Grade 11 English Exam Review Flashcards

Flashcards for Grade 11 English Exam Review focusing on vocabulary and literary devices/theories.

Annotating

To trace your reading - setting purpose, asking questions, connecting, summarizing, inferring and to develop your understanding of literary analysis.

Allegory

A figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures, and events.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same or consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to a well-known character, place, story, literary work, mythology, or from the bible.

Analogy

A comparison between two unlike things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Anaphora

The deliberate repetition of the first part of a sentence for artistic effect.

Archetype

A typical character, action or situation that is reoccurring and represents universal patterns of human nature.

Assonance

When two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant sounds.

Cliche

A phrase or expression that is tired / overused and generally stereotypical in a form.

Consonance

Use of repetitive sounds produced by consonants (anything not a vowel) within a sentence or phrase.

Euphemism

Polite, indirect expressions that replace words or phrases which are considered harsh, impolite or suggest something unpleasant.

Flashback

Provides information about an earlier event.

Foreshadowing

Gives a hint of what is to happen later in the story.

Hyperbole

Using words or phrases to make an exaggerated statement.

Idiom

A set of expressions or phrases comprising two or more words.

Imagery

The collected images that create “mental pictures” of the text. Appeals to the 5 senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound).

Irony

A literary device that reveals concealed or conditional meanings; Verbal, Situational, and Dramatic.

Juxtaposition

When two or more ideas, places, characters, and their actions are placed side by side for a comparison.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which two things are being compared and does not use “like” or “as”.

Metonymy

A figure of speech that replaces the name of something with another closely related name.

Onomatopoeia

Words that are used to imitate sounds to suggest their meaning. Words that sound the way they spelled.

Paradox

A phrase that appears to be contradictory in nature, but actually does hold some truth.

Pathetic Fallacy

When nature mimics what is happening in the story. Mimics feelings and characters

Pun

A play on words exploiting the different possible meanings of a word.

Simile

A comparison between two unlike objects using “like” or “as”.

Symbolism

An object, image, character, or action that stands for an idea that goes beyond its literal meaning.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that refers to a part of something is substituted to stand in for the whole or vice versa.

Understatement

When a writer presents a situation or thing as if it is LESS important or serious than it is in reality. Opposite to a hyperbole.

HOTS (Higher Order Thinking)

Thinking on a level that is higher than memorizing facts or telling something back to someone exactly the way it was told to you.

Collective Unconscious

Jung believed that the collective unconscious is not directly knowable but that it expresses itself in the form of an archetype.

The Hero's Quest

A series of steps that apply to mythological heroes across all cultures (also known as a monomyth); can be described as a rite of passage.

Platonic Ideal

A relationship where one individual is a source of inspiration.

Star Crossed Lovers

A young couple who enters an ill-fated love affair = often ends in tragedy.

The Fall

A descent from a higher to lower state of being.

Loss of Innocence

Losing purity / innocence through a sexual, violent, or illegal experience.

Initiation

Awakening, awareness, or an increased perception of the world; the process of growing up from a child to adult.

The Task

Hero having to perform a superhuman deed.

Psychoanalysis

A method of investigating the unconscious elements of the mind

The Conscious Mind

The conscious mind includes everything that we are aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about raditonally.

The Unconscious Mind

A reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious mind. Most of the time the contents of the unconscious mind are unacceptable or unpleasant such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict (sexual and violent urges).

ID

Represents primitive desires; The human “want”.

Superego

Represents the conscience; represents our sense of right and wrong. Represses all unacceptable urges of the id.

Ego

The “self” or who you view yourself as. It is your personality and the way you portray yourself to the world. Balances the ID and superego.

Feminist Gender Criticism

Is concerned with the impact of gender on writing and reading.

Sex (Gender)

Refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

Gender

Refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

Stereotypes

A generalized, over simplified (often offensive) belief about a certain group of people based on sex, race, culture, nationality, religion, etc.

Patriarchy

A social system in which the father is the head of the family and men have authority over women and children.

Male Chauvinist

A man whose behavior and attitude toward women indicate a belief that they are innately inferior to men.

Marginalize

To relegate an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group.

Sexist

Discrimination based on gender (especially discrimination against women).

Subordinate

Belonging to a lower or inferior class or rank; secondary. Seeing someone as “less than”.

“The other”

The social construction of the “Other”; viewing someone from a colonized country as foreign and in opposition from the West.

Colonialism

A political economic phenomenon whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the world.

Postcolonial Criticism

Post-colonial literature is a body of literary writing that reacts to discourse of colonization.

Colonizer

A group / country who imposes their culture - a way of life that includes government, education, religion, socioeconomic system, etc.

Colonized

A group / country who suffers loss of identity, culture, and freedom as a result of another country's conquest for land and power.

Eurocentrism

The practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and generally western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those other cultures.

Imperialism

When stronger countries take over weaker nations - through the economy.

Exile

The state of being banned from one's native country, typically for political or punitive reasons.

Hegemony

The control and dominant influence of one state over another.

Assimilation

The absorbing and accepting of different ethnic customs and traditions.

Bourgeoisie

Wealthy, high power individuals. own the MOP (mode of productions) = profits = power.

Proletariat

Poor, lower class individuals. Workers make products (labor power sold for pay).

Alienation

Feeling withdrawn or separated from others; directed into ways in which the bourgeoisie want workers to behave.

Ideology

Is the construct of social reality (false consciousness).

Proletariat revolution

Working class must seize political power internationally through a social revolution.

Status quo

The existing order of things.

Act (Shakespearean)

One of the main divisions of the play.

Scene (Shakespearean)

A unit smaller than an act.

Aside (Shakespearean)

A character reveals his/her true feelings by directly addressing the audience; not supposedly heard by any other character.

Soliloquy (Shakespearean)

A speech delivered by a character while he/she is on the stage alone.

Tragedy (Shakespearean)

A drama in which a disastrous series of events occurs to the hero.

Tragic hero (Shakespearean)

Torn by an internal conflict; the hero simply makes the wrong choice which triggers a series of negative events.

Tragic flaw (Shakespearean)

A negative quality or trait within the hero; often leads to their downfall.

Hubris (Shakespearean)

Excessive pride or self confidence which leads to downfall (often a tragic flaw).

Catharsis (Shakespearean)

An emotional relief.

Nemesis (Shakespearean)

Refers to the character who is the archenemy of the hero (antagonist).

Pathos (Shakespearean)

The portrayal of an incident which arouses feelings of pity and sadness in the reader.

Poetic Justice (Shakespearean)

An ideal situation where good is rewarded and evil is punished.