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Brit Lit Final
Literary Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| alliteration | The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words or within words, particularly in accented syllables. |
| allusion | Figure of speech that makes reference to or represents something else, either directly or by implication. |
| analogy | a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification. |
| anastrophe | The changing of word order in a sentence to add emphasis. (Think Yoda) |
| apostrophe | A figure of speech in which a thing, a place, an abstract quality, an idea, or an absent person is addressed as if present and able to understand. (breaking the fourth wall). |
| archetype | An image, story pattern, or character type that recurs frequently in literature and evokes strong, often unconscious, associations in the reader. |
| art epic | An epic that may be fictitious, but is based loosely in history and is made purposely fictitious by the author. Deliberately written by an author. (ex. Paradise Lost) |
| assonance | repeating vowel sounds within a word |
| ballad | poem following a specific stanza structure that is meant to be sung and usually tells a story |
| ballad stanza | A B C B in alternating trimeter and tetrameter |
| bard | a musician who sung songs and was a traveling monk |
| caesura | the space in Anglo-Saxon writing in the middle of the line; seen in Beowulf |
| Carpe Diem | Latin for “seize the day,” often the theme of cavalier poetry. |
| Cavalier poetry | Verse written by men in the court; light hearted, witty, and highly polished poetry |
| characterization | the way the author builds his imaginary inhabitants of his world |
| consonance | the repetition of a consonant (L, B, N) sound in a word, not at the beginning |
| couplet | two lines rhyming A A BB (heroic couplet) |
| domestic realism | a category of fiction that centers on the outlook of a certain kind of female |
| elegy | a mournful poem usually about someone/something that is lost/dead |
| epic | a long narrative poem, written in elevated style, recounting the deeds of a noble or semi-divine person |
| essay | a brief prose discussion on a restricted topic, often presenting a personal point of view, an example of an essay is “Of Studies” by Sir Francis Bacon. |
| excerpt | a small chunk of a larger work |
| exemplum | a short story to teach a moral lesson (The Pardoner's Tale) |
| fantasy | a make believe world or story that can can be based on real life but is not real |
| fatalism | is a philosophical doctrine stressing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate. |
| folk epic | a story that evolves from the people of a civilization and their lives. It rises above the facts of those lives, although it is grounded in those facts, to the commonality of their human experiences, wisdom, and values. Example: Beowulf, The Iliad |
| folklore | all the cultures, customs, and stories of a culture |
| foreshadowing | a glimpse into the future given to the reader |
| formal essay | serious, dignified, logically organized prose discussion, meant to inform or persuade. Examples of formal essays are Bacon’s essays |
| frame | when a story sets up another narrative Frankenstein |
| genre | the type or generalization of a work |
| Gothic romance | mysteries often involving great amounts of supernatural elements (Frankenstein) |
| historical romance | when the characters are placed in a historical setting and take part in the action but they aren't real; the events and people are fiction |
| humours | fundamental components of the human body; correspond to four elements, believed to be the 4 liquids of the body Sanguine Air Choleric Fire Melancholic Earth Phlegmatic Water |
| iambic pentameter | count five poetic feet |
| iambic tetrameter | contains four poetic feet |
| iambic trimeter | contains three poetic feet (count syllables and divide by two) |
| in medias res | Latin for “in the middle place”. Epics start in the middle of events |
| invocation | to the Muse. Contained in the opening lines of an epic. |
| irony | the opposite of the expected outcome |
| kenning | using a two word description for a person or thing (ring-bearer, great light, great tree) |
| legend | a story of the past that is based on the folklore of the people and is considered by mot to be true |
| lyric poetry | poetry meant to create an emotional response |
| medieval romance | idealizes poetry, the hero knight, the love of his lady. they have no real setting, contain few but supernatural elements, magic 3, and concealed identity |
| metaphor | comparing something abstract to something concrete |
| metaphysical conceit | The poem contains unexpected, even striking or shocking analogies, offering elaborate parallels between apparently dissimilar things |
| metaphysical poetry | The term metaphysical was applied to a style of 17th Century poetry first by John Dryden and later by Dr. Samuel Johnson because of the highly intellectual and often abstruse imagery involved |
| meter | the number of syllables and feet in the line of poetry |
| metonymy | is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning |
| myth | a traditional story, esp. one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events |
| parallelism | the repetition of syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effort |
| pastoral poetry | Pastoral from the word shepherd, refers to a literary work dealing with shepherds and rustic life; it presents an idealized rather than realistic view of rustic life |
| personification | when an inanimate object or something not human takes on human like qualities |
| physiognomy | the assessment of a person's character (The Doctor Canterbury Tales) |
| prologue | the beginning to something, usually similar to a forward with a glimpse into the work |
| prophecy | a foretelling of the future |
| riddle | written for enjoyment and entertainment, usually include personification, and the answers ask who or what am i |
| rhyme scheme | the type of rhyme used (examples A A B B C C/ A B C A B C/ A B C B) |
| rhythm | the way it is said, used with long or short sounding syllables |
| rune | a magical symbol in Norse and scandinavian mythology to gift magical power |
| satire | a work to make fun of a political or social wrong |
| scop | a bard who played in the mead halls |
| symbolism | something concrete representing something abstract |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole. A good example of synecdoche is in “Meditation 17” where Donne is talking about all humanity when he says “child” |
| theme | a general idea that continues through the whole piece |
| thread of circumstance | a lot of different characters that have unique connections to each other and they keep the plot of the novel very tight because their relationships are |
| tone | the way the piece has been written due to the author’s view of the subject or thing |
Created by:
blossom1997
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