Terms : Hide Images
| 12075192512 | Allegory | A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions Ex: In Pilgrim's Progress, the protagonist, Christian, represents all Christians, and physical obstacles represent inner struggles | 0 | |
| 12075192513 | Alliteration | Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or accented syllables Ex: while i nodded, nearly napping | 1 | |
| 12075192514 | Allusion | Reference to something literary, historical, or mythological Biblical example - Reference to something as " the forbidden fruit" which alludes to Biblical Genesis story Examples: Historical - a reference to a person as a "Benedict Arnold" can indicate that someone is a traitor Classical -"The two knitting... Their eerie looks suggest they know what will happen" from Heart of Darkness refers to Fates of Greek mythology | 2 | |
| 12075192515 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence or passage; e.g., "Because the poem was unclear, the class gave many interpretations regarding its central meaning." | 3 | |
| 12075192516 | Analepsis | This is a flashback. An earlier event that is inserted into the normal chronology of the narration. | 4 | |
| 12075192517 | Analogy | A comparison between two different things which are similar in some way By comparing conducting to politics, Igor Stravinsky helped non-musicians understand his feelings about orchestra conductors | 5 | |
| 12075192518 | Anaphora | The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences Ex: We have petitioned; We have remonstrated; We have supplicated. | 6 | |
| 12075192519 | Apostrophe | The act of speaking in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person or personified quality, object, or idea. Ex: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory" | 7 | |
| 12075192520 | Archetype | An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned Ex: The sacrificial lamb or the "Christ" figure, the "epic hero" | 8 | |
| 12075192521 | Asyndeton | A syntactical structure in which conjunctions are omitted in a series, usually producing more rapid prose Ex: "Consciousness of place came ebbing back to him slowly over a vast tract of time unlit, unfelt, unlived..." | 9 | |
| 12075192522 | Blank Verse | Poetry usually written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (but can utilize other meter) | 10 | |
| 12075192523 | Catharsis | A purification of the emotions through experience of pity and fear gained from watching a tragedy, to emerge psychologically healthier. Ex: In a tragedy like The Crucible, the audience feels, not depressed, but profoundly touched by John Proctor's refusal to give in to the madness of the witch trials | 11 | |
| 12075192524 | Conceit | A fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor Ex: Using an elaborate metaphor, Donne compares himself and his wife to the two legs of a compass, one staying in place while the other circles around and eventually joins it | 12 | |
| 12075192525 | Deus Ex Machina | Literally, "god from the machine", This is the circumstance where an implausible concept or divine character is introduced into a storyline for the purpose of resolving its conflict and procuring an interesting outcome Ex: The British navy arrives just in time to save Ralph in The Lord of the Flies In Beauty and the Beast, the beast seems to have died, but Belle's love saves the day and he returns to life | 13 | |
| 12075192526 | Double Entendre | A phrase or a figure of speech that has multiple interpretations. The first meaning is usually straightforward while the second meaning is ironic, risque, or inappropriate Ex: "Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution" In Finding Nemo, the characters are told "Ok, everyone, think dirty thoughts!" | 14 | |
| 12075192527 | Elegy | A poem that mourns the death of a person or laments something lost | 15 | |
| 12075192528 | End Stopped Line | A poetic device in which a pause comes at the end of a syntactic unit (sentence, clause or phrase); this pause can expressed with a punctuation mark such a colon, semi-colon, period or full stop | 16 | |
| 12075192529 | Enjambment | Poetic device in which the writing moves over from one line to another without a termination punctuation mark or syntactical | 17 | |
| 12075192530 | Epiphany | A moment of sudden revelation or insight Ex: Toward the end of the lay, Othello suddenly realizes that he has been misled | 18 | |
| 12075192531 | Epistrophe | Repetition of the same word or pharse at the end of successive clauses (opposite of anaphora) Ex: I'll have my bond! Speak not against my bond! I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond! | 19 | |
| 12075192532 | Euphamism | An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant Ex: In Victorian times, ladies were said to "glisten" rather than to "sweat" | 20 | |
| 12075192533 | Figurative Language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid | 21 | |
| 12075192534 | Forshadowing | Hints about what will follow in a plot | 22 | |
| 12075192535 | Frame Story | A story within a story Ex: Chauncer's Canterbury Tales, in which the primary tales are told within the "frame story" of the pilgrimage of Canterbury Titanic is also an example | 23 | |
| 12075192536 | Free Verse | Poetry that is free from limitations of regular meter (rhythm) and rhyme (no rhyme scheme and no meter) | 24 | |
| 12075192537 | Hamartia (Tragic Flaw) | A personal error in a protagonist's personality that brings about his tragic downfall Ex: Othello is easily mislead and ends up killing his wife and himself as a result | 25 | |
| 12075192538 | Hyperbole | Intentional exaggeration to created an effect | 26 | |
| 12075192539 | Idiom | An expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression Ex: jump the gun means to start too soon | 27 | |
| 12075192540 | Imagery | Concrete, sensory details which contribute to the themes or ideas of work | 28 | |
| 12075192541 | In Media Res | The technique of starting a story in the middle and then using a flashback to tell what happened earlier Ex: In Wuthering Heights, Bronte begins her story with Lockwood meeting a narrator who tells him the history of the people living in the house | 29 | |
