Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
79 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Alliteration
|
the repetition of consonant sounds in a sequence of wordsused to highlight or emphasize key words, concepts and relationships
|
|
|
Assonance
|
The repetition of vowel sounds in a literary work
|
|
|
Ballad
|
A poem that recounts a story – generally some dramatic episode– and that has been composed to be sung.
|
|
|
Blank Verse |
Unrhymed iambic pentameter verse. |
|
|
Consonance |
repetition of a final consonant sound following differentvowel sounds; not a true rhyme ex. Litter/letter, wade/wood |
|
|
Couplet |
two lines that rhyme with each other, often the last tworhyming lines |
|
|
Epic |
a long and formal narrative poem written in an elevated style thatrecounts the adventures of a hero of almost mythic proportions |
|
|
Free verse |
poetry that lacks regular meter, does not rhyme, and usesirregular line lengths. |
|
|
Haiku |
A Japanese verse form consisting of three unrhymed lines thattypically have lines of five, seven, and five syllables. |
|
|
Lyric |
A poem that expresses the emotions of the poet; categories oflyric poems include: odes, ballads, and sonnets. |
|
|
Meter |
The regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables inpoetry, which is usually defined by the kind of foot, like iambic, incombination with the number of feet per line, like pentameter. |
|
|
Narrative poem |
a poem that tells a story |
|
|
Ode |
an extended lyric poem characterized by exalted emotion anddignified style. |
|
|
Quatrain |
a four line stanza of a poem |
|
|
Rhyme |
The repetition of identical vowel sounds followed by a similarconstant in the stressed syllables of two or more words. |
|
|
Soliloquy |
A monologue delivered by a character in a play while aloneon stage that reveals inner thoughts |
|
|
Sonnet |
A fourteen line poem usually composed in iambic pentameteremploying one of several rhyme schemes. There are three major typesof sonnets: Italian (Petrarchan), English (Shakespearean), Spenserian |
|
|
Stanza |
a subdivision of a poem consiting of lines grouped together,often in recurring patterns of rhyme, line length, and meter. |
|
|
Antagonist |
The character pitted against the protagonist. |
|
|
Characterization |
The author’s expression of a character’s personality through theuse of action, dialogue, thought, or commentary by the author or another character. |
|
|
Dynamic character |
A character type that changes in response to circumstances andexperiences. |
|
|
First person point of view |
Way in which story is narrated through character whorefers to self as “I.” |
|
|
Flat character |
A stereotypical character that is defined by a single quality or idea. |
|
|
Foil
|
A character that, by contrast with another character, serves to highlight theother character’s distinct qualities.
|
|
|
Protagonist |
The most important or leading character in a work. |
|
|
Round character |
A character-type that is three-dimensional and exhibits thequalities of a real person. |
|
|
Static character |
A character type that does not change much over the course of thework. |
|
|
Stream of consciousness |
A literary technique that approximates the flow ofthoughts and senses that pass through the mind each instant. |
|
|
Third person point of view |
Way in which story is told through a limited oromniscient narrator who stands outside the events that are being recounted. |
|
|
Unreliable narrator |
A narrator who does not or cannot understand the worldaround them, and whose judgments the reader mistrusts. |
|
|
Allusion |
An indirect reference to a person, event, statement, or theme, found inliterature, the other arts, history, myths, religion, or popular culture. |
|
|
Archetype |
The original model from which something is developed or made –images, figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that are universallyshared by peoples across cultures. |
|
|
Connotation |
The associations evoked by a word beyond its denotation |
|
|
Denotation |
A word’s literal and primary meaning |
|
|
Diction |
A speaker’s or author’s word choice. |
|
|
Flashback
|
A scene that interrupts the present action of narrative in order to depictsome earlier event.
|
|
|
Foreshadowing |
The technique of introducing into a narrative material thatprepares the reader for future events. |
|
|
Imagery |
A word or groups of words in a literary work that appeal to one or more ofthe senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. |
|
|
Mood |
Also known as atmosphere; refers to the general feeling created in the reader bythe work at a given point. |
|
|
Motif |
A unifying element in literature; especially any recurrent image, symbols,theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail. |
|
|
Setting |
The combination of place, historical time and social context that providesthe general background for the characters and plot of a literary work. |
|
|
Symbolism |
Use of symbols to represent or suggest other things or ideas. |
|
|
Tone |
The attitude of the author toward the reader and subject matter whichgenerally pervades the entire work. |
|
|
Allegory |
A story illustrating an idea or moral principal in which objects or peopletake on symbolic meaning. Ex. – George Orwell’s Animal Farm and John Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress. |
|
|
Autobiography |
a narrative account typically written by an individual that purportsto depict his or her life and character. |
|
|
Biography |
A connected narrative that tells a person’s life story. |
|
|
Canon |
Refers to the body of work attributed by scholars to a particular author orto those literary works that are privileged by a society. Ex. – To Kill a Mockingbirdmay be placed in the canon of great American literature, along with works by MarkTwain, William Faulkner and many others. Black Boy by Richard Wright may also bein that canon, but may also reside in the canon of great African American writers. |
|
|
Drama |
A serious literary work usually intended for performance before anaudience.
