front 1 Allegory | back 1 A story told on two levels and intended to teach a moral lesson Ex: The prodigal son |
front 2 Anapestic | back 2 Metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. |
front 3 anecdote | back 3 A very short story told to make a point |
front 4 antagonist | back 4 The main adversary of the hero/heroine, or protagonist |
front 5 antithesis | back 5 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 |
front 6 apostrophe | back 6 To address a person not present; or to personify an object or trait and address the personified thing |
front 7 archetype | back 7 A universal symbol or symbol that crosses many cultures EX - water; a universal character(the quest hero or wise old man) |
front 8 auditory imagery | back 8 Language/words appealing to the sense of sound/hearing |
front 9 blank verse | back 9 Unrhymed line of iambic pentameter |
front 10 choleric | back 10 Medieval bodily humour - angry |
front 11 conceit | back 11 An extended metaphor. A comparison extending throughout a poem, paragraph, or section of a work. |
front 12 dactylic | back 12 Metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable follwed by two unstressed syllables |
front 13 didactic | back 13 Having a teaching purpose. The bible has didactic books in it; sermons are didactic; some stories are didactic |
front 14 dramatic irony | back 14 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. |
front 15 elegy | back 15 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 |
front 16 enjambment | back 16 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" |
front 17 end-stopped line | back 17 Line of poetry ending in a period, question mark, exclamation point, or semicolon |
front 18 epigram | back 18 Short, witty saying. EX - "Fish and visitors smell after three days." |
front 19 epiphany | back 19 The appearance of manifestation of a deity; or a moment of understanding and sudden insight into reality or the truth. |
front 20 exposition | back 20 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. |
front 21 euphemism | back 21 A nice or polite word used to replace a more direct or blunt one. EX - "pass away" for "die", |
front 22 farce | back 22 Low comedy; comedy which has clowning and slapstick. EX - the three stooges |
front 23 flashback | back 23 Interrupting a narrative sequence with a recollection of an image or scene from the past |
front 24 genre | back 24 The form a text has - poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction. Genres also have sub-genres. EX - lyric poetry, narrative poetry, epic poetry |
front 25 gustatory imagery | back 25 Language or images appealing to the sense of taste |
front 26 hubris | back 26 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. |
front 27 hyperbole | back 27 Exaggeration for effect |
front 28 iambic | back 28 A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable |
front 29 iambic pentameter | back 29 A ten-syllable line in which the even-numbered syllables are stressed |
front 30 internal rhyme | back 30 Rhyming two words within a single line of poetry. EX - "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary." |
front 31 irony | back 31 Having the opposite of what one expects to happen actually happens; reversal |
front 32 litotes/understatement | back 32 Understatement for emphasis. EX - Saying "not bad" when you mean "very good" |
front 33 malapropism | back 33 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" |
front 34 melancholy | back 34 Medieval bodily humour - sad, depressed |
front 35 meter | back 35 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 |
front 36 metonymy | back 36 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 |
front 37 myth | back 37 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 |
front 38 narrative viewpoint | back 38 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 |
front 39 olfactory imagery | back 39 Language or images appealing to the sense of smell |
front 40 oxymoron | back 40 Two opposite words together forming a compound word or phrase - bittersweet, foolish wit, wise fool |
front 41 parable | back 41 A short story with a moral message; often it is allegorical. EX - The Prodigal Son + Good Samaritan |
front 42 paradox | back 42 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 |
front 43 parody | back 43 A humorous imitation of a serious literary work or form |
front 44 pastoral | back 44 A literary piece that idealizes life in the country |
front 45 phlegmatic | back 45 Medieval bodily humour - dull |
front 46 protagonist | back 46 The hero or heroine in a story, poem, novel, play, or film |
front 47 rhetorical | back 47 Persuasive; a style, form, and approach intended to persuade |
front 48 rhymed couplet | back 48 Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines forming a unit |
front 49 sanguine | back 49 Medieval bodily humour - energetic, cheerful, positive |
front 50 satire | back 50 Humor directed at making a point about human nature; it attacks human fault and teaches ethics through humor. EX - Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut |
front 51 Shakespearean sonnet | back 51 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 |
front 52 stanza | back 52 Group of line of poetry forming a unit |
front 53 symbolism | back 53 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 |
front 54 synecdoche | back 54 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" |
front 55 syntax | back 55 Sentence structure; the phrases and clauses that together make a sentence |
front 56 tactile imagery | back 56 Language or images which appeal to the sense of touch or feeling |
front 57 tone | back 57 The attitude an author expresses towards his subject and/or audience |
front 58 trochaic | back 58 A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable |
front 59 verbal irony | back 59 The meaning intended by a speaker differs from the meaning understood by one or more of the other characters or by the listener |
front 60 verse | back 60 Single line of poetry |