English Cset Figurative Language, Literary Terms

Front 1

Blank Verse

Back 1

Poetry or lines of dramatic verse written in unrhymed pentameter.

"Mending Wall" - Robert Frost

Front 2

Ballad

Back 2

Narrative song or poem.

"The Second Coming" - William Butler Yeats

Front 3

Atmosphere

Back 3

Dominant mood or feeling of a literary work.

Front 4

Assonance

Back 4

Repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds.

"Ah, broken is the golden bowl - the spirit flown forever!" - "Lenore," Poe

Front 5

Archaic Words

Back 5

Old-fashioned words no longer in common use.

"Forsooth"

Front 6

Colloquialisms

Back 6

Expressions usually accepted in informal situations.

"Wicked awesome"

Front 7

Dialect

Back 7

Variety of language used by people in a particular geographic area.

Front 8

Jargon

Back 8

Specialized language used in a particular profession or content area.

Front 9

Profanity

Back 9

Language that shows disrespect for others or something sacred.

Front 10

Slang

Back 10

Informal language used by a particular group among themselves.

Front 11

Vulgarity

Back 11

Language widely considered crude, disgusting, and offensive.

Front 12

Diction

Back 12

An author's choice of words, based on their effectiveness for the author's purpose.

Front 13

Dialogue

Back 13

Conversation between characters in a literary work.

Front 14

Archetype

Back 14

A symbol, image, plot pattern, or character type that occurs often in lit., such as the hero on a dangerous quest.

Front 15

Apostrophe

Back 15

A figure of speech in which a speaker addresses an absent person, an inanimate object, or an idea.

"Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean - Roll!" - Lord Byron

Front 16

Aphorism

Back 16

A wise saying, usually short and to the point. Also known as an epigram or maxism.

"Life is short, art is long." - Hippocrates

Front 17

Anthropomorphism

Back 17

The assignment of human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects, or gods.

Front 18

Antagonist

Back 18

Person or force working against the protagonist, or central character, in a literary work.

Front 19

Anecdote

Back 19

Short narrative about an interesting event, often used to make a point.

Front 20

Analogy

Back 20

Comparison of two things that are alike in some way.

Front 21

Allusion

Back 21

A reference to a well-known person, place, or situation from history or from art, music, or lit.

Adam, Aron, Cal from East of Eden = Adam, Abel, Cain from Genesis

Front 22

Alliteration

Back 22

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words.

"The fair breeze flew, the white foam flew, / The furrow followed free." - Coleridge

Front 23

Allegory

Back 23

A literary work in which all or most of the characters, events, and settings stand for ideas or generalizations about life.

Front 24

Moral

Back 24

A lesson about right and wrong conduct taught in a fable or parable.

Front 25

Mood

Back 25

The feeling a literary work evokes in a reader, such as sadness, peace, or joy.

Front 26

Monologue

Back 26

A long speech by a character in a literary work.

Front 27

Meteronymy

Back 27

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is substituted for another that is related.

The king of a country might be called "the crown."

Front 28

Meter

Back 28

A rythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Front 29

Metaphor

Back 29

A figure of speech in which a comparison is implied but not stated.

"The snow was a white blanket on the meadow."

Front 30

Memoir

Back 30

A type of narrative nonfiction recounting a period in a writer's life.

Front 31

Maxism

Back 31

A short saying that expresses a general truth or gives practical advice, usually about behavior and morality. Same as adage or aphorism.

Front 32

Malapropism

Back 32

A type of pun, or play on words, that results when the speaker gets two words mixed up.

"The flamingo dancers kept us entertained for an hour.

Front 33

Magic Realism

Back 33

A literary style in which the writer combines realistic characters, events, situations, and dialogue with elements that are magical, supernatural, or fantastic.

Front 34

Dramatic Irony

Back 34

The reader or the playgoer has info unknown to characters in the play.

Front 35

Verbal Irony

Back 35

The writer says one thing but means something else.

Front 36

Situational Irony

Back 36

An occurence is the opposite of what was expected.

Front 37

Irony

Back 37

The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning. 3 types: dramatic, verbal, situational.

Front 38

Inversion

Back 38

Reversal of the usual word order for variety or emphasis.

"A damsel with a dulcimer / in a vision once I saw." - Coleridge

Think Yoda.

Front 39

Internal Rhyme

Back 39

Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse.

Front 40

Interior Monologue

Back 40

A literary technique that records a character's memories, opinions, and emotions.

Front 41

Imagism

Back 41

A movement in early 20th century poetry, which regarded the image as the essence of poetry.

Front 42

Imagery

Back 42

The use of words to create pictures in the reader's mind.

