English Terms- Final 2024

Harlem Renaissance

A literary, artistic, and intellectual movement from the 1920-1930s that kindled a new black cultural identity

Imagism

Poetic movement focused on hard, clear expression, concrete images, and the language of everyday speech

Modernism

a literary