Techniques Flashcards
Conflict
It’s basically when a character wants something but something else gets in the way.
Figurative Language
Figurative language is a way of expressing oneself that does not use a word’s strict or realistic meaning. Common in comparisons and exaggerations, figurative language is usually used to add creative flourish to written or spoken language or explain a complicated idea.
Acronym
An ACRONYM is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term and is usually PRONOUNCED AS A SINGLE WORD
End Stop
A metrical line ending at a grammatical boundary or break—such as a dash or closing parenthesis—or with punctuation such as a colon, a semicolon, or a period. A line is considered end-stopped, too, if it contains a complete phrase.
Lampoon
Virulent satire in prose or verse that is a gratuitous and sometimes unjust and malicious attack on an individual.
Trope
A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase, or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech
Caesura
A stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory words with opposing meanings, like “old news,” “deafening silence,” or “organized chaos.” Oxymorons may seem illogical at first, but in context they usually make sense
Metonymy
Figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word closely related to or suggested by the original, as “crown” to mean “king”
Extended metaphor
An extended metaphor is a version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry.
Rhetorical question
A rhetorical question is an inquiry that ends in a question mark but is asked for effect rather than to elicit an answer. It’s often used in persuasive writing
Enjambment
A poetic term for the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried smoothly and swiftly—without interruption—to the next line of the poem.
Conceit
A poetic conceit is an often unconventional, logically complex, or surprising metaphor whose delights are more intellectual than sensual.
Intertextuality
a literary theory stating all works of literature are a derivation or have been influenced by a previous work of literature
Contrast
In literature, an author uses contrast when they describe the difference(s) between two or more entities. According to the Oxford Dictionary, contrast is comparing two things in order to show the differences between them
Symbolism
Symbolism is the use of words or images to symbolize specific concepts, people, objects, or events. In some cases, symbolism is broad and used to communicate a work’s theme
Neologism
A new word or expression in a language, or a new meaning for an existing word or expression
Stanza
A division of a poem consisting of two or more lines arranged together as a unit. More specifically, a stanza usually is a group of lines arranged together in a recurring pattern of metrical lengths and a sequence of rhymes.
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry. The words have to be near enough to each other that the similar vowel sounds are noticeable
Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes something by saying it’s something else. It is not meant to be taken literally.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche refers to a literary device in which a part of something is substituted for the whole (as hired hand for “worker”), or less commonly, a whole represents a part (as when society denotes “high society”)
Denotation
Denotation is the objective meaning of a word
Point of view
Literary point of view is the perspective from which an author tells a story
Plot
In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the sequence of events in which each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect
Protagonist
The protagonist is the character who drives the action–the character whose fate matters most. In other words, they are involved in —and often central to—the plot or conflict of the story, but are also usually the emotional heart of the narrative.
Diction
In writing, diction refers to the words the writer chooses to use.
Imagery
As human beings, we understand the world through our senses—what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, and what we touch. To represent this process in their literary works, storytellers and poets use vivid language designed to appeal to these senses. This language is called imagery.
Verb
A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted on: as, I am, I rule, I am ruled, I love, you love, he loves
Adverb
An adverb is a word that is used to modify verbs, adjectives, clauses, and other adverbs. Many adverbs end in -ly, and they usually appear next to the word that they modify. In the sentence Bob carefully built a sandcastle, the word carefully is an adverb that modifies the verb built.
Genre
A distinctive type or category of literary composition, such as the epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, and short story.
Blank verse
A literary term that refers to poetry written in unrhymed but metered lines, almost always iambic pentameter.
Interjection
An interjection is a word or phrase that is grammatically independent from the words around it, and mainly expresses feeling rather than meaning.
Oh, what a beautiful house!
Uh-oh, this looks bad
Pronoun
A word that you use to refer to someone or something when you do not need to use a noun, often because the person or thing has been mentioned earlier. Examples are ‘it’, ‘she’, ‘something’, and ‘myself’.’
Euphemism
An appropriate expression used in the place of a phrase or words that may be found inappropriate or offensive.
Connotation
Connotation is the use of a word to suggest a different association than its literal meaning, which is known as denotation. For example, blue is a color, but it is also a word used to describe a feeling of sadness.
