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Terminology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the Climax in narrative structure?

A

The most suspenseful part of the plot; the turning point for the protagonist.

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2
Q

What is Falling Action?

A

Events that unravel the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist.

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3
Q

What is Rising Action?

A

Three major events that add tension to the plot leading to the climax.

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4
Q

What is Resolution?

A

The part of the plot where we discover whether the protagonist’s goals are achieved.

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5
Q

What is Denouement?

A

The ‘tying up of loose ends’ in a narrative.

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6
Q

What is Exposition?

A

The introduction of the plot that includes characters and setting.

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7
Q

What is Initial Incident?

A

The very first conflict that occurs in the plot.

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8
Q

What is an Allusion?

A

An indirect reference to something outside the text, usually familiar to the audience.

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9
Q

What is an Allegory?

A

A literary work where characters and events have a second, symbolic meaning.

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10
Q

What is Alliteration?

A

The repetition of an initial consonant sound in words that are close together.

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11
Q

What is Assonance?

A

The repetition of similar vowel sounds within words and phrases.

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12
Q

What is Plosive Alliteration?

A

Repetition of ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds.

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13
Q

What is Sibilance?

A

Repetition of ‘s’ sounds.

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14
Q

What is Dental Alliteration?

A

Repetition of ‘d’ and ‘t’ sounds.

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15
Q

What is Guttural Alliteration?

A

Repetition of ‘g’, ‘r’, and ‘c’ sounds.

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16
Q

What is Fricative Alliteration?

A

Repetition of ‘f’, ‘ph’, and ‘v’ sounds.

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17
Q

What is Anagnorisis?

A

The point in a narrative where a character recognizes another’s true identity.

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18
Q

What is an Analogy?

A

A comparison between one thing and another for explanation or clarification.

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19
Q

What is Anaphora?

A

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of sentences.

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20
Q

What is an antagonist?

A

A figure or symbol of hostility or conflict that opposes the protagonist. It doesn’t always have to be a person; for example, in ‘The Road’, the antagonist is the environment.

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21
Q

What does ambiguity mean?

A

The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness. Writers often use it to encourage reader interpretation or create a sense of uncertainty.

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22
Q

What is antithesis?

A

A rhetorical technique that contrasts two opposing ideas, often used in dystopian work to exaggerate the contrast between utopian and dystopian ideals.

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23
Q

What is an aphorism?

A

A brief, memorable statement that captures a broad, universal truth or idea. For example, in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Try to pity them. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

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24
Q

What are archetypes?

A

Common literary elements found in stories across cultures and times, with universally recognizable attributes. A struggling protagonist is an archetype of dystopian fiction.

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25
Q

What are Aristotle’s Poetics/Three Unities?

A

The earliest surviving work on Greek dramatic theory, outlining foundations of tragedy, including the tragic hero and the importance of catharsis, along with the three unities: time, geography, and action.

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26
Q

What is binary opposition?

A

The strict definition and contrast of two theoretical opposites, such as bittersweet, life and death, or active and passive.

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27
Q

What is catharsis?

A

The process of releasing and providing relief from strong or repressed emotions, often occurring at the end of a narrative.

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28
Q

What is caesura?

A

A break between words within a metrical foot or a pause near the middle of a line. For example, ‘to be, or not to be - that is the question.’

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29
Q

What is the difference between connotation and denotation?

A

Connotation refers to the associations gleaned from words, while denotation is the literal definition. Writers may use connotation to imply meaning subtly.

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30
Q

What is deus ex machina?

A

A plot device where an unsolvable conflict is suddenly resolved by the unexpected appearance of an implausible character, object, or event, such as a pirate ship.

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31
Q

What is dystopia?

A

An imagined state or society characterized by great suffering or injustice, typically totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

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32
Q

What is ellipsis in literature?

A

A device used to omit details from a narrative, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. Dystopian texts often use this to create uncertainty.

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33
Q

What is an epithet?

A

A descriptive phrase that accompanies or replaces the name of a character or thing, such as ‘Rose of May’ for Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’.

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34
Q

What is figurative language?

A

Language that goes beyond the literal, including metaphorical language and symbolism.

35
Q

What is hamartia?

A

A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine, such as Blanche’s lying or Hamlet’s indecision.

36
Q

What is hubris?

A

Excessive pride or self-confidence, exemplified by Stanley’s self-assurance at the end of the play or Polonius throughout the play.

37
Q

What is hyperbole and litotes?

A

Hyperbole is over-exaggeration for effect, while litotes uses exaggerated language to understate something, often relying on negation. Dystopian writers may use these for different effects.

38
Q

What is iambic pentameter?

A

A line of verse composed of ten syllables arranged in five metrical feet (iambs) with the second syllable stressed, mimicking a heartbeat and common British speech.

Example: ‘I am, I am, I am, I am, I am.’

39
Q

What is an idiom?

A

A commonly used figure of speech with a meaning that differs from its literal meaning.

Example: ‘The world is your oyster’ means ‘You can accomplish anything you want to.’

40
Q

What is an interjection?

