Literary Terms Flashcards (Notes from The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Vol. 4)

Fill-in-the-blank flashcards covering key literary terms from lecture notes (Pages 1–4).

Allusion is a brief, implicit and/or indirect reference within a literary text to __.

something outside the text, whether another text (e.g. the Bible, a myth, another literary work, a painting, or a piece of music) or any imaginary or historical person, place, or thing.

Apostrophe is the direct address of a(n) __.

inanimate object, absent or dead person, or idea.

Atmosphere is the intentional creation by an author of tension and emotion in a setting, in order to __.

elicit a certain response from the audience.

Characterization is the tactics used by an author to __.

create and maintain a character.

Round and Flat: a Round character has a fully developed and complex personality, as opposed to a __ character.

Flat.

Dynamic and Static: a Dynamic character undergoes significant change as a result of the outcomes of their conflicts. A __ character remains consistent.

Static.

Climax: The “turning point” in the conflict, where the tension and action have risen to their highest points. After the climax, change has occurred and the characters can no longer __.

return to their previous life without some evidence of the change.

External conflict pits a character against __.

something outside himself or herself—another character or characters or something in nature or society.

Connotation: The emotional implications that a particular culture or subculture attaches to a word; __.

emotional implications.

Denotation: the literal meaning of a word, without cultural or emotional __.

implications.

Diction: Authorial choice of words to influence the tone and/or atmosphere of a piece of writing, to impact the piece’s overall meaning or __.

purpose.

Imagery requires interpretation from the audience to understand the meaning, including the senses: __.

visual, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, and auditory.

Irony: A situation or statement characterized by a significant difference between what is expected and what actually happens, or between what is understood and what is meant; __.

Verbal irony; Situational irony; Dramatic irony; Cosmic irony.

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable; __.

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Motif is a recurring narrative element often with symbolic significance; __.

A recurring narrative element often with symbolic significance.

Juxtaposition is an intentional authorial literary contrast; __.

an intentional authorial literary contrast.

Foil is a character with behavior and/or values that contrast those of another character in order to __.

highlight the distinctive temperament of that character.

Monologue is a speech of more than a few sentences, usually in a play but also in other genres, spoken by one person and __.

uninterrupted by the speech of anyone else.

Mood is the feelings evoked in an audience while reading a literary text; __.

the feelings evoked in the audience.

Plot is the arrangement of the action; the five main parts or phases of plot are exposition, rising action, climax or turning point, falling action, and conclusion or resolution. The plot generally follows the five parts of the Freytag Pyramid (Conflict Arc); __.

the five main parts are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.