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73 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Anapest
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A word or phrase containing two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable.
*unabridged, intercede, on the loose |
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Aphorism
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A breif statement which expresses an observation of life, usually intended to be a wise observation
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Catastrophe
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the scene of a tragedy which includes the death or moral destruction of the protagonist.
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Anecdote
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A very short tale told by a character in a literary work
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Apostrophe
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A figure of speech where the speaker talks directly to something nonhuman
*Busy old fool, uruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us? |
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alliteration
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repetition of same sounding word beginnings.
*Let us go forth and led the land we love |
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Antagonist
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A person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work.
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Anacoluthon
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lack of grammical sequence
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Allegory
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A story illustrating an idea or moral principal in which objects take symbolic meaning
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Allusion
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A reference to another well known work
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Ballad
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A story in poetic form, often about tragic love and usually sung.
*There is a castle on a cloud, I like to go there in my sleep Nobody shouts or speaks too loud, not in my castle on a cloud. |
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Ambiguity
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A statement which contains two or more meanings
*She slept with him |
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Assonance
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The repition of vowel sounds in a literary work, especially a poem.
*Hear the mellow wedding bells *From the molden-golden notes |
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Antistrophe
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repitition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive sentances.
*They attacked-without warning. Everyone died-without warning. I fell to the ground-without warning. The beat of my heart stopped...without warning |
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Asyndeton
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The lack of conjunctions in a sentance.
*We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, to ensure the life of liberty |
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Blank verse
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A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
*what is the boy now, who has lost his ball, what, is he to do? I saw it go Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then Merrily over-there it is in the water! |
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Analogue
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A comparison between two similar things.
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Aside
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When the character in a drama makes a short speed directly to the audience, and is unheard by the other characters.
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Anaphora
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Repition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases clauses or lines.
*We shall fight. We shall win. We shall be happy. |
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Antithesis
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Exact opposite
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Caesura
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A pause within a line of poetry which may or may not affect the metrical count
*know then thyself, persume not god to scan; The proper study of Mankind is man |
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Character
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A person (or anything presented as a person) in a literary work
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Characterization
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The method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character.
*ways to do this (1)though the characters actions (2) by what the character says about himself (3)by what others reveal about the character |
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Climax
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The decisive moment in a drama, also considered the turning point.
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Conceit
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A far fetched similie or metaphor, occurs when the speaker compares to highly dissimilar things.
*I have been studying how I may compare, this prison where I live unto the world. |
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Conflict
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created by whatever is opposing the protagonist, usually reveals or contributes to the theme of the work
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Connotation/Denotation
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Connotation-the emotional attachment with the word
Denotation- the literal meaning *Blue: connotation= sad lonely denotation= a color *Juvinile: connotation= a mischievious law-breaker denotation= a youth |
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Consonance
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The repitition of constantant sounds
*We rush into a rain That rattles double glass |
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Couplet
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A stanza of two lines, usually rhyming
*Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. |
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Dialogue
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The conversation between two characters
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Diction
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An authors choice of words.
*He was a bad guy like a snake Diction included-He was a slithering serpent, up to no good |
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Didactic Literature
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Literature designed explicitly to instruct.
*Paint first a cage with an open door paint then something pretty something simple something handsome something useful for the bird |
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Elegy
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A lyric poem lamenating death
*I have not lost my rings,my purse, my gold, my gems-my loss is worse, One that the stoutest heart must move. My pet, my joy, my little love, my tiny kitten, my belaud, I lost, alas, three days ago. |
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Epic
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In literature a major work dealing with an important theme.
*Gone with the wind |
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Epigraph
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A breif quotation that appears at the beginning of a literary work.
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Euphemism
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A mild word subsituted for another which is too direct.
*"joint" for prision |
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Exposition
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Occurs when the author fills the reader in with background conserning what happened prior to the stories beginning
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Figurative language
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In literature a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.
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Hyperbole
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a figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs
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Metaphor
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when two things are discribed without the use of "like" "as"
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mood
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the atmosphere created by the word
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Oxymoron
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A combination of contradictory terms
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Paradox
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A situation that looks like it contradicts itself but on closer inspection does not.
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Personification
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to give something nonhuman, human characteristics
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Plot
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the structure of the story
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Protagonist
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The hero or central character of the story
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Pun
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A play on words where a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time
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Romanticism
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an idealistic way of telling a story
stories containing this are always perfect and end happlily |
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Similie
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Comparing this with the words like or as
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Soliloquy
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In a drama,a moment when a charcter is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud
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Sonnet
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a lyric poem of fourteen lines whose rhyme scheme is fixed
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Symbolism
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when an noun (person,place or thing)
represents an idea |
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Synecdoche
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a figure of speech wherein a part of something represents the whole thing.
*the head of a cow might be a subsitute for a whole cow, as in the following statement- There were fifty head of cattle |
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Theme
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the message of the work
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Tone
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The authors attitude towards the work
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Eulogy
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praises the memory of a living or dead person
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Aesthetic movement
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movement devoted to beauty developed in france
The word "Decadence" refers to this movement |
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Burlesque
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A imitation of people or literary type that by distortion aims to amuse.
Tends to ridicule faults not vices |
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Chronological Order
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When a story is told in the order of beginning to end
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Concrete Poems
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Poems in which the shape not the words matter
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Couplet
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Two related lines of poetry often rhymes
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Dead metaphor
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a metaphor that has lost it's figurative value through overuse
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Dipthong
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Two syllables that are counted as one
to meet the rhyming requirments |
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Elision
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The elimination of a vowel, constanant or syllable in pronouncation
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Emblematic Poems
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A poem that takes the shape of what the poem is about.
For example, a poem about a swan, would look like a swan |
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Epigram
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A short poem usually solemn
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Existentialism
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The writings of this literary movement stress loniless, insecurity, and irrevocablity of human experience.
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Expressionism
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This literary movement presents life as the author passionately feels it to be, not as it appears on the surface.
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Extended Metaphor
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when a metaphor becomes long elaberate and complex
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Farce
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a silly play that is based on a silly plot.
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Hubris
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a greek word for a characters excessive pride confidence or arragence
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Idiom
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Something not to be taken seriously
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Pathetic Fallacy
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A certain kind pf personification that gives objects human emotions
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