English Literary Terms Flashcards
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Created by:
fabulouslyme on January 23, 2011
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78 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Abstract | word or phrase is one that refers to something that cannot be directly perceived by the senses Ex. Truth, love, force, theory, and sadness |
| Allusion | rhetorical technique in which a reference is made to a person, event, object, or work from history or literature |
| Concrete | word or phrase is one that names or describes something that can be directly perceived by one or more of the five sense Ex. Book, pool, light, garden, and car |
| Image | language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience |
| Imagery | the images in a literary work are referred to, collectively, as the work's imagery |
| Inversion | a poetic technique in which the normal order of words in an utterance is altered |
| Meter | rhythmical pattern of a poem |
| Mood | the emotion created in the reader by all or part of a literary work |
| Paradox | a seemingly contradictory statement, idea, or event |
| Parallelism | a rhetorical technique in which a writer emphasizes the equal value or weight of two or more ideas by expressing them in the same grammatical form |
| Personification | figure of speech in which an idea, animal, or thing is described as if it were a person |
| Point of View | the vantage point from which a story is told |
| Repetition | a writer's conscious reuse of a sound, word, phrase, sentence, or element |
| Rhyme | the repetition of sounds at the end of the words |
| Rhyme Scheme | a pattern of end rhymes or rhymes at the ends of lines of verse |
| Rhythm | the pattern of beats or stresses in a line of a verse or prose |
| Run-on Line | a line of verse in which the sense or the grammatical structure does not end with the end of the line but rather is continued on one or more subsequent lines |
| Simile | a comparison using like or as; also invites the reader to make a comparison between two things |
| Stanza | a group of lines in a poem |
| Tone | the emotional attitude toward the reader or toward the subject implied by a literary work |
| Character | a person who is written about in the story |
| Protagonist | main character; the central literary figure in a literary work |
| Characterization | the use of literary techniques (direct description, portrayal of characters' behavior, and representation of characters' internal states) to create a character |
| Foreshadowing | the act of presenting materials that hint at events to occur later in the story |
| Irony | a difference between appearance and reality |
| Verbal Irony | a statement is made that implies its opposite |
| Irony of Situation | an event occurs that violates the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience |
| Motivation | a force that moves a character to think, feel, or behave in a certain way |
| Setting | of a literary work is the time and place in which it occurs, together with al the details used to create a sense of a particular time and place |
| Stereotype | an uncritically accepted, fixed or conventional idea, particularly such an idea held about whole groups of people |
| Theme | a central idea in a literary work |
| Internal Rhyme | rhyme that occurs in a single line of a verse |
| Denotation | the literal, dictionary meaning of a word without any emotions |
| Connotation | the suggestive meaning of a word; the emotional response the reader has to the words or image |
| Persona | word for "people" in poems |
| Appositive | a form of an address |
| Tone | the emotional attitude toward the reader or toward the subject implied by a literary word |
| Symbols | an arbitrary sign (written or printed) that has acquired a conventional significance |
| Concrete Poem | poet that forms a picture of the topic or follows the contours of a shpae that is suggestive by the topic of people |
| Dialect | the usage of vocab that is characteristic of a specific group |
| Elegy | a poem in which the author shows an emotional attachment to the subject matter |
| Alliteration | repetition of an initial consonant sounds Ex. She sells sea shells by the sea shore |
| Figurative Language | uses "figure of speech" |
| Slant Rhyme | in which the rhyming sounds are similar but not identical |
| Sonnet | a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme |
| Quatrain | a stanza of 4 lines |
| Exact Rhyme | in which the rhyming words end with the same sound or sounds |
| End Rhyme | the use of rhyming words at the ends of lines |
| Onomatopoeia | using words that imitate the sound the denote Ex. Boom! Pow! |
| Myth | a story that explains objects or events in the natural world as resulting from the action of some supernatural force or entity, most often a god |
| Folk Tale | a brief story that, like myths and legends, was passed by word-of-mouth from generation to generation |
| Chronological Order | the arrangement of details in the order of their occurrences |
| Muse | the 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory) were believed to inspire aspects of the arts and sciences |
| Oral Tradition | a work, an idea, or a custom that is pasted down by word of mouth from generation to generation |
| Motif | any element that recurs in one or more works of literature or art |
| Dialogue | is a conversation involving two or more people or characters |
| Legend | a story coming down from the past often based on real events or characters from older times |
| Tragedy | a work of literature that tells the story of a the fall of a person of high status |
| Tragic Flaw | a personal weakness that brings about the fall of a character in a tragedy |
| Translation | the art of rendering speech or writing into another language |
| Flashback | a section of a literary work that presents an event or series of events that occurred earlier than the current time in the work. |
| Plot | a series of events related to a central conflict or struggle |
| Conflict | a struggle between two forces in a literary work |
| External Conflict | a struggle that takes between a character and some outside force |
| Internal Conflict | a struggle that takes within a character |
| Narrator | one who tells a story |
| Dramatic Irony | a situation in which something is known by the reader or audience but unknown to the characters |
| Transcription | the act of writing down words originally on audiotape or in another format |
| Pessimist | one who expects the worst, one who expects the worst |
| Jargon | words/phrases applicable to a certain subject |
| Short Story | a story based on one major incident |
| Tales | a story about one event that can be read in one sitting |
| Plot Development | the sequence of events in a story and it is generally built around a conflict, and it tells what happens, when, and to whom. it usually includes four stages, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action. |
| Exposition | In the first couple of paragraphs where you find the setting, characters, (sometimes) preview of theme, and questions |
| Conflict (Complication) | Types: External and Internal (easier to find) Forces: 1. person to person 2. person to society 3. person to nature (victor is always nature) |
| Climax | the point in the story when there is no turning back |
| Resolution | End of the story where loose ends are tied up |
| Characterization: The 3 different ways an author develops a character | 1. Physical - used least often (ex. Troy) 2. Dialogue 3. Actions & Reactions - used most often |
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