Literary Terms

Front 1

define allusion

Back 1

a reference in a work of literature to a character, place, or situation from another work of literature, music, art, or from history

Hint 1

example- referring to a decision about to be made; the lady or the tiger?

Front 2

define aside

Back 2

in a play, a comment made by a character that is heard by the audience or another character but is not heard by the other characters onstage

Hint 2

used to reveal thoughts or provide information

Front 3

define blank verse

Back 3

a rhythm pattern with five units, or feet, each of which has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Hint 3

`'`'`'`'`'

Front 4

define comedy

Back 4

a type of drama that deals with light and amusing subjects or with serious and profound subjects in a light, familiar, or satirical manner

Front 5

define drama

Back 5

a story written to be performed by actors in front of an audience

Front 6

define dramatic irony

Back 6

when the reader knows something that a character does not

Front 7

define farce

Back 7

a type of comedy that provokes laughter by placing one-dimensional, or flat, characters in ridiculous situations

Front 8

define figurative language

Back 8

language used for descriptive effect, often to imply ideas indirectly

Front 9

define foil

Back 9

a character who provides a stong contrast to another character

Front 10

define tragedy

Back 10

a play in which a main character, called the tragic hero, suffers a downfall

Front 11

define pun

Back 11

a humorous play on two or more meanings of the same word or on two different words with the same sound

Front 12

define satire

Back 12

a form of writing that ridicules people, practices, or institutions in order to reveal their failings

Front 13

define soliloquy

Back 13

a long speech delivered by a character who is alone onstage

Front 14

define exposition

Back 14

the introduction of the characters, the setting, or the situation at the beginning of a story

Front 15

define rising action

Back 15

the part of a plot that adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest

Front 16

define suspense

Back 16

the growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climaxor resolution in a work of literature

Front 17

define climax

Back 17

the point of greatest emotional intensity, or interest, or suspense in the plot of a narrative

Front 18

define falling action

Back 18

in a play or story, the action that typically follows the climax and reveals its results

Front 19

define resolution (or denouement)

Back 19

the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict

Front 20

define assonance

Back 20

the repetition of similar vowel sounds within nonrhyming words, especially in a line of poetry

Hint 20

mIle after guIleless mIle without resting

Front 21

define consonance

Back 21

the repetition of consonant sounds before or after different vowel sounds

Hint 21

lIKe a pair of thiCK soCKs

Front 22

define alliteration

Back 22

the repetition of sounds, most often consonant sounds, at the beginnings of words

Hint 22

it is what Sent the Snake coiling and Flowing Foward

Front 23

define simile

Back 23

a figure of speech using like or as to compare seemingly unlike things

Front 24

define metaphor

Back 24

a figure of speech that compares or equates two or more things that have something in common

Front 25

define theme

Back 25

the main idea or message of a literary work

Hint 25

not the subject of the work but an insight about life or human nature

Front 26

define onomotopoeia

Back 26

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

Hint 26

finally stops SPUTTERING

Front 27

define free verse

Back 27

poerty that has no fixed pattern of meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement

Front 28

define rhyme

Back 28

the repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more words

Front 29

define rhythm

Back 29

the pattern of sounds created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables especially in poetry

Front 30

define personification

Back 30

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

Front 31

define plot

Back 31

the sequence of events in a narrative work

Front 32

define conflict

Back 32

the struggle between opposing forces in a story or play

Front 33

define characterization

Back 33

the methods an author uses to reveal a character's personality

Front 34

define protagonist

Back 34

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

Front 35

define antagonist

Back 35

a person or force in a society or nature that opposes the protagonist, or central character, in a literary work

Front 36

define narrator

Back 36

the person who tells a story: a speaker, a character in the story, an outside observer, or even the author

Front 37

define point of view

Back 37

the relationship of the narrator to the story

Front 38

define setting

Back 38

the time and place in which the events of a story, novel, or play occur

Front 39

define tone

Back 39

a reflection of a writer's or speaker's attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work

Front 40

define flashback

Back 40

a literary device in which an earlier episode, conversation, or event is inserted into the chronological sequence of a narrative

Front 41

define foreshadowing

Back 41

an author's use of clues that hint at events that will occur later in the plot

Front 42

define symbol

Back 42

an object, a person, a place, or an experience that represents something else, usually something abstract

Front 43

define irony

Back 43

a contrast between appearance and reality

Front 44

define imagery

Back 44

the "word pictures" that writers use to help evoke an emotional response in readers

Front 45

monologue

Back 45

a literary compostition in the form of a soliloquy