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95 Cards in this Set
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Active voice:
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That form of the verb by which its subject is represented as the agent or doer of the action expressed by it.
Ex.: "A dog bit this man." "She lied to me." |
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Allegory:
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A short moral story (often with animal characters; a visible symbol
representing an abstract; an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor. Ex.: Aesop – Fables Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque of the Red Death |
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Alliteration: |
Alliteration: The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables. Ex.: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." “John Jacob Jinklehiemer Smith” |
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Allusion: |
Allusion: Passing reference or indirect mention. Ex.: A Pearl Harbor sneak-attack. Halcyon days (a reference to calm days once believed to surround the brooding of the Halcyon [Genus].) |
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Analogy: |
Analogy: Drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect. Ex.: "The operation of a computer presents and interesting analogy to the working of the brain.” |
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Antagonist: |
Antagonist: The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama. Ex.: Smaug from The Hobbit |
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Anti-climax: |
Anti-climax: A drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a dignified or important idea or situation to one that is trivial or humorous. This refers to action that is disappointing in contrast to the previous moment of intense interest. Ex.: “Among the great achievements of Benito Mussolini's regime were the revival of a strong national consciousness, the expansion of the Italian Empire, and the running of the trains on time.” |
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Apostrophe: |
Apostrophe: The direct address of a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back. Thus an apostrophe often interrupts the discussion: Ex: With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies! -O books who alone are liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise all who serve you faithfully! |
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Assonance: |
Assonance: The use of similar vowel sounds repeated in successive or proximate words containing different consonants: Ex: A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify Your Father which is in heaven. |
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Atmosphere: |
Atmosphere: The emotional feelings inspired by a work. The term is borrowed from meteorology to describe the dominant mood of a selection as it is created by diction, dialogue, setting, and description. Ex: An atmosphere of defeat pervaded the candidate's headquarters an air of mystery |
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Ballad: |
Ballad: a story in a song, usually a narrative song or poem. Ex: The Ballad of Jesse James. |
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Ballad stanza: |
Ballad stanza: in poetry, it's a four-line stanza, known as a quatrain, consisting of alternating eight and six syllable lines. Ex: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. |
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Bias: |
Bias: a preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment. Ex: if you don't randomly select the subjects in a study, you may introduce bias. |
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Blank verse: |
Blank verse: verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually of iambic pentameter. Ex: the speech by Satan in Paradise Lost by John Milton. |
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Cacophony: |
Cacophony: the use of harsh or discordant sounds in a literary composition. Ex: "the amateur band created more cacophony than beautiful music." |
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Caricature: |
Caricature: to represent or imitate in an exaggerated, distorted manner. Ex: the first book of caricatures published in England was "A Book of Caricaturas" by Mary Darly in 1762. |
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Catastrophe: |
Catastrophe: The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot. Ex: The catastrophe in Shakespearean tragedy occurs in Act 5 of each drama, and always includes the death of the protagonist. Consider the fates of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello. |
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Cause and Effect: |
Cause and Effect: An organizational pattern in which a writer first presents a reason ormotive or basis and then presents its result or consequence. Ex: The event that happens first is the cause; the one that follows is the effect. |
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Character: |
Character: The combination of qualities or features that distinguishes one person, group, or thing from another. Ex: In a cartoon scene, firemen may be putting out a fire which a coyote has deliberately started, while a hydrant observes the scene fearfully. The firemen, the coyote and the hydrant would all be considered characters in the story. |
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Characterization: |
Characterization: The artistic representation (as in fiction or drama) of human character or motives. Ex: what the character says about himself or herself, by what others reveal about the character, and 3 by the character's own actions. |
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Character Foil: |
Character Foil: A flat, static character whose role in the narrative is simply to act as a contrast to another character. Ex: The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by comparison or contrast. |
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Chorus: |
Chorus: A composition usually in four or more parts written for a large number of singers. A group of persons who speak or sing in unison a given part or composition in drama or poetry recitation. Ex: used by modern playwrights such as T. S. Eliot in Murder in the Cathedra |
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Cliché: |
Cliché: Overused expression or idea Ex: Hard as steel |
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Climax: |
Climax: The turning point in a plot or dramatic action. Ex.: In Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar”, the climax occurs at the end of Marc Anthony’s speech to the Roman public |
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Colloquialism: |
Colloquialism: An informal word which is frowned upon in formal speech or writing. Ex.: The word “ain’t” |
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Colloquial language: |
Colloquial language: Colloquial language is language used in ordinary conversation (informal language that may include slang). Ex.:The teenagers usually hang out in Macdonald's. |
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Conflict: |
