a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Uses“like” or “as.”

a rhetorical device used by playwrights and authors whenever their characters address a character that isn’t present in the scene.

a thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break, but moves over to the next line

an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things

a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

an unstressed two syllable rhyme followed by another unstressed syllable rhyme. used between the stressed rhyme to create a rhythm, a double rhyme. always, or in most cases, uses a dactylic meter or stressed and unstressed metrical pattern.

replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated

a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.

repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in “pitter, patter.”

exaggeration. Used to heighten effect or add humor.

a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite.

a rhetorical device used by playwrights and authors whenever their characters address a character that isn’t present in the scene. To make matters more confusing. Often used by characters who are addressing a personification or an idea.

repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in “pitter, patter.”

two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds.

a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a whole to represent a part. It may also call a thing by the name of the material it is made of, or it may refer to a thing in a container or packaging by the name of that container or packing.

use of impolite, harsh-sounding, and unusual words in poetry. In other words, it is a deliberate use of inharmonious words, phrases, or syllables intended to create harsh sounding effects

Greek meaning “yoking” or “bonding,” is a figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas.

two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.

The treatment of abstractions as concrete things. The representation of ideas as though they had concrete form.

derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.

The marked use of the sibilant ("hissing") sounds represented by s, z, sh, zh,and so forth.

deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect.

rhyme that falls on the stressed, concluding syllables of the rhyme words.

a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes.

a word, phrase, or statement which contains more than one meaning.

rhyme between primary and secondary stressed syllables as in suh pairs as "childhood" / "Wildwood"

A sonnet of the English type in that it has three quatrains and a couplet but features quatrains joined by the use of linking rhymes, abab bcbc cdcd ee

Greek word paradoxon, which means “contrary to expectations, existing belief, or perceived opinion.” A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but which may include a latent truth.

Help

Options

focusNode

Didn't know it?
click below

Knew it?
click below

Don't Know

Remaining cards (0)

Know

retry

shuffle

restart

0:00

Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.

