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180 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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convention
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Any widely accepted literary device, style or form.
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style
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A writer's distinctive manner of arranging words to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writing.
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diction
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The selection and arrangment of words in a literary work.
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jargon
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Language that is used or understood only by a select group of people.
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idiom
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A word construction or verbal expression that cannot be explained using the literal method.
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figurative language
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A technique in writin in which the author temporrily interrupts the order, construction, or meaning of the writing for a particular effect.
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figures of speech
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Writing that differs from customary conventions for construction, meaning, order, or significance for the purpose of a special meaning or effect.
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genre
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A category of literary work. Can refer to content or form.
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setting
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The total environment for the action of a fictional work. Setting includes time period, the place, the historical milieu, as well as the social political and even spiritual realities.
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ideology
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A manner of thinking characteristic of a individual, group of culture.
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verisimilitude
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How fully the characters and actions in a work of fiction conform to our sense of reality.
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allusion
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A reference to a familiar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea more easily understood.
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anthropomorphism
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The presentation of animals or objects in human shape or with human characteristics.
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epiphany
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A sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident.
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symbol
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Something that suggests or stands for something else without losing its original identity.
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symbolism
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The use of one object to represent another.
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mood
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The atmosphere or feeling created in work of literature by the author.
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deus ex machina
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The "god from a machine" who was lowered on to the stage in some ancient Greek plays to solve the problems of the plot at a stroke. Any improbable or unexpected contrivance by which an author resolves the complications of the plot.
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archetype
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patterns of expectable, typical human experience; universal patterns or motifs in religions, mythologies, legends, fairtales.
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existentialist novel
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A novel written from an existentialist viewpoint, oten pointing out the absurdity and meanlessness of existence.
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gothic novel
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A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action.
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frame narrative
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A narrative structure that provides a setting and exposition for the main narrative in a novel.
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allegory
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A narrative in verse or prose in which the literal events(persons, places, and things) consistently point to a parallel sequence of symbolic ideas.
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coming-of-age story ot bildungsroman
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A type of novel where the protagonist is intiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment.
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utopian novel
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A novel that presents an ideal society where the problems of poverty, greed, crime, and so forth have been eliminated.
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dystopian novel
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An anti-utopian novel where, instead of a paradise, everything has gone wrong in th attempt to create a perfect society.
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black humor
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Writing that places rotesque elements side by side with humorous ones in an attempt to shock the reader, forcing him or her to laugh at the horrifying reality of a disordered world.
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burlesque
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Any literary work that uses exaggeration to make its subject appear ridiculous, either by treating a trivial subject with profound seriousness or by treating a dignified subject frivolously.
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grotesque
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Describes a work or a style of expression characterized by exaggeration, deformity, freakishness, or disorder.
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characterization
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The process by which an author creates vivid, believable characters:direct descriptionof the character by the narrator, the direct presentation of the speech, thoughts, or actions of the character, and the responses of other characters to the chapter.
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protagonist
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The main character of a narrative who engages the reader's interest and empathy.
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antagonist
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The character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story.
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foil
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A character whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character; such as contrast highlights in th distinctive temperament of each character.
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allegorical character
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This type of character has a symbolic role beyond his/her function in the work; the name of an allegorical character often hints at his/her symbolic role.
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static character
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A character who does not undergo important change in the course of the story, remaining essentially the same at the end as he or she was at the beginning.
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dynamic character
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A character who undergoes an important change in the course of the story- not changes in circumstances, but changes within the character: changes in insight or understanding, commitment, values.
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round character
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Is more complex than a flat or sotck character and often displays the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in real people.
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flat character
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A character who embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that can be described ina brief summary.
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stock character
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A character who exists only because the plot demands it.
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antihero
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A protagonist who lacks the traditional attributes of a hero.
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doppelganger
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A "duplicate" character( usually in ther form of an alter ego, though someimes as a ghostly counterpart) or a character divided into two distint, usually opposite personalities.
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first person
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Narration by a character involved in the story. When the narrator uses "I" and describes his or her own experience, thoughts, or feelings, the work is said to be in the first person.
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third person omniscient
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Narration by a seemingly all-known person who does not take part in the action of the story, but who presents the thoughts, or feelings, the work is said to be in the first person.
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third person limited
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Narration by a person who does not take part in the action of the story, but who reveals the thoughts and feelings of one particular character; hence, the use of the term "limited" as opposed to "omniscient".
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third person objective
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Narration by a person who does not take part in the action of the story; and who does not reveal any thoughts or feelings of characters in the story; and objective narrator essentially acts as a "reporter"
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second person
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Narration that refers to the reader as "you", from this somewhat rare point of view, the reader essentially becomes a character in the naraative.
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stream-of-consciousness technique
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The most intense use of a central consciousness in narration. It takes a reader inside a character's mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings on a concious or unconscious level.
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unreliable narrator
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A narrator, usually a first person narrator, whose viewor version of the details of a story are consciously or unconsciously deceiving.
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Fretag's Pyramid
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Intro/expostion, complication, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement/conclusion
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Flashback
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A device that allows the writer to present evens that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction.
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foreshadowing
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Hints of future events in a literary work.
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subplot
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A secondary story in a narrative.
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parallel plot
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A secondary story line that mimics and reinforces the main plot.
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prologue
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The opening speech or dialogue of a play, especially a classic Greek play, that usually gives the exposition necessary to follow the subsequent action. The introduction to any literary work.
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epilogue
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A concluding statement or section of a literary work.
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act
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A major division in the action of a play.
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scene
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In drama, a scene is a subdividion of an act.
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soliloquy
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A monologue in a drama used to give the audience informtion and to develop the speaker's character/
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monologue
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A speech given by a single individual in a drama or other public entertainment. It has not set length, although it is usually several or more lines long.
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aside
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A comment made by a stage performer that is intended to be heard by the audience but is not supposedly heard by other characters.
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comic relief
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A humorous scene that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work.
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comedy
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A work intended to interest, involve, and amuse the reader or audience, in which no terrible disaster occurs and that ends happily for the main characters.
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low comedy
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Comedy that relies on slepstick and horse play.
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farce
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Low comedy intended to make us laugh by means of a series of exaggerated, unlikely situations that depend less on plot and character than on gross absurdities, slapstick humor, and coarse dialogue.
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high comedy
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Comedy that relies on wit and subtle irony or sarcasm.
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satire
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A form of high comedy, satire is the literry art of riduculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it.
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irony
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A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from wha appears to be true.
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verbal irony
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A figure of speech that occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite.
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dramatic irony
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Creates a discrepancy between what a character believes or says and what the reader or audience knows to be true.
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tragic irony
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A form of dramatic irony found in tragedies such as Oedipus the King, in which Oedipus searches for the person responsible for the plague that ravishes his city and ironically ends up hunting himself.
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situational irony
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exists when there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens due to forces beond human comprehension or control.
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cosmic irony
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Occurs whe a writer uses God, destiny, or fate to dash the hopes and expectations of a character or of humankind in general.
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parody
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A humorous imitation of another, usually serious work.
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reversal
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A point in the story when the protagonist's fortunes turn in an unexpected direction.
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inversion
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A reversal of position, order, form, or relationship.
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hyperbole
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A bodly exaggereated statement or "overstatement" that adds emphasis but is not intended to be literally true.
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understatement
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The opposite of a hyperbole, it refers to a figure of speech that saya less than is intended.
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sarcasm
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A form of sneering criticism in which disapproval is often expressed as ironic praise.
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wit
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Clever humor characterized by astuteness of perception or judgment.
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invective
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Speech or writing that abuses, denounces, or attacks.
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pun
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A play on words that relies on a word having more than one meaning or sounding like another word.
