Literary Devices Flashcards
(30 cards)
Anaphora
repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent.
Example:
“I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Anecdote
a short and interesting story or an amusing event often proposed to support or demonstrate some point and make readers and listeners laugh
Example:
Oh, I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts’ secrets, Igor. Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I had never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished.
Antecedent
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun
Example:
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cell.
Antithesis
literal meaning opposite, is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect
Example:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”
Caesura
a pause for effect in the middle of a line in poetry; (period, dash, semicolon, etc.) in scansion it is usually indicated by the following symbol (//)
Example:
I’m nobody! ||Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us|| — don’t tell!
They’d banish ||– you know!
Canon
works generally considered by scholars, critics, and teachers to be the most important to study or read, which collectively constitute the “masterpieces” or “classics” of literature
Carp Diem
a Latin phrase which translated means “Seize (Catch) the day,” meaning “Make the most of today”
Catharsis
emotional discharge through which one can achieve a state of moral or spiritual renewal or achieve a state of liberation from anxiety and stress
Originally, Aristotle’s word for pity and fear an audience experiences upon viewing the downfall of a hero
Example:
“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
“Here’s to my love! [Drinks] O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Falls]”
Chiasmus
rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect
Example:
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”
Chronological Ordering
arrangement in the order in which things occur; may move from past to present or present to past
Classification/Cataloguing
arrangement of objects according to class
Conflict
a literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces can be internal or external
Internal: arises as soon as a character experiences two opposite emotions or desires; usually virtue or vice, or good and evil inside him
Example:
“To be, or not to be–that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep…”
External: on the other hand, is marked by a characteristic involvement of an action wherein a character finds himself in struggle with those outside forces that hamper his progress
Example:
in Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, an honest lawyer Atticus Finch goes up against the racist society in which he lives.
Conjunction
part of a speech used to link words, phrases and clauses
Example:
“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.”
(Steven Wright)
“There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody.”
(Attributed to Adlai E. Stevenson)
Connotation
refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly
Example:
A dog connotes shamelessness or an ugly face
A dove implies peace or gentility
Home suggests family, comfort and security
Shakespeare in his Sonnet 18 says:
“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day”
Here, the phrase “a Summer’s Day” implies the fairness of his beloved.
John Donne says in his poem “The Sun Rising”:
“She is all states, and all princes, I.”
This line suggests the speaker’s belief that he and his beloved are wealthier than all the states, kingdoms, and rulers in the whole world because of their love.
Consonance
refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase
Example:
Great, or good, or kind, or fair, I will ne’er the more despair; If she love me, this believe, I will die ere she shall grieve; If she slight me when I woo, I can scorn and let her go; For if she be not for me, What care I for whom she be?
Couplet
having two successive rhyming lines in a verse and has the same meter to form a complete thought
Example:
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
“The time is out of joint, O cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!”
Crisis
the climax or turning point of a story or play (may have more than one turning point if there are several almost- equal major characters)
Crux
the most crucial line(s) in a poem or prose passage, the part that best shows the main point
Cumulative Sentence
When the writer begins with an independent clause, then adds subordinate elements,. The complete sentence is in the beginning; the reader can stop at any place. The added phrases and clauses just add depth and explanation.
Example:
“He doubted whether he could ever again appear before an audience, his confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration.”
Denotation
literal or dictionary meanings of a word
Example:
Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”:
“And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.”
In the above lines, the word “wall” is used to suggest a physical boundary which is its denotative meaning but it also implies the idea of “emotional barrier”.
Denouement
the resolution of the plot after the climax
Deus Ex Machina
an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot
Example:
Hippolytus: There are three deities present in this play: the jealous Aphrodite, Artemis the object of Hippolytu’s affection, and vengeful Poseidon. However it is only Artemis who appears. She explains to Theseus that Hippolytus was innocent all along and that it was Aphrodite who had sinned and caused all the grief. Artemis also promises to destroy any man Aphrodite ever loves.
Dialect
language used by the people of a specific area, class, district or any other group of people
Example:
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn where he used this exaggerated style to distinguish between the characters
Jim: “We’s safe, Huck, we’s safe! Jump up and crack yo’ heels. Dat’s de good ole Cairo at las’, I jis knows it.”
Huck: “I’ll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It mightn’t be, you know.”
Dialogue
a literary technique in which writers employ two or more characters to be engaged in conversation with each other; usually set off with quotation marks
Example:
“Now he is here,” I exclaimed. “For Heaven’s sake, hurry down! Do be quick; and stay among the trees till he is fairly in.”
I must go, Cathy,” said Heathcliff, seeking to extricate himself from his companion’s arms. I won’t stray five yards from your window…
