English Terms Study Guide - Voices of the Oppressed and Free

spiritual

song, full of illusions or references to people, places, and events from the Bible

allegory

Narrative, poem, or picture that uses symbolic characters, settings, and events to convey hidden, often deeper, moral, political, or philosophical meanings

refrain

A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals - emphasizes key ideas, sets a rhythm, and makes a song easier to remember and understand

tone

the author’s attitude, emotional perspective, or "voice" towards their subject, characters, or audience

theme

the author’s attitude, emotional perspective, or "voice" towards their subject, characters, or audience

rhyme scheme

a poet's deliberate pattern of lines that rhyme with other lines in a poem or a stanza

situational irony

When something happens that is opposite of what is expected

dramatic irony

When the reader knows something that the characters do not

third person omniscient

omniscient = all-knowing

An all-knowing narrator who is not a character in the story (he, she, they)

third person limited

Narrator is limited to the single perspective of ONE character (he, she, they)

stream of consciousness

Writing technique in which author presents thoughts and ideas the way the human mind experiences them: in short bursts, sometimes without full sentences, often without logical connections - jump from idea to idea

symbolism

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities