Textbook Terms Flashcards
(184 cards)
1
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Abstract
A
A general term, referring to a broad concept, as opposed to a term that refers to a specific, particular thing; opposite of concrete
EX: personhood as opposed to Seamus Heaney
2
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Act
A
The major subunit into which the action of the play is divided.
The number of acts in a play typically ranges between one and five, and are usually further divided into scenes
3
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Allegory
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A literary work the portrays abstract ideas concretely.
Characters in allegory are frequently personifications of abstract ideas that are given names that referred to these ideas.
4
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Alliteration
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The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in a sequence of words or syllables.
5
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Allusion
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A reference for another work of literature, or to art, history, or current events
6
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Analogy
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In literature, a comparison between two things that helps explain or illustrate one or both of them.
7
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Anapest
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What type of meter where two unstressed syllables are followed by a stressed syllable (~~’)
8
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Anaphora
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Repetition of initial word or words to add emphasis
9
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Annotation
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The act of noting observations directly on a text, especially anything striking are confusing, in order to record ideas and impressions for later analysis.
10
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Antagonist
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Character in a story or play who opposes the protagonist; while not necessarily an enemy, the antagonist creates or intensifies a conflict for the protagonist.
An evil antagonist is a villain.
11
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Apostrophe
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A direct address to an abstraction (such as Time), a thing (the Wind), an animal, or an imaginary or absent person.
12
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Archaic Language
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Word that were once common but that are no longer used
13
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Ars Poetica
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Literally, “the art of poetry”; a form of poetry written about poetry
14
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Assonance
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The repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words
15
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Atmosphere
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The feeling created for the reader by a work of literature.
Atmosphere can be generated by many things, but especially style, tone, and setting. Synonymous with mowed
16
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Ballad
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First taking shape in the later Middle Ages the ballad was a sung poem that we counted a dramatic story. Ballads were passed down orally from generation to generation. Arising in the Romantic period, the literary ballad -poem intentionally imitative of the ballad’s style and structure - attempted to capture the sentiments of the common people and the way the traditional ballad had. See also stanza.
17
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Beat movement
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Movement of American writers in the 1950s who saw American society as oppressively conformist. These writers rejected mainstream values, seeking ways to escape through drugs, various forms of spirituality, and sexual experimentation. The writers of the Beat generation, among them Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, celebrated freedom of expression and held generally antiestablishment views about politics. Their writing, likewise, rejected conventional norms of structure and diction, and their books prompted several notorious obscenity trials, which help reshape censorship laws in the United States.
18
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Bildungsroman
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Novel that explores the maturation of the protagonist, with the narrative usually moving the main character from childhood into adulthood.
Also called a coming-of-age story.
19
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Blank verse
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Unrhymed iambic pentameter, blank verse is the most commonly used verse form in English because it is the verse form that comes closest to natural patterns of speaking in English.
See also iambic pentameter.
20
Q
Cadence
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Quality of spoken text formed from combining the text’s rhythm with the rise and fall in the inflection of the speaker’s voice
21
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Caesura
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A pause within a line of poetry, sometimes punctuated, sometimes not, often mirroring natural speech.
22
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Caricature
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A character with features or traits that are exaggerated so that the character seems ridiculous. The term is usually applied to graphic depictions but can also be applied to written depictions
23
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Carpe Diem
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AS widespread literary theme meaning “seize the day” in Latin and found especially in lyric poetry, carpe diem encourages readers to enjoy the present and make the most of their short lives.
24
Q
Catharsis
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Refers to the emotional release felt by the audience at the end of a tragic drama. The term comes from Aristotle’s “Poetics”, in which he explains this frequently felt relief in terms of a purification of the emotions caused by watching the tragic events
25
Character
A person depicted in a narrative. While this term generally refers to human beings, it can also include animals or inanimate objects that are given human characteristics. Several more specific terms are used to refer to types of characters frequently employed by authors, including flat, round, secondary, and stock characters
26
Flat character
A character embodying only one or two traits and who lacks character development; for this reason, a flat character is also called a static character. Often such characters exist only to provide background or adequate motivation for a protagonist's actions
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Round character
A character exhibiting a range of emotions and who evolves over the course of the story
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Secondary character
A supporting character; while not as prominent or central as a main character, he or she is still important to the events of a story or play
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Stock character
A type of flat character based on a stereotype; one who falls into an immediately recognizable category or type - such as the absentminded professor or the town drunk - and thus resists unique characterization. Stock characters can be artfully used for humor or satire
30
Characterization
The method by which the author builds, or reveals, a character; it can be direct or indirect. Indirect characterization means that an author shows rather than tells us what a character is like through what the character says, does, or thinks, or what others say about the character. Direct characterization occurs when a narrator tells the reader who a character is by describing the background, motivation, temperament, or appearance of a character
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Chorus
In drama, especially classical Greek drama, the chorus refers to a group of participants in a play who deliver commentary on the play's action. The role of the chorus is no longer a regular feature of modern drama, although it has been employed in a few prominent works, such as T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral"
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Climax
The point in a story when the conflict reaches its highest territory
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Colloquialism
An expression or language construction appropriate only for casual, informal speaking or writing
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Colonialism
The occupation of one country by another. In the early 1800s, European countries controlled 35% of the world, but by 1914, that number had risen to nearly 85% and included parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The legacy of colonialism has extended beyond the political independence that many countries gained in the 1960s and the 1970s
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Comedy
Usually used to refer to a dramatic work that, in contrast to a tragedy, has a light, amusing plot, features a happy ending, centers around ordinary people, and is written and performed in the vernacular
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Comedy of manners
A satiric dramatic form that lampoons social conventions
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Concrete
A concrete term is one that refers to a specific, particular thing, as opposed to a term that refers to a broad concept; opposite of abstract
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Conflict
The tension, opposition, or struggle that drives a plot. External conflict is the opposition or tension between two characters or forces. Internal conflict occurs within a character. Conflict usually arises between the protagonist and the antagonist in the story.
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Connotation
Meanings or associations readers have with a word or item beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Connotations may reveal another layer of meaning of a piece, affect the tone, or suggest symbolic resonance
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Consonance
An instance in which identical final consonant sounds in nearby words follow different vowel sounds.
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Denotation
The literal definition of a word, often referred to as the "dictionary definition"
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Denouement
Pronounced day-noo-moh, this literally means "untying the knot"; in this phase of a story's plot, the conflict has been resolved and the balance is restored to the world of the story
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Dialect
Dialogue or narration written to stimulate regional or cultural speech patterns
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Dialogue
The written depiction of conversation between characters
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Diction
A writer's choice of words. In addition to choosing words with precise denotations and connotations, an author must choose whether to use words that are abstract or concrete, formal or informal, or literal or figurative
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Dramatic monologue
A type of poem in which the speaker, who is clearly distinct from the poet, addresses an audience that is present in the poem
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Ekphrastic poetry
A form of poetry that comments on a work of art in another genre, such as a painting or a piece of music
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Elegy
A contemplative poem, on death and mortality, often written for someone who has died
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End-stopped line
An end-stopped line of poetry concludes with punctuation that marks a pause. The line is completely meaningful in itself, unlike run-on lines, which require the reader to move to the next line to grasp the poet's complete thought
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Enjambment
A poetic technique in which one line ends without a pause and must continue on to the next line to complete its meaning; also referred to as a "run-on line"
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Epigram
A short, witty statement designed to surprise an audience or a reader
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Epigraph
A quotation preceding a work of literature that helps set the text's mood or suggest its themes
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Epiphany
A character's transformative moment of realization.
