English Flashcards

Front 1

Antithesis

Back 1

A figure of speech in which sharply controlling ideas

Hint 1

Synonym:
Exact opposite; Contradictory

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

Front 2

Parallelism

Back 2

writing structures that are grammatically parallel

Hint 2

In Psalms, to which St John the Baptist alludes, the trope of the ‘bridegroom’ occurs in a series of parallelisms, balanced by an explicitly competitive image.

Front 3

Rhetorical Question

Back 3

Question not answered by the writer b/c the answer is obvious or obviously desired

Hint 3

O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

Front 4

Repetition

Back 4

Repeating small phrases can ingrain an idea in the audiences mind.

Hint 4

Can be effective in creating a sense of structure

Front 5

Anaphora

Back 5

The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence.

Hint 5

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."
(Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, 1940)

Front 6

Aphorism

Back 6

Short true saying offers insight into human nature, life etc.

Hint 6

a pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”.

Front 7

Alliteration

Back 7

The commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid.

Hint 7

Larry’s lizard likes leaping leopards.

Front 8

Allusion

Back 8

A reference to a piece of art, literature or music

Hint 8

“Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.”

– “Romeo” is a reference to Shakespeare’s Romeo, a passionate lover of Juliet, in “Romeo and Juliet”

Front 9

Blank Verse

Back 9

Unrhymed verse, especially the unrhymed iambic pentameter most frequently used in English.

Hint 9

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must.

Front 10

Iambic Pentameter

Back 10

is the name given to a line of verse that consists of five iambs (an iamb being one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed, such as "before").

Hint 10

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

Front 11

Enjambment

Back 11

The running on of the thought from one one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.

Hint 11

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen masque
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—

Front 12

Rhyme Scheme

Back 12

The pattern of rhyme used in a poem, usually marked by letters to symbolize correspondences , as rhyme royal, ababbcc

Hint 12

Bid me to weep, and I will weep,
While I have eyes to see;
And having none, yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.

Front 13

Stanza

Back 13

An arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more sometimes having a fixed length, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

Hint 13

Love To Write Poems

(First Stanza)

I love to write

Day and night

What would my heart do

But cry, sigh and be blue

If I could not write

(Second Stanza)

Writing feels good

And I know it should

Who could have knew

That what I do

Is write, write, write

Front 14

Meter

Back 14

A poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses.

Hint 14

Here are some more serious examples of the various meters.

iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers

anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)

And the sound | of a voice | that is stil

Front 15

iamb

Back 15

A foot of two syllables, a short followed by a long in quantitative mete, or an unstressed followed by a stressed in accentual meter, as in. Come live/ with me / and be / my love.

Hint 15

Come live/ with me / and be / my love.

Front 16

Trochee

Back 16

A foot of two syllables, a long followed by a short in quantitative meter, or a stressed followed by an unstressed in accentual meter.

Hint 16

Why so pale and wan, fond Lover?
Prithee why so pale?
Will, when looking well can't move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee why so pale?

Front 17

Alliteration

Back 17

The commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration)

Hint 17

Alice’s aunt ate apples and acorns around August.

Front 18

Consonance

Back 18

The use of the repetition of consonants or consonant patterns as a rhyming device.

Hint 18

3. The ship has sailed to the far off shores.
Here are three examples:
1. She ate seven sandwiches on a sunny Sunday last year.
2. Shelley sells shells by the seashore.

Front 19

Assonance

Back 19

Also called vowel rhyme.

Hint 19

"Hear the mellow wedding bells" by Edgar Allen Poe