| 12075192542 | Verbal Irony | The use of words to mean something different than what they appear to mean. | 30 | |
| 12075192543 | Situational Irony | The difference between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. | 31 | |
| 12075192544 | Dramatic Irony | When the audience is more aware of what is happening than a character. | 32 | |
| 12075192545 | Jargon | (Nerd talk) The specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession. e.g., "alpha blockers and beta blockers" is used in the medical community. | 33 | |
| 12075192546 | Litote | A type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite Ex: My parents were not overjoyed when I came home 3 hours past my curfew | 34 | |
| 12075192547 | Metaphor | A direct comparison of two different things which suggests they are somehow the same | 35 | |
| 12075192548 | Metonymy | Physical object symbolizes something/someone associated with it; Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it Ex: The White House issued a statement today | 36 | |
| 12075192549 | Octave | An eight-line stanza. Most commonly, octave refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet. | 37 | |
| 12075192550 | Ode | a long, lyrical poem, usually serious or meditative in nature | 38 | |
| 12075192551 | Onomatopoeia | The use of words that imitate sounds | 39 | |
| 12075192552 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines 2 opposing or contradictory ideas Ex: Jumbo shrimp | 40 | |
| 12075192553 | Paradox | An apparently contradictory statement which actually contains some truth Ex: "I must be cruel only to be kind" | 41 | |
| 12075192554 | Parallelism | The repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structure | 42 | |
| 12075192555 | Parody | A humorous imitation of a literary work, that exaggerates/distorts the characteristic features of the original Ex: Scary Movie of horror movies, The Colbert Report, which imitates Bill O'Reilly's show | 43 | |
| 12075192556 | Pathetic Fallacy | A kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects and nature Ex: The raging storm the night of King Duncan's murder in Macbeth | 44 | |
| 12075192557 | Personification | Endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics; also, representing an abstract or non-human quality in human | 45 | |
| 12075192558 | Polysyndeton | The use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural Ex: "Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly--mostly--let them have their whiteness." | 46 | |
| 12075192559 | Prolepsis | This is a flash forward. A literary device in which a scene interrupts and takes the narrative forward in time from the current time in a story | 47 | |
| 12075192560 | Pun | A play on words in which a humorous effect is produced by using a word that suggests two or own meanings or by exploiting similar sounding words having different meaning Ex: I really wanted a camouflage shirt, but I couldn't find one. A horse is a very stable animal "I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest" (character's name is Jack Earnest) | 48 | |
| 12075192561 | Quatrain | a stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes. | 49 | |
| 12075192562 | Sarcasm | Harsh, cutting language/tone designed to ridicule Ex: "Asked if he like blue, Joel answered, 'No, I hate it. That's why I drive a blue car and wear mostly blue clothes.'" | 50 | |
| 12075192564 | Simile | Basic comparison using like or as | 51 | |
| 12075192565 | Soliliquy | Speech used in stage drama to express a character's thoughts without acknowledging the presence of any other person Ex: "To be or not to be" in Shakespeare's Hamlet | 52 | |
| 12075192566 | Sonnet | Poem composed of 14 lines and written in iambic pentameter | 53 | |
| 12075192567 | Synesthesia | Describing one kind of sensation in terms in another Ex: "loud color", "sweet sound" | 54 | |
| 12075192568 | Theme | Central message or insight into life revealed by a literary work | 55 | |
| 12075192569 | Tone | The writer's attitude toward his or her subject, characters, or audience (usually implied) Ex: Sardonic, apologetic, light-hearted, somber, etc. | 56 | |
| 12075192570 | Vernacular | The everyday speech of a particular country region, often involving nonstandard usage Ex: Beowulf was written in the vernacular Old English instead of standard Latin of the Roman Catholic | 57 | |
| 12075192572 | Volta (Turn) | A rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion. Turns are seen in all types of written poetry and usually found at the beginning of a new stanza | 58 | |
| 12075290459 | Dialect | a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region e.g. "wee, sleekit, cowran" | 59 | |
| 12075325567 | Interior Monologue | a form of stream of consciousness which undertakes to present to the reader the exact presentation of the process of consciousness by converting them to a verbal equivalent | 60 | |
| 12075325568 | Juxtaposition | placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast | 61 | |
| 12075369839 | Malapropism | the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar | 62 | |
| 12075369840 | Simile | A figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things using like or as | 63 | |
| 12075369841 | Vernacular | The everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage | 64 | |
| 12162960209 | Marxism | Focus on economic power, materialism vs. spirituality, class conflict, bourgeoise vs. p | 65 | |
| 12166737070 | Feminist Lens | literary criticism that has us to look at text through the eyes of a feminist to closely analyze how women are portrayed and presented in comparison to men | 66 | |
| 12166737071 | Archetypical or Mythic | approach that looks at the traditional meanings of in literature. uses clues such as symbolism and imagery. relies on archetypes. | 67 | |
| 12166737072 | New Historicism | a method of literary criticism that emphasizes the historicity of a text by relating it to the configurations of power, society, or ideology in a given time. | 68 | |
| 12166737073 | Psychoanalytic (Freudian) | A literary criticism that focuses on a literary work as an expression in fictional form of the inner workings of the human mind (the subconscious) | 69 |