Conflict: he conflict in a work of fiction is the issue to be resolved in the story. It usually occurs between two characters, the protagonist and the antagonist, or between the protagonist and society or the protagonist and himself or herself. Ex: Conflict in Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie comes as a result of urban society, while Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire" concerns the protagonist's battle against the cold and himself. |
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Connotation |
Connotation- Idea suggested by or associated with a word or phrase in addition to its explicit meaning Ex:“Slaughter” has a stronger connotation than “kill” |
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Consonance |
Consonance- The repetition of consonant sounds in a short sequence of words Ex. the "t"sound in "Is it blunt and flat?" |
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Couplet: |
Couplet: A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit. Ex.: aa bb cc dd ee ff... If turkeys gobble, Do pilgrims squabble? If cars go zoom, Exhaust smoke will plume! If the phone rings, Hope then still clings. |
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Denotation: |
Denotation: A denotation, in media terminology, is the first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor. Ex: The denotation of this example is an orange flower with a green stem and green leaves. |
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Hyperbole |
Hyperbole A hyperbole, largely synonymous with exaggeration and over consulting, is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated or extravagant. It may be used due to strong feelings or is used to create a strong impression and is not meant to be taken literally. It gives greater emphasis. It is often used in poetry and is a literary device. Example: This book weighs a ton |
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Didactic: |
Didactic: Didactic refers to literature or other types of art that are instructional or informative. It does not merely entertain. Ex:The Bible is didactic because it offers guidance in moral, religious, and ethical matters. It tells stories of the lives of people that followed Judeo-Christian teachings, and stories of people that decided to go against God and the consequences that they faced. |
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Diction: |
Diction: Diction is the art of enunciating with clarity, or speaking in such a way that each word is clearly heard. It is concerned with pronunciation, enunciation, and choice of words to be used. Example To a friend "a screw-up" To a child "a mistake" To the police "an accident" To an employer "an oversight" |
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Dénouement: |
Dénouement: Denouement, in literature, is the end part of a story after the climax. It consists of tidily finishing story lines and settling the characters back to their normal lives. Ex: Escalus tells everyone that the deaths are the result of their feuds and everyone feels guilty. |
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Dialect: |
Dialect: Dialect is the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people. Ex: "The immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"; "he has a strong German accent" |
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Dilemma: |
Dilemma: A dilemma is a problem offering two solutions, neither of which is acceptable. The dilemma is sometimes used as a rhetorical device, in the form "you must accept either A, or B"; here A and B would be propositions each leading to some further conclusion. Example: 1. A runaway train will kill five people unless you flip a switch sending it onto another track where it will kill only one. You do not know the people and must assume all are of equal social importance. 2. The only way to stop this same train is to push someone onto the tracks. 3. You must sacrifice yourself to stop the train. |
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Dissonance: |
Dissonance: 1) disagreement: a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters 2) noise: the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience; "modern music is just noise to me" 3) disagreeable sounds Example: The dissonance caused a constant uproar |
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Dramatic Monologue: |
Dramatic Monologue: A dramatic monologue is a type of long lyric poem, developed during the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a lengthy speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. The monologue is usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced by a critical situation. Example: An example of a dramatic monologue exists in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, when a duke speaks to an emissary of his cruelty. Tennyson's "Ulysses," likewise, reveals the aged voyager's wariness of idle comfort in Ithaca: Come, my friends, `Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until I die. |
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Dynamic Character: |
Dynamic Character: A character who changes, especially one who comes to a major realization. The realization may or may not change the character’s actions, but the character must never be able to see the world in quite the same way. Not all protagonists are dynamic. Rarely does a short story have more than one or two dynamic characters. |
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Elegy |
Elegy- a poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person. Example- the poem read at their funeral was very elegy. |
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Epic |
Epic- a series of events considered appropriate to an epic Example- the epic of “The old west” |
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Epiphany |
Epiphany- a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something Example- “ I experienced an epiphany a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” |
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Epigram |
Epigram- A short witty poem expressing a single thought or observation. Example- Emily Dickinson’s: “an Englishman’s house is his castle” is an epigram. |
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Euphemism |
Euphemism- the act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt or offensive. Example- Euphemism such as “slumber room” abound in the funeral room” |
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Euphony |
Euphony - any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds Example- "he fell asleep to the music of the wind chimes” |
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Fable |
Fable - A usually short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing as characters animals that speak and act like humans. - A story about legendary persons and exploits. Example- Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Snow White etc. |
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Form |
Form- A particular type or example of such arrangement. Example- The essay is a literary form. |
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Free Verse |
Free Verse- Verse that has neither regular rhyme nor regular meter. Example -Poems can be written using free verse. |
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Genre |
Genre- A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature. Example --The novel and the drama are two literary genres. |
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Figurative Language |
