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Stack #190643
Literature terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| alliteration | the repetition of 2 or more consonant sounds in successive words in a line of verse or prose. It was a central feature of Anglo-Saxon poetry and is still used by contemporary writers (ex "cool cats") |
| assonance | The repetition of 2 or more vowel sounds in successive words, which creates a ind of rhyme. Assonance may be used to focus attention, on key words or concepts. Also helps make a phrase or line mor ememorable. |
| connotation | An association or additional meaning that a word, image or phrase may carry, apart from its literal denotation or dictionary definition. |
| denotation | The literal dictionary meaning of a word |
| epic | a long narrative poem usually composed in an elevated style tracing the adventures of a legendary or mythic hero. Usually written in a consistent form and meter throughout. Ex. Homer - Iliad & Odyssey |
| epiphancy | a moment of insight, discovery, or revelation by which a characters life is greatly altered. Usually occurs near the end fo a story. 1st used in Christian theology to signify the manifestation of God's presence in the world.Means "showing forth" in Greek. |
| genre | a conventional combination of literacy form and subject matter, usually aimed at creating certain effects. |
| lyric | a short poem expressing the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker. Often written in the first person, lyric poetry traditionally has a songlike immediacy and emotional force. |
| monologue | an extended speach by a single character. Originated in drama, means a solo speech to an audience. |
| motivation | what a character in a sotry or drama wants. Can be either explicit (reasons stated in story) or implicit (hinted or only partially revealed) |
| motif | An elemnt that recurs alot throughout a narrative. Can be an image, idea, theme, situation, or action. Can also refer to an element that recurs across many literary works. (beautiful lady turns into evil fairy..etc) |
| narrative | a poem that tells a story. One of 4 traditional modes of poetry. |
| onomatopoeia | a literary device that attempts to represent a thing or action (crash, bang, pitter-patter) |
| persona | latin for mask. A fictitious character created y an author to be the speaker of a poem, story or novel. It is always the narrator of the work and not merely a character in it. |
| setting | the time and place of a literary work. May also include the climate and even the social, psychological or spiritual state of the participants. |
| subgenres | ** |
| novel | an extende work of fictional prose, narrative. Usually implies a book length narrative. Usually has more characters, more varied scenes, and a broaer coverage of time than a short story. |
| fiction | from the Latin "ficio" or act of fashioning, a shaping, a making. Any literary work that is not bound by factual accuracy. |
| nonfiction | true |
| apprenticeship novel | or "bildungsroman" German for "novel of growth and development". The genre depicts a youth who struggles toward maturity forming a worldview or philosophy of live. (David Copperfield) |
| epic novel | ** |
| epistolary novel | novel in which the story is told by way of letters written by one or more of the characters. Often leads to authenticity to the story. |
| picaresque | a type of narrative, usually a novel that presents the life of a likable scoundrel who is at odds with respectable society. Rarely has a tight plot. Adventures tricking the rich and gullible. |
| novella | longer than a short story, shoreter than a novel. (30,000-50,000 words). Long enought o b published as a short book. |
| subplot | double plot. Familiar in Elizabethan drama. A 2nd story line. (Othello) |
| plot | the particular arrangement of actions, events, and situations, that unfold in a narrative. |
| foreshadowing | in plot construction, the technique of arranging events and information in such a way that later events are prepared for, or shadowed beforehand. The author may introduce specific words, images etc in order to suggest significant later events. |
| conflict | In Greek "agon" or contest. The central struggle between two or more forces in a story. The basic material of which ia plot is made. |
| man vs. manman vs. natureman vs. societyman vs. self | ** |
| rising action | that part of the play or narrative, including the exposition, in which events start moving toward a climax |
| crisis | the point in a drama when the crucial action, decision or realization must be made, marking the turning poing or reversal of the protagonists fortunes |
| climax | the moment of greatest intensity in a story which almost inevidently occurs toward the end o fthe story |
| falling action | the events in a narrative that follow the climax and bring the story to its conclusion, or denourment. |
| characterization | the techniques a writer uses to create, reveal, or develop the characters in a narative |
| protagonist | the cental character in a literary work. Usually initiates the main action of the story, often in conflict with the antagonist. |
| antagonist | the most significatnt characters or force that opposes the protagonist in a narrative or drama. The antagonist may be another character, society itself, a force of nature or even conflicting impluses within the protagonist. |
