TERMINOLOGY Flashcards
Allegory
A literary or visual form in which characters, events or images represent or symbolise ideas. It can be a story of some complexity corresponding to another situation on a deeper level. Animal Farm is about a community of animals, but reflects the Russian Revolution and satirises Communism.
Allusion
An indirect reference to an event, person, place, another work of literature, etc. that gives additional layers of meaning to a text or enlarges its frame of reference.
Anagnoris
A moment of recognition or discovery usually late in the plot where the protagonist discovers something about his or her true nature or behaviour or situation.
Antithesis
Expressing contrasting ideas by balancing words of opposite meaning and idea in a line or sentence, for rhetorical impact: “They promised opportunity and provided slavery”.
Atmosphere
It refers specifically to place – a setting, or surroundings.
Denouement
How the ending of a novel or play turns out, how the plot is unravelled or revealed.
Diction
The writer’s choice and arrangement of words or distinctive vocabulary (its effectiveness and precision).
Didactic
Describes text where there is an intention to preach a (usually) moral, political or religious point it usually has a negative connotation.
Dramatic irony
Where a character (or characters) is/are unaware of something of which the audience/reader and often other characters on stage are aware. A powerful tool especially in drama, used for tragic or comic purposes.
Epiphany
From the Greek “manifestation”, it means a sudden realisation or moment of awakening in which something is seen in a new light, or its essential nature is perceived – which could be a moment of radiance or devastation. Used to effect in some short stories, as well as other fiction an poetry.
Hyperbole
A deliberate exaggeration for various effects – comic, tragic, etc. When Frost writes that the beauty of Spring “is only so an hour”, he emphasises how very brief the life of precious things seems.
Imagery
The mental pictures created by language (both metaphorical and literal) that appeal to the senses.
Interior monologue
Where the narrator depicts the thoughts pouring randomly from a character’s mind, so that the reader experiences these as if overhearing them, unfiltered by comments from the narrator or adjusted grammatically.
Intertextuality
The shaping of some part of a text’s meaning by another text, which can take the form, for example, of quotation, allusion, parody or re-working of an idea or story.
Irony
A gap or mismatch between what is said and what is intended. For example, between what a character or group might see or think, and what the author wishes us to see or think. A powerful tool for a writer to expose hypocrisies and lack of awareness.
Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that are seen as alike in some aspect, without the use of ‘like’ or ‘as’. It can facilitate understanding of an abstract concept (for example, life as a journey) or open up the imagination by creating a striking visual and sensual link between things not normally associated.
Monologue
A speech of some length that expresses a character’s thoughts out loud, sometimes addressing other characters. Distinguish from “apostrophe”, “aside”, and “soliloquy”.
Motif
Recurrent element in a narrative or drama (such as an image or spoken phrase) that has symbolic significance and can contribute, through cumulative effect, to a theme. For example, the covered lamp in Williams’ Streetcar, or the flute music in Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Paradox
An apparently contradictory statement, which on investigation is found to contain a truth. (For example Frost’s title “Nothing gold can stay”). Distinguish from the compressed paradox of ‘oxymoron’.
Oxymoron
Where two words, seemingly contradictory or incongruous are joined, often suggesting something complex, as in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet says that “parting is such sweet sorrow”.
Personification
Where human feelings or sensations are attributed to an inanimate object.
Simile
Where a comparison is made explicit with ‘as’ or ‘like’ (distinguish from metaphor). Can make descriptions vivid and unusual. Dickens is a master of the simile.
Stream of consciousness
The representation of a character’s (or first person narrator’s) thought processes-feelings, sensations, memories, etc. as a random stream of thoughts.
Subtext
Ideas, feelings, thoughts, not dealt with directly in the text (drama especially), but existing underneath. Characters don’t always express their real thoughts.
Symbol
Objects that represent or evoke an idea or concept of wider, abstract significance, as roses represent love, walls divisions.
Tone
Created where the writing conveys the attitude and emotions of the writer towards his/her subjects through aspects of language like diction, syntax, and rhythm.
Anthropomorphism
Giving human traits, emotions or intentions to non-human entities, such as in the stories with an animal as the protagonist.
Colloquialism
The use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech, usually due to these words being used casually within a regional dialect.
Digression
When an author diverts their attention to matters that are extraneous to the principal subject being discussed, i.e., a slight diversion.
Euphemism
The use of words or expressions to disguise painful or uncomfortable ideas, so the literal meaning of words are devoid of deep meaning.
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor that unfolds across multiple lines or multiple paragraphs of a text, so the writer can explain the idea in intricate detail.
Flashback
A narrative reversion to previous events, so the author can provide background information or important details about the story.
Flash-Forward
An insertion in the story-telling process of a scene which happens after the currently-narrated event.
Foreshadowing
A literary device used by authors to hint or leave clues about events that will be happening much later in the story.
Hamartia
A literary term that refers to any tragic flaw or error in a character’s personality that eventually leads to their downfall.
Hubris
A literary term that refers to excessive pride or overconfidence in a character, which drives them to overstep limits and lead them to their downfall.
Mood
A general atmosphere or emotion created for the reader through the use of setting, imagery, word choice and tone.
Pathetic Fallacy
When a writers gives human emotions to things, such as objects, weather or animals, in order to reflect the inner emotions of a character.
Parody
A conscious and deliberate imitation of the style of a work, an artist, or a genre, intended to create a mocking or simply comic effect.
Sibilance
Sibilance is the sound of hissing snakes or whistling winds, usually created by placing the letter ‘s’ in close succession, and is a type of alliteration.
Static Characters
Characters who don’t really change or develop as a result of the story’s major plot developments.
Rounded Characters
The term used to describe life-like or complex characters with believable motives, desires and overall traits
Verbal Irony
Unlike the irony within a situation, verbal irony is evident when the words spoken by an individual is the opposite of what they actually mean.
Anaphora
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences.
Analepsis
Flashback with intention to learn more about the character/moment
Prolepsis
Flashforward to reveal future moments in the plot
