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Junior English (Am. Lit) > American Literature Terms > Flashcards

American Literature Terms Flashcards

1
Q

A prose account that is made up rather than true.

A

Fiction

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2
Q

A first person writing about an event.

A

Memoir

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3
Q

A traditional story about gods, ancestors, or heroes, told to explain the natural world or the customs and beliefs of a society.

A

Myth

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4
Q

A long fictional narrative written in prose, usually having many characters and a strong plot.

A

Novel

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5
Q

A fictional narrative written in prose, which is shorter than a novel and usually takes place in only one setting with a few number of characters.

A

Short Story

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6
Q

An exaggerated legend

A

Tall Tale

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7
Q

A fairly short narrative poem written in a songlike stanza form

A

Ballad

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8
Q

Brief, musical poems that convey the speakers feelings.

A

Lyric Poem

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9
Q

The umbrella term used to refer to art expressed in writing.

A

Literature

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10
Q

A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique or content (e.g., prose, poetry, drama).

A

Genre

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11
Q

Any writing that is not poetry

A

Prose

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12
Q

A type of literature in which words are selected and strung together for their beauty, sound, and power.

A

Poetry

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13
Q

A piece of literature intended to be performed in front of an audience.

A

Drama

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14
Q

A person’s account of his or her own life.

A

Autobiography

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15
Q

A story about a person’s life written by another person.

A

Biography

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16
Q

A piece of prose writing, usually short, that deals with a subject in a limited way and expresses a particular point of view.

A

Essay

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17
Q

A brief story with a moral; often uses animals that act and speak like human beings

A

Fable

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18
Q

A story originally passed from one generation to another by word of mouth only. The characters are usually all good or all bad and in the end are rewarded or punished as they deserve.

A

Folktale

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19
Q

A narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements.

A

Legend

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20
Q

Parts of a story that are amusing. Humor can be created through sarcasm, word play, and irony.

A

Humor

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21
Q

A story in poetic form with characters, plot, and theme.

A

Narrative Poem

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22
Q

A 14 line poem with a set rhythm and scheme.

A

Sonnet

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23
Q

A character or force in conflict with the main character

A

Antagonist

24
Q

A struggle between opposing forces. The conflict can be either internal or external.

A

Conflict

25
Q

A series of related events in a story, each connected to the next.

A

Plot

26
Q

the perspective from which a story is told

A

Point of View

27
Q

Main character in the story

A

Protagonist

28
Q

A scene that breaks into the story to show an earlier part of the action, fill in missing information, explain the characters actions, and advance the plot.

A

Flash back

29
Q

A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.

A

Foreshadowing

30
Q

A line of poetry that contains five iambic feet.

A

Iambic Pentameter

31
Q

A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line

A

End Rhyme

32
Q

A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line

A

Internal Rhyme

33
Q

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

A

Blank Rhyme

34
Q

A group of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

A

Foot

35
Q

Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme

A

Free Verse

36
Q

The beat or rhythm of a poem, created by a patter of stressed or unstressed syllables.

A

Meter

37
Q

A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.

A

Refrain

38
Q

Identical or very similar recurring final sounds in words usually at the end of lines of a poem.

A

Rhyme

39
Q

The pattern of rhyming sounds at the end of lines in a poem

A

Rhyme Sceme

40
Q

A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that create a beat.

A

Rhythm

41
Q

A group of lines in a poem. Lines of poems are stanzas just like sentences are paragraphs.

A

Stanza

42
Q

A single line of poetry or a stanza.

A

Verse

43
Q

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

A

Allusion

44
Q

When the opposite of what is expected occurs.

A

Irony

45
Q

The strong feeling created in a literary work.

A

Mood

46
Q

The personality the writer presumes when telling the story.

A

Speaker

47
Q

An authors distinctive way of writing. Style includes word choice, sentence length, structure, figures of speech, and tone.

A

Style

48
Q

A feeling of tension or anticipation created in a work.

A

Suspense

49
Q

A person, place, or object that represents an abstract idea.

A

Symbol

50
Q

The works main idea- a general statement of life. Can usually be summed up in one sentence.

A

Theme

51
Q

The writers attitude towards his or her subject matter.

A

Tone

52
Q

The repeated use of phrases, clauses or sentences that are in similar structure.

A

Parallel Structure

53
Q

Words that carry strong emotional overtones.

A

Loaded Words

54
Q

A philosophical movement that began around 1840. It stressed individualism, intuition, nature, and self-reliance.

A

Transcendentalism

55
Q

The ordinary language of people in a particular region.

A

Vemacular

Junior English (Am. Lit) (5 decks)

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