Literary elements
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Created by:
bigstar326 on May 1, 2007
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62 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Metaphor | comparison of two things without using like or as |
| Simile | comparison of two things using like or as |
| Personification | human characteristics are given to non-human things |
| Allegory | story or poem with two meanings: a literal meaning and a figurative (metaphorical/symbolic) meaning |
| Verbal irony | characters mean the exact opposite of what they say; sarcasm |
| Dramatic irony | readers know something that the characters do not |
| Situational irony | the opposite of what is expected occurs |
| Plot | sequence of a story that has five parts: setting, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement |
| Setting | time and place of action in a story |
| Rising action | conflicts are introduced |
| Climax | turning point of a story (no more conflicts arise after this) |
| Falling action | conflicts begin to be resolved |
| Denouement | story is resolved and comes to a close |
| Characterization | description of a character, either direct or indirect |
| Oxymoron | pair of opposite words (bright night) |
| Onomatopoeia | sound effects (crash, bang, boom) |
| Theme | underlying lesson or moral in writing |
| Tone | the attitude a writer takes within a work (satiric, ironic, hyperbolic, etc) |
| Paradox | apparent contradictions which are true |
| Alliteration | repeated consonant sounds |
| Assonance | repeated vowel sounds |
| Elegy | poem that mourns the death of a person or laments something lost |
| Lyric poem | songlike poem that expresses emotion or thoughts rather than a story |
| Pun | a play on words with multiple meanings or with words that sound alike but have different meanings |
| Epiphany | a moment of sudden insight or revelation |
| Visual imagery | descriptive language that appeals to the sense of sight |
| Aural imagery | descriptive language that appeals to the sense of hearing |
| Tactile imagery | descriptive language that appeals to the sense of touch |
| Olfactory imagery | descriptive language that appeals to the sense of smell |
| Gustatory imagery | descriptive language that appeals to the sense of taste |
| Symbol | creature, concept, object, idea with both literal and figurative meanings |
| Stream of consciousness | writing style that mimics the random flow of thoughts, emotions and memories running through a characters mind |
| Carpe diem | "seize the day" is a literary theme that urges us to live in the present moment |
| Foreshadowing | hints or clues an author gives about what is to come later on |
| Flashback | author remembers the past, but acts like it is happening now |
| Iambic pentameter | line of poetry made of five iambs (10 syllables) and is the most common verse rhythm of poetry. An iamb is a unit of measure made of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable |
| existentialism | a philosophy that suggests we must struggle to create our won meaning and morality in the absence of absolute values; many believe that the universe is indifferent to human suffering |
| enjambment | continuation of meaning from one line of poetry to the next |
| caesura | pause of break within a line of poetry, usually indicated by a natural rhythm |
| sonnet | 14-line poem about love, death, and/or time |
| pastoral poetry | works set in an idealized countryside |
| exaggeration | extreme overstatement |
| understatement | extreme sarcasm, saying much less than what you mean |
| hyperbole | extreme extreme exaggeration |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| free verse | poetry with no regular meter or rhyme scheme |
| couplet | pair of rhyming lines in poetry |
| tercet | triplet or three rhyming lines in poetry |
| quatrain | a four line stanza or poem usually unified by a rhyme scheme |
| sestet | a six line stanza or poem, or the last six lines of a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet |
| octave | an eight line stanza or poem, or the first eight lines of a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet where the rhyme scheme is abbaabba |
| satire | writing that ridicules human weakness, vice, or folly in order to cause social reform |
| ode | complex, long lyric poem on a serious subject |
| journal | record of events, kept regularly by an eyewitness or participant |
| chronicle | historical account of specific events told in chronological order |
| metaphysical conceits | especially complex and ingenious figures of speech that make surprising connections between two seemingly extremely dissimilar things |
| tragedy | depicts serious events where the protagonist (usually high-ranking and dignified) comes to an unhappy end |
| tragic hero | a character of high status who possesses a tragic flaw |
| tragic flaw | a great weakness that causes the tragic hero's downfall |
| catastrophe | the ruin, devastation, calamity caused by the tragic hero's tragic flaw |
| catharsis | figurative cleansing of emotions caused by the resolution of catastrophe |
| aside | private words a character speaks to the audience or to another character which are not heard by others onstage |
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