Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
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
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Literary Devices
Bedford glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Act | A major division in the action of a play, full- length plays get into divided scenes. |
| Alliteration | The repetition of the same sound in a sequence of words |
| Allusion | A brief reference to a person ,place ,thing or idea in history or literature. |
| Antagonist | the opponent of the protagonist |
| Apostrophe | A address to either someone who is absent and can NOT hear the speaker. Often letting the speaker think outloud. |
| Aside | A speech dedicated towards the audience - not audible to the other characters on stage. |
| Caesura | A pause within a line of poetry contributing to the rhyme scheme. |
| Catharsis | Describes the release of pity or fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy |
| Climax | The greatest point of tension |
| Comic relif | Humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension or other serious work. |
| Connotation | Associations or implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word. |
| Dennotation | The literal/dictionary definition of a word. |
| Diction | Writer choice of words, phrases, etc to create meaning. |
| Figures of speech | using language that deviates from the literal, dennotations of words. Suggesting other effects or meanings. |
| Foreshadowing | verbal/dramatic hints that suggest whats coming next |
| Hamartia | Aristotle describes it "some error or frailty" - bringing misfortune for the tragic hero. A tragic flaw that leads protagonist in a tragedy |
| Hubris | excessive pride or self-confidence leading a protagonist to disregard warnings of moral law. |
| Hyperbole | exaggerated statements that add emphasis without intending to be literary true |
| Imagery | mental impressions - figurative and diction appeals to any five senses. |
| Irony | A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true. |
| Metaphor | Figure of speech that compares two unlike things, without using like or as. |
| Motif | A recurring idea that resonates through a literary work, often punctuating a theme |
| Omniscient POV | third-person POV in fictional writing permitting author to present external details. |
| Onomatopoeia | uses words that resembles the sound it denotes. |
| Oxymoron | condensed form of a paradox, when 2 contradictory words are used together. |
| Personification | Form of a metaphor - giving human like characteristics to non-human things. |
| Plot | The arrangement of incidents in a story |
| POV | refers to who is telling the story |
| Protagonist | main character - engages with the reader the most |
| Sarcasm | saying one thing but meaning the opposite or something else |
| Quatrain | 4-line stanza |
| Simile | Comparing to unlike things using words such as - like or as. |
| Soliloquy | dramatic convention of which a character - alone onstage - utters their thoughts aloud. Revealing true motivations and inner conflicts. |
| Stream of consciousness | A technique tha takes the reader inside a characters mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. |
| Symbol | A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and more abstract than its literal significance. |
| Theme | The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. |
| Thesis | Central idea of an essay. |
| Tone | The authors implicit attitude toward the reader or people, places or events in a work. Revealed by the elements of the authors style. |
| Revenge tragedies | Consists of a murder that has to be avenged by a relative of the victim. |
| Tragic Flaw | a weakness in the protagonist otherwise noble nature, one that may lead to an error of judgement and subsequent downfall. |
| verbal irony | Also known as rhetorical Irony - a discrepancy between what a speaker or writer says and what the believe to be true. Ideally saying the opposite of what they actually mean. |
Created by:
lylleeanne777
Popular English Vocabulary sets