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tragic hero
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Central figure, must be both good and noble otherwise the fall to misfortune would not be great enough for tragic impact.
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hamartia
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In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the downfall of the hero or heroine.
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tragic flaw
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The quality within the hero or heroine which leads her his or her downfall.
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hubris
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The most common tragic flaw,an excessive pride that adversely influences the protagonist's judgement.
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catharsis
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Emothional reaction produces by observig the events in a tragedy.
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melodrama
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A play in which the typical plot is a conflict between characters who personify extreme good and evil.
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revenge tragedy
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A dramatic form popular during the Elizabethan Age,in which the protagonist directed by the ghoat of his murdered father or son, inflicts retaliation upon a powerful villain.
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tragicomedy
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A type of drama that combines certain elements of both tragedy and comedy.
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problem play
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A type of drama that presents a social issue in order to awaken the audience to it.
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assonance
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The deliberate repitition of internal vowel sounds to create rhythm, mood, and emphasis on certain words.
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alliteration
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The repitition of the same or similar beginning consonant sounds in two or more words that are close together.
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consonance
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Words have similar consonant sounds but have vowel sounds that differ.
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cacophony
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A combination of harsh, jarring, or discordant sounds.
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euphony
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The pleasant mellifluous presentation of souds in a literart work.
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onomtopoeia
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The invention or use of a word whose sound echoes or suggests its meaning.
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end-stopped line
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A line of verse that ends with a grammatical break such as a comma, colon, semi-colon, or sull stop.
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enjambment
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The breaking of a syntactic unit by the end of a line or between two verses.
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caesure
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An audible pause that breaks up a line of verse.
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cadence
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The natural rhythm of language caused by the alternation of accented and unaccented syllables.
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rhythm
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A regula pattern of sound, time intervals, or events occuring in writing, most often and most discernibly in poetry.
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perfect or exact rhyme
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Occurs when different consonant-sounds are followed by identically stressed vowel-sounds
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slant/half/near rhyme
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Occurs when only the final consonant sounds of the rhyming words are identical.
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masculine rhyme
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Occurs when the ryhming sound falls in a single accented syllable, as with "heat" and "eat".
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feminine rhyme
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A rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed, as with "merry" and "tarry".
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eye rhyme
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Is not really rhyme; it just lloks like rhyme.
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end rhyme
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Describes rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines.
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internal rhyme
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Rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse.
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terza rhyme
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An interlocking three-line rhyme scheme; aba, bcb, cdc, ded, and so on.
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couplet
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A stanza of two lines, usually with end rhyme.
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tercet
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A three line stanza, usually with one rhyme
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quatrain
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A four line stanza, rhymed or unrhymed
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cinquain
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a five line stanza
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sestet
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a six line stanza
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heptastich
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a seven line stanza
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octave
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an eight line stanza
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meter
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The measurement of rhythm in poems and the rhythmic patterns resulting from combinations of heavy nd light stresses on syllables
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stanza
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a group of lines
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foot
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The smallest unit of rhythm in a line of poetry
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lamb
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US
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trochee
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SU
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anapest
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UUS
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dactyl
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SUU
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spondee
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SS
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pyrrhic
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UU
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monometer
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one foot
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prosody
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The overall metrical structure of a poem.
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scansion
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The process of measuring the stresses in a line of versein order to determine the metricl pttern of the line.
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analogy
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A comparison made to explain something unfamiliar through similarity to something familiar, or to prove one point based on the acceptance of another. Metaphor and simile are types
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metaphor
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A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things.
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simile
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A comparison using "like" or "as".
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conceit
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A clever and fanciful metaphor, usually expressed through elaborate and extended comparison, that presents a striking parallel between two seemingly dissimilar things.
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synesthesia
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Cross sensory metaphors; for example "a deafening yellow".
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synecdoche
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A figure of speech that presents a kind of metaphor in which: something is used for the whole or vice versa, the species is used for the genus or vice versa, the stuff of which something is made is used for the thing.
