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 TermsKA
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Allegory | A literary work with two or more levels of meaning- one literal level and one or more symbolic levels. |
| Alliteration | The repetition of similar consonant sounds, usually close together in a group of words |
| Anecdote | A brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. Told to entertain or make a point. |
| Apostrophe | To address a dead or absent ,person as if he or she were present, or to address an inanimate object as if alive. |
| Appropriate Rhyme | Rhyme in which the final sounds of the words are similar but not identical. |
| Archetype | A descriptive detail, plot patter, character type, or theme that recurs in many cultures. The epic and tragic here, the villain, the down-trodden individual (underdog), loss of innocence, coming age. |
| Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables without the repetition of similar consonant sounds. |
| Autobiography | A person's written account of his or her own life. |
| Ballad | A short, musical, narrative poem. |
| Blank Verse | Poetry written in un-rhymed iambic pentameter. |
| Comedy | Drama in which all conflicts are resolved and the characters are happy. |
| Conceit | An unusual and surprising comparison between two very different things. May be a brief metaphor or an extended metaphor that forms the framework of an entire poem. |
| Concrete Poetry | Poem in which the words of the poem are arranged in the shape of the subject. |
| Connotation | The emotion or association that a word or phrase may arouse. |
| Consonance | The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the end of stressed syllables, but without the repetition of similar vowel sounds. |
| Couplet | Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. |
| Descriptive Writing | Writing that gives a picture of the subject through imagery that appeals to the senses. |
| Drama | A story acted out, usually on stage, by actors and actresses who take the parts of specific characters. |
| Dramatic Dialogue | A poem which contains characters talking to each other. |
| Dramatic Irony | When the audience knows information that the characters on stage in a play do not know. |
| Dramatic Monologue | A poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners. The listeners may be implied. |
| Elegy | A solemn and formal lyric poem about death. |
| Epiphany | A moment of revelation or insight in which a character recognized some truth about himself, herself, another character, or life in general. |
| Essay | A piece of prose writing that deals with its subject briefly and from a personal point of view. |
| Extended Metaphor | A metaphor that is extended throughout the poem. |
| Fable | A brief story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson or moral. |
| Figurative Language | Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. It allows the reader to use imagination in understanding. |
| Formal Essay | Essay that is serious in tone, tightly organized, and generally objective. |
| Framework Story | A story that contains a story within it. |
| Free Verse | Poetry that has no fixed meter or pattern and depends on natural speech rhythms. |
| Haiku | Three line poem, usually about nature, with 17 syllables. |
| Hyperbole | A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. |
| Imagery | Language that appeals to any sense or any combination of the five senses. |
| Indirect Characterization | The character and personality traits of a character are revealed through what the character says, thinks, does, and what other characters say and think about him. |
| Informal Essay | Essay that ranges freely over the subject and allows the reader to see into the writers personality. |
| Internal Rhyme | Rhyme that occurs within a line. |
| Limerick | A five line poem. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and have three beats. The third and fourth lines rhyme and have two beats. The poems are usually silly and humorous. |
| Lyric Poetry | Poetry that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts or feelings. |
| Metaphor | Implied comparison between two unlike things. |
| Meter | Arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern. |
| Metonymy | Figure of speech that substitutes something closely related for the thing actually meant. |
| Monologue | Talk or reading presented by one person; uninterrupted speech delivered by one character in a play to other characters who are at least present, if not listening. |
| Moral | A lesson taught by a literary work. Usually in a fable the moral is directly stated at the end. |
| Motif | A main element, idea, theme, detail, or image that is repeated throughout a piece of literature; usually for emphasis. |
| Narrative Poetry | Poetry that tells a story. |
| Narrative Writing | Writing that tells a story or series of events. |
| Non-Fiction | Prose writing that is true or at least is based on what is considered to be true events. |
| Ode | Long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words that imitate sounds. |
| Oxymoron | Figure of speech that fuses two contradicting or opposing ideas. |
| Parable | A short narrative designed to convey a moral truth. |
| Paradox | A statement that seems to be contradictory but actually represents a truth. |
| Parody | A work done in imitation of another, usually in order to mock it, but sometimes just in fun. |
| Personification | A figure or speech in which an animal, object, natural force, or an idea is given personality or human characteristics. |
| Poetry | Writing which combines language, imagery, and sound to create a special emotional effect. |
| Refrain | A word, phrase, line or group of lines repeated regularly, usually at the end of a stanza. |
| Rhyme | When words are used in poetry that have the same sound. |
| Rhyme Scheme | The pattern of end rhymes in a poem. |
| Rhythm | A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. |
| Satire | Style of writing that uses humor to criticize, ridicule, or hold up to contempt, people, ideas, or institutions in hopes of improving them. |
| Science Fiction | Writing that tells about imaginary events that involve science or technology. Usually set in the future. |
| Simile | Comparison between two unlike things using like or as. |
| Situational Irony | An event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience. |
| Soliloquy | A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud. |
| Sonnet | A fourteen line poem written in iambic pentameter. |
| Speaker | The imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem, often not identified by name. |
| Stage Directions | Information and directions given to the actors and the technical crew that are not meant to be spoken in a play. |
| Stanza | A group of lines- a paragraph in poetry. |
| Surprise Ending | A conclusion that violates the expectations of the reader but in a way that is both logical and believable. |
| Suspense | A feeling of growing curiosity or anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events in a literary work. |
| Synecdoche | Figure of speech in which a part of something is used to stand for the whole. |
| Tragedy | Serious plays in which the central character meets an unhappy end. |
Created by:
karlaalvarez
Popular English Vocabulary sets