Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Lit Terms
Literary Analysis Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| denotation | the dictionary definition of a word |
| connotation | the feelings/emotions or ideas a word evokes |
| pathetic fallacy | giving human emotions/feelings and behaviors to weather/nature |
| juxtaposition | intentional side-by-side placement of two or more ideas for the purposes of developing comparisons and contrasts |
| syntax | sentence structure (ordering of words, fluency) |
| parallel structure (parallelism) | repeated phrasing or grammatical structures |
| narrative shift | sudden change in point of view, focus, or setting in a story |
| anaphora | repeated phrasing or grammatical structure in the BEGINNING of a sentence |
| litotes | understatement, often with "no" or "not" placed before a word to emphasize the opposite |
| allusion | reference to an outside-the-text person, place, thing, or idea |
| motif | repeated images/ideas in a text that relates to and develops the theme |
| aphorism | short statement that gives wisdom/advice |
| foil characters | characters that contrast each other in order to emphasize/highlight certain traits |
| tragic hero | a character whose flaw brings about their death/destruction causing them to fall |
| tragic flaw (hamartia) | the flaw that leads to a character's downfall (death/destruction) |
| catharsis | the audience's release of fear and pity at the end of a tragedy |
| symbol | an object/image, which represents or stands for something else (has both literal meaning within the text and an additional meaning) |
| hubris | having excessive pride or self-confidence as one's tragic flaw |
| allegory | a text in which multiple symbols create a philosophical, social, historical, etc. commentary |
| simile | comparison between two things using "like" or "as." |
| theme | the essential idea, lesson, or philosophy that the writer wants the reader to understand (abstract nouns) |
| tone | the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience, or themselves; the emotional meaning |
| protagonist | the main character in a work of fiction; not always the hero |
| characterization | the ways in which characters are presented directly and indirectly (speech, thoughts, effects on others, actions, looks/appearance) |
| diction | the distinctive vocabulary (words) of a particular author; word choice |
| foreshadowing | where a writer gives a hint of what is to come later in the text |
| imagery | a detailed representation through language of sensory experience either sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or movement. |
| metaphor | a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects WITHOUT using like or as |
| verbal irony | a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant |
| situational irony | an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected |
| dramatic irony | when audience (or readers) know something that the characters do not |
| epigraph | short quotation at the beginning of a text used to suggest a theme |
| synecdoche | using a part of an object to represent the whole |
Created by:
saunella
Popular Literature sets