Lit Terms Flashcards

A story told on two levels and intended to teach a moral lesson

Ex: The prodigal son

Metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable.

A very short story told to make a point

The main adversary of the hero/heroine, or protagonist

The use of parallel structure to present oppositional ideas Example - Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John Kennedy

To address a person not present; or to personify an object or trait and address the personified thing

A universal symbol or symbol that crosses many cultures EX - water; a universal character(the quest hero or wise old man)

Language/words appealing to the sense of sound/hearing

Unrhymed line of iambic pentameter

Medieval bodily humour - angry

An extended metaphor. A comparison extending throughout a poem, paragraph, or section of a work.

Metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable follwed by two unstressed syllables

Having a teaching purpose. The bible has didactic books in it; sermons are didactic; some stories are didactic

Situation in which the reader/viewer shares with the narrator knowledge of a situation or intention unknown to one or more of the characters. Often the reader/viewer knows the fate of a character who is ignorant of his/her own fate.

Poetry or speech which laments the loss of a person or sometimes of an era or aspect of culture. An "elegiac tone" is a lamenting tone or a somewhat nostalgic tone. EX - pastoral elegies lament the loss of rural life and farms

Run-on lines of poetry. When a though is not completed in one line so the reader has to read into the next line to get to the end of the thought, the lines are called "run-on lines"

Line of poetry ending in a period, question mark, exclamation point, or semicolon

Short, witty saying. EX - "Fish and visitors smell after three days."

The appearance of manifestation of a deity; or a moment of understanding and sudden insight into reality or the truth.

Text or portion of a text which explains motives, action, definitions, etc. In this part of the text, the action doesn't move forward; the narrator offers explanation, analysis, or reflection on events and characters.

A nice or polite word used to replace a more direct or blunt one. EX - "pass away" for "die",

Low comedy; comedy which has clowning and slapstick. EX - the three stooges

Interrupting a narrative sequence with a recollection of an image or scene from the past

The form a text has - poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction. Genres also have sub-genres. EX - lyric poetry, narrative poetry, epic poetry

Language or images appealing to the sense of taste

The ancient Greek term for "pride" or "ego". It was the tragic flaw demonstrated by heroes in Greek drama, including Characters such as Oedipus, Creon, and Antigone.

Exaggeration for effect

A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

A ten-syllable line in which the even-numbered syllables are stressed

Rhyming two words within a single line of poetry. EX - "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary."

Having the opposite of what one expects to happen actually happens; reversal

Understatement for emphasis. EX - Saying "not bad" when you mean "very good"

The misuse of words, especially words that sound like other words. Often malapropisms are humorous; sometimes they are puns. EX - saying "progeny" when you mean "prodigy"

Medieval bodily humour - sad, depressed

The rhythm of a poem. It includes how many syllables or "beats" each line has and which ones are stressed and unstressed. A unit of meter = a foot

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. EX - "The pen is mightier than the sword," in which pen means words and sword means the military or fighting

A story that seeks to explain processes of nature, the creation of the world and the human race, or traditional customs, political institutions, or religious rites

The stance from which a story is told 1st - one person 3rd - he, she, they 3rd omniscient - viewing the action from a god-like stance, seeing inside every characters mind 3rd limited - viewing the action primarily from one character's angle

Language or images appealing to the sense of smell

Two opposite words together forming a compound word or phrase - bittersweet, foolish wit, wise fool

A short story with a moral message; often it is allegorical. EX - The Prodigal Son + Good Samaritan

A statement that is illogical or contradictory but nevertheless true or which has a kind of truth that it states. EX - "Fair is foul and foul is fair" - Macbeth

A humorous imitation of a serious literary work or form

A literary piece that idealizes life in the country

Medieval bodily humour - dull

The hero or heroine in a story, poem, novel, play, or film

Persuasive; a style, form, and approach intended to persuade

Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines forming a unit

Medieval bodily humour - energetic, cheerful, positive

Humor directed at making a point about human nature; it attacks human fault and teaches ethics through humor. EX - Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut

Poem of 14 lines in which the structure is three quatrains followed by a couplet in which the main idea or central message is stated

Group of line of poetry forming a unit

Having one thing stand for another, especially for a complex of interrelated concepts. EX - Moby Dick, the white whale, representing power, fate, evil, the enemy, unknown

Figure of speech in which a part of an object is used to represent the whole. EX - "All hands on deck" for "all sailors/men on deck"

Sentence structure; the phrases and clauses that together make a sentence

Language or images which appeal to the sense of touch or feeling

The attitude an author expresses towards his subject and/or audience

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

The meaning intended by a speaker differs from the meaning understood by one or more of the other characters or by the listener

Single line of poetry