Literary Terms and Works Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary and conceptual flashcards covering literary terms and specific English literature works from the provided lecture transcript.

Ode

A lyric poem on a serious theme.

Plot

The series of events related to a central conflict or struggle.

Climax

The high point of interest and suspense in a literary work.

Characterization

The act of creating or describing a character.

Point of view

The vantage point or perspective from which the story is told; who is telling the story.

Conflict

A struggle between two forces in a literary work.

External conflict

The main character struggles against another character, nature, society, or fate.

Internal conflict

The main character struggles against something within himself or herself.

Meter

A regular rhythmic pattern in poetry determined by beats or stresses in each line.

Epithet

A characteristic word or phrase used alongside the name of a person, place, or thing.

Speaker

The character who speaks in or narrates a poem; the voice assumed by the writer.

Proverb

A traditional saying.

Simile

A comparison using like or as.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were another.

Irony

The difference between appearance and reality.

Epic

A long story, often in verse, involving heroes and gods.

Repetition

Intentional reuse of a sound, word, phrase, or sentence.

Theme

A central message or perception about life revealed through a work.

Foreshadowing

Hinting at events that will occur later in a story.

Flashback

A scene that interrupts the chronological order and shows an earlier event.

Persuasion

Writing intended to change or influence a reader’s thoughts or feelings.

Analogy

A comparison between two things that are alike in some ways but different in others.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for effect.

Tone

The emotional attitude toward the reader or subject implied by a work.

Figurative language

Language meant to be understood imaginatively, not literally.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but may be true.

Fable

A brief story, often with animals, that teaches a moral.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Mood

The emotion or atmosphere created in the reader.

Personification

Giving human characteristics to an animal, thing, force of nature, or idea.

Narrative poem

A poem that tells a story or describes events.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables with different consonants.

Imagery

Descriptive language that creates word pictures.

Elegy

A poem of mourning, usually for someone who has died.

Dramatic irony

The reader or audience knows something the characters do not.

Understatement

Saying something important as if it were not important.

Verbal irony

Saying one thing but meaning another.

Symbol

Something that stands for itself and something else.

Parody

A humorous imitation of another work’s style.

Satire

Humorous writing or speech that points out human faults.

Genre

A category or type of literary work.

Protagonist

The main character of a literary work.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys

The author is concerned with the Great Fire of London, the return of the king, and his brother.

A Journal of the Plague Year

Features an established unmarried merchant living in Aldgate, East London.

Periodical essay

An essay published regularly in a magazine or newspaper, usually on social, moral, or everyday topics.

A Young Lady’s Diary

A work in which Clarinda does nothing productive.

Diary of Fanny Burney

The author does not want to be caught reading because it can seem improper or unfeminine in her social setting.

A Brief to Free a Slave

Contains the idea that no person is by nature the property of another.

Anecdote in The Life of Samuel Johnson

A short, interesting, often humorous account of an incident from Johnson’s life.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

States 'The paths of glory lead but to the grave' and honors ordinary people for their human worth and unfulfilled potential.

To a Mouse

The subject is considered blessed because it lives in the present and does not worry about the future.

Synesthesia

Mixing two senses, such as 'loud color.'

London

A work where the speaker says people are trapped by 'mind-forged manacles.'

The Lamb

A work in which the speaker is the child.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Argues that children, men, and women are all expected to be innocent, treating women like children.

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Defines poetry as 'the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.'

The World Is Too Much with Us

Describes how people are out of touch with nature.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work.

Tintern Abbey

A work where the speaker sees nature differently as a child and as an adult.

Tone and voice

Voice is the speaker’s personality or style; tone is the attitude expressed through that voice.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The sailor teaches a lesson; features a painted ship and an albatross representing guilt.

Enjambment

Continuing a sentence beyond the end of a line.

Paradox (Literary Statement)

A statement that seems contradictory.

To a Skylark

The speaker thinks the bird’s song is more beautiful than human happiness.

Ozymandias

An ancient Egyptian king.

Sensory details

Words or phrases that appeal to the five senses.

When I Have Fears

The speaker fears dying before finishing his work, experiencing love, and gaining lasting fame.

My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover

Speakers in both poems have killed women they loved and do not believe they were wrong.

How Do I Love Thee

Mentions love to the 'depth and breadth and height' of the soul and uses anaphora (repetition).

Miss Havisham’s clothes

White garments in Great Expectations symbolizing her wedding dress and abandoned bride status.

Jane Eyre

The character is contemplating whether to question everything she is doing with her life.

Madame Bovary

The character feels dissatisfied with her husband and marriage.

Mark of the Beast

Features a conflict between civilized control and animalistic forces; Temple is disturbed by Fleete’s behavior.

The Lady of Shalott

The climax occurs when she looks toward Camelot, breaking the curse and destroying the web and mirror.

To an Athlete Dying Young

States that fame is brief and dying at the height of glory preserves memory.

Promises Like Pie-Crust

The speaker asks for promises lightly and skeptically because they are often broken.

Dialogue and Monologue (The Rising of the Moon)

Dialogue is conversation between characters; monologue is a long speech by one character.

The Soldier

A poem with a patriotic mood where a 'corner of soil' becomes forever England.

In Flanders Fields

Features flowers and a call to continue the fight and remember the dead.

The Second Coming

Describes a 'rough beast' and a frightening, chaotic new age waiting to be born.

The Rocking-Horse Winner

Includes repeated phrase 'There must be more money!'

Musée des Beaux Arts

A poem that references the mythical tale of the fall of Icarus.

The Demon Lover

The young woman is carried away by her ghostly lover after an encounter in the garden.