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Eulogy
A poem, speech, or other work written in great praise of something or someone, usually a person no longer living
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Exposition
In a literary work, contextual and background information told to readers (rather than shown through action) about the characters, plot, setting, and situation
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Falling action
In a plot diagram, this is the result (or fallout) of the climax or turning point. In this phase, the conflict is being resolved
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Farce
A dramatic form marked by wholly absurd situations, slapstick, raucous wordplay, and sometimes innuendo
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Feminist literature
Literary works that explore (either overtly or implicitly) women's identity and role in society. Feminist criticism reexamines literary works and the role of women in literature
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Figurative language
Language that uses figures of speech; nonliteral language usually evoking strong images. Sometimes referred to as metaphorical language, most of its forms explain, clarify, or enhance an idea by comparing it to something else; the comparison can be explicit (simile) or implied (metaphor). Other forms of figurative language include personification, paradox, overstatement (hyperbole), understatement, and irony
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Flashback
A scene in a narrative that is set in an earlier time that the main action
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Foil
A contrasting character who allows the protagonist to stand out more distinctly
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Foreshadowing
A plot device in which future events are hinted at
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Form
Refers to the defining structural characteristics of a work, especially a poem (ie. meter and rhyme scheme). Often poets work within set forms, such as the sonnet or sestina, which require adherence to fixed conventions
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Free verse
A form of poetry that does not have a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme
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Genre
This term can refer broadly to the general category that a literary work falls into (drama or poetry, fiction or nonfiction) or more specifically to a certain subset of literary works grouped together on the basis of similar characteristics (science fiction, local color, western)
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Harlem Renaissance
A movement in the 1920s and 19302 marked by a great flowering of black arts and culture centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City
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Hook
An opening to a piece of writing designed to catch the audience's attention
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Hubris
An excessive level of pride that leads to the protagonist's downfall
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Hyperbole
Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an overstatement to make a point
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Iambic Pentameter
An iamb, the most common metrical foot in English poetry, is made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Iambic pentameter, then, is a rhythmic meter containing five iambs. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse
71
Iconography
The images or symbols used by an artist or present in a work of art
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Imagery
A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds. The verbal expression of a sensory experience: sight, sound, scent, taste, touch, movement, or tension. Imagery may use literal or figurative language
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Impressionism
A movement of French painters that reached its apex in the 1870s and 1880s. The impressionists attempted to capture the subjective experience of seeing things rather than create accurate reproductions. Their attempt to capture subjective experience in art was very influential on symbolist poets and writers of stream-of-consciousness prose, such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf
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In medias res
Latin for "in the middle of things", a technique in which a narrative begins in the middle of the action.
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Inversion
Also called an inverted sentence, it is created by alteration of the standard English word order of a subject being followed by a verb and its object in a declarative sentence. Often used to call attention to something, perhaps to emphasize a point or an idea by placing it in the initial position, or to slow the pace by choosing an unusual order
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Dramatic irony
Tension created by the contrast between what a character says or thinks and what the audience or readers know to be true; as a result of this technique, some words and actions in a story or play take on a different meaning than they do for the characters
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Situational irony
A pointed discrepancy between what seems fitting or expected in a story and what actually happens
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Verbal irony
A figure of speech that occurs when a speaker of character says one thing but means something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity
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Juxtaposition
Placing two things side by side for the sake of comparison or contrast. Authors sometimes use congruous juxtapositions to produce verbal irony
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Kafkaesque
Having the nightmarish, uncanny characteristics of Kafka's stories
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Literary elements
The components that together create a literary work. This term encompasses elements of style, such as imagery, syntax, figurative language, and tone; as well as storytelling elements such as plot, character, setting, and point of view
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Lyric
A short poem expressing the personal feelings of a first-person speaker. The term comes from the Greek word lyre, and the form is descended from poems intended to be sung with a lyre.
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Masque
Now extremely rare, this genre of rush spectacle, song, dance, masks, and elaborate staging was popular among sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British nobles, who also made up ts amateur and occasionally royal cast
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Metaphor
A figure of speech that compares or equates two things without using like or as
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Extended metaphor
A metaphor that continues over several lines or throughout an entire literary work
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Metaphysical conceit
A literary device that sets up a striking analogy between two entities that would not usually invite comparison, often drawing connections between the physical and the spiritual. This literary device is famously used by metaphysical poets, including John Donne and George Herbert
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Meter
The formal, regular organization of stressed and unstressed syllables, measured in feet.