Front 43

Hyperbole

Back 43

A figure of speech that uses exaggeration for emphasis.

Front 44

Hubris

Back 44

The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero; the word comes from the Greek word "hybris," meaning excessive pride.

Front 45

Heroic Couplet

Back 45

A pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter that work together to make a point or express an idea.

Front 46

Hero

Back 46

The chief character in a literary work, usually one with admirable qualities.

Front 47

Genre

Back 47

A category or type of literature, defined by its style, form, and content. Poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction.

Front 48

Free Verse

Back 48

Verse that contains an irregular metrical pattern and the line length; also called "verse libre."

"After the Sea-Ship" - Walt Whitman

Front 49

Foreshadowing

Back 49

A literary technique in which the author uses clues to prepare readers for events that will occur later.

Front 50

Line Lengths:
One foot
Two feet
Three feet
Four feet
Five feet
Six feet
Seven feet
Eight feet

Back 50

Monometer
Dimeter
Trimeter
Tetrameter
Pentameter
Hexameter
Septameter
Octameter

Front 51

Denouement

Back 51

Outcome or resolution of the plot.

Front 52

Denotation

Back 52

Literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word.

Front 53

Couplet

Back 53

Stanza made up of 2 rhyming lines that follow the same rhythmic pattern.

Front 54

Consonance

Back 54

Repetition of final consonant sounds in words containing different vowels, as in "fresh cash" or "yard bird."

Front 55

Connotation

Back 55

Suggested or implied meaning associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition. Can be positive, neutral, or negative.

Front 56

Types of Feet:
Iambic
Trochaic
Anapestic
Dactylic
Spondaic

Back 56

(unstressed, stressed)
(stressed, unstressed)
(unstressed, unstressed, stressed)
(stressed, unstressed, unstressed)
(stressed, stressed)

Front 57

Foot

Back 57

The basic unit in the measurement of a line of metrical poetry. Except for a spondee, a foot usually has a stressed syllable (/) and one or more unstressed syllables (a small U). There are 5 basic descriptions of metrical feet: iambic, trochaic, anapestic, dactylic, spondaic.

Front 58

Flash-forward

Back 58

An interruption in the chronological sequence of a narrative to leap forward in time.

Front 59

Flashback

Back 59

A literary device in which the author interrupts the chronological order of a narrative to show what happened in the past.

Front 60

Conflict

Back 60

The struggle, internal or external, between opposing forces in a work of lit.

Front 61

Figure of Speech

Back 61

A specific kind of figurative language, such as simile, personification, metaphor, or hyperbole.

Front 62

Figurative Language

Back 62

Language used for descriptive effect rather than literal meaning and including at least one figure of speech.

Front 63

Fiction

Back 63

A narrative in which situations and characters are invented by the author.

Front 64

Farce

Back 64

A type of comedy with ridiculous characters, events, or situations.

Front 65

Existentialism

Back 65

A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility. Well-known writers: Jean-Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzche, Franz Kafka, Simone de Beauvoir

Front 66

Epitaph

Back 66

A brief statement commemorating a dead person, often inscribed on a gravestone.

Front 67

Epiphony

Back 67

A sudden intuitive recognition of the essence or meaning of something.

Front 68

Epilogue

Back 68

A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature.

Front 69

Epigraph

Back 69

A quotation from another work that suggests the main idea, or theme, of the work at hand.

Front 70

Epigram

Back 70

A short, witty verse or saying (aphorism or maxism).

Front 71

Epic Hero

Back 71

The larger-than-life central character in an epic, a long narrative poem about events of crucial importance to the history of a culture or nation.

Front 72

Enjambment

Back 72

Continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to another to complete meaning and grammatical structure (run-on line).

Front 73

End Rhyme

Back 73

Rhyming of words at the end of lines.

Front 74

Dramatic Poetry

Back 74

Poetry in which characters are revealed through dialogue, monologue, and description.

Front 75

Dramatic Monologue

Back 75

A form of dramatic poetry in which a speaker addresses a silent listener.

Front 76

Drama

Back 76

Story intended to be performed before an audience by actors on stage.

Front 77

Caesura

Back 77

A pause or break in the meter or rhythm of a line of verse, marked in prosody by a double vertical line (ll).

"Ring out the old, ll ring in the new, / Ring happy bells, ll across the snow." - Tennyson

Front 78

Cadence

Back 78

The rhythmic rise and fall of oral language.

Front 79

Climax

Back 79

The point of highest emotional intensity or suspense in a literary work.

Front 80

Cliche

Back 80

A word or phrase that is so overused that it has lost its expressive power.

