IB English Langlit

Allegory

a poem, play, picture, etc, in which the apparent meaning of the characters and events is used to symbolize a deeper moral or spiritual meaning i.e. extended metaphors and series of symbols

Allusion

implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text. It can suggest ideas by connotation

Anaphora

repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases to create emphasis

Assonance

relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds but with different end consonants - vowel rhyme i.e. date and fade

Couplet

two successive lines of poetry, usually of equal length and rhythmic correspondence, with end-words that rhyme

Denotation

the literal dictionary meaning of a word - opposite of connotation

Diction

the choice of words phrases, sentence structures and figurative language in a literary work - i.e. colloquail, formal, literal, figurative, concrete or abstact

Ballad

a narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung, consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain

Dramatic Monologue

A one-way conversation between a character and a second person or an audience

Empathy

the feeling of awareness, understanding and sensitivity when hearing or reading of an event without an actual experience

Enjambment

the continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line of poetry to the next

Epitaph

A brief poem or statement in memory of someone who is deceased

Euphemism

a mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor drawn out beyond the usual word or phrase to extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem by making multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas

Figurative Language

the use of words, phrases, symbols and ideas to evoke mental images and sesne impressions

Free Verse

A fluid form which conforms to no set rules of traditional versification - freedom from fixed patterns of meter and rhyme. Liberation from metrical regularity to allow the poet to select line breaks appropriate for the intended sense of the text. Provides greater potential for visual arrangement

Hamartia

The tragic hero's fatal flaw - combined with chance and eexternal forces it results in catastrophe. I.e. pride, overconfidence, jealousy. Rather than villainy, it is a significant factor that leads to this suffering - evokes pity and fear for we may recognize that we could have similar errors

Hyperbole

Exaggeration or overstatement

Iamb

Most common metrical 'foot' in English - consists of 2 syllables, one short one long

Imagery

elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images with sensation and emotion

Internal rhyme

A rhyme occurring within a line

Ionic

In classical poetry, a metrical foot of 4 syllables, 2 long 2 short

Irony

A figure of speech in the form on an expression in which the use of words is the opposite of the thought in the speaker's mind thus contradicting the literal definition

Dramatic Irony

when the audience knows more than the character does

Lyric verse

In poems when the speaker's ardent expression of a emotional element predominates

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one object or idea is applied to another

Meter

A measure of rhythmic quantity - organized succession of syllables at basically regular intervals in a line of poetry according to the definite metrical patterns
1 - monometer, 2 - dimeter, 3 - trimeter, 4 - tetrameter, 5 - pentameter

Motif

A thematic element recurring frequently in literature

Narrative

A story stressing details of plot, incident and action

Ode

A type of lyric or melic verse usually irregular

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sounds

Oxymoron

conjunction of words which seem to be contradictory but expresses a truth or dramatic effect i.e. cool fire, deafening silence

Pastoral Poetry

Idealizing the lives of shepherds and country folk

Pathetic Fallacy

Ascribing human thoughts or feelings to a non-human. (e.g. The sky is angry.)

Personification

Human traits are attributed to an animal or object

Prose

Line is not treated as a formal unit, nor does it employ the repetitive patterns of rhythm or meter

Realism

Portray an accurate portrayal of nature and real life without idealization

Rhetorical Question

A question solely for effect with no answer expected

Rhythm

The regular or progressive pattern of recurrent accents in the flow of a poem

Satire

exposes and ridicules human vices or folly

Didactic

an adjective for a text that criticizes injustice or social wrongs

Simile

Comparison between two unlike things using 'as' and 'like'

Soliloquy

Talking to oneself - illusion of unspoken reflections

Sonnet

A fixed form consisting of 14 lines with Iambic Pentameter (5)

Style

A poet's individual creative process determined by choices with diction, figurative language, rhetorical devices, sounds and rhythmic patterns

Symbol

image is used to represent something else

Theme

Central idea, topic or didactic for quality of work

Tone

The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression towards a subject e.g. loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful

Quatrain

4 lines per Stanza

Cacophony

Words that give an impression of harshness and brutality through the sound of the letters

Alliteration

repetition of the initial sounds of consonants - gives reinforcement to stresses and serves as a subtle connection to key words

Analogy

a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based

Blank Verse

Poetry written without rhymes but retains a set metrical pattern i.e. Iambic Pentameter. Very flexible in form - syntactic structure not constrained by rhyme scheme

Caesura

Rhythmic break or pause in the flow of sound which is commonly introduced in the middle of a line of verse. Grammatical, rhythmic and dramatic device and to avoid monotony

Climax

Rhetorically, a series of words, phrases or sentences arranged in a continuously ascending order of intensity

Connotation

suggestion of a meaning by a word beyond what it explicitly denotes

Euphony

Words that give an impression of quiet and softness through the sound of the letters