Terms Flashcards
Essay form that seeks to recreate a series of events (i.e., a “story”) as vividly as possible using descriptive detail.
Narration
A detailed restatement of informaltion in words other than those of the original source.
Paraphrase
A reference to historical events or figures, used to develop and deepen the meaning of the work.
Allusion
An overuse, and hence ineffective, figure of speech such as “pretty as a picture” or “white as snow.” Since the purpose of figurative language is to surprise the reader into a new way of seeing, writers should avoid using these.
Cliché
A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Simile
A simplistic and often stereotypical character.
Flat Character
The misrepresentation or exclusion of either sex. One of the most common forms is the use of “he” for an individual of unknown gender.
Sexist Language
The repetition of consonant sounds for poetic affect, particularly at the beginning’s of words.
Alliteration
The opposite of what is said is meant.
Verbal Irony
The perspective from which a story is told.
Point of View
The substitution of one thing for another with which is it closely associated, such as using “the white house” to refer to the president.
Metonymy
A work in which two story lines are developed in equal length.
Double Plot
The remembrances of a public figure and/or of an historical era; in autobiographical form.
Memoir
A fiction that reflects on the subject and writing of fiction.
Metafiction
Narrative point of view in which the narrator speaks as “I” and is a participant in the narrative.
First Person
A theme or image that occurs repeatedly through a literary work and thus acquires symbolic value.
Motif
The use of words that imitate the sound they represent, such as “crash” and “buzz.”
Onomatopoeia
A poem that expresses mourning for the death of a particular person and/or for mortality in general.
Elegy / Elegiac Mode
The arrangement of words withing a sentence and the way this arrangement can affect meaning.
Syntax
The use of a part of something to stand for its whole, (i.e., saying “My heart belongs to you” to indicate that the entire self belongs to the beloved).
Synecdoche
A German term meaning “novel of education,’ in which the fortunes of the protagonist are traced from early years to adulthood.
Bildungsroman
The arrangement of events in a narrative for dramatic work.
Plot
An apparent contradiction that resolves itself on a deeper level.
Paradox
Protagonist in a tragedy; a person of high moral stature whose downfall is, nonetheless, the result of some tragic flaw.
Tragic Hero
A question to which no answer is expected, or to which the answer is assumed to be self-evident. Used primarily for stylistic effect, this device encourages an emotional response from the reader and, thus, is often used in persuasive writing.
Rhetorical Question
A word of phrase composed of two words that apparently contradict each other, such as bittersweet.
Oxymoron
Aristotle’s term for the therapeutic sense of emotional release supposedly felt by an audience that witnesses the tragic or terrifying onstage.
Catharsis
A biography written by the subject about herself or himself.
Autobiography
The imitation of a certain author’s sytle, tone, or attitude with the intent to ridicule. The technique is one of exaggeration.
Parody
Point of view in which the narrator is part of the action.
First Person
Point of view in which the narrator uses the third person and is all-knowing.
Omniscient
Created by both word choice and syntax, it reflects the author’s attitude toward the subject matter, which can be humorous, sarcastic, and so forth.
Tone
The state that exists when there are several legitimate interpretations of a literary work.
Ambiguity
Characters undergoing change.
Dynamic Characters
The central idea or message in a work. It can be expressed either directly or indirectly.
Theme
A form of nineteenth century autobiography that documents a slave’s journey from bondage to freedom.
Slave Narrative
Original materials, whether novels, speeches, scientific reports, or government documents.
Primary Sources
A term derived from cinema, referring to any scene inserted into a literary work in order to show an earlier event.
Flashback
The character of force opposing the protagonist in a play.
Antagonist
A word with a meaning that is opposite to the meaning of another word.
Antonym
Usually contained in the introduction, it establishes the focus of the essay - what it is about - in one or two sentences.
Thesis Statement
The dictionary definition(s) of a word.
Denotation
Using the current action in a literary work to anticipate later events.
Forshadowing
The opposite of what we expect happens.
Situational Irony / Philosophical Irony
Literally “in the middle of things,” beginning a story in the midst of the action.
in media res
Words that are close enough in meaning to be interchangeable. Exact examples are rare, however, since all words have slightly different connotations.
