i Flashcards
Alliteration
Repition of initial consonant sounds
Abstract language
Diction that describes intangible things
Allusion
Reference to historical or literary figure.
Ambiguity
Literature: intentional creation of multiple meanings
Context: May convey connotation and denotation
Analogy
Device explaining or describing something unfamiliar through a comparison with something more familiar.
Analysis
Methodical examination of the parts in irder to determine the nature of the whole
Anaphora
Rhetorical device of repeating the same word or words at the start of two or more lines of poetry
Antagonist
Character in conflict with protagonist. Rival. Opponent. Enemy.
Antecedent action
Events that preceded the starting point of the piece of literature
Anticlimax
Rhetorical device in which details of lesser importance are placed where something greater is expected or in which the importance if items in a serious is decreased rather than increased
Antithesis
A rhetorical device contrasting words, clauses, sentences or ideas, balancing one against the other in strong opposition. Contrast is reinforced by the similar grammatical structure.
Apostrophe
Rhetorical device in which an absent or imaginary person it an abstraction is directly addressed a though present
Archetype
Recurrent pattern in bodies of literature such as the loss of paradise
Argument
Thesis of a poem
Aside
Convention in drama by which an actor directly addresses the audience revealing his or her observations or emotions. The aside is not meant to be heard by the other characters in the drama.
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds Negev it occurs at the end of lines, assigns he rhyme does not have the same consonant sounds so it is not full rhyme
Atmosphere
The prevailing mood of a literary work often established by setting or landscape lending an emotional airs and influencing the readers expectations and attitudes
Authorial Voice
A discernible authorial presence distinct from that of the narrator or speaker revealing a particular perspective. Mood and time may be conveyed directly by the authorial voice sometimes directly addressed to the reader.
Ballad
A narrative poem often using common meter and sometimes in kidding a refrain. Popular ballads were originally set to music whereas modern literary ballads were written to be read.
Blank verse
Unrhymed iambic pentameter. This meter is well adapted to dramatic verse in English such as Shakespeare’s plays as well as to any long poem. In the nineteenth century and modern times it has been used extensively in lyric poetry. Blank verse is marked by freedom from rhyme, a shifting caesura (pause), and frequent enjambment, producing verse paragraphs more often than stanzas
Cacophony
A combination of harsh, unpleasant sounds, used consciously for effect. Opposite of euphony
Caesura
A pause in a line of poetry created not by the meter but by the natural speaking rhythm sometimes coinciding with punctuation
Caricature
The exaggeration or even distortion of personal qualities to ridiculous effect, in drawing, but also in literary characterization
Carpe diem poetry
From the Latin, the admonition often translated as “seize the day” is more accurately “pluck, as a ripe fruit or flower”. It was first used by Horace in classical rome, and is a common theme in sixteenth and seventeenth century English love poetry: yield to love while you are still young and beautiful.
