English Literary Terms

Front 1

speaker

Back 1

the voice that is talking to us in a poem.

Front 2

extended metaphor

Back 2

goes on for many lines; can go through entire poem

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dialect

Back 3

way of speaking that is a characteristic or a particular region or group of people.

Front 4

connotation

Back 4

all the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

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denotation

Back 5

the literal meaning.

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tone

Back 6

the attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject, or a character.

Front 7

subjective statement

Back 7

the writer adds his or her opinions, judgments, or feelings.

Front 8

objective statement

Back 8

the writer reports only the facts; the writer is "invisible"

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ballad

Back 9

song or song-like poem that tells a story.

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blank verse

Back 10

poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

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comedy

Back 11

in general, a story that ends happily.

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conflict

Back 12

struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces, or emotions.(man vs. man, himself, nature, technology, supernatural, society)

Front 13

couplet

Back 13

2 consecutive lines or poetry that form a unit, often emphasized by rhythm or rhyme

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diction

Back 14

writer's or speaker's choice of words.

Front 15

free verse

Back 15

poetry that doesn't have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

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flashback

Back 16

scene in a movie, play, short story, novel, or narrative poem that interrupts the present action of the plot to show events that happened at an earlier time.

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foreshadowing

Back 17

the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot

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hyperbole

Back 18

extreme exageration

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iambic pentameter

Back 19

line of poetry made up of 5 iambs

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inversion

Back 20

reversal of normal word order in a sentence

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imagery

Back 21

language that appeals to the senses

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verbal irony

Back 22

speaker says one thing but means the opposite

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situational irony

Back 23

what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected

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dramatic irony

Back 24

occurs when the reader knows something important that a character doesn't know

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inference

Back 25

informed guess
(based on evidence)

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metaphor

Back 26

shows a comparison not using like or as

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point of view

Back 27

point of which the writer tells the story

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paradox

Back 28

statement/situation that seems to be a contradiction but reveals a truth

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personification

Back 29

gives nonhuman things human like qualities

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prose

Back 30

short piece written in the form of prose but uses elements of poetry

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aphorism

Back 31

breif, wise saying

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direct characterization

Back 32

the writer directly tells us what the character is like

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indirect characterization

Back 33

the reader has to put together clues to figure out what a character is like.

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dramatic monologue

Back 34

a character gives a dramatic speech to a group of actors on a stage

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rhyme

Back 35

repitition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together

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rhyme scheme

Back 36

the pattern of rhymed lines in a poem

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satire

Back 37

type of writing that ridicules human weakness, vice, or folly in order to bring about social reform

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setting

Back 38

time and place or a story or play

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simile

Back 39

comparison using like or as

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soliloquy

Back 40

long speech in which a character who is alone on stage expresses private thoughts or feelings

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sonnet

Back 41

14-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter

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stanza

Back 42

group of consecutive lines that form a single unit in a poem

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symbol

Back 43

person, place, thing or event that stands for both itself and for something beyond itself

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theme

Back 44

the central idea or insight revealed by a work of literature

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tragedy

Back 45

play, novel, or other narrative, depicting serious and important events, in which the main character comes to an unhappy end