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English Lit devices
litterary devices for English 11 enriched
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allegory | The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form |
| Alliteration | The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in a line of poetry. ie. Marilyn Monroe |
| Ambiguity | When an author leaves out details/information or is unclear about an event so the reader will use his/her imagination to fill in the blanks |
| Anaphora | epetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines in a poem |
| Anecdote | A short story or joke told at the beginning of a speech to gain the audience’s attention |
| Antagonist | The protagonist’s adversary |
| Anti-climatic | When the ending of the plot in poetry or prose is unfulfilling or lackluster |
| Apostrophe | When a character speaks to a character or object that is not present or is unable to respond |
| Assonance | The repetition of the same vowel sound in a phrase or line of poetry |
| Blank verse | Name for unrhymed iambic pentameter. An iamb is a metrical foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. In iambic pentameter there are five iambs per line making ten syllables |
| Climax | The turning point in the plot or the high point of action |
| Colloquial language | nformal, conversational language. Colloquialisms are phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region |
| Connotation | An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing, ie. Bat=evil |
| Convention | An understanding between a reader and a writer about certain details of a story that does not need to be explained |
| Consonance | The repetition of consonant sounds in a phrase or line of poetry. The consonant sound may be at the beginning, middle, or end of the word |
| Couplet | Two rhyming lines in poetry |
| Deus ex machina | Term that refers to a character or force that appears at the end of a story or play to help resolve conflict. The phrase has come to mean any turn of events that solve the characters’ problems through an unexpected and unlikely intervention |
| Diction | Word choice or the use of words in speech or writing |
| Denouement (day-new-mon) | The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot |
| Doppelganger | The alter ego of a character-the suppressed side of one’s personality that is usually unaccepted by society |
| Elegy | A poem or song composed especially as a lament for a deceased person |
| Emotive language | Deliberate use of language by a writer to instill a feeling or visual |
| Enjambment | The continuation of reading one line of a poem to the next with no pause, a run-on line |
| Epic | An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero |
| Epilogue | A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a play, or in a novel the epilogue is a short explanation at the end of the book which indicates what happens after the plot ends |
| Epiphany | Sudden enlightenment or realization, a profound new outlook or understanding about the world usually attained while doing everyday mundane activities |
| Epistolary | Used to describe a novel that tells its story through letters written from one character to another |
| Euphemism | The act of substituting a harsh, blunt, or offensive comment for a more politically accepted or positive one. (short=vertically challenged) |
| Euphony | A succession of words which are pleasing to the ear. These words may be alliterative, utilize consonance, or assonance and are often used in poetry but also seen in prose |
| Expansion | Adds an unstressed syllable and a contraction/elision removes an unstressed syllable in order to maintain the rhythmic meter of a line. This explains some words frequently used in poetry such as th’ = the, o’er = over, and ‘tis or ‘twas = it is or it was |
| Fable | A usually short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point and often employing as characters animals that speak and act like humans |
| Feminine ending | Term that refers to an unstressed extra syllable at the end of a line of iambic pentameter |
| Figurative language | Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning. Speech or writing employing figures of speech |
| Flashback | When a character remembers a past event that is relevant to the current action of the story |
| Flat character | 35. Flat character-A literary character whose personality can be defined by one or two traits and does not change over the course of the story. Flat characters are usually minor or insignificant characters. |
| Foil | A character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another. |
| Folklore | the traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally |
| Foot | The metrical length of a line is determined by the number of feet it contains. Monometer: One foot Dimeter: Two feet Trimeter: Three feet etc. The most common feet have two to three syllables, with one stressed. |
| Iamb | An iambic foot has two syllables. The first is unstressed and the second is stressed. The iambic foot is most common in English poetry. |
| Trochee | A trochaic foot has two syllables. The first is stressed and the second is unstressed |
| Dactyl | A dactylic foot has three syllables beginning with a stressed syllable; the other two unstressed |
| Anapest | An anapestic foot has three syllables. The first two are unstressed with the third stressed. |