Figurative Language- A technique in writing in which the author temporarily interrupts the order, construction, or meaning of the writing for a particular effect. This interruption takes the form of one or more figures of speech such as hyperbole, irony, or simile. Figurative language is the opposite of literal language, in which every word is truthful, accurate, and free of exaggeration or embellishment. _ Example- of figurative language are tropes such as Metaphor and rhetorical figures such as apostrophe. |
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Flat Character |
They only have one side. They may be major characters but they do not change. |
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Foil |
A character in a work of literature whose physical or psychological qualities contrast strongly with, and therefore highlight, the corresponding qualities of another character. _ Example- In his Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle portrayed Dr. Watson as a man of normal habits and intelligence, making him a foil for the eccentric and wonderfully perceptive Sherlock Holmes. |
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Foreshadowing |
Foreshadowing- A device used in literature to create expectation or to set up an explanation of later developments. _ Example- In Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, the graveyard encounter at the beginning of the novel between Pip and the escaped convict Magwitch foreshadows the baleful atmosphere and events that comprise much of the narrative. |
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Idiom |
Idiom-1.The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language. 2.Regional speech or dialect. 3.A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon: legal idiom. Cannot not be taken for it’s literal meaning. Example: Kick the bucket-means to die
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Imagery |
Imagery- any poetic reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste). Essentially, imagery is a group of words that create a mental image. Such images can be created by using figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, personification, and assonance. Example: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear- |
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Metonymy |
Metonymy figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated with. Ex:-“The Whitehouse”-refers to the President of the U.S. and his advisors. -“The press”-refers to the media. |
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Mood |
Mood Definition: the state of mind or feeling. Ex: colours in a painting can set the mood of the painting |
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Pun |
Pun Definition: a play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words. Ex: -Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. -Every calendar’s days are numbered. |
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Ode |
Ode: A poem that honors and object or a person. Odes are distinguished from other lyric poetic forms by their complex rhythmic and stanzaic patterns. Ex) John Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale." |
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Onomatopeia |
Onomatopeia: The use of words whose sounds express or suggest their meaning. Ex) Words that mimic the sounds they denote such as "hiss" or "meow." |
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Oxymoron |
Oxymoron: A phrase combining two contradictory terms. Oxymorons may be intentional or unintentional. Ex) Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health |
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Internal Rhyme |
Internal Rhyme: Rhyme words that appear within lines, not at the beginning or end of lines. Ex: Peter gave the sea his heart / And the wave washed away. |
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Irony |
Irony: sarcasm: witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Jonathan Swift |
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Jargon |
Jargon: is the special language of a certain group or profession, such as psychological jargon, legal jargon, or medical jargon. When jargon is excerpted from its proper subject area, it generally becomes confusing or meaningless, as in "I have a latency problem with my backhand" or "I hope we can interface tomorrow night after the dance." |
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Juxtaposition: |
Juxtaposition: Places things of unequal importance side by side. It brings all the things down to the lowest level of importance on the list. For example, if a guy says his important subjects in school include Calculus, Computer Science, Physics, and girl-watching, he has managed to take away some of the importance of the first three. The Rape of the Lock[?] is also an example of juxtaposition. |
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Legend |
Legend - A romanticized or popularized myth of modern times, most commonly historical. Example: King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table |
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Limited Omniscient Point of View |
Limited Omniscient Point of View - The story is told in the third person, but from the viewpoint of a character in the story. It only gives the thoughts and feelings of that one character. Example: The story, “The Loons”, was told through Vanessa. We only knew her thoughts and feelings. |
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Lyric |
Lyric - Relating to a category of poems that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings. It may be in a songlike style Example: “She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love.” -by William Wordsworth |
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Melodrama |
Melodrama - A drama that is characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters and interpersonal conflicts. Example: Salty Sam was tryin' to stuff Sweet Sue in a burlap sack. He said, "If you don't give me the deed to your ranch, I'm gonna tie you to the railroad tracks!" -Along Came Jones, by The Coasters |
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Metaphor |
Metaphor - A figure of speech that compares two seemingly unrelated subjects to make a point. Example - A sea of troubles. |
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Metre |
Metre - In poetry, it is the regular linguistic sound patterns of verse. The line of poetry is described as: monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, or heptameter. Example: (pentameter) That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold |
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Paradox: |
Paradox: A statement that appears illogical or contradictory at first, but may actually point to an underlying truth. _"Less is more" is an example of a paradox. Literary examples include Francis Bacon's statement, "The most corrected copies are commonly the least correct," and "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" from George Orwell's Animal Farm. |
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Parallelism: |
Parallelism: A method of comparison of two ideas in which each is developed in the same grammatical structure. ?Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Civilization" contains this example of parallelism: Raphael paints wisdom; Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. |
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Parody: |
Parody: In literary criticism, this term refers to an imitation of a serious literary work or the signature style of a particular author in a ridiculous manner. A typical parody adopts the style of the original and applies it to an inappropriate subject for humorous effect. Parody is a form of satire and could be considered the literary equivalent of a caricature or cartoon. Henry Fielding's Shamela is a parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela. (Compare with Burlesque.) (See also satire.) |
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Passive Voice: |
Passive Voice: The passive voice is useful under certain circumstances; for example, if the precise subject of the action is not known ("My car was spray-painted last night") or if the receiver of the action is more important ("The Emperor was assassinated last night"). However, more often than not passive sentences can be improved by reworking the sentence so that the verb is active. |
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Pastoral: |
Pastoral: A term derived from the Latin word "pastor," meaning shepherd. A pastoral is a literary composition on a rural theme. The conventions of the pastoral were originated by the third-century Greek poet Theocritus, who wrote about the experiences, love affairs, and pastimes of Sicilian shepherds. In a pastoral, characters and language of a courtly nature are often placed in a simple setting. The term pastoral is also used to classify dramas, elegies, and lyrics that exhibit the use of country settings and shepherd characters. ?Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Adonais" and John Milton's "Lycidas" are two famous examples of pastorals. |
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Pathos |
Pathos: is a Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering. When applied to literature, its meaning is usually narrowed to refer to tragic emotions, describing the language and situations which deeply move the audience or reader by arousing sadness, sympathy, or pity. There are many examples in Shakespeare's King Lear, such as Cordelia's acceptance of defeat: "We are not the first / Who with best meaning have incurred the worst." |
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Personification: |
Personification: (Also known as Prosopopoeia.) A figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects. ?William Shakespeare used personification in Romeo and Juliet in the lines "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,/ Who is already sick and pale with grief." Here, the moon is portrayed as being envious, sick, and pale with grief — all markedly human qualities. (Compare with Anthropomorphism.) |
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Repetition |
Repetition: The act of process or an instance of repeating or being repeated. Example: I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away; I looked upon the rotting deck, And there the dead men lay. |
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Round character |
Round character - a complex literary character with fully developed and dynamic traits ex; like a real person, most main characters are round characters |
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Sarcasm |
Sarcasm - a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound ex; wow! you know you're cool when! |
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Satire |
Satire - a literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony derision or wit. ex; in the Celtic societies, it was thought a bard's satire could have physical effects, similar to a curse |
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Simile |
Simile- A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. Example: So are you to my thoughts as food to life (Shakespear) |
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Soliloquy |
Soliloquy-A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. Example: (from Romeo and Juliet)Romeo’s delusions about love. O’ sweet love. Just saying your name brings me much joy |
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Stream of Consciousness |
Stream of Consciousness: A literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur. ex: seen in omniscient narration |
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Static character: |
Static character: a literary character who remains basically unchanged throughout a work ex: The Tough guy usually uses his attitude and no-nonsense skills, including physical persuasion and intimidation, to get what he wants. A typical tough guy would be an Italian-American gangster with significant capacity to deal out and take punishment, such as multiple characters on The Sopranos |
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Stock/stereotyped character |
Stock/stereotyped character: a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to members of a given culture. Because of this, a frequent device of both comedy and parody is to wildly exaggerate the expected mannerisms of stock characters. ex: Italian American gangster with significant capacity to deal out and take punishment such as multiple characters on the Sopranos |
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Synecdoche |
Synecdoche:is a figure of speech that presents a kind of metaphor in which: A part of something is used for the whole, Ex: "mouths to feed" for hungry people The whole is used for a part, Ex: "the police" for a handful of officers The species is used for the genus, Ex: "Kleenex" for facial tissue The genus is used for the species, or Ex: "milk" for cow's milk The stuff of which something is made is used for the thing. Ex: "copper" for penny |
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Theme: |
Theme: is a main idea of a story, or the message the author is conveying. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Ex: Adultery, Alcoholics, and Blindness |
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Third Person Narrative |
Third Person Narrative: A type of narration where the narrator does not describe his or her role in the action. Third person narrative can be either limited or omniscient. Ex: books by Alexandre Dumas such as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers have a strong third person narration. |
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Tone: |
Tone: a writer's attitude toward their subject matter or audience and the distinctive mood created by this. Ex: the tone of a love letter would be; sweet romantic, and/or aimable |
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Tragedy: |
Tragedy: A drama or litery work in which the main character si brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. Ex: the death of Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespear’s play. |
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Understatement |
Understatement: A statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant. Ex: saying it is a little warm on a day that is 50 degrees Celsius |
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Voice: |
Voice: A property of verbs or a set of verb inflections indicating the relation between the subject and the action expressed by the verb. Ex: “Birds build nests” uses the active voice; “nests built by birds” uses the passive voice. |