A

A word or phrase that is grammatically independent from the words around it, mainly expressing feeling rather than meaning.

41
Q

What is innuendo?

A

An allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one.

Example: Hamlet’s remark ‘It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge’ to Ophelia.

42
Q

What is irony?

A

The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

43
Q

What is tragic irony?

A

In a tragedy, the audience is aware that a character’s words or actions will bring about a tragic or fatal result, while the character is not.

44
Q

What is dramatic irony?

A

The full significance of a character’s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

45
Q

What is juxtaposition?

A

The placement of two ideas, characters, or actions close together in relation to each other, usually to draw attention to their contrasting traits.

46
Q

What are lexical sets/semantic fields?

A

A group of words or expressions that are related in meaning.

47
Q

What is a monologue?

A

A long speech by one character.

48
Q

What is narrative voice/perspective?

A

The perspective from which a story is told, impacting the tone and nature of the extract.

49
Q

What is a neologism?

A

A newly coined phrase or word, often indicating a way of control or creating a sense of identity via subculture.

Example: Features in Sci-Fi like ‘A Clockwork Orange.’

50
Q

What is othering?

A

A divisive and reductive action of labeling and defining a person as someone who belongs to the socially subordinate category of the Other.

Example: The Proles were othered in 1984.

51
Q

What is an oxymoron?

A

A figure of speech linking two opposite or contradictory words or ideas together to form a neat paradox.

Example: ‘Passive-aggressive.’

52
Q

What is a paradox?

A

A direct contradiction that is often used as a means of provocation.

Example: Slogans in 1984 like ‘War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery.’

53
Q

What is parallelism?

A

The repetition of grammatical structures and patterns within a text, used for emphasis or to draw connections between ideas.

54
Q

What is parody?

A

An imitation of another literary work that mocks, critiques, or makes light of the original.

Example: ‘My God. Who Art in the Kingdom of Heaven’ in The Handmaid’s Tale.

55
Q

What is peripeteia?

A

A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, especially in reference to fictional narrative.

56
Q

Who is the protagonist?

A

The main character within a text, often but not always a hero.

57
Q

What is the difference between prose and verse?

A

Prose is a conversational way of speaking without a set rhythm or structure, while verse has a set rhythm and structure.

Hamlet is mostly written in iambic pentameter and is 75% verse.

58
Q

What is rhymed verse?

A

The most common type of verse that usually has a metrical form that rhymes throughout.

59
Q

What is blank verse?

A

A metrical form that has no rhyme.

60
Q

What is free verse?

A

A form of poetry that has no set metre but may or may not be rhymed.

61
Q

What are puns?

A

A form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term or similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.

Example: ‘A little more than kin, and less than kind’ (1.2.65) in Hamlet.

62
Q

What is register in writing?

A

The formality of the text/writing, which can imply different attitudes or authority.

63
Q

What does Renaissance mean?

A

A French word meaning ‘rebirth,’ referring to a period marked by a revival of Classical learning and wisdom.

64
Q

When did the Renaissance start and end?

A

The Renaissance started in Italy in the 14th century and lasted until the 17th century.

65
Q

What significant event occurred in 1660?

A

The end of the English Renaissance.

66
Q

What was the Reformation?

A

A movement from 1533 to 1558 where Henry VIII split England from Rome.

67
Q

What is satire?

A

Satire is the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

68
Q

What is Stichomythia?

A

Stichomythia is dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of verse.

69
Q

What is tragedy in literature?

A

Tragedy is a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially concerning the downfall of the main character, but provides catharsis for an audience.

70
Q

What defines a tragic hero?

A

A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy, typically characterized by noble birth, experiencing a reversal of fortune, having a Hamartia or fatal flaw, and facing a tragic outcome.

71
Q

What is Utopia?

A

Utopia is an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members, coined by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 book Utopia.

72
Q

What is A01 in assessment objectives?

A

A01 is to articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.

73
Q

What is A02 in assessment objectives?

A

A02 is to analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts.

74
Q

What is A03 in assessment objectives?

A

A03 is to demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received.

75
Q

What is A04 in assessment objectives?

A

A04 is to explore connections across literary texts.

76
Q

What is A05 in assessment objectives?

A

A05 is to explore literary texts informed by different interpretations.

77
Q

What is dysphemism

A

A blunt statement

78
Q

What is euphemism

A

a word or phrase used to obliquely describe something unpleasant, impolite, or taboo

79
Q

What is a declarative

A

A declarative sentence states a fact. This word can be used to describe any action or speech that makes a statement.

80
Q

What is an imperative

A

a sentence that expresses a direct command, request, invitations, warning, or instruction

81
Q

What is an interrogative

A

typically feature a word order with the predicate and primary verb before the subject

82
Q

What is an exclamatory

A

one that expresses sudden or strong emotions and feelings.

83
Q

What is a modal verb

A

verbs that indicate likelihood, ability, permission or obligation

84
Q

What is an abstract noun

A

a noun denoting feeling, idea, state or quality is an abstract noun.

English Lit (1 decks)

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