| foil | * |
| flat character | a term coined by English novelist EM Forster to describe a character with only one outstanding trait. Often base on stock characters. |
| round character | coined by EM Forster to describe a complex character who is presented in depth and detail in a narrative. Change significantly, driving course of narrative. Central characters. |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is told. 1st person narrative in which narrator is a participant in action.3rd person- narrator is a non participant |
| 3rd person narrative-total omniscience | narrator knows everythin about all the characters and events in the story. |
| limited omniscience-3rd person limited point of view | the narrator sees into the minds of some but not all the characters. Author can compromise between the immedicacy of 1st person narration and the movility of 3rd person |
| objective (or dramatic) point of view | the narrator merely reports dialoge and action with minimal interpretation or access to the characters minds. It uses prose fiction to approximate the methods of plays |
| irony | a literary device which a discrepancy of meaning is masked beneath the surface of the language. 1. verbal - in words; 2. situational -something is about to happen that is opposite of what is expected |
| dramatic irony | a special kind of suspenseful expectation, when the audience or reader understands the implication and meaning of a situation onstage and foresees the oncoming disaster (in tragedy) or triumph (in comedy) but the character does not |
| apostrophe | a direct address to someone or something. A speaker may address an inanimate object, a dead or absent person, an abstract thing or spirit. OFten used to provide a speaker with the means to articulate thoughts aloud. |
| conceit | a poetic device using elaborate comparisons such as equating a loved one with the graces and beauties of the world. Most notable used by Italian poet Petrach in praise of his beloved Laura. Come from Italian word "concept" or "idea" |
| hyperbole | overstatement, exaggeration to emphasize the point |
| metaphor | a statement that 1 thing is something else, which in a literal sense, it is not.By asserting that a thing is something else,a metaphor creates a close assoc. 'tween 2 entities & underscores some important similarity between them. ex: Joe is a pig." |
| metonymy | figure of speech in which the name of a thing is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. Ex: "The White House decided" one could mean the President. |
| paradox | a statement that at first strikes one as self contradictory, but that on reflection reveals some deeper sense. Paradox is often achieved by a play on words. |
| personification | figure of speech in which a thing, animal or abstract term is endowed with human characteristics. It allows an author to dramatize the nonhuman world in tangible human terms. |
| simile | comparison of 2 things ___is like ___. Uses "like" "as" "than" "resembles" |
| synecdoche | the use of a significant part of a thing to stand for the whole of it or visa-versa. To say "wheels" for "car" or rhyme for poetry. |
| transferred epithat | a figure of speech in which the poet attributes characteristics of a ting to another thing closely associated with it. it is a kind of metatonymy. Usually places and adj. next to a noun inwhich the connecttion is not strictly logical.(blind mouths) |
| understatement | an ironic figure of speech that deliberately describes something in a way that is less than the true case. |
| diction | word choice or vocabulary. Refers to the class of words than an author decides is appropriate to use in a particular work. -concrete -abstract |
| time/moode | the attitude toward a subject conveyed ina literary work. The net resulf of various elements. Playful, sarcastic, sad...etc |
| symbolism | * |
| theme | a general recurring subject or diea conspicuously evient in a literary work. Longer works may contain multiple themes. |
| imagery | the collective set of images in a poem or other literar work |
| allegory | a narratve in verse or prose in which the literal events consistently point ot a paralle sequesnce of symbolic ideas. Often used to dramatize abstract ideas, historical events, political issues. 2 levels of meaning: literal and symbolic |
| allusion | a brief reverence in a text to a person, place or ting. Ficticious or actual |
| aside | in drama a few words or short passage spoken in an undertone or to the audience. By convection, other characters onstage are deaf to the aside |
| convention | any established feathure or technique in literature that is commonly understood by both authors and readers. Something generally agreed on to be appropriate for its customary uses. "Once upon a time" |
| dialogue | the direct representation of the conversation between 2 or more characters |
| deus ex machina | Latin for "a god from a machine" Greek playwriter frequent use of a god lowered from ceiling |
| flashback | relived in characters memory |
| foreshadowing | events shadowed beforehand |
| in medias res | Latin "in the midst of things" Beginning a story midway in the events it depictss |
| satire | * |
| soliloquy | speech by character to talks to himself |
| sonnet | "little song" in Italian. Verse form popular form love poetry. 14 lines written in iambic pentameter 8 lines then 6 lines |
Created by:
lymbow
Popular Literature sets