Literary Terms

Front 1

allieteration

Back 1

repetition of a consanant sound. creates musical effect or pattern

Front 2

anachronism

Back 2

not in its correct or historical time period

Front 3

analogy

Back 3

shows similarities between 2 things that are dissimilar

Front 4

antagonist

Back 4

villain, a person who opposes the protagonist

Front 5

artistic license

Back 5

freedom to create certain effect

Front 6

aside

Back 6

in a play, a comment that a charcter makes to the audience without the character on the other side knowing

Front 7

ballad

Back 7

a musical song or poem

Front 8

characterization

Back 8

methods used to reveal the personality of a character

Front 9

climax

Back 9

the point of the greatest emotional intensity in a story or poem

Front 10

conflict

Back 10

struggle between opposing forces in a story or drama

Front 11

connotation

Back 11

suggested or implied meanings associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition

Front 12

couplet

Back 12

two consecutive lines or rhymed verse

Front 13

dialect

Back 13

variation of language spoken by a group of people

Front 14

diction

Back 14

writers choice of words

Front 15

dramatic irony

Back 15

contrast or discrepency between expectation and reality. when audience knows info that the character doesnt

Front 16

falling action

Back 16

action that follows the climax of a play or story

Front 17

farce

Back 17

type of comedy with stereotyped characters in rediculous situations

Front 18

foil

Back 18

character who proves a strong contrast to another character

Front 19

foreshadowing

Back 19

authors use of clues or hints to prepare readers for events that will happen later

Front 20

fable

Back 20

short, usually simple tale that tells a moral

Front 21

flashback

Back 21

an interruption in the chronological order of a narrative to describe an event that happened earlier

Front 22

inversion

Back 22

reversal of the usual word order in a prose sentence or a line of poetry

Front 23

irony

Back 23

a contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality

Front 24

local color

Back 24

the use of specific details to recreate the language, customs, geography, and habits of a particular area

Front 25

onomatopeia

Back 25

the use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes

Front 26

paradox

Back 26

a situation or statement that appears to be contradictory, but is actually true.

Front 27

parody

Back 27

a humorous imitation of a of a literary work that aims to point out the work's shortcoming

Front 28

personification

Back 28

a figure of speech in which an animal, object, force, or idea is given human characteristics

Front 29

plot

Back 29

sequence of events in a narrative work

Front 30

point of view

Back 30

perspective from which the story is told

Front 31

satire

Back 31

writing that uses humor or wit to ridicule the vices or follies of people or societies to bring about improvement

Front 32

setting

Back 32

the time in place in which events of a literary work occur

Front 33

simile

Back 33

figure of speech that uses the word like or as to compare to seemingly unlike things

Front 34

soliloquy

Back 34

dramatic device in which a character, alone on stage, reveals his or her private thoughts or feelings

Front 35

sonnet

Back 35

lyric poem of 14 lines, typically written in iambic pentameter and usually following strict patterns of stanza division and rhyme

Front 36

theme

Back 36

main idea or message in a story, poem, novel, or play

Front 37

tone

Back 37

authors attitude toward his or her subject matter

Front 38

metaphor

Back 38

figure of speech that makes a comparison between 2 unlike things

Front 39

epic

Back 39

a long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a larger-than-life hero

Front 40

elegy

Back 40

serious poem morning a death or loss

Front 41

essay

Back 41

short work of nonfiction on a single topic

Front 42

parallelism

Back 42

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

Front 43

exposition

Back 43

authors introduction of the characters, setting, and conflict at the beginning of a story, novel, or play

Front 44

hyperbole

Back 44

figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor

Front 45

monologue

Back 45

long speech or written expression of thoughts by a character in a literary work

Front 46

dialogue

Back 46

written conversation between characters in a literary work

Front 47

denotation

Back 47

literal meaning of a word

Front 48

ode

Back 48

serious, long lyrical poem that is elevated in tone and style

Front 49

iambic pentameter

Back 49

specific poetic meter in which each line has 5 metric units or feet and consists of stressed and unstressed syllables

Front 50

protagonist

Back 50

central character in a literary work around whom the main conflict revolves

Front 51

allegory

Back 51

literary work where everything is symbolic

Front 52

Anglo-saxon poetry

Back 52

composed of Old English language before A.D. 1100-each line is separated by a caesura or kenning

Front 53

Caesura

Back 53

natural pause in the middle of a line of poetry

Front 54

Carpe Diem

Back 54

theme- "seize the day"

Front 55

Comedy

Back 55

literary work in which has a happy ending and is funny

Front 56

conceit

Back 56

unusual and surprising comparison between 2 different things- extended metaphor

Front 57

Drama

Back 57

story written and then performed by actors

Front 58

miracle plays

Back 58

tells biblical stories

Front 59

morality plays

Back 59

tells a lesson or moral (allegory)

Front 60

End-stopped line

Back 60

line of poetry concluding with a break in the meter and in the meaning

Front 61

epic

Back 61

long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or heroes

Front 62

Kenning

Back 62

metaphorical phrase with a "-"

Front 63

Lyrical poem

Back 63

poem expressing observations and feelings of a single speaker

Front 64

metaphysical poetry

Back 64

elaborate, complicated poetry using paradoxes, conceits, and irony

Front 65

Parable

Back 65

short, simple story using moral or religious themes

Front 66

pastoral

Back 66

refers to the simple life on a farm or in rural life

Front 67

Prose

Back 67

ordinary form of written language

Front 68

Romance

Back 68

story of a knight's adventures

Front 69

Satire

Back 69

writing that ridicules or holds up to contempt the faults of an individual or group

Front 70

Tragedy

Back 70

type of drama that shows destruction or sad events