front 1 1. allegory | back 1 A story told on two levels and intended to teach a moral lesson EX: The Prodigal Son; Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." |
front 2 2. anapestic | back 2 Metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable |
front 3 3. anecdote | back 3 A very short story told to make a point |
front 4 4. antagonist | back 4 The main adversary of the hero/heroine, or protagonist |
front 5 5. antithesis | back 5 The use of parallel structure to present oppositional ideas EX:Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John Kennedy |
front 6 6. apostrophe | back 6 To address a person not present; or to personify an object or trait and address the personified thing |
front 7 7. archetype | back 7 A universal symbol or symbol that crosses many cultures EX: water; a universal character(the quest hero or wise old man) |
front 8 8. auditory imagery | back 8 Language/words appealing to the sense of sound/hearing |
front 9 9. blank verse | back 9 Unrhymed line of iambic pentameter |
front 10 10. choleric | back 10 Medieval bodily humour - angry |
front 11 11. conceit | back 11 An extended metaphor. A comparison extending throughout a poem, paragraph, or section of a work. |
front 12 12. dactylic | back 12 Metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable follwed by two unstressed syllables |
front 13 13. didactic | back 13 Having a teaching purpose. |
front 14 14. dramatic irony | back 14 Situation in which the reader/viewer shares with the narrator knowledge of a situation or intention unknown to one or more of the characters. Often the reader/viewer knows the fate of a character who is ignorant of his/her own fate. |
front 15 15. elegy | back 15 Poetry or speech which laments the loss of a person or sometimes of an era or aspect of culture. An "elegiac tone" is a lamenting tone or a somewhat nostalgic tone. EX: pastoral elegies lament the loss of rural life and farms |
front 16 16. enjambment | back 16 Run-on lines of poetry. When a though is not completed in one line so the reader has to read into the next line to get to the end of the thought, the lines are called "run-on lines" |
front 17 17. end-stopped line | back 17 Line of poetry ending in a period, question mark, exclamation point, or semicolon |
front 18 18. epigram | back 18 Short, witty saying EX: "Fish and visitors smell after three days." |
front 19 19. epiphany | back 19 The appearance of manifestation of a deity; or a moment of understanding and sudden insight into reality or the truth. |
front 20 20. exposition | back 20 Text or portion of a text which explains motives, action, definitions, etc. In this part of the text, the action doesn't move forward; the narrator offers explanation, analysis, or reflection on events and characters. |
front 21 21. euphemism | back 21 A nice or polite word used to replace a more direct or blunt one EX:"pass away" for "die", |
front 22 22. farce | back 22 Low comedy; comedy which has clowning and slapstick EX: the three stooges |
front 23 23. flashback | back 23 Interrupting a narrative sequence with a recollection of an image or scene from the past |
front 24 24. genre | back 24 The form a text has - poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction. Genres also have sub-genres EX: lyric poetry, narrative poetry, epic poetry |
front 25 25. gustatory imagery | back 25 Language or images appealing to the sense of taste |
front 26 26. hubris | back 26 The ancient Greek term for "pride" or "ego". It was the tragic flaw demonstrated by heroes in Greek drama, including Characters such as Oedipus, Creon, and Antigone. |
front 27 27. hyperbole | back 27 Exaggeration for effect |
front 28 28. iambic | back 28 A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable |
front 29 29. iambic pentameter | back 29 A ten-syllable line in which the even-numbered syllables are stressed |
front 30 30. internal rhyme | back 30 Rhyming two words within a single line of poetry. EX: "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary." |
front 31 31. irony | back 31 Having the opposite of what one expects to happen actually happens; reversal |
front 32 32. litotes/understatement | back 32 Understatement for emphasis EX: Saying "not bad" when you mean "very good" |
front 33 33. malapropism | back 33 The misuse of words, especially words that sound like other words. Often malapropisms are humorous; sometimes they are puns. EX: saying "progeny" when you mean "prodigy" |
front 34 34. melancholy | back 34 Medieval bodily humor - sad, depressed |
front 35 35. meter | back 35 The rhythm of a poem. It includes how many syllables or "beats" each line has and which ones are stressed and unstressed. A unit of meter = a foot |
front 36 36. metonymy | back 36 A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated EX: "The pen is mightier than the sword," in which pen means words and sword means the military or fighting |
front 37 37. myth | back 37 A story that seeks to explain processes of nature, the creation of the world and the human race, or traditional customs, political institutions, or religious rites |
front 38 38. narrative viewpoint | back 38 The stance from which a story is told 1st - one person 3rd - he, she, they 3rd omniscient - viewing the action from a god-like stance, seeing inside every characters mind 3rd limited - viewing the action primarily from one character's angle |
front 39 39. olfactory imagery | back 39 Language or images appealing to the sense of smell |
front 40 40. oxymoron | back 40 Two opposite words together forming a compound word or phrase - bittersweet, foolish wit, wise fool |
front 41 41. parable | back 41 A short story with a moral message; often it is allegorical. EX: The Prodigal Son + Good Samaritan |
front 42 42. paradox | back 42 A statement that is illogical or contradictory but nevertheless true or which has a kind of truth that it states EX: "Fair is foul and foul is fair" - Macbeth |
front 43 43. parody | back 43 A humorous imitation of a serious literary work or form |
front 44 44. pastoral | back 44 A literary piece that idealizes life in the country |
