| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Figure of Speech | A specialized use of language |
| Apostrophe | Direct address in the object's absence |
| Synecdoche | Using a part to refer to the whole object |
| Metonomy | Using a broader term to refer to a smaller unit. |
| Irony | The difference between what is expected to happen and what does happen |
| Situational irony | Irony found within a plot or specific situation |
| Verbal irony | Using words and phrases to the opposite effect. |
| Dramatic irony | When the audience knows information the character doesn't |
| Sarcasm | Mean spirited remarks intended to hurt emotions |
| Characterization | The process of making characters seem real |
| Direct characterization | Occurs when the author directly describes character traits |
| Indirect characterization | Occurs when a character's traits are revealed either through reader inference or other character's interactions. |
| Dynamic | Describes a character who changes during the course of a story |
| Static | These characters stay the same throughout the story |
| Round | Describes a character with many traits; seems very realistic |
| Flat | Characters with few traits, generally only one or two |
| Southwark | The town where the pilgrims began their journey |
| The Tabard | The inn where the pilgrims started |
| Thomas Becket | The murdered archbishop whose crypt the pilgrims where traveling to see |
| Knight | Wore a stained tunic that was smudged where armor left a mark |
| Squire | This one sang to the ladies and slept as little as a nightengale |
| Yeoman | Knew woodcraft up and down, carried a hunting horn |
| Nun | Loved animals, both to eat and play with |
| Monk | Loved to hunt, hated reading. |
| Friar | This beggar could talk a poor, shoeless woman out of a farthing |
| Merchant | For all his talk, he is still in debt |
| Oxford Cleric | Both he and his horse are rake-thin, spoke of moral virtue |
| Sergeant-at-Law | Seem more busy than he really was |
| Franklin | It snowed meat and drink at his welcome home |
| Guildsmen | Rich powerful men with even more powerful wives at home |
| Cook | A very skillful man with sores on his knees |
| Skipper | Ignored the nicer rules of conscience |
| Doctor | Read astrology instead of the bible |
| Wife of Bath | A woman of experience dressed in red |
| Parson | A good country priest who gave rather than took |
| Plowman | Carried a lot of dung |
| Miller | Played the pipes, had a wart on his nose, and thumb of gold |
| Manciple | Bought food for lawyers, was able to stretch a penny |
| Reeve | His horse was named Scot, and he wore a bluish coat |
| Summoner | Scaly red eye brows, pimple faced, an empty head, but spoke Latin when drunk |
| Pardoner | Had fake relics for sale and could sing well when the offering plate was passed |
| Chaucer | Both the author and pilgrim of the story |
| Host | Had a wide girth and lacked no manly attribute |
| Exposition | Establishes the characters and setting of a story |
| Internal conflict | conflict within the protagonist |
| External conflict | The protagonist's conflict with a force outside him/herself |
| Rising action | events that make the conflict more difficult to end |
| Climax | The point of most tension between the protagonist and antagonist |
| Falling action | Events that lead to an ending of the conflict |
| Resolution | The point where the conflict is completely ended |
| Denouement | Literally "the unknotting" of the plot, the final scenes |
| Radix malorum est cupiditas | Avarice is the root of evil |
| Memento mori | Remember mortality |
Combine with other sets
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