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Metonymy
A figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it
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Minimalism
A style in prose or verse that emphasizes economy of words and unadorned sentences
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Modernism
In literature, Modernism refers to a movement of writers who reached their apex between the 1920s and the 1930s and expressed views of disillusionment with contemporary Western civilization, especially in the wake of World War I's mindless slaughter. Rejecting the conventions of the Victorian era, these writers experimented with form and took insights from recent writings by Freud and Jung about the unconscious. They viewed art as restorative and frequently ordered their writing around symbols and allusions. Modernists included T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf
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Monologue
In a play, a speech given by one person.
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Mood
Synonymous with atmosphere, mood is feeling created for by the reader by a work of literature. Many things can generate mood - especially style, tone, and setting
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Motif
A recurring pattern of images, words, or symbols that reveals a theme in a work of literature
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Narrative
A story. Written wither in prose or in verse, as narrative poetry
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Narrative frame
Also known as a frame story, a narrative frame is a plot device in which the author places the main narrative of his or her work within another narrative - the narrative frame. This exterior narrative usually serves to explain the main narrative in some way
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Narrator
The character, or persona, that the author uses to tell a narrative, or story. Narrators may tell stories from several different points of view, including first person, second person (very rare), and third person.
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Objective narrator
A narrator who recounts only what characters say and do, offering no insight into their thinking or analysis of events. All interpretation is left to the reader
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Unreliable narrator
A narrator who is biased and doesn't give a full or accurate picture of events in a narrative. Narrators may be unreliable because of youth, inexperience, madness, intentional or unintentional bias, or even a lack of morals. Authors often use this technique to distinguish the character's point of view from their own. Sometimes an author will use an unreliable narrator to make an ironic point.
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Non sequitur
In literature, a reply or remark that does not have any relevance to what occasioned or preceded it. In rhetoric, a conclusion that does not logically follow the premises
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Novella
A short novel, from the Italian word meaning "story"
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Ode
A form of poetry used to meditate on or address a single object or condition. It originally followed strict rules or rhythm, meter, and rhyme, which by the Romantic period had become more flexible
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Onomatopoeia
Use of words that refer to sound and whose pronunciation mimic those sounds
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Oxymoron
A paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words
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Parable
A tale told explicitly to illustrate a moral lesson or conclusion. Parables can take the form of drama, poetry, or fiction
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Paradox
A statement that seems contradictory but actually is not
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Parallel structure
Also known as parallelism, this term refers to the repeated use of similar grammatical structures for the purpose of emphasis.
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Parody
A comic or satiric imitation of a particular literary work or style. Parodies can run the gamet from lighthearted imitations intended merely to play with something well known, to exaggerations intended to criticize by making a work or literary style look ridiculous
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Passive voice
A sentence employs passive voice when the subject doesn't act but is acted on
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Pastoral
Literature that employs a romanticized descrition of leisurely farm or rural life
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Persona
A voice and viewpoint that an author adopts in order to deliver a story or poem
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Personification
A figure of speech in which an animal or an inanimate object is imbued with human qualities
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Plot
The arrangement of events in a narrative. Almost always, a conflict is central to the plot, and traditionally, a plot develops in accordance with the following model: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. There can be more than one sequence of events in a work, although typically there is one major sequence along with other minor sequences, called subplots.
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Point of view
The perspective from which a work is told
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First-person perspective
Told by a narrator who is a character in the story and who refers to him- or herself as "I". First-person narrators are sometimes unreliable narrators.
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Second-person perspective
Though rare, some stories are told using second-person pronouns (you). This casts the reader as a character in the story
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Third-person limited omniscient perspective
Told by a narrative who relates the action using third-person pronouns (he, she, it). This narrator is usually privy to the thoughts and actions of only one character
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Third-person omniscient perspective
Told by a narrator using third-person pronouns (he, she, it). This narrator is privy to the thoughts and actions of all the characters in the story.