front 45 45. phlegmatic | back 45 Medieval bodily humour - dull |
front 46 46. protagonist | back 46 The hero or heroine in a story, poem, novel, play, or film |
front 47 47. rhetorical | back 47 Persuasive; a style, form, and approach intended to persuade |
front 48 48. rhymed couplet | back 48 Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines forming a unit |
front 49 49. sanguine | back 49 Medieval bodily humour - energetic, cheerful, positive |
front 50 50. satire | back 50 Humor directed at making a point about human nature; it attacks human fault and teaches ethics through humor |
front 51 51. Shakespearean sonnet | back 51 Poem of 14 lines in which the structure is three quatrains followed by a couplet in which the main idea or central message is stated |
front 52 52. stanza | back 52 Group of line of poetry forming a unit |
front 53 53. symbolism | back 53 Having one thing stand for another, especially for a complex of interrelated concepts. EX: Moby Dick, the white whale, representing power, fate, evil, the enemy, unknown |
front 54 54. synecdoche | back 54 Figure of speech in which a part of an object is used to represent the whole EX: "All hands on deck" for "all sailors/men on deck" |
front 55 55. syntax | back 55 Sentence structure; the phrases and clauses that together make a sentence |
front 56 56. tactile imagery | back 56 Language or images which appeal to the sense of touch or feeling |
front 57 57. tone | back 57 The attitude an author expresses towards his subject and/or audience |
front 58 58. trochaic | back 58 A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable |
front 59 59. verbal irony | back 59 The meaning intended by a speaker differs from the meaning understood by one or more of the other characters or by the listener |
front 60 60. verse | back 60 Single line of poetry |
front 61 61. Alliteration | back 61 when the first sound of a word is repeated several times in succession |
front 62 62. Allusion | back 62 a reference to something from a different story, such as referencing Noah's flood to let the reader know just how torrential it is raining. |
front 63 63. anachronism | back 63 when something happens that should be attributed to a different time from when it actually happened. Often, it is a mistake, where an inappropriate phrase or object appears in a period piece. |
front 64 64. Anaphora | back 64 a type of repetition. It uses a repeated phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences to provoke an emotional response from the reader or the audience. |
front 65 65. Anastrophe | back 65 a literary technique, where the writer reverses traditional sentence structure. Subject, Adjective becomes Adjective, Subject. |
front 66 66. Anthropomorphism | back 66 where you apply human traits or qualities to something that isn't human-like animals, objects, or the weather. |
front 67 67. Aphorism | back 67 universally accepted truth expressed concisely |
front 68 68. Assonance | back 68 In songs, poems, and literature to create flowing sounds that grab the reader/listener's attention and are pleasing to the ear |
front 69 69. Caesura | back 69 involves using a fractured sentence where two different parts are distinguishable but form one whole. When used in a speech, it forces the speaker to take a break. (sometimes uses II to indicate the breaks) |
front 70 70. Consonance | back 70 consonant sounds are repeated within a sentence or phrase. |
front 71 71. Chiasmus | back 71 Greek word that means "diagonal arrangement." It happens when you use two or more inverted parallel clauses together. The phrases must be related |
front 72 72. Colloquialism | back 72 used in speech when we want to be informal. In literature, it might provide a setting or give information about where a character comes from. |
front 73 73. Diction | back 73 author's word choice in speech or description. There are so many different words that we can use to mean different things; a careful choice of words can make a huge difference. |
front 74 74. Epigraph | back 74 the author cites a quotation from another work of literature. It is often put into italics |
front 75 75. Foreshadowing | back 75 the author subtly lets the reader know the ending or an upcoming event |
front 76 76. Hypophora | back 76 a character is speaking out loud, a character asks a question and then immediately answers it themselves. |
front 77 77. Isocolon | back 77 the writer takes two more phrases or clauses that have a similar structure, rhythm, or length and lines them up on top of each other. You often see this in poems, and you'll also spot it in advertising, particularly brand slogans. |
front 78 78. Imagery | back 78 creates a visual representation of an action, idea, or thing to appeal to the reader's senses. |
front 79 79. Juxtaposition | back 79 you place different story elements side by side, to provide contrast and highlight the differences. |
front 80 80. Metaphor | back 80 says an object is something else, which brings new meaning to the original object |
front 81 81. Motif | back 81 a repeated symbol, idea, or structure within a literary work to emphasize the theme. |
front 82 82. Onomatopoeia | back 82 When you want to show that your character is problem-solving and has reached a conclusion. Or, when you're giving a speech and want to provide an answer to a question your audience wants to hear. |
front 83 83. Personification | back 83 the writer gives inanimate objects or ideas human traits, like the weather, or a feeling |
front 84 84. Point of view (similar to narrative view point) | back 84 whoever is telling your story. |
front 85 85. Polysyndeton | back 85 the art of using several conjunctions (or connecting words) in succession. |
front 86 86. Simile | back 86 a comparison of two different things the writer will use the words 'like' or 'as.' |
front 87 87. Soliloquy | back 87 when a character speaks their thoughts out loud, usually alone and to the audience, rather than to another character. |
front 88 88. Zoomorphism | back 88 give animal-like qualities to anything that is not that particular animal. |