Technical Terms Flashcards
What is a metaphor?
Describing something through saying it is something else e.g. ‘The houses opposite were mere phantoms’.
What is a simile?
Describing something through comparing it to another thing using like or as, e.g. Scrooge was ‘hard and sharp as flint’.
What is personification?
Describing an object or thing as if it has human characteristics, e.g. ‘the gruff old bell’.
What is an omniscient narrator?
When the voice telling the story (who is not a character in the story) knows everything about the characters and events in the story.
What is pathetic fallacy?
When a writer or poet uses words that reflect human feelings in objects, nature, or animals, e.g. ‘the misanthropic ice’.
What is a motif?
An idea that appears repeatedly in a piece of writing (like in music).
What are the motifs in A Christmas Carol?
Light vs dark and the passage of time.
What is an allegory?
An allegory is a story which teaches its readers a moral, religious, or political lesson. A Christmas Carol is an allegory about the damaging effect of greed. It is a moral tale of a man’s capacity for transformation and goodness.
What is symbolism?
The use of symbols (objects, characters, figures, or colours) in order to represent abstract ideas or concepts, e.g. Marley’s ghost’s chains represent his greed.