Front 81

Characterization

Back 81

The methods - direct and indirect - used by a writer to reveal a character's personality.

Front 82

Character

Back 82

Person portrayed in a literary work.

Front 83

Unreliable Narrator

Back 83

A narrator who gives a faulty or distorted account of the events in the story. For example, a story narrated by a child might reflect misinterpretation of adult's actions.

Front 84

Transcendentalism

Back 84

A literary movement and philosophical attitude that became important during the mid-19th century in New England. Transcendentalists emphasized a reliance on intuition and conscience and focused on protesting the Puritan ethic and materialism. Individualism, freedom, experimentation, and spirituality are hallmarks of the movement. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Holmes.

Front 85

Tone

Back 85

The author's attitude towards his or her subject matter or audience. Expressed through word choice, punctuation, sentence structure, and figures of speech. Might be described as humorous, serious, formal, distant, friendly, etc.

Front 86

Theme

Back 86

The central understanding about life as expressed in a work of lit. May be stated or expressed directly. More commonly, it is implied, or revealed gradually through events, dialogue, and outcome. Literary work can have more than one.

Front 87

Synedoche

Back 87

A figure or speech in which a part is used for a whole or a whole is used for a part.

"All hands on deck."

Front 88

Symbol

Back 88

A person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else, such as the scarlet A representing Hester Prynne's sin of adultery in the "The Scarlet Letter."

Front 89

Suspense

Back 89

A feeling of curiosity or dread about what will happen next in the story.

Front 90

Stream of Consciousness

Back 90

The literary representation of a character's free-flowing thought, processes, memories, and emotions. This type of writing often does not use conventional sentence structure or rules of grammar.

Front 91

End Rhyme

Back 91

Rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines of poetry.

Front 92

Internal Rhyme

Back 92

Rhyme that occurs within a single line.

Front 93

Slant Rhyme

Back 93

Rhyme that occurs when words include sounds that are similar but not identical, as in tone and gone.

Front 94

Setting

Back 94

The time and place in which the events of a literary work occur.

Front 95

Rhyme Scheme

Back 95

The pattern formed by end rhyme in a stanza or poem. Indicated by the assignment of a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.

Front 96

Rhythm

Back 96

The pattern of sound created by stressed and unstressed syllables, particularly in poetry.

Front 97

Simile

Back 97

A figure of speech that uses the word like or as to compare two unlike things.

Front 98

Soliloquy

Back 98

In drama, a long speech given by a character who is alone on stage. Reveals the inner thoughts and emotions of that character.

Front 99

Paradox

Back 99

A statement or situation that seems to be contradictory but actually makes sense.

"The more I learn, the more I find out I don't know."

Front 100

Refrain

Back 100

A significant word, phrase, idea, description, or other element repeated throughout a literary work and related to the theme. Luck is an example in Bret Harte's "The Outcasts of Poker Flat."

Front 101

Onomatopoeia

Back 101

The use of word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound it describes, as in mew, hiss, buzz, and plop.

Front 102

Oxymoron

Back 102

A figure of speech in which opposite ideas are combined. Example: wise fool.

Front 103

Repetition

Back 103

The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a literary work or speech.

Front 104

Rhetorical Question

Back 104

A question to which no answer is expected or the answer is obvious.

Front 105

Rhetoric

Back 105

Persuasive writing.

Front 106

Prologue

Back 106

An introductory section of a play, speech, or other literary work.

Front 107

Rhyme

Back 107

The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more rhymes.

Front 108

Personification

Back 108

A literary device in which animals, objects, forces of nature, or ideas are given human characteristics.

Front 109

Point of View

Back 109

The perspective from which the story is told.

Front 110

Narrator

Back 110

The person who tells the story. May be part of the story or an outside observer.

Front 111

Narrative Poetry

Back 111

Verse that tells a story.

Front 112

Narrative

Back 112

Writing or speech that tells a story.

Front 113

Parallelism

Back 113

The use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form.

"... our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred horror."

Front 114

Protagonist

Back 114

The central character in a literary work, around whom the action revolves.

Front 115

First Person

Back 115

The story is told from the P.O.V. of one character, who uses "I" and "me."

Front 116

Third Person

Back 116

The story is told by someone who stands outside the story.

Front 117

Omniscient

Back 117

The narrator knows everything about the characters and events and reveals details that even the characters themselves could not reveal.

Front 118

Limited Omniscient

Back 118

The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.

Front 119

Regionalism

Back 119

An emphasis on themes, characters, settings, and customs of a particular geographic region.

Front 120

Plot

Back 120

The sequence of events in a short story, novel, or drama.

Front 121

Concrete Poem

Back 121

A poem shaped like the objects it's describing.