Synonyms
A brief account of a story about an individual or incident.
Anecdote
The representation of another’s words or ideas as though they were the writer’s own. This academic theft, whether conscious or unconscious, is a serious offense. To avoid it, document all outside information.
Plagiarism
The basic unit of structure in a poem. Each unit consists of a group of interrelated lines arranged in a pattern that is usually repeated throughout the poem.
Stanza
An object, character, or acton that stands for something more than itself.
Symbol
The attribution of human qualities to inanimate things for poetic effect.
Personification
The exaggeration of aspects or features of a character, usually for humorous or satiric purposes.
Caricature
Concrete language that appeals to the senses. It does not have to be interpreted literally; indeed, many are conveyed by figurative language.
Imagery
A character existing only to highlight certain aspects of the protagonist.
Character Foil
Language that includes figures of speech.
Figurative Language
An implied comparison that brings together two dissimilar things without the use of “like” or “as.”
Metaphor
The inscription on the title page of a book, which may be a quotation from another literary work or an original remark by the author and which calls attention to the book’s theme.
Epigraph
Person telling a story.
Narrator
A close reading of a text, usually involving line-by-line analysis.
Explication
A story involving supernatural beings that usually explains the cosmos and the mysteries of life and death.
Myth
The time, place, and/or environment in which a literary work occurs.
Setting
A protagonist who is deliberately unheroic (i.e., often passive, ineffectual or self-interested).
Antihero
In a short story, a sudden moment of insight when a character discovers a truth important to the story.
Epiphany
The meanings or emotional associations evoked by a word.
Connotation
Writing reveals the author’s feelings and attitudes and often seeks to involve the reader emotionally.
Subjective
The aspect of a narrative that causes its reader to feel sorrow or pity for the various characters.
Pathos
The group of literary works a given culture judges to possess special merit.
Canon
The specialized vocabulary of a particular field or trade, which the general reader is unlikely to understand.
Jargon
Characters remaining unchanged.
Static Characters
Language which uses a high proportion of nouns which refer to concepts, qualities, or general conditions.
Abstract Language (“truth,’ “honesty,” “poverty”)
The endowment of animals with human thoughts and feelings.
Anthropomorphism
An atmosphere or tone of a literary work, created not only by the characters and events but also by the author’s style and choice of language.
Mood
Point of view in which the narrator is outside the action.
Third Person
A plot which is related to but less important than the main plot to a story.
Subplot
Language which uses nouns which refer to things perceptible through the senses.
Concrete Language (“house,” “rain,” “tree”)
The difference in knowledge between the audience and the actors on stage.
Dramatic Irony
The principal character in a work of drama or fiction.
Protagonist
A conceptual framework for understanding and interpreting a work of art.
Literary Theory / Literary Criticism
From the latin for “mask,” this term originally referred to the false face of clay worn by actors. It now denotes the identity adopted by an author for a literary work.
Persona
A story with a moral, often religious, the purpose of which is instruction.
Parable
The literary process of attempting to create a convincing and uninterrupted illusion of real life.
Mimesis
The part of a narrative that follows the climax, in which any remaining unresolved plot elements are resolved.
Dénouement
Easily recognized types of characters, such as the fool.
Stereotypes
The concise statement of the idea being developed withing a paragraph. It focuses the paragraph in the same way that the thesis statement focuses the essay
Topic Sentence
A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration, usually for comic effect.
Hyperbole
Literature that exposes folly and seeks to correct it through ridicule. While the irony employed may be amusing, the intent is not simply to entertain but to enlighten an audience.
Satire
What are the five major classical genres?
- Comedy 2. Epic 3. Lyric 4. Tragedy 5. Satire CELTS
Studies of orginial materials.
Secondary Sources
A psychologically complex and convincing character.
Round Character
Informal words and phrases that are a normal part of everyday speech but that are inappropriate in formal writing.
Colloquial Expression / Colloquialism
Writing is primarily factual, and maintains a detached, impersonal tone.
Objective
A literary type or class.
Genre