|
|
|
Fable |
a short, fictional tale told to convey a particular lesson or moral; fables thatfeature animals as the central characters are often referred to as beast fables. Ex. –Aesop’s Fables |
|
|
Fiction |
A genre of writing that relates imagined characters and events. Ex. – Lordof the Flies and The Lord of the Rings. |
|
|
Genre |
The classification of literary works based on their content, form, ortechnique; types include poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction. |
|
|
Nonfiction |
A genre of narrative prose that deals with fact and reality. |
|
|
Poetry |
A genre of literature that could be described as an imaginative response toexperience and which reflects a keen awareness of language. |
|
|
Prose |
From the Latin for “straight forward”, it is the ordinary written or spokenexpression that lacks deliberate metrical pattern. |
|
|
Science fiction |
A genre of writing grounded in scientific or pseudoscientificconcepts that employ both realistic and fantastic elements in exploring the questionof “what if?” Ex. – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and 2001: Space Odyssey byArthur C. Clarke |
|
|
Analogy |
A similarity between like features of two distinct things on which acomparison may be based. Similes and metaphors are commonly used to create ananalogy, however, an analogy may be more extensive then just a metaphor or similealone. |
|
|
Euphemism |
A mild word or phrase that substitutes for another that is lessdesirable. For example, “kick the bucket” is a euphemism that describes the death ofa person. Many organizations use the term “downsizing” for the distressing act of“firing” its employees. You may remember Squealer’s use of euphemism in chapternine of Animal Farm when he announces the reduction of food to the animals of thefarm: “For the time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make areadjustment of rations (Squealer always spoke of it as a ‘readjustment,’ never as a‘reduction’)” (77). |
|
|
Figures of speech |
Literary devices that involve unusual use of language, often toassociate or compare distinct things. There are two general categories of figures ofspeech: rhetorical figures and tropes. |
|
|
Hyperbole |
A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve aneffect, also known as overstatement. For example, “During the week of finals, I hada million essays to grade.”
|
|
|
Metaphor |
A figure of speech that associates two distinct things. He was a lion onthe basketball court |
|
|
Metonymy |
A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that iscommonly and often physically associated with it. Examples: Let me give you ahand. (“hand” refers to the help); Bow down before the crown. (“crown” refers tothe king/queen); Washington DC is at odds with Tehran. (The U.S. and Iraniancapitals are referring to the governments of those countries). |
|
|
Onomatopoeia |
a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates asound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description moreexpressive and interesting. The different sounds of animals such as meow, neigh,moo, are also considered as examples of onomatopoeia. A group of wordsreflecting different sounds of water are: plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip.And words related to different sounds of wind, such as: swish, swoosh, whiff,whoosh, whizz, whisper |
|
|
Oxymoron |
A figure of speech that juxtaposes two opposite or apparentlycontradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox for a rhetoricalpurpose or effect |
|
|
Personification |
A figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas,animals, and inanimate objects. Example from Romeo and Juliet: “When wellappareledApril on the heel / Of limping winter treads.” |
|
|
Simile |
A figure of speech that compares two distinct things by using words suchas like or as. Example from “The Scarlet Ibis”: “They named him William Armstrongwhich is like tying a big tail on a small kite.” |
|
|
Synecdoche |
A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to representthe whole, For example using the word “sail” to refer to the whole ship; sayingthere’s a nice set of “:wheels” (car); all “hands” on deck (sailors); “boots” on theground referring to soldiers.
|
|
|
Trope |
One of the two major divisions of figures of speech, trope means to turn ortwist (figuratively speaking) some word or phrase to make it mean something else.Metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile, and synecdoche are sometimesreferred to as the principal tropes. |
|
|
Audience |
The people for whom a piece of literature was written. |
|
|
Dramatic irony |
Involves a discrepancy between a character’s perceptionand what the reader or audience knows to be true |
|
|
Juxtaposition |
The state of being placed or situated side by side forcomparison or contrast.
|
|
|
Paradox |
A statement that seems self-contradictory or nonsensical on thesurface, but upon close examination may contain an underlying truth |
|
|
Parallelism |
A rhetorical figure used in written and oral compositions usedto accentuate or emphasize ideas or images by using grammatically similarconstructions |
|
|
Repetition |
The conscious and purposeful replication of words or phrasesin order to make a point |
|
|
Rhetoric |
The art of oral or written persuasion
|
|
|
Sarcasm |
Obvious, exaggerated verbal irony achieving effect by statingthe opposite of what is meant |
|
|
Satire |
A literary genre that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm toexpose humanities vices and defects and provoke change or reform. |
|
|
Situational irony
|
A type of irony that involves a discrepancy betweenexpectation and reality
|
|
|
Tragic irony |
Type of dramatic irony marked by a sense of foreboding, theconsequences of this ignorance are catastrophic, leading to the character’stragic downfall. |
|
|
Verbal irony |
Involves a discrepancy between what a speaker or writersays and what he or she believes to be true. |
