S1 Flashcards
Figure of speech
A word or phrase that is non-literal. Used for rhetorical effect.
Simile
A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things
Metaphor
A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as.
EX. “My love is a red,red rose”
Personification
The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities
EX. “The yellow leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze”
Apostrophe
Used to address someone who is absent or already dead.
Imagery
The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work.
Ex. Light vs dark
Symbol
An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that strands for something beyond itself.
Paradox
A statement that seems to go against common sense but may still be true
Hyperbole
A figure of speech involving exaggeration
Understatement
When a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means
Verbal irony
When you say something different from what you mean
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows something the characters don’t
Situational irony
Something happening that is very diff to what was expected
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words.
Allusion
An expression to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly.
Caesura
A strong pause within a line of a verse
Couplet
A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.
Diction
Choice of words and phrases in a work of literature
Enjambent
A run on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next.
Epic
A long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero.
Lyric
A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling.
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea. An example: “we have always remained loyal to the crown.”
Sonnet
A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter
Stanza
A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form- either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another.
Synechdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole.
Ex. “Lend me a hand”
Tone
The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work
Verse
A single metrical line in a poetic composition
Hamartia
A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine
Hubris
Excessive pride or self confidence
Catharsis
Physical or verbal expressions of feeling
Protagonist
The leading character in a a drama,movie,novel, or other fictional text.
Antagonists
The villain of the story
Foil
A character who contrasts with another character
Aside
A speech that a character delivers directly to an audience.