| Foreshadowing | Clues in the text about incidents that will occur later in the plot, foreshadowing creates anticipation in the novel |
| Free verse | a type of verse that contains a variety of line lengths, is unrhymed, and lacks traditional meter. |
| Genre | A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content |
| Gothic novel | A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting |
| Heroine | A woman noted for courage and daring action or the female protagonist |
| Hubris | Used in Greek tragedies, refers to excessive pride that usually leads to a hero’s downfall |
| Hyperbole | A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or comic/dramatic effect |
| Illocution | Language that avoids meaning of the words. Speaking to conceal intentions or the true subject of a conversation; expresses two stories, one which is not apparent to the characters, but is to the reader. contains an underlying meaning or parallel meanings |
| Imagery | The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas |
| In medias res | A story that begins in the middle of things |
| Inversion | In poetry is an intentional digression from ordinary word order which is used to maintain regular meters. For example, rather than saying “the rain came” a poem may say “came the rain”. Meters can be formed by the insertion or absence of a pause |
| Irony | When one thing should occur, is apparent, or in logical sequence but the opposite actually occurs. Example: A man in the ocean might say, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” |
| Dramatic Irony | When the audience or reader knows something characters do not know |
| Verbal Irony | When one thing is said, but something else, usually the opposite, is meant |
| Cosmic Irony | When a higher power toys with human expectations |
| Masculine ending | Stressed extra syllable at the end of a line |
| Memoir | An account of the personal experiences of an author |
| Meter | The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line |
| Metaphor | A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison; this comparison does not use like or as |
| Metonymy | The use of a word or phrase to stand in for something else which it is often associated. ie. Lamb means Jesus |
| Motif | A dominant theme or central idea |
| Novella | A short novel usually under 100 pages |
| Neutral language | Language opposite from emotive language as it is literal or even objective in nature |
| Oblique rhyme | Imperfect rhyme scheme |
| Ode | A lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanzaic structure. Celebrates something. John Keats is known for writing these |
| Onomatopoeia | The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to |
| Paradox | Statement which seems to contradict itself. i.e. His old face was youthful when he heard the news |
| Parody | A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. i.e. SNL or Weird Al Yankovich |
| Personification | A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form |
| Poetic justice | The rewarding of virtue and the punishment of vice in the resolution of a plot. The character, as they say, gets what he/she deserves |
| Prequel | A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel |
| Prologue | An introduction or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play |
| Prose | Ordinary speech or writing without metrical structure, written in paragraph form. Novels and short stories are referred to as prose |
| Protagonist | The main character in a drama or literary work |
| Pun | Play on words, when two words have multiple meanings and spellings and are used in a humorous manner |
| Rhyme | the repetition of sounds in words |
| Rhyme scheme | The act of assigning letters in the alphabet to demonstrate the rhyming lines in a poem |
| Rising action | The events of a dramatic or narrative plot preceding the climax |
| Rites of passage | An incident which creates tremendous growth signifying a transition from adolescence to adulthood |
| Round character | A character who is developed over the course of the book, round characters are usually major characters in a novel |
| Resolution | Solution to the conflict in literature |
| Satire | A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit; the goal is to change the behavior/issue. Authors known for satires are Jonathan Swift and George Orwell |
| Simile | A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as |
| Slang | A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect |
| Soliloquy | A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. Typical in plays |
| Sonnet | A poem with fourteen lines. An Italian sonnet subdivides into two quatrains and two tercets; while an English sonnet subdivides into three quatrains and one couplet. A volta is a sudden change of thought which is common in sonnets. |
| Style | The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era. |
| Symbolism | Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. |
| Tragedy | A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. |
| Tone | Reflects how the author feels about the subject matter or the feeling the author wants to instill in the reader |
| litotes | ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., non of the wise ones regretted his going, meaning they supported his going) |
| Kenning | metaphorical phrase used to name something, for example: mankind's enemy; that shadow of death instead of Grendel |
Created by:
meganhlowe
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