Year Two IB Language & Literature Terms

Flashcards with key terms and definitions from Year Two IB Language & Literature.

anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

alliteration

A pattern of sound that includes the repetition of sounds.

allusion

A reference in literature to a person, place, or thing in history or other work of literature.

aside

A short line of dialogue not spoken to (all) characters on stage.

assonance

A pattern of alliteration that repeats the vowel sounds.

atmosphere (or tone)

Portrays a broad understanding for a text through feeling.

blank verse

A metered poem which does not employ a rhyming scheme.

connotation

The idea that an image or words evokes beyond its literal meaning.

consonance

A pattern of alliteration that repeats the consonant sounds.

ethos

A rhetorical device that develops leadership or knowledge to convince an audience.

foreshadowing

The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature.

hyperbole

An extravagant exaggeration used for emphasis or vivid descriptions.

iambic pentameter

A line of ten syllables that is accented on every second beat.

imagery

Use of metaphors, similes and or descriptive words to emphasize understanding.

icon

A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.

irony

Refers to how a person, situation or statement is not as it might actually appear.

juxtaposition

Two things that are placed close together to create a contrasting effect.

logos

A rhetorical device that employs logic (statistics, etc.) to convince an audience of an idea.

metaphor

A statement that says one thing is something else, though literally it is not.

motif

A recurring object, concept, or structure in a text.

narrative

A collection of events that tell a story.

onomatopoeia

The use of sounds that are similar to the noise.

oxymoron

Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense, such as 'jumbo shrimp'.

paradox

A self-contradictory statement that is nevertheless true.

pathos

A rhetorical device that evokes pity or sadness to convince an audience of an idea.

personification

A figure of speech where animals or inorganic objects have human characteristics.

repetition

Stressing the importance of a word and/or phrase.

rhetoric

The use of figures of speech and other techniques used to persuade an audience.

rhyming couplet

A pair of rhyming lines to indicate the end of a scene.

simile

A comparison between two unlike objects/ideas through words 'like' or 'as'.

soliloquy

A speech given to oneself connecting a series of personal reflections.

stanza

A unified group of lines in poetry (A sapphic stanza has four lines).

symbol

An object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

synecdoche

Referring to a part of something representing the entire thing.

synesthesia

When you experience one of your senses through another.

theme

Links aspects of a text with other texts and its essential subject.