Lit terms task #3 & #4 Flashcards
(8 cards)
Colloquialism
Informal or conversational language
Colloquialism is a result of dialect
Do you see that fella over yonder?
Get me some milk from the ice box!
Oxymoron
Rhetorical term describing words or phrases that create paradoxes or contradictions when together
Create sharp observations about the world
“The silence was deafening..”
Rhyme Scheme
Pattern of rhyme at the end of each line of poetry
Indicated by letters of the alphabet
Roses are red A
Violets are blue B
I need a cup of coffee C
And a love that is true. B
Theodicy
Attempt to explain divine goodness in view of evil
Gilgamesh felt weak at the sound of Humbaba’s footsteps and called to Shamash saying, I have followed you in the way decreed; why am I abandoned now?
The Epic of Gilgamesh (39)
Dactylic hexameter
In dactyl, we put stress on the first syllable, and do not stress the second and third syllables.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Homeric simile (or epic simile)
An extended comparison – often 4 to 6 lines – of two unlike things using like or as works as an analogy, helping the reader better understand or imagine a character or action by comparing it to a natural event
“. . . the powerful giant-killer,
Swooping down from Pieria, down the high clear air,
Plunged to the sea and skimmed the waves like a tern
that down the deadly gulfs of the barren salt swells
glides and dives for fish,
dipping its beating wings in bursts of spray–
so Hermes skimmed the crests on endless crests.
(Homer 5.53-59)
Idiom
a commonly used expression understood within a culture for its figurative meaning; confusing if interpreted literally
bet the farm (risk everything)
beat the clock (finish in time)
Meter
