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Egl Literary Terms
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Alliteration | repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of several words in a group. The purpose is th draw attention to a phrase or idea. |
Allusion | a reference in one literary work to a character, theme, or event from another literary work. |
Antagonist | a person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work |
Apostrophe | a figure of speech when the speaker speaks directly to an absent or dead person, a deity (god), or something nonhuman as if it were present and capable of responding. |
Aside | a device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech whichis heard by the audience but not by the other characters in the play. |
Assonance | poetic repetition of vowel sounds |
Atmosphere | the emotoional feeling created by a work |
Audience | the intended group of readers for whom a writer writes |
Blank verse | an unrhymed poem in iambic pentameter |
Catharsis | describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy |
Character | a person, or any thing presented as a person--animal,spirit,etc... |
Flat character | a character with only one or two personality traits |
Round Character | a character with a highly developed personality, like a real person |
Static Character | a character who does not change over the course of the story |
Dynamic Character | a character who changes as a result of his or her experiences |
Stock Character | a flat characterin a standard role with standard traits; one whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in previous fiction |
Character Foil | a character who underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another character by comparison |
Characterization | the method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work, expressed through that character's thoughts, speech, and behavior |
Chorus | in classical Greek tragedies, agroup of nameless onlookers who comment on and interpret the action of the play |
Coincidence | a sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged |
Consonance | poetic repetition of consonant sounds |
Comic Relief | a humorous or farcical interlude in a serious literary work or drama, especially a tragedy, intended to reieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast |
Compare | to examine in order to note the similarities |
Conflict | the opposition between a character or characters and an ousied force such as another character or characters,nature, or the supernatural |
5 types of conflict | Character vs. characterCharacter vs. self Character vs. nature/environmentCharacter vs. fate/supernaturalCharacter vs. society |
Internal Conflict | a struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single character--the character is in conflict with, or fighting with himself |
External Conflict | a struggle between a character and an outsied force or forces such as another character, society, the supernatural, or nature |
Contrast | th examine in order to note the differences |
Couplet | a unit of two lines of poetry |
Rhyming Couplet | two lines of poetry that rhyme |
Heroic Couplet | two lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme |
Drama | a story that is written to be performed in front of an audience |
Figurative Language | describing one thing by comparing it with another; a phrase or word that is not meant to be understood on a literal level (especially metaphor, simile, and personification) |
FLashback | a scene in a story when the present action is stopped to "flash backward" and tell what happened at an earlier time |
Foreshadowing | clues that hint about what is going to happen later in the plot. Foreshadowing helps to build suspense |
Free Verse | poetry that has no regular meter or rhyme scheme |
Genre | a literary type or form. EX. drama, novel, short story,lyric poetry, ballad. etc. |
Hamartia | a tragic flaw or problemin the protagonist's personality or in his response to the situations around him that leads to his downfall in a tragedy. |
Hyperbole | a figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs. Hyperbole can help express strong emotion or create a comic effect for the reader. |