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metonymy
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A type of metaphor in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.
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apostrophy
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Speech directed to an imaginary or absent person or abstract quality or idea.
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chiasmus
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A rhetorical costruction in which the order of the words in the second of two paired phrases is the reverse of the order of the first.
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euphemism
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The substitution of a mild or less negative word for a harsh or blunt one.
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connotation
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The impression the word gives beyond its defined meaning.
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denotation
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The definition of a word, apart from the impressions or feelings it creates in the reader.
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syntax
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The ordering of words into meaningful verbal pattern, such as phrases, clauses, sentences.
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inversion
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Change in normal word order.
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oxymoron
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A combination of contridictory elements.
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pardox
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A statement that is seemingly contridictory and yet perhaps is true.
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hyperbole
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an outrageous exaggeration
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tone
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The writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers.
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rhetorical question
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A queation that is asked for effect.
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personification
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A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or bilities.
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juxtaposition
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The act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side.
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narrative poety
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A poem that tell a story.
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Ballad
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Traditionally, a song transmitted orally from generation to generation that tells a story. A simple narrative poem that is written in eliberate imitation of the language.
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Epic
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A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historical or legenday importance.
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Lyric poetry
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A type of poem that expresses personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker.
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Dramatic monologue
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A type of lyrical poem in which the speaker addresses a disctinct but silent audience imagined to be present.
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Elegy
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A mournful, contemplative lyric poem written to commenerate someone who is dead.
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Haiku
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A style of lyric poetry which presents an intense emotion or vivid image of nature, leading to spiritual insight. 5,7,5
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Ode
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A relativly lengthy lyric poem that often expresses lofty emotions in a dignified style. Are characterized by serious topics.
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Idyll
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A type of lyric poetry which extols the virtues of an ideal place or time.
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Sonnet
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A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of fourteen lines, usually in iamibic pentameter.
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Italian/ Petrarchan sonnet
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Is divided into a octave, which rhymes abbaabba and presents a problem, and a sestet with varying rhyme that resoves it.
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English/ Shakesperean Sonnet
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Three quatrains and a couplet, abab cdcd efef gg
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Aubade
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A poem or song of or about lovers seperating at dawn/
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villanelle
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19 lines, six stanzaz, five tercets and a concluding quatrain.
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metaphysical poetry
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highly intellectual and often abstruse imagery in poetry of 17th century
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argumentative structure
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The poe engages in a debate or persuasive presentation.
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dramatic and colloquial mode of utterance
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The poem describes a dramatic event rather than being a thought.
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acute realism
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The poem often reveals a psychological analysis.
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metaphysical wit
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The poem contains unexpected or shocking analogies, offering elaborate parallels btween apparently dissimilar things.
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pastoral poetry
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Poetry that presents the pleasures of rural life in an idealized view.
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didactic poetry
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Poetry designed to teach a ethical, moral, or religious lesson.
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concrete poetry
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Poetry in which visual elements play a large part in the poetic effect. Forms an image on the paper.
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confessional poetry
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Poetry in which the poet reveals very personal, intimate, sometimes shocking information about themselves.
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doggerel
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A derogatory term used to describe poetry who subject is trite and whose rhythm and sounds are monotonously heavy-handed.
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blank verse
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A type of poetry that has regular meter but no rhyme.
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free verse/ open form
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A term describing various styles of poerty that are not written usinf stict meter or rhyme.
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fixed form
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A poem that may be categorized by the pattern of its lines, meter, rhythm, or stanzas.
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sestina
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36 lines divded into 6 sestets and a three line concluding stanza, the six words at the end of first line appear in other lines in varying order.
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limerick
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A light, humorous style of poetry.
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epigram
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A brief, pointed and witty poem that makes a satiric or humorous point.
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epitaph
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An inscription on a tomb or tombstone, or a verse written on the occasion of a person's death.
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