Task #1 Flashcards
(26 cards)
Allegory
A story that can stand on its own. It has characters or events that represent ideas/events. It usually illustrates a moral/principle at the end.
Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare”
Anaphora
A device utilizing repetition at the start of every sentence for successive sentences; used to emphasize an idea
Charles Dickens “The Tale of Two Cities”
Characterization
Process in which an author creates a character and gives them unique characteristics
Direct Characterization
Information the author reveals in a direct way; uses the character, another character, or a narrator to inform the reader.
“Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk”
Indirect Characterization
The information the reader must infer from the characters behavior, speech, way of talking, and appearance
“Enkidu . . . ran with the animals, drank at their springs . . . freed them from the traps the hunters set” (16).
The reader’s inference is that Enkidu cares more about animals than human beings.
Round Characters
Have layers of personality; readers can relate to these characters because they seem real. Usually change from the start to the end of a story.
Katniss from The Hunger Games. The author reveals everything about her.
Flat Character
Do not change from the start of the story to the end. Not much information is provided by the author, because they are not important to the overall story. They have less important roles.
An innkeeper or store clerk the main character interacts with.
Dynamic Characters
Face conflict and learn from experiences; usually round
Katniss changes through the three novels
Static Characters
Undergo little to no change; usually flat characters
Characters that refuse to change their perspective or are only seen once in the story
Protagonist
Central character or leading figure; dynamic character who interacts or fights the conflict the most
Katniss
Antagonist
One character or a group of characters who oppose the protagonist. Source of central conflict.
President Snow
Enjambment
A poetic device used to preserve the flow of a complete thought form one line of the poem to the next without pause
Stafford’s “You Reading This, Be Ready”
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?
Line 3 shows enjambment.
Figurative language
Language relying on figures of speech and must be interpreted in a non-literal way
Stafford’s “You Reading This, Be Ready”
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
The author’s imagery with sunlight creeping across a shining floor gives the reader the impression of a curtain opening on possibility.
Foreshadowing
The use of words, phrases, and conditions to hint at something that will happen later in the story. Sometimes noticed but often looked back on after reaching a significant event.
From Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms:
“The leaves fell early that year…”
This line uses an event of nature to signal that death and loss are coming
Free verse
Poetry that is not controlled by patterns. Does not have a fixed rhyme pattern. Different from blank verse because it has rhythm
Stafford’s “You Reading This Be Ready”
Kellogg’s “The Start”
Imagery
Groups of words (literal or figurative) used by authors to create sensory recognition (5 senses) by the reader
From Koertge’s “First Grade”
“Woman with the gray breath”
prompts readers to remember stale, unpleasant smells while associating them with the teacher.
Irony
When words are used to express something the opposite of the literal or usual meaning
A fire station catching fire
Situational Irony
An event or condition in which there is a difference between what is expected or anticipated to happen and what actually happens
A nutritionist has a terrible diet
Literal Language
Language that is meant to be understood in its actual sense; opposite of figurative language
Directions on an assignment
Narrative
A tale of related events presented in a logical sequence; a story
The Epic of Gilgamesh or The Pardoner’s Tale
Onomatopeia
A literary device wherein the sound of a word echoes the sound it represents.
“splash,” “knock,” and “roar”
Short Story
A fully developed story that is shorter than a novel and longer than a fable; can be read in a single sitting; has fewer subplots and characters that a longer piece
“The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner
Simile
A figure of speech where two dissimilar objects or concepts are expressly compared with one another using like or as
The child’s face was as white as a ghost
I slept like a dead man
Epic Similie
Extended comparison (usually 4-6 lines) of two unlike things using like or as, working as an analogy. It helps the reader better understand or imagine a character or action by comparing it to a natural event.
From p. 23 of The Epic of Gilgamesh:
They fell like wolves
At each other’s throats,
Like bulls bellowing,
And horses gasping for breath
That have run all day
Desperate for rest and water
Crushing the gate they fell against.
The use of similes here creates imagery for the reader to understand the sounds and level of energy their fight created.
