Metalanguage Flashcards
All the literary terms you're ever likely to need, with definitions and examples. (63 cards)
Personification
Giving human qualities to an inanimate object.
Example: ‘The Indian Ocean gnawed relentlessly at the rocks along The Back Beach.
Conjunction
A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, but, if ).
Tone
The sound of a voice at a particular point of a text.
Euphemism
An understatement, used to lessen the effect of a statement; substituting something innocuous that might be offensive or hurtful.
Example: “she is at rest now” instead of “she has died”
Irony-Dramatic
Where the characters are oblivious of the situation, but the audience is not.
Example: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we all know well before the characters that they are going to die.
Rhyme
Words close together that have a different opening sound but the same ending sound. Rhyme may be internal (in the same sentence) or end rhyme (occuring at the end of different lines.)
Example: ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’
In medias res
(Latin for in the midst of things)
Opening of the plot in the middle of the action, and then filling in past details (if required) by means of flashback.
Mood
The overall feeling of the piece (or part of a piece)
Setting
Where a story takes place. This can be spatial (the physical setting) or temporal (the time and culture considerations.)
Connotations
The meaning taken from specific words beyond the literal dictionary definition.
Example: “ A distinctive odour wafted from the direction of Austin’s shoes”
Pronoun
Pronouns are short words that English speakers use in lieu of continually using someone’s name.
Example: He/Him
Antagonist
A character or a non human force that opposes, or is in conflict with the protagonist. A protagonist may even be their own antagonist!
Characterisation
How a character is constructed by the author.
Example: The possibilities are endless- usally relates to what the character says, thinks, and does, as well as their appearance.
Polysyndeton
Several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve and artistic effect. Multiple repetitions of the same conjunction (and, but, if, etc), most commonly the word ‘and’.
Example: ‘Let the white folks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books and mostly-mostly-let them have their whiteness.’
Symbolism
The use of an object, event, person, the weather (amongst other things) to create and stand for a complex idea.
Example: ‘Piggy’s glasses symbolise intelligence.’
Juxtaposition
The placement (or analysis) of words, language, objects, plot, events, characters– anything really–near each other to create a particular effect.This is often a contrast.
Example: In Jack and his group are juxtaposed against Ralph and his group to symbolise the good and evil present in humanity.
Oxymoron
A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.
Example: “Their reunion was bittersweet”
“The room was filled with a thunderous silence”
Rhetorical Question
A question made to make a point. The answer should be so obvious that it does not require an answer.
Example: ‘Who doesn’t love chocolate.’
Understatement
A form of speech or information which contains an expression of lesser strength than what would be expected.
Example: “Your assignment is a little overdue” (assignment is two months overdue.)
Motif
A recurring pattern of imagery or language in a text.
Example: The lord of the flies contains a motif of things falling.
Preposition
A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in ‘the man on the platform’, ‘she arrived after dinner’, ‘what did you do it for ?’.
Alliteration
Rhyming consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Irony
Where the words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words it is a difference between appearance and reality.
Example: The worlds biggest dog was named tiny.
Synaesthesia
An attempt to fuse different senses by describing one kind of sense impression in words normally used to describe another.
Example: “She had a velvety smile”
“The sound of her voice was sweet”
