Vocabulary Flashcards
Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Example: to make a man to meet the moral need.
Allusion
A reference in a written or spoken text to another text or to some particular body of knowledge.
Example: Have you read “The Rise of the Coloured Empire” by this man Goddard? 
Antagonist
The character who opposes the interest of the protagonist.
Example: The The lord of the rings, Tolkien creates Lord Sauron as the antagonist to Frodo.
Apostrophe
The direct address of an absent person or personified object as if he/she/it is able to reply.
Example: O’ Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllabus of two or more adjacent words.
Example: Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies.
Connotation
The implied meaning of a word, in contrast to it’s directly expressed “dictionary meaning”
Example: Home literally means one’s house, but implies feelings of family and security.
Denotation
The “dictionary definition” of a word, in contrast to the connotation, or implied meaning.
Example: A house is literally a dwelling usually for a family. 
Diction
Word choice, which is viewed on scales of formality/informality, concreteness/abstraction, and denotative/connotative value.
Example: using “issue” instead of “problem”
Dynamic Character
One who changes during the course of narrative.
Example Romeo is a dynamic character.
Euphemism
An indirect expression of unpleasant information in such a way as to lessen its impact.
Example: “Passed away” instead of “died” 
Flat Character
A figure readily identifiable by memorable traits but not fully developed. 
Example: The evil stepmother in Cinderella
Hyperbole
An exaggeration for affect
Example: I told you a billion times not to exaggerate 
Irony
- Verbal Irony: the use of words to mean something different from what a person actually says
Example: I can’t wait to read the seven hundred page report - Situational Irony: discrepancy between what is expected to happen what actually happens.
Example: John buys a gun for protection, but someone uses that same gun to hurt him. - Dramatic Irony: When the audience is aware of something the characters are not.
Example: Romeo and Juliet try to be together while the audience knows they are doomed
Metaphor
An implied comparison that does not use the word like or as
Example: No man is an island 
Oxymoron
Juxtaposed words with seemingly contradictory meanings
Example: O miserable abundance! O beggarly riches! 
Parallelism
A set of similarly structured words, phrases, or clauses that appears in a sentence or paragraph.
Example: The dog ran, stumbled, and fell. 
Protagonist
The major character in a piece of literature; the figure and the narrative who’s interest the reader is most concerned about in sympathetic toward.
Example: Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath 
Simile
A type of comparison that uses the word like or as 
Example: Love is like a rose
Static Character
A figure who remains the same from the beginning to the end of a narrative.
Example: Nick Caraway is essentially a static character in The Great Gatsby
Symbol
In a text, an element that stands for more than itself and, therefore, helps to convey a theme to the text
Example: purple symbolizes royalty
Theme
The message conveyed by a Literary Work
Example: “The American dream is in decline“ is a theme of The Great Gatsby
Unreliable Narrator
An untrustworthy or naïve commentator on events and characters in a story.
Example: The people at Gatsbys parties like Jordan who spread rumors about Gatsby’s past. 
Voice
The texturel features, such as diction and sentence structure, that convey a writers or speakers persona. 
Example: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s voice is mysterious.
Elegy
A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
Ode
A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style and manor.
Sonnet
A poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically following iambic pentameter. 
Villanelle
A nineteen line poem with two rhymes throughout. The first and third lines repeat throughout the poem. 
Ballad
A poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. 
Dramatic Monologue
A poem in the form of a speech or narrative in which the speaker reveals their character while describing a situation or series of events. 
Epic
A long poem narrating the deeds in adventures of heroic or legendary figures
Satire
The use of humor, irony, or exaggeration to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices. Can be prose or poetry.