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Postmodernism
In literature, Postmodernism refers to a loose grouping of writers in the post-WWII era who carry on the agenda of Modernism, inasmuch as they reject traditional literary conventions, embrace experimentation, and see contemporary life as bleak and fragmented. Rely heavily upon symbolism
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Propaganda
Work that aims to influence an audience about a debatable position or affiliation, not through rational or supported appeals but through one or more of the following: emotional manipulation, the selective use (and omission) of facts, spin, or any number of fallacious techniques
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Prose poem
A blending of prose and poetry, usually resembling prose in its use of sentences without line breaks, and poetry in its quintessentially poetic devices such as figurative language
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Protagonist
The main character in a work; often a hero or heroine, but not always
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Pun
A play on words that derives its humor from the replacement of one word with another that has similar pronunciation or spelling but a different meaning. A pun can also derive humor from the use of a single word that has more than one than one meaning
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Realism
Describing a literary technique, the goal of which is to render work that feels true, immediate, natural, and realistic
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Refrain
A line, lines, or stanza in a poem that repeats at intervals
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Resolution
The working out of a plot's conflicts, following the climax
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Reversal
When, in a narrative, the protagonist's fortunes take an unforeseen turn
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Rhetorical question
A question asked for stylistic effect and emphasis to make a point rather than to solicit an answer
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Rhyme
The repetition of the same (or similar) vowel or consonant sounds or constructions. Rhyme often follows a pattern, called a rhyme scheme
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End rhyme
A rhyme at the end of two or more lines of poetry
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Internal rhyme
A rhyme that occurs within a line
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Near rhyme (slant rhyme)
A rhyme that pairs sounds that are similar but not exactly the same
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Eye rhyme (sight rhyme)
A rhyme that only works because the words look the same
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Rising action
The events, marked by increasing tension and conflict, that build up to a plot's climax
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Romanticism
In literature, a late 18th- to early 19th century movement that emphasized beauty for beauty's sake, the natural world, emotion, imagination, the value of a nation's past and its folklore, and the heroic roles of the individual and the artist.
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Satire
A literary work that uses irony to critique society or an individual
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Scene
A subdivision of an act in a play. Scenes usually break up the action into logical chunks. Many contemporary plays, however, contain only sequences of scenes, without an overarching act structure.
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Complex sentence
A sentence containing an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses (beginning with words such as after, before, although, because, until, when, while, if)
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Compound sentence
Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) or a semicolon
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Compound-complex sentence
A combination of a compound sentence and a complex sentence; it is often very long
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Cumulative sentence
A sentence in which an independent clause is followed by details, qualifications, or modifications in subordinate clauses or phrases
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Imperative sentence
A sentence that issues a command. The subject of an imperative sentence is often implied rather than explicit
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Interrupted sentence
A sentence of any pattern modified by interruptions that add descriptive details, state conditions, suggest uncertainty, voice possible alternative views, or present qualifications
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Periodic sentences
A sentence that begins with details, qualifications, or modifications, building toward the main clause
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Simple sentence
A sentence composed of one main clause without any subordinate clauses
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Setting
Where and when a story takes place
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Setting, social
The manners, mores, customs, rituals, and codes of conduct in a work; an author may suggest approval or disapproval of any of these through a description of place
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Simile
A figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else, using the words "like", "as", or "as though" to do so
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Soliloquy
In a play, a monologue in which a character, alone on the stage, reveals his or her thoughts or emotions
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Sonnet
A poetic form composed of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter that adheres to a particular rhyme scheme. The two most common types are Shakespearean sonnet and Petrarchan sonnet
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Petrarchan sonnet
Also known as the Italian sonnet, its fourteen lines are divided into an octave and sestet. The octave rhymes abba abba; the sestet that follows can have a variety of different rhyme schemes: cdcdcd, cdecde, cddcdd
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Shakespearean sonnet
Also known as the English sonnet, its fourteen lines are composed of three quatrains and a couplet, and its rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg
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Sound
The musical quality of poetry, as created through techniques such as rhyme, enjambment, caesura, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm, and cadence
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Speaker
This term is most frequently used in the context of drama and poetry. In drama, the speaker is the character who is currently delivering lines. In poetry, the speaker is the person who is expressing a point of view in the poem, either the author or a persona created by the author
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Sprung rhyme
A meter developed out of Gerard Manley Hopkins's attempt to mirror natural speech patterns in his poetry. In sprung rhyme, the number of stressed syllables in each line is the same, while the number of unstressed syllables can vary. This means the types of feet employed in each line can vary.
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Stage directions
Any notes is the script of a play written by the author that set guidelines for the performance, explaining, for example, what the setting should look like, how actors should move and deliver lines, and so on. They are generally set in italics.
