hyperbole
Exaggeration for effect or to prove a point.
Example: An endless flock of birds appeared on the horizon.
Verisimilitude
Elements placed in a work to make the world created seem authentic, believable and real.
Adjective
A word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical.
Onomatopoeia
A word that literally sounds like the thing its describing.
Example: “Bang”
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole.
Example:’Listen, you’ve got to come take a look at my new wheels’
‘I really need your shoulder to cry on’
Repetition
The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect.
Assonance
Rhyming vowel sounds
Example: His tender heir might bear his memory.
Monologue
A long speech by one character in a play.
Allusion
A brief reference to some person, historical event, other story, work of art, or biblical or mythological situation or character.
Cliche`
Any figure of speech that was once clever and original but through overuse has become outdated. If you’ve heard more than two or three other people say it more than two or three times, chances are the phrase is too timeworn to be useful in your writing.
Example: “Busy as a bee.”
Pathetic Fallacy
The state of the mind of the character(s) is reflected through personification of the weather or natural enviroment.
Example: ‘Dark clouds gathered on the horizon as David marched towards the office. The wind tugged and pestered at his hair.’
Litotes
A form of understatement used to emphasise a point by stating a negative to strengthen a positive.
Example:’I wont be sorry to see him go.’
Zoomorphism
A form of dehumanisation which gives animal characteristics to a human character.
Example: The boy ripped at his food, snarling and gnashing his teeth.
Cacophony
A pattern of harsh or awkward sounding syllables and words.
Example: Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the jujub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch
