CLEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Literature

alliteration

Repetition of a consonant sound - Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

allusion

a reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work.

antagonist

character struggles against somone or something - man against himself; mand against man; man against society; man against nature.

assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

apostrophe

A direct address to a person, thing, or abstraction, such as "O Western Wind," or "Ah, Sorrow, you consume us."

artifice

cunning; ingenuity; craftiness

bathos

extreme anticlimax

climax

the point where crisis comes to point of greatest intensity and is resolved

dialog

conversation used to reveal characters and advance plot

droll

amusing in an odd way

enjambment

the running of one line of poetry into the next without a break for the rhyme or syntax

exposition

opening; beginning portion of plot which background information is set forth

fie

term used to express mild disgust; annoyance

foreshadowing

using hints or clues to suggest what will happen later; builds suspense

homonym

word sounds the same but spelled differently - they're and there

Laconic

expressing much in a few words; concise

irony

conflict between appearance and reality

ex: a fire station burning down or saying good weather when it is raining

languid

slow and relaxed; lazy andpeaceful; sluggish in character

metaphor

Comparing two unlike things that have something in common - "I think the sun is a flower that blooms for just one hour". Implicit comparison between two unlike things.

orthodoxy

customary

onomatopoeia

Word which imitates a sound - bang; pop; hiss; sizzle

parallelism

an arrangement of the parts of a composition so that elements of equal importance are balanced in construction.

personification

something non-human given human characteristics

poetic drama

a narrative involving conflict

protagonist

character struggles toward or for somone or something

resolution

end of plot

rising action

dramatic complications

sardonic

mockin; cynical;sneering

simile

as a metaphor but uses 'like' or 'as'.

soliloquy

speech while alone, or talking to self

symbolism

object represents idea

synonym

word with the same meaning

synecdoche

part used for the whole or the whole for the part

monologue

speech by one person

falling action

post climax

foils

character who enables us to see one or more other characters better - Tom Sayer (romantic) for Huck Finn (realism).

allegory

a story with a deeper meaning where the author uses characters, objects, and events to stand for big ideas, like honesty, greed, or political events.

fable

a short moral story (often with animal characters)

parable

a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson

dramatic monlogue

a speech delivered by a character expressing emotion towards an unresponsive audience

fabliau

a short metrical tale, usually ribald and humorous, popular in medieval France.

feminine rhyme

a rhyme of two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed, as "waken" and "forsaken" and "audition" and "rendition."

ode

a lyric poem with complex stanza forms

chiasmus

a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed ("Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary.")

emblemism

the use of symbolic images to represent abstract moral, philosophical, or religious ideas

oxymoron

a figure of speech that pairs two contradictory or opposing words together

pretty ugly or open secret

meter - iambic

a foot consisting of an unaccented and accented syllable.

"To be or not to be. Listen for the accents in this line from Marlowe, "Come live with me and be my love." English seems to fall naturally into iambic patterns, for it is the most common meter in English.

meter - trochaic

a foot consisting of an accented and unaccented syllable. Longfellow's Hiawatha uses this meter, which can quickly become singsong (the accented syllable is italicized):

"By the shores of GitcheGumee

By the shining Big-Sea-water."

The three witches' speech in Macbeth uses it: "Double, double, toil and trouble."

meter - anapestic

a foot consisting of two unaccented syllables and an accented syllable.

"Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb

I arise and unbuild it again."

elision

a deliberate act of omission, The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry

paradox

a self-contradiction.

That when we live no more, we may live ever - a situation where she and her loved one are both alive and dead. No one can be both alive and dead.

anecdote

short account of an incident (especially a biographical one)

realism

This was the new style of literature that focused on the daily lives and adventures of a common person. This style was a response to Romanticism's supernaturalism and over-emphasis on emotion

euphemism

an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive

tragic irony

a tragedy that starts good and ends bad. The opposite may also hold true

hyperbole

a figure of speech that uses extreme, deliberate exaggeration to make a point, add humor, or evoke strong emotions

anastrophe

a figure of speech in which the standard, natural word order of a sentence is deliberately inverted for rhetorical effect

ex: flowers i like

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds within close proximity in a phrase, sentence, or line of poetry

ex: boat floats

consonance

the repetition of consonant sounds within words placed close together in a phrase, line, or sentence

ex: mike, bike

metonymy

a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it, rather than by its literal name

ex: dish of food

didactic

something intended to teach, instruct, or impart a moral lesson

imperious

someone or something that acts with an arrogant, overbearing, or domineering attitude

scathing

severely harsh, cutting, or intensely critical remarks

pious

being deeply religious, devout, and dedicated to showing reverence for a deity or a set of moral and ethical codes