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81 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Alliteration |
Repetition of a sound at the beginning of words |
River rushing rapidly |
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Ambiguity |
The effect if a word with more than one possible meaning |
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Antagonist |
Someone who is opposed to the protagonist. |
Often dubbed a villain |
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Anti-hero |
A central character who does not have the qualities usually associated with a hero |
Not a villain |
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Antithesis |
Direct opposite |
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Aside |
A line or two addressed to the audience by a character in a play. Often introduces dramatic irony. |
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Assonance |
Repetition of vowel sounds within words |
How now brown cow |
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Bildungsroman |
A text, usually a novel, that describes the childhood and education of the central character. |
Recount of a stage of life |
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Caesura |
A pause in a line of poetry, usually shown by a punctuation mark. |
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Cliché |
An overused phrase or opinion |
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Colloquial language |
Informal language - the sort of language used in a conversation; It may include dialect words or phrases |
Conversation |
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Connotation |
A meaning that is suggested by the use of a word or phrase because of what is associated with it |
Red - danger, anger, heat... |
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Couplet |
A pair of lines in poetry |
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Dialect |
Words or phrases particular to a region or area |
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Dialogue |
Conversation, especially in a play |
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Diction |
The kind of words and phrases used |
Formal diction, violent diction... |
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Dramatic Irony |
Irony of situation, where the audience know more than the character on stage |
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Elegy |
A poem of mourning, originally for a friend or well known figure. It can be a poem that reflects upon death and passing time in a melancholic mood |
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Elision |
Running words into others |
Fish 'n' chips |
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End-stopped |
Brought to an end, when a line of poetry ends at the end of a sentence or clause. |
Opposite to emjambment |
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Emjambment |
When a clause or sentence runs from one line of poetry to another |
Not stopping |
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Eye/Sight rhyme |
Where words look like they rhyme but don't |
Bear and fear |
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Genre |
A specific type of writing, with its own conventions |
Detective, romance... |
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Half rhyme |
An 'imperfect' rhyme, where the constants agree but the vowels do not |
Swans and stones |
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Hyperbole |
Exaggeration |
Oh my goodness! |
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Imagery |
'Painting a picture' in words, using descriptive language, metaphors or similes |
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Imperitives |
Commands or instructions |
Don't do that |
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Irony and Sarcasm |
The use if words to imply the opposite of their meaning |
"Yes, because I just love doing stuff like that, don't I?" |
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Juxtaposition |
Putting words or phrases (often contrasting) next to each other |
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Lineation |
Arrangement in lines that are stopped at the end |
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Litotes |
An understatement made by denying the opposite of something. This is a type of irony. |
No mean feat |
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Metaphor |
An image created by referring to something as something else |
An army of nettles |
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Metre |
The formal arrangement of a poems rhythm |
Iambic pentameter |
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Narrator |
The person who tells the story |
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First person narrator |
A narrator who is present in the story, using the pronoun 'I' |
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Intrusive narrator |
A narrator who occasionally interrupts a third person narrative to make comments. Usually an omniscient narrator l, assumed to be the author. |
Normally assumed to be the author |
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Naive narrator |
A narrator who doesn't understand what is going on |
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Omniscient narrator |
A narrator who knows everything and can tell us about the thoughts and feelings of all the characters |
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Unreliable narrator |
A narrator who may not be telling the truth |
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Onomatopoeia |
A word that sounds like what it describes |
Boom |
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Oxymoron |
Two contradictory words placed together |
Cold fire |
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Paradox |
A statement that is contradictory or seems to be nonsensical, but is true |
To gain peace, the went to war |
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Pathetic fallacy |
When the surroundings reflect the mood of the character |
Storm going on when a character is going through a moment of madness and/or inner turmoil |
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Pathos |
The emotional quality of aren't or part if it, causing feelings of pity, sympathy or sadness in the reader |
"They broke me..." |
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Persona |
A 'voice' or character adopted by a narrator spoken in first person |
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Personification |
Writing about an object or animal or idea as if it was a person |
The wind whispered sweet melodies into my ears |
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Picaresque novel |
A novel that recounts the adventures of its protagonist in an episodic fashion |
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Polemic |
A written attack on an idea or policy |
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Protagonist |
The main character |
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Quatrain |
A set of four lines of poetry |
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Rhetorical question |
A question that does not require an answer; used to make the listener think about an issue |
"So, not turning a tap off will make the drought end?" |
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Rhythm |
The beat of the writing, especially in poetry - fast or slow, regular or irregular |
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Satire |
Writing that makes fun of people or society in order to criticise them |
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Sibilance |
The repetition of hissing sounds |
Snakes slithering silently |
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Simile |
A direct comparison of one thing to another l, using the words 'as', 'like' or 'than'. |
As big as an elephant |
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Soliloquy |
A speech addressed to the audience by a character in a play, telling the audience what he/she really thinks |
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Sonnet |
A poem, usually a love poem, that consists of 14 lines. |
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Standard English |
The conventional use of words and grammar in the English language - used in formal writing |
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Stanza |
A division in a poem; equivalent of a paragraph in prose |
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Structure |
How a text or story is arranged and organised |
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Symbol(ism) |
An object.that represents an idea or feeling |
Dove = peace |
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Tone |
The overall feeling or attitude of the writing |
Formal, sad, ironic... |
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Verse |
Poetry. The word is also used as an alternative to stanza. |
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Bathos |
Depth. Something that is often unintended in characters |
Tragedy |
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Hubris |
Excessive self-pride or xonfidence |
Tragedy |
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Sublime |
Beauty especially in nature - and the terror that draws us to it |
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Nuntis |
The messenger. Normally dictates what happens off stage |
Tragedy |
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Hamatia |
Decisions/main flaw of the protagonist that leads to their downfall |
Tragedy |
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Empathy |
Feeling into |
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Sympathy |
Feeling with |
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Catharsis |
Release of powerful, healing emotions that make tragedies so moving |
Tragedy |
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Chorus |
Group of actors that are the main commentators on the characters and events. They present traditional moral, religious and social views. |
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Synecdoche |
Figure of speech that a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa |
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Ottava Rima |
Eight line iambic stanza in the form A B A B A B C C |
ABABABCC |
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Dialectic |
Interplay of irreconcilable contradictory principles or opposed forces |
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Romantic Irony |
18th / 19th century German term for when the author breaks the illusion that is being created through narrative |
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Anaphora |
Rhetorical device in which a word or phrase is repeated successfully in several different clauses |
Tragedy |
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Antithesis |
Opposing of contradictory ideas in neighbouring sentences and clauses, using opposite or strongly contradictory forms of words |
Tragedy |
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Abjection |
Repulsion and fear which causes enjoyment |
Aesthetic nature that wants us to continue looking at something that is gruesome |
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Peripetia |
Sudden realisation of events |
Tragedy |
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Hysterica passio |
Extreme emotion normally expressed by female characters |
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