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Literary Terms
A-F
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| A Narrative technique in which characters representing thins or abstract ideas are used to convey a message or teach a lesson. Examples of these types of works include Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress | Allegory |
| A poetic device where the first consonant sounds or an vowel sounds in words or syllables are repeated.And in guise all of green, the gear and the man | Alliteration |
| A reference to a familar literary or historical person or event, used to make an idea more easily understood. For example, describing someone as "Romeo" | Allusion |
| Repeats the last word of one phrase, clause or sentence at or very ear the beginning of the enxt. It can be generated in series for the sake of beautyor to give a sense of logical progression | Anadaplosis |
| A comparison of two things made to explain something unfamiliar through its similarities to something familiar, or to prove one point based on the acceptedness or another | Analogy |
| Two unaccented syllables follwed by accented syllable as in in-ter-cept | Anapest |
| It's te repitition of the same word or words at the beginning or successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and parallelism | Anaphora |
| A brief account of an interesting or entertaining nature. It can be used to illustrate the writer's point to the reader | Anecdote |
| The major character in a narrative or drama who works against the hero or protangonist. | Antagonist |
| A central character in a work of literature who lacks traditional herioc qualities such as courage, physical powers and fortitude. | Anit-Hero |
| A statement, question, or request addressed to an inanimate object or concept or to a nonexistent or absent person. | Apostrophe |
| This word is commonly used to describe an original pattern or model from which all oter things of te same kind are made. They apprear in literature as incidents adn plots that repeat basic pattern of life. | Archetype |
| The repitition of similiar vowel sounds in poetry | Assonance |
| A device that consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. "," | Asyndeton |
| The people for whom a piece of literature is written. | Audience |
| A connected narrative in which an individual tells his or hers life story. | Autobiography |
| A short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. | Ballad |
| A studay of the maturation of a youthful character, typically brought about through a series of social or sexual encounters that elad to self awareness. | Bildungsroman |
| A connect narrative that tells a person's life story. | Biography |
| Unrhymed iambic pentameter verse (compose of lines of five two-syllable feet with the first accented, the second unaccented. | Blank Verse |
| A pause in a line of poetry, usaully occuring near the middle. It typically corresponds to a break in the natural rhythm or sense of the line but it is sometimes shifted to create specail meanings or rhythmic effects | Caesura |
| Te release or purging or unwanted emotions | Catharsis |
| It's the process by which an author creates vivid, believable charcters in a work of art. This may be done in a variety of ways, including. | Characterization |
| The turning point in a narrative, the moment when the conflict is at its most intense. | Climax |
| A word, phrase, or form of pronunciation that is acceptable in casual conversation but not in formal, written communication. It is considered more acceptable than slang. | Coloquialism |
| This word is the opposite of abstract and refers to a thing that actually exists or a description that allows the reader to experience an object or concept with the senses. | Concrete Langauge |
| This in a work of fiction is the issue to be resolved n the story. It usually occurs between two characters, the protagonist and the antagonist, or between the protagonist ad society or the protagonist and himself or herself | Conflict |
| The impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning. | Connotation |
| this occurs in poetry when words appearing at the ends of two or more verses have similiar final consonant sounds but have final vowel sounds that differ, as with "stuff" and "off". | Consonance |
| Any widely accepted literary device, style, or form. | Convention |
| Two lines of poetry with the same rhyme and meter, often expressing a completeand self-contained thought. | Couplet |
| The socially transmitted behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, ad all other products of human work and thought. | Culture |
| An accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables as in su-i-cide. | Dactyl |
| The definition of a word, apart from the impressions or feelings it creates in the reader. | Denotation |
| It denotes the resolution of conflict in fiction or drama. (Not Falling Action) | Denouement |
| A Latin term meaning "god out of machine". In Greek drama, a god was lowered onto the stage by a mechanism to rescue the hero. The term now refers to any artificial devide or coincidence used to bring about a convient simple conclusion to the plot | Dues ex machina |
| The selection and arrangement of words in a literary work. Either or both may vary depending on the desired effect. | Diction |
| Occurs when the audience of a play o the reader of a work of literature knows something that a character does not know. The irony is contrast between the meaning of the statements or actions of a character and the extra information known by the audience | Dramatic Irony |
| A speech given by a single indiviual in a drama. | Dramatic Monologue |
| The characters in a wrk of fiction where the charcters lead dehumanized, fearful lives. | Dystopia |
| A lyric poem that laments the death of a person or the eventual death of all people. In modern critism, this word is often used to refer to a poem that is melancholy or mournfully contemplative. | Elegy |
| The running over the sense and structure of a line of verse or a couple into the following line. | Enjambment |
| A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero or great historic or legndary importance. The setting is vast and the action is often given cosmic significance through the nitervention of superntural forces such as gods, angels, or demons. | Epic |
| A saying that makes te speaker's point quickly and concisely. | Epigram |
| A concluding statement or section of literary work. | Epilouge |
| A sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident. | Epiphany |
| it forms the counterpart to anaphora, because the repitition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. | Epistrophe |
| Writing intended to eplain the nature of an idea, thing, or theme. In dramatic writing, it is the introductory material which presents the characters, setting, and tone of play. | Exposition |
| A prose of verse narrative intended to convey a moral. Animal or inanimate objects with human characteristics often serve as characters in these. | Fables |
| It denotes the resolution of conflict in fiction or drama. (Not denouement) | Falling Action |
| A type of comedy characterized by broad humour, outlandish incidents, andn often vulgar subject. | Farce |
| A rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed, as with "merry" and "tarry". | Feminine Rhyme |
| The opposite of literal language, in which every word is truthful, accurate, and free of exaggeration or embellishment. | Figurative Language |
| Writing that differs from customary conventions for construction, meaning, order, or signficance for the purpose of special meaning or effect. | Figures of Speech |
| Events ar they are percieved by a single character. The main character "tells" the story and may offer opinions about the actions and characters which differ from those of the author. | First Person Point of View |
| A device used in literature to present action that occured before the beginning of the story. | Flashback |
| A character in a work of literature whose physical or psychological qualities contrast stronly with, and therefore highlight, the corresponding qualities of another character. | Foil |
| The smallest unit of measurement | Foot |
| A device used in literature to create expectation or to set up an explanation of later developements. | Foreshadowing |
| Poetry that does not follow regular metrical and rhyme patterns. The form allows a poet to exploit a variety of rhythmical effects within a single poem. | Free Verse |
Created by:
katieprins
Popular English Vocabulary sets