Vocab 2 Flashcards
Poesy
Poetry
Epic
A long poem about the deeds of great people or a nations history.
Idyll
A simple written description of rural life and pastoral scenes.
Couplet
Two successive lines in poetry rhyming with each other.
Doggerel
Undignified or trivial verse, or verse that is badly constructed.
Caesura
A break or pause in a line of poetry.
Epilogue
A concluding section of a book or play, usually addressed to the audience.
Anthology
A collection of selected literary works.
Tome
A large, heavy book.
Disquisition
A detailed, rather formal discussion or essay.
Allegory
A story in which people, things, or events have symbolic meanings.
Hyperbole
Great exaggeration for effect.
Personification
An attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects; or an embodiment or perfect example.
Irony
An inconsistency between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen, or between what appears to be the case and what is the case.
Paradox
A statement that seems self-contradictory but that may be true.
Pun
A play on words that have the same or similar sounds but different meanings.
Browse
To glance through a book, library, or store in a leisurely, casual way.
Peruse
To read carefully or thoroughly.
Collate
To make a detailed comparison between pieces of writing; or to put in order pages of a manuscript.
Plagiarism
Stealing words or ideas from another and passing then off as ones own.
Elocution
The art of speaking clearly and expressively before an audience.
Declaim
To speak in an elaborate, rhetorical manner or deliver on a voice strong with emotion.
Forensic
Pertaining to public debate.
Prose
Speech or writing without metrical structure, as opposed to poetry.
Repartee
A quick, witty reply or conversation.
Colloquy
A conversation, conference, or dialogue.
Soliloquy
A monologue; or the act of talking to oneself, usually in a play.
Symposium
A conference at which a particular subject is discussed.
Prate
To chatter, babble, or talk foolishly and at length.
Reticence
The state of quality of being quiet, reserved, or uncommunicative.
Mummery
A masked performance; or a ridiculous performance or empty show.
Tableau
A vivid picture or representation; or a representation of a scene by the grouping of silent, motionless persons in appropriate poses.
Syntax
Sentence structure, or the arrangement of words in a sentence.
Collocation
A grouping or arrangement especially of words.
Idiom
A correct expression that is unusual in form or meaning.
Diphthong
Two vowels united into a single, complex sound.
Lexicon
A dictionary or vocabulary book, particularly Greek, Hebrew, or Latin; or a special vocabulary.
Italic
A style of type in which the letters slant.
Caret
A sign used for marking a place in writing where something has to be put in.
Parenthesis
Explanatory words inserted in a sentence; or the punctuation setting off such an expression.
Cuneiform
Old Babylonian and Assyrian writing formed of wedge-shaped marks.
Notation
A system of signs or symbols.
Emendation
A correction or removal of errors, especially in a literary work.
Prosaic
Unimaginative, commonplace, or dull.
Stilted
Pompous or artificially formal.
Terse
Concise, succinct, or to the point.
Succinct
Compressed, concise, or terse.
Discursive
Rambling, or wandering from topic to topic.
Allude
To mention or refer to indirectly.
Iterate
To repeat.
Dictum
An authoritative statement, ruling, or formal pronouncement.
Conundrum
A riddle, problem, or unanswerable question.
Ineffable
That which cannot be expressed in speech.
Epithet
A description name or title for a person.
Pseudonym
A fictitious name or a pen name.
Alto
The second-highest voice in four-part harmony.
Treble
High-pitched or soprano. Threefold or treble.
Ballad
A poem or song that tells a story in simple words.
Recitative
Language uttered as in ordinary speech, but in musical tones.
Libretto
The words or text of an opera or other long choral work.
Descant
A melody sung or player in harmony with the main melody.
Étude
A musical study for a solo instrument, designed to give practice in some point of technique.
Thrum
To strum or play a stringed instrument monotonously; or a dull sound similar to strumming.
Dulcet
Sweet, pleasant, or agreeable to the ear.
Dissonant
Harsh or unharmonious in sound; not in agreement.
