Vocabulary 2 Flashcards
Consonance
the repetition of a sequence of 2 or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, pish-posh, clinging and clanging
- ie: Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night’s Dream: “Or if there were a sympathy in choice/ War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it.”
Couplet
2 rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection
- ie: Shakepeare’s sonnets (XVIII): “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see/ So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”
Dactylic
a metrical foot in poetry that consists of 2 stressed syllables followed by 1 unstressed syllable //-//-//-//-
- ie: Phillip Brooks’ Christmas Everywhere: “Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight./ Christmas in lands of the fir-tree and pines.”
Denotation
a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word
Dialect
the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people
- ie: Minnesotans say “you betcha”
- ie: Southerners say “you all”
- ie: Mark Twain as Huck Finn: “I put ten dollars in a cow. But I an’gwyne to resk no mo’ money in stock. De cow up’n’died on my han’s.”
Diction
the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose or effect
- ie: Edgar A. Poe: “I hadn’t so much forgot as I couldn’t bring myself to remember” = more impact that “I chose not to remember.”
Dramatic Monologue
set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience (aka soliloquy)
- ie: Hamlet: “To be or not to be”
- ie: Macbeth: “Is this a dagger I see before me?”
Elegy
a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation
- ie: Thomas Gray’s poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next
- ie: “The Sick Rose”
- ie: Geoge Eliot’s poem “The Choir Invisible”
Oh, may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
Epic
a poem that celebrates in continuous narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture; it uses elevated language and grand, high style
- ie: “The Iliad,” “The Odyssey” and “Paradise Lost,” “Star Wars”
Exposition
that part of the structure that sets the scene, introduces and identifies characters, and establishes the situation at the beginning of a story or play
Extended Metaphor
a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work (aka conceit)
Fable
a legend or short moral story often using animals as characters
- ie: “Uncle Remus Stories” by Joel Chandler Harris = cultural fable
- ie: “Animal Farm” by George Orwell = political fable
- ie: Aesop = best-known teller of fables
Falling Action
that part of the plot structure in which the complications of the rising action are untangled (aka denouement)
Farce
a play or scene in a play or cook that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics and often slapstick and physical humor
- ie: Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night’s Dream:
- ie: “Catch-22”
- ie: “Pink Panther
- ie: “Search for the Holy Grail”
Flashback
retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative
- ie: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” = flashback to events that happened in the adult narrator’s childhood
Foreshadowing
to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand
- ie: "Romeo and Juliet" ... my mind misgives Some consequences yet hanging in the stars Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night's revels and expire term Of a despised life closed to my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death. - ie: "To Kill a Mockingbird" = narrator predicts the drama at the end of the book by anticipating the happenings that took place the summer Jen broke his arm
Formal Diction
language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal; used in narrative epic poetry
- ie: John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” & “Paradise Regained”
Free Verse
poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter and nonrhyming lines
- ie: Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”
- ie: “To be or not to be”
Genre
a type or class of literature
- ie: epic
- ie: narrative
- ie: poetry
- ie: belles lettres
Hyperbole
overstatement characterized by exaggerated language
- ie: “I’m starving!”
- ie: “Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmer’s stood,
And fired the shot heard ‘round the world.
Iambic
a metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: -/-/-/-/-/; used in sets of 5 = iambic pentameter
- ie: Shakespeare’s sonnets
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate
Idyll
a short poem describing a country or pastoral scene, praising the simplicity and peace of rustic life
- ie: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”
Imagery
broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work: more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object; involves any or all 5 senses
Informal Diction
language that is not as lofty or impersonal as formal diction; similar to everyday speech
- ie: “OK,” “bye,” “huh?”
In Medias Res
“in the midst of things”; refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filling past details by exposition or flashback
Irony
a situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant; often humorous and sometimes sarcastic when it uses words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean
- ie: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
a form of humor in which the outcome is the opposite of what is expected
- ie: “ The Ransom of a Red Chief” by James Thurber: a young boy is kidnapped, and his behavior is so atrocious that the kidnappers pay the parents to take the boy back
Jargon
specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group
- ie: the computer industry = words like geek, crash, and interfere
