ela exam Flashcards
(18 cards)
Alliteration
The repeated use of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words that are near each other
(ideally, right next to each other)
ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Allusion
A brief reference to a biblical, historical, literary, or mythological person, place, thing, or idea
ex:
Historical: “Het met his Waterloo”
Mythological: to have an Achilles’ heel; struck by Cupid’s arrow (being in love)
Literary: “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am” - from Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights
Biblical: Noah’s ark
Pop Culture: He came down the chimney (Santa)
Hyperbole
A deliberate use of exaggeration for effect or to emphasize a point
ex:My sister uses so much makeup, we have to sand it off at night ; That colour is so bright, I need to wear sunglasses!
Imagery
Ms. Pflug’s saying: “High-5 for imagery”
The use of words to create a vivid mental picture or physical sensation
(Hearing): the humming air
Tactile (Touching): Wrapped in the wind and the sun with the world under me
Olfactory (Smell): With summer spice
Gustatory (Taste): The golden water sweet and cold
Visual (Sight): Unloved, the beech will gather brown
(Bonus): Kinesthetic (Movement): Skating through the snow
Metaphor
A figure of speech that compares two unlike objects or ideas without using the words like or as
Rush hour traffic in the city bled out through major arteries to the suburbs; He is a bear in the morning
Mood
The emotions and feelings the poem arouses in the reader or audience
Onomatopoeia
A word that sounds like its meaning or mimics a sound
Bang; Buzz; Rattle; Sizzle; Slam
Personification
The giving of human characteristics to an animal, non-living object, or idea
Submarine=she ; The dish ran away with the spoon; the trees moaned in the wind
Repetition
The repeated use of a word, phrase, line, or stanza in a poem
I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know
Rhyme
The pattern of correspondence of the end sounds of each line of a stanza or poem; also correspondence of sounds other than at the end of lines
Ocean and Motion
Simile
A figure of speech used to compare two different things using the words like or as
As smart as a fox; Hungry as a wolf; The pain in my knee stings like a bee
Rhythm
The sound pattern of a poem
When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad . . .
Stanza
A series of lines grouped together and separated from other stanzas by a blank line
(think of a verse in a song)
Structure
The overall organization of the lines
Symbolism
The use of a symbol (words, objects, or actions) to represent something other than itself
Theme
The main message or central idea of a poem
Tone
The poet’s feelings (attitude) toward the subject of the poem
Pathetic Fallacy
The attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to nature
- Angry clouds
- A cruel wind
It’s a transfer of human feelings onto impersonal agencies; taking advantage of coincidence to suggest causal link between feeling and event