Normal Size Small Size show me how

UIL LitCrit Fig Lang

Top Tested Literary Terms in Texas UIL Literary Criticism Test

Term	Definition	Example
simile	a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Uses“like” or “as.”	Othello: She was false as water. Emilia: Thou are rash as fire,
apostrophe	a rhetorical device used by playwrights and authors whenever their characters address a character that isn’t present in the scene.	Othello Act 4 Scene 1 Lines 35-36 “Work on, my medicine, work! Thus credulous fools / are caught.”
enjambment	a thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break, but moves over to the next line	The Winter’s Tale (By William Shakespeare) “I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are; the want of which vain dew Perchance shall dry your pities; but I have That honorable grief lodged here which burns Worse than tears drown …”
metaphor	an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things	Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day (By William Shakespeare)
onomatopoeia	a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.	For Whom the Bell Tolls (By Ernest Hemingway) “He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling.”
feminine rhyme	an unstressed two syllable rhyme followed by another unstressed syllable rhyme. used between the stressed rhyme to create a rhythm, a double rhyme. always, or in most cases, uses a dactylic meter or stressed and unstressed metrical pattern.	Desire by Philip Sydney “But yet in vain thou hast my ruin sought, In vain thou mad’st me to vain things aspire In vain thou kindlist all thy smoky fire. For virtue hath this better lesson taught, Within myself to seek my only hire, ...”
metonymy	replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated	Yet Do I Marvel (By Countee Cullen) “The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirror Him must someday die…”
allusion	a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.	In Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, “the two knitting women” whom Marlow sees alludes to “Moirae” or Fates as visualized in Greek Mythology: “The two knitting women increase his anxiety by gazing at him and all the other sailors with knowing unconcern....”
consonance	repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in “pitter, patter.”	As imperceptibly as Grief (By Emily Dickinson) A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun, Or Nature spending with herself Sequestered Afternoon—(consonant “n” )
hyperbole	exaggeration. Used to heighten effect or add humor.	Macbeth, "No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red."
litotes	a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite.	From "A Tale of a Tub" by Jonathan Swift. "I am not unaware how the productions of the Grub Street brotherhood have of late years fallen under many prejudices.
apostrophe	a rhetorical device used by playwrights and authors whenever their characters address a character that isn’t present in the scene. To make matters more confusing. Often used by characters who are addressing a personification or an idea.	Othello Act 4 Scene 1 Lines 35-36 “Work on, my medicine, work! Thus credulous fools / are caught.”
metonymy	repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession, such as in “pitter, patter.”	Yet Do I Marvel (By Countee Cullen) “The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirror Him must someday die...”
assonance	two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds.	The Master by Edgar Allan Poe " And the silken sad undertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;" firstline repeats /ur/ sound.
synecdoche	a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a whole to represent a part. It may also call a thing by the name of the material it is made of, or it may refer to a thing in a container or packaging by the name of that container or packing.	Ozymandias (By Percy Bysshe Shelly) “.. sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them.” “The hand” refers to the sculptor, who carved the “lifeless things” into a grand statue.
dissonance	use of impolite, harsh-sounding, and unusual words in poetry. In other words, it is a deliberate use of inharmonious words, phrases, or syllables intended to create harsh sounding effects	Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister (by Robert Browning) “Gr-r-r–there go, my heart’s abhorrence! Water your damned flower-pots, do!
zeugma	Greek meaning “yoking” or “bonding,” is a figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas.	The Hundred Secret Senses (By Amy Tan) “We were partners, not soul mates, two separate people who happened to be sharing a menu and a life.”
oxymoron	two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.	Lancelot and Elaine (By Alfred Lord Tennyson) "The shackles of love straiten’d him His honour rooted in dishonoured stood And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true."
reification	The treatment of abstractions as concrete things. The representation of ideas as though they had concrete form.	Byron's "She walks in beauty." other common examples are "Truth is a deep well. "Love is a many spendored thing." "Thoughts sink into the sea of forgetfulness."
alliteration	derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.	"The Dead" by James Joyce “His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
sigmatism	The marked use of the sibilant ("hissing") sounds represented by s, z, sh, zh,and so forth.	"Valley of Unrest" Edgar Allan Poe "Now each visitor sh all confess the sad valley's restlessness. Nothing there is motionless - Nothing s ave the airs that brood over the magic solitude." (in all the poem has 27 lines with sibilants)
anaphora	deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect.	Tintern Abbey (By William Wordsworth) “Five years have passed; Five summers, with the length of Five long winters! and again I hear these waters...”
masculine rhyme	rhyme that falls on the stressed, concluding syllables of the rhyme words.	"Mount and "Fount" are masculine. "mountain"and "Fountain" are feminine.
personification	a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes.	Because I could not stop for Death (By Emily Dickinson) “Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality. We slowly drove –..."
ambiguity	a word, phrase, or statement which contains more than one meaning.	Ode to a Grecian Urn (By John Keats) “Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness...” The use of the word “still” is ambiguous in nature. Here, it may mean “an unmoving object,” or it may be interpreted as “yet unchanged.”
compound rhyme	rhyme between primary and secondary stressed syllables as in suh pairs as "childhood" / "Wildwood"	King Leare by Shakespeare "Wear Rags" and "Bear Bags"
Spenserian Sonnet	A sonnet of the English type in that it has three quatrains and a couplet but features quatrains joined by the use of linking rhymes, abab bcbc cdcd ee	can be found in Amoretti by Spenser, Her Reproach by Thomas Hardy, and Praise in Summer by Richard Wilbur
paradox	Greek word paradoxon, which means “contrary to expectations, existing belief, or perceived opinion.” A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but which may include a latent truth.	Your enemy’s friend is your enemy. (and) I am nobody.

Created by: designd

"Know" box contains:
Time elapsed:
Retries: