Vocabulary Flashcards for Literary Terms

These flashcards cover essential literary terms and their definitions to aid in exam preparation.

Allusion

An indirect or passing reference to a person, place, event, or another work of literature.

Aside

A short speech or comment delivered by a character in a play, directed to the audience or another character.

Blank verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, closely mimicking natural speech.

Hyperbole

An exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally; used for emphasis or humor.

Iambic pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry that consists of five pairs of unstressed-stressed syllables.

Double entendre

A phrase or word with two meanings, one of which is usually obvious and the other suggestive.

Malapropism

The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often causing humorous results.

Metaphor

A figure of speech making a direct comparison between two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory or opposing words.

Prose

Written or spoken language in ordinary form, without a regular metrical structure.

Pun

A form of wordplay that exploits multiple meanings of a word for humorous effect.

Rhyming couplet

A pair of successive lines in poetry that rhyme and complete a single thought.

Soliloquy

A long speech in which a character expresses inner thoughts and feelings while alone on stage.

Verse

A line of poetry or collection of metrical lines arranged in stanzas.