Midterm Flashcards
Allegory
Story to reveal a hidden moral.
Synechdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds
Ambiguity
Uncertainty in meaning
Anaphora
A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated (usually in the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences.
Anecdote
A short account of an incident in someone’s life
Antithesis
Direct opposite compared with parallelism
Anthropomorphism
Assigning human characteristics to nonhuman beings or things.
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.
Blank Verse
Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter
Cacophony
Harsh sounding words.
Caesura
A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.
Caricature
A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a singular facet of someone’s personality.
Chaismus
Reversal of grammatical structures in successive clauses
colloquialism
Slang terminology.
Conciet
A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between unlike objects
couplet
A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.
Didactic
Tone word emphasizing teaching or instruction.
Elegy
A lyrical poem that laments the dead.
Epigraph
A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.
Epigram
A brief witty poem, often satirical.
Epistrophe
A scheme in which the same word is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences.
Epithet
Descriptive title.
Euphony
Sweet sounding words
Idiom
A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.
Inversion
A reversal of the usual order of words
Juxtaposition
Placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast
Litotes
Positive understatement expressed by a double negative.
Memoir
A type if autobiography that covers a short period of time
Meter
A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line if poetry
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it
Oxymoron
A figure if speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase
parable
(New Testament) any of the stories told by Jesus to convey his religious message
Quatrain
4 line stanza
Synesthesia
Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another
Syntax
Set of rules in a language
Vernacular
Everyday language
Conceited
Having an excessively favorable opinion in ones abilities.
Capricious
Changing one’s mind quickly and often
Supercilious
Arrogant
Duplicitous
Deceitful
Vindictively
Vengefully
Scathing
Harshly critical
Ascetic
Self denial