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Stanza
Lines in a poem that the poet has chosen to group together, usually separated from other lines by a space. Stanzas within a poem usually ave repetitive forms, often sharing rhyme schemes or rhythmic structures.
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Couplet
A two-lines, rhyming stanza
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Tercet
A three-line stanza
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Quatrain
A four-line stanza
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Sestet
A six-line stanza
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Octet
An eight-line stanza
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Stream of consciousness
A technique in which prose follows the logic and flow of a character's (or multiple characters') thought processes - associations, tangents, seemingly strange transitions - rather that a more ordered narrative
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Structure
The organization of a work
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Style
The way a literary work is written. Style is produced by an author's choices in diction, syntax, imagery, figurative language, and other literary elements
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Suspense
A literary device that uses tension to make the plot more exciting; the effect created by artful delays and selective dissemination of information
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Symbol
A setting, object, or event in a story that carries more than literal meaning and therefore represents something significant to understanding the meaning of a work of literature
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Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which part of something is used to represent the whole
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Syntax
The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences in a prose passage. This includes word order, the length and structure of sentences, phrases, and clauses; the chronology of passages; the preference of various parts of speech over others; the use of connectors between and within sentences; and more
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Syntax, poetic
Similar to syntax in prose, poetic syntax also includes the arrangement of words into lines - where they break or do not break, the use of enjambment or caesura, and line length/patterns
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Theatrical property
Known more commonly as a prop, this is a term for any object used onstage by an actor in a play
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Theme
Underlying issues or ideas of a work
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Thesis statement
The chief claim that a writer makes in any argumentative piece of writing, usually stated in one sentence
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Tone
A speaker's attitude as exposed through stylistic choices. Along with mood, tone provides the emotional coloring of a work and is created by some combination of the other elements of style
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Tragedy
A serious dramatic work in which the protagonist experiences a series of unfortunate reversals due to some character trait, referred to as a tragic flaw. The most common tragic flaw is hubris, Greek for pride. Modern tragedies tend to depart from some of the genre's classical conventions, portraying average rather than noble characters and attributing the protagonist's downfall to something other than a flaw in character - for example, social cirmcumstances
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Tragic hero
A character who possesses a flaw or commits an error in judgement that leads to his or her downfall and a reversal of fortune
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Transcendental Movement
A reaction against both rationalism and empiricism in philosophy, as well as austere Calvinist doctrines about human nature, transcendentalism emphasized knowledge via mystical insight, the divine spark in each human being, and the immanence of God in nature. Beginning in Europe and drawing inspiration from European thinkers, among them Immanuel Kant and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the transcendental movement flourished in the 19th century United States, where it is linked with Christian Unitarianism. Key thinkers include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
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Understatement
The presentation or framing of something as less important, urgent, awful, good, powerful, and so on, than it actually is, often for satiric or comical effect; the opposite of hyperbole, it is often used along with this technique, and for similar effect
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Verse
A broad term, verse refers to a piece of writing that is metered and rhythmic. (Free verse is an exception to this, being a piece of writing grouped with verse rather than poetry, even though it lacks a meter.) The term verse can also be used to refer to poetry in general.
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Vignette
A short narrative or description, often one in a series. If a story or novel is composed of a series of vignettes, it often relies on a thematic, rather than a plot-driven structure
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Villanelle
A form of poetry in which five tercets (rhyme scheme aba) are followed by a quatrain (rhyme scheme abaa). At the end of tercets two and four, the first line of tercet one is repeated. At the end of tercets three and five, the last line of tercet one is repeated. These two repeated lines, called refrain lines, are again repeated to conclude the quatrain. Much of the power of this form lies in its repeated lines and their subtly shifting sense or meaning over the course of the poem.
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Wordplay
Techniques by which writers manipulate language for effect; examples include puns or double entendres
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Pun
The deliberate misuse of words that sound alike
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Double entendres
Expressions with two meanings
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Zeugma
A technique in which one verb is used with multiple (and often, incongruous) objects, so that the definition of the verb is changed, complicated, or made both literal and figurative
