Tog Yr 2 Literary Terms-Rhetoric Level

Front 1

Balance

Back 1

An element of artistry, related to symmetry, that consists of giving equal weight to different aspects of a work.

Front 2

Central Focus (Theme)

Back 2

The center of a whole arrangement or something that repeats itself at the center of each part of
the whole arrangement.

Front 3

Character

Back 3

A personality, whether human or non-human, in a story.

Front 4

Contrast

Back 4

An element of artistry in which two things in a literary work are contrasted, whether in order to heighten
one, or to convey meaning through the stark difference between the two.

Front 5

Image (Imagery)

Back 5

A literary device that presents an object through a concrete, non-literal, informing word picture
(based on Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook, 93).

Front 6

Lyric Poem

Back 6

1) In ancient Greece and Rome, a poem written to be accompanied by the music of a lyre, 2) a poem that
has the form and (or) musical quality of a song, being written to be sung or accompanied by music, 3) a short poem
expressing the thoughts and feelings of a speaker, 4) some combination of the second and third elements.

Front 7

Metaphor

Back 7

A device of imagery that identifies an object in reality with an image, though it is understood that the object
is not actually the image.

Front 8

Pattern

Back 8

An arrangement of parts in such a way that they form a recognizable unit or a series of units.

Front 9

Play

Back 9

A story that emphasizes performance as its primary medium of expression.

Front 10

Plot

Back 10

The arrangement of events in a story such that they have a beginning, middle, and end (Aristotle’s Poetics).

Front 11

Poetry

Back 11

Highly compressed language which may be metrical or non-metrical and characteristically uses imagery as its
main medium of expression.

Front 12

Recurrence (Rhythm)

Back 12

An artistic element in which there is a rhythm to a repeated action—moments of rising and
falling intensity.

Front 13

Repetition

Back 13

An artistic element in which something is repeated for emphasis or to form a pleasing rhythm.

Front 14

Simile

Back 14

A device of imagery that uses comparison words such as like, as, or more than, to explicitly show the reader that
an object is being presented as an image that shares some of that object’s qualities.

Front 15

Story:

Back 15

A piece of literature that has at least one character, plot, and setting and uses narrative as its primary medium of
expression.

Front 16

Symmetry

Back 16

An artistic element which occurs when two things in a literary work correspond to each other in size and
(or) form and (or) arrangement.

Front 17

Unity

Back 17

The quality in a plot in which all of the elements work together to tell one story.

Front 18

Unified Progression

Back 18

An element of artistry in which everything in a literary work is moving forward together towards
one goal, without any stray ends or stragglers.

Front 19

Variety in Unity

Back 19

An element of artistry in which there are both similarities and differences in a group of literary elements.

Front 20

Courtly Love Lyric

Back 20

a sub-genre of medieval lyric poetry that deals with the topic of courtly love.

Front 21

Elegy (Funeral) Lyric

Back 21

A lyric poem that exalts and mourns a (usually recently)deceased person whom the speaker in the poem knew and loved.

Front 22

Religious Lyric

Back 22

A sub-genre of lyric poetry that deals primarily with the speaker's religious beliefs.

Front 23

Self-Examination Lyric

Back 23

A sub-genre of medieval lyric poetry that focuses on the poet himself and the progression of his thoughts or feelings.

Front 24

Experiment in Living

Back 24

An experiment in living is a choice that a character makes to act and live according to particular beliefs.

Front 25

Fairy Tale

Back 25

A sub-genre of Folk Literature that includes fantastic elements such as miraculous events, magical characters, strange creatures and settings, or magical powers.

Front 26

Folk Literature

Back 26

A story couched in the language of everyday speech and appealing to the common person.

Front 27

Plot Frame

Back 27

A literary technique used to introduce and provide a framework for a story, usually by enveloping it in another story.