Literature Review – Easy Notes Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering literary theories, reading skills, drama types, fiction forms, plot structures, poetic devices, figurative language, and key stories from the notes.

Postcolonialism

Literary theory about colonization and its effects

Feminism

Literary focus on women’s rights and roles

New Historicism

Connects a story to its historical and cultural context

Traditional Historicism

Looks at the historical background only

Biographical Criticism

Links the author’s life to the story

Structuralism

Analyzes patterns and structure in a text

Formalism

Emphasizes form, language, and style

New Criticism

Studies the text alone without author information

Queer Theory

Examines gender and sexuality in literature

Outlining

Writing the main parts of a text in order

Summarizing

Creating a brief version of a text

Interpreting

Explaining the meaning of a text

Inferring

Guessing information not stated directly

Soliloquy

A character speaking inner thoughts alone

Aside

A short line spoken to the audience only

Monologue

A long speech by one character

Dialogue

Conversation between two or more characters

Tragedy

A sad or serious story

Comedy

A funny or light-hearted story

Melodrama

Overacting with clear good and bad characters

Farce

Silly, exaggerated humor

Musical Drama

Drama that includes music and singing

Short Story

A brief fictional narrative

Novel

A long fictional narrative

Essay

Writer’s ideas about a topic

Autobiography

Life story written by the subject

Biography

Life story written by someone else

Journal / Diary

Personal daily writing

Memoir

A life experience or memory narrative

Literary Nonfiction

True story told with creative style

Informative Nonfiction

True, educational writing

Linear Plot

Events told in chronological order

Nonlinear Plot

Events out of order, may include flashbacks

Episodic Plot

Loosely connected episodes

Cumulative Plot

Repetition with added details

Frame / Embedded Story

A story within another story

Exposition

Introduction of a plot

Rising Action

Events leading to the climax

Climax

Peak or turning point of a story

Falling Action

Events after the climax

Denouement

The ending or solution

Meter

The beat or rhythm of poetry

Iambic

Unstressed-stressed beat pattern

Anapestic

Unstressed-unstressed-stressed pattern

Dactylic

Stressed-unstressed-unstressed pattern

Trochaic

Stressed-unstressed beat pattern

Alliteration

Repeating starting consonant sounds

Assonance

Repeating vowel sounds

Consonance

Repeating consonant sounds within words

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sounds

Imagery

Language that creates sensory pictures

End Rhyme

Rhyming words at the ends of lines

Personification

Giving human traits to non-humans

Simile

Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor

Direct comparison without “like” or “as”

Analogy

Explains a relationship between two pairs

Allusion

Reference to something well known

Achilles’ heel

A person’s weakness

Pandora’s box

A small action causing big trouble

"I Sit and Sew"

Poem about a woman’s frustration and helplessness during war

"The Story of an Hour"

Story of a woman’s brief freedom after hearing her husband died