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Literary Terms Flashcards

(53 cards)

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1
Q

Allegory

A

Story with a hidden meaning

-George Orwell’s Animal Farm

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2
Q

Alliteration

A

repetition of constant sounds

-Nick’s nephew needed new notebooks now not never.

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3
Q

Allusion

A

reference to a character or event

-“He was a real Romeo with the ladies.”

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4
Q

Antithesis

A

Using opposite phrases in close conjunction

  • Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
  • Man proposes, God disposes.
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5
Q

Apostrophe

A

author address an absent person or abstract idea

-Lorenz Hart, “Blue Moon”

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6
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of similar vowel sounds

-Try to light the fire

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7
Q

Ballad

A

poem with a serious subject

  • “Ballata 5” by Guido Cavalcanti
  • “Ballad of the Gibbet” by Francois Villon
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8
Q

Blank Verse

A

verse don’t rhythm

-Macbeth by William Shakespeare

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9
Q

Conceit

A

fancy image of two dissimilar thing have a relationship

-Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?by William Shakespeare

-All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances

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10
Q

Connotation

A

The feelings or emotions surrounding a word.

-childlike and childish

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11
Q

Couplet

A

two lines of rhyming poetry

-“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.” - Joyce Kilmer

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12
Q

Denotation

A

direct meaning of a word

-Cheap(low cost)

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13
Q

Diction

A

The choice and use of words

  • Thy
  • Thee
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14
Q

English sonnet

A

3 quatrain (2 couplet - 18 lines)

-Sonnet 18 - Shakespeare

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15
Q

Petrarchan sonnet

A

2 part (8 lines / 6 lines)

  • Poem 292 - The SongBook
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16
Q

Epic

A

narrative about a significant event, often featuring a hero.

  • “The Divine Comedy” - Dante
  • Epic of Gilgamesh
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17
Q

Figurative language

A

Describe something by comparing it with something else.

  • Alright, the sky misses the sun at night.
  • The poorest man is the richest, and the rich are poor.
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18
Q

Hyperbole

A

exaggeration is used for emphasis

-“I’ve told you a million times”

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19
Q

Imagery

A

vivid descriptive language that appeals to the senses

-On a starry winter night in Portugal

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20
Q

Verbal irony

A

occurs when people say the opposite of what they mean.

  • The cake is as soft as concrete”
  • “Water is as clear as mud
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21
Q

Situational irony

A

the situation is different from what common sense indicates it is.

-A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.

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22
Q

Dramatic irony

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A

characters know less than the audience

-Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. When Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged sleep, he assumes her to be dead and kills himself. Upon awakening to find her dead lover beside her, Juliet then kills herself.

23
Q

Metaphor

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A

describe by implying that two different thing are related

  • Time is a thief
  • He is the apple of my eye
24
Q

Metonymy

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A

Substitution of word because of the word closely related

  • Crown - in place of a royal person
  • The White House - in place of the President or others who work there
25
Narrative poem
a poem that tell a story - The Divine Comedy - Dante - The epic of gilgamesh
26
Mood
the atmosphere of a piece of literature - Amuse - Jubilant
27
Ode
A lyric poem of a serious subject “An Ode to Halloween”
28
Onomatopoeia
Word use to imitate sound - Hiss - Buzz
29
Oxymoron
a statement with two parts which seem contradictory - Sad joy - Wise fool
30
Paradox
Statements whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought - They have ear but hear not - Deep down here’s really very shallow
31
Personification
given human attributes to inanimate objects. - The wind whispered - The teddy bear hug him
32
Pun
a play on words - I met this girl in internet café, but we did not click - I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.
33
Refrain
a regularly recurring phrase or verse. - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost - annabel lee edgar allan poe
34
Satire
Ridicule human foolishness -Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
35
Stanza
a group of lines within a poem. -Nothing Gold Can Stay - Robert Frost
36
Symbol
something that stands for or represents another thing. - Dove is a symbol of peace. - Rose rose stands for love.
37
Synecdoche.
a part represent a whole or whole represent a part - The word “wheels” refers to a vehicle. - US win gold medal - team from usa not the country
38
Theme
the main idea of a text - Man struggles against nature - Overcoming adversity
39
Tone
The writer’s attitude toward the material - Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty." - "The course of true love never did run smooth."
40
Understatement
make a situation less than it is - "The desert is sometimes dry and sandy" - - "It's just a scratch"
41
Analogy
comparison between two different things - You are as annoying as nails on a chalkboard. - Life is like a box of chocolates.
42
Pathos
persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions. - "Doctors all over the world recommend this type of treatment." - "Made in China"
43
Ethos
convince an audience of the author’s credibility. - President Obama’s Acceptance Speech - Michael Jordan’s Nike commercial
44
Logos
convince an audience by use of logic or reason - Car accidents rise 10% during the first week of daylight savings time. - 3/4 of people do not know fractions
45
Epiphany
a character has a sudden insight that change his or her understanding. -Hamlet - Shakespeare
46
Malaprop
The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding one. - dance a flamingo - Rainy weather can be hard on the sciences
47
Commedia dell'arte
Humorous theatrical presentation. - Mezzetin - A dance in the Country
48
Parody
a work for comic effect - Will you veddy much bring me a coke please?” - Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"
49
Stream of consciousness
Flow of thought of character as they occur - Les Lauriers sont Coupes" - “The Sound and the Fury”
50
Flashback
a shift to an earlier point in time -Birches - Robert Frost
51
Foreshadowing
Hinting that something will occur -Shakespeare's Macbeth
52
Euphemism
word use to soften meaning | -Passed away instead of died
53
enjambment
A run-on line of poetry | - Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale

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