Brit Lit Terms 1-25

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allegory

Back 1

a literary work with two or more levels of meaning –

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Alliteration

Back 2

the repetition of initial consonant sounds. It is often used to emphasize and to link words as well as to create pleasing, musical sounds.

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allusion

Back 3

a reference to a well-known place, event, literary work or work of art.

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Anachronism

Back 4

the representation of something as existing or happening at other than its proper or historical time. Something out of its proper time.

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Antagonist

Back 5

a character or force in conflict with the main character – the protagonist.

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Aphorism

Back 6

a general truth or observation about life; usually stated concisely and pointedly.

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apostrophe

Back 7

a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person or a personified quality, object, or idea

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aside

Back 8

statement delivered by an actor to an audience in such a way, that other characters on stage are presumed not to hear what is said.

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assonance

Back 9

repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar consonant sounds

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ballad

Back 10

a songlike poem that tells a story, often one dealing with adventure or romance.

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biography

Back 11

a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person.

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blank verse

Back 12

poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. It usually contains variations in rhythm that are introduced to create emphasis, variety, and naturalness of sound

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caesura

Back 13

a natural pause, or break, in the middle of a line of poetry

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Carpe diem

Back 14

Latin phrase meaning “seize the day.”

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catharsis

Back 15

a technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed material to consciousness

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characterization

Back 16

the act of creating and developing a character.

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classicism

Back 17

an approach to literature and to the other arts that stresses reason, harmony, balance, proportion, clarity, and idealism in imitation of the philosophers and artists of ancient Greece and Rome

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concrete poem

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one with a shape that suggests its subject

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conflict

Back 19

a struggle between opposing forces

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connotation

Back 20

refers to the associations that a word calls to mind in addition to its dictionary meaning

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Consonance –

Back 21

the repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar vowel sounds

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couplet

Back 22

a pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter

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denotation

Back 23

is the objective meaning of word – that to which the word refers, independent of other associations that the word calls to mind.

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Denouement

Back 24

in a literary work, it is anything that happens after the resolution of the plot

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dialect

Back 25

the form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group.