Terms Flashcards
a tale in verse or prose where characters represent abstract ideas or moral qualities
Allegory
repetition of initial consonant sounds
Alliteration
comparison of two objects for the purpose of showing similarities between them
Analogy
reference to history, Bible, art, or literature
Allusion
a poetic foot of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable
Anapest
a person opposing the protagonist or creating the conflict
Antagonist
a noun or pronoun that names a noun or pronoun (Ms. Asselta, the teacher)
Appositive
the balance of two contrasting thoughts or phrases
Antithesis
a writer directly addresses an absent person/place/thing
Apostrophe
a comment intended for an audience only (character only addressing the audience)
Aside
repetition of vowel sounds in a line of poetry
Assonance
author who writes their own biography
Autobiography
poem that tells a story, usually in 4 stances with 2nd and 4th lines rhyming
Ballad
poetic lines of unambic (unrhymed) pentameter often used in verse dramas and long narrative poems
Blank Verse
break or pause in a line of poetry
Caesura
a section or division of a long poem
Canto
the point in a narrative when the outcome is revealed (at the end)
Climax
the character solves their problem
Comedy
when the social intrigues of a society are explored
Comedy of Manners
clash/strength or a story or novel, center of entire work
Conflict
repetition of non-initial consonant sounds in a line of poetry
Consonance
poetic foot containing a stressed followed by two unstressed
Dactyle
when one character speaks to himself or another and is usually a self-revealing moment in the character’s life (Soliloquy)
Dramatic Monologue
a formal poem mourning the death of an individual
Elegy
a sermon at the time of death
Eulogy
a sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. The quatrains state the problem and the couplet resolves it or the quatrains ask a question and the couplet answers it
Elizabethan Sonnet
a brief, witty, pointed comment, often a brief poem
Epigram
a saying on a tombstone
Epitaph
a piece of non-fiction prose that expresses a personal point of view
Essay
the part of a story which helps the reader understand the background
Exposition
the falling action after the climax
Falling Action (Denoumerfuit)
language that departs from the literal to achieve special effects. Uses figurative techniques (terms)
Figurative Language
device that permits the author to say one thing but mean another. Always involves a comparison
Figure of Speech
two rhymed lines of iambic potameter
Heroic Couplet
verse line consisting of 6 feet
Hexameter
an exaggeration or overstatement used for serious or humorous effect
Hyperbole
unstressed followed by stressed
Iamb
most common verse line, consists of 5 iambs
Iambic Pentameter
“in the middle of things,” when the writer plunged into the middle of the story
In Medias Res
an unrhymed line in one stanza signalling a rhyme in the next stanza
Interlocking Rhyme
the rhyme that recurs within the rhyme of poetry
Internal Rhyme
an attitude or way of writing that depends on a discrepancy on what is implied and what is real
Irony
sonnet with two parts, octave and sextet
Italian Sonnet
a standard phrase in Old English when something is described metaphorically
Kenning
popular in the 16th/17th cent. Made with used songs, dances, stages, effects. A play within a play.
Masque
a comparison without “like” or “as”
- Metaphysical Conceit: metaphor where two things are very different
Metaphor
a regular pattern of rhythm in poetry
Meter
when something trivial is treated humorously by approaching it in the grand style of an epic
Mock Epic
8 lines
Octave
a serious dignified lyric poem written on a serious occasion in honor of a person, place, or thing
Ode
when a sound creates a word
Onomatopoeia
writer says one thing and means something else
Verbal Irony
audience perceives a problem but the character does not realize it
Dramatic Irony
discrepancy between purpose and result
Irony Of Situation
a figure of speech which depends on a paradoxical contrast between two starkly different things
Oxymoron
a statement that is true in fact, but seems to contradict itself
Paradox
repetition of phrases which are similar in structure or meaning
Parallelism
figure of speech where something non-human is given human characteristics
Personification
central character who faces the conflict
Protagonist
a sacred song or lyric
Psalm
a poetic stanza of 4 lines
Quatrain
a phrase or sentence repeated at intervals in a poem (like a chorus in a song)
Refrain
the action of the play that builds toward the climax
Rising Action
piece of writing that holds human weaknesses up for ridicule. Written for the intent to change the mind/opinion of the reader
Satire
6 lines
Sestet
a figure of speech (comparison) using like or as
Simile
speech of some length in a play in which the speaker, speaking aloud, alone on stage, reveals innermost thoughts
Soliloquy
a poem of 14 lines, all have a question/answer, problem/solution, etc.
Sonnet
variable kind of poetic meter. Always a stressed followed by a variable of unstressed
Sprung Rhythm
style of writing that attempts to imitate the flow of a character’s thoughts as they are thinking them (James Joyce)
Stream of Consciousness
the way of writing, determined by word choice, arrangement of words (syntax), and relationship of sentences to each other
Style
arrangement of words
Syntax
word/phrase that stands for idea
Symbol
literary movement where a poet avoids direct statements, instead works through symbols to establish meaning
Symbolism
verse form consisting of three line stanzas in which the middle line rhymes with the first and third of the next stanza
Tertze Rema
4 feet
Tetrameter
when the conflict is not resolved
Tragedy
3 feet
Trimeter
a poetic foot of stressed followed by unstressed
Trochee
a number of 3 line stanzas with one 4 lines stanza. First and third lines of first stanza are returning in succeeding stanzas and last two lines of concluding stanzas
Villanelle
formation of characters that are frozen in place
Vignette
dignified and impersonal that seek to instruct or persuade
Formal Essays
relaxed and conversational, dealing with any subject matter
Informal Essays
