American Literature Flashcards
The repetition of a similar sound most often consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Alliteration
A reference in a work of literature to a character, a place or situation from history from music and art or another work of literature
Allusion
A comparison to show similarities between two things that are otherwise dissimilar. Writers often use an analogy to explain something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar
Analogy
A person or a force that opposes the protagonist or central characters in a story or drama. The reader is generally meant not to sympathize with the antagonist.
Antagonist
A short pointed statement that expresses a wise or clever observation about the human experience.
Aphorisms
In play a comment made by a character that is heard by the audience or another character but is not heard by the audience or another character is not heard by another character on stage
Aside
The dominant mood or feeling conveyed by a piece of writing.
Atmosphere
The story of a person’s life written by that person.
Autobiography
An account of someone’s life written by someone else.
Biography
The creation or construction of a fictional character.
Characterization
Greek or Roman principles and style in art and literature, generally associated with harmony, restraint, and adherence to recognized standards of form and craftsmanship, especially from the Renaissance to the 18th century.
Classicism
The climax or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element.
Climax
is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Comedy
A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group
Dialect
Conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie
Dialogue
The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
Diction
is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television
Drama
A long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation
Epic
A pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way
Epigram
An adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
Epithet
is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author’s own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informal.
Essay
A comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.
Exposition
A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.
Fable
A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.
Farce
literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and novella. The word is from the Latin fictiō, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.”
Fiction
Phrasing that goes beyond the literal meaning of words to get a message or point across. This definition dates back to the mid-nineteenth century and comes from the Old French word “figuratif,” meaning “metaphorical.” Writers create figurative language through figures of speech.
Figurative language
is when memories of a past trauma feel as if they are taking place in the current moment
Flashback to
Prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding
Foil
The traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
Folklore
A story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth
Folktale
is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, or a chapter, and it helps the reader develop expectations about the upcoming events
Foreshadowing
is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories.
Frame Story
A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Genre
A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities
Hero
is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting located in the past.
Historical Fiction
is the practice of writing history in a story-based form. It tends to entail history-writing based on reconstructing series of short-term events, and ever since the influential work of Leopold von Ranke on professionalising history-writing in the nineteenth century has been associated with empiricism.
Historical Narrative
The quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech.
Humor
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Hyperbole
Phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase.
Idiom
Part of the figurative language in a literary work, whereby the author uses vivid images to describe a phenomenon.
Imagery
The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Irony
The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with a contrasting effect.
Juxtaposition
A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.
Legend
Okay A historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources.
Memoir
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Metaphor
is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future.
Flash-forward
The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with a contrasting effect.
Juxtaposition
An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect
Parody
The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Personification
A plan made in secret by a group of people to do something illegal or harmful.
Plot
A particular attitude or way of considering a matter.
Point of View-
A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
Stereotype
A person’s thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow. The term was introduced by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890).
Stream of Consciousness
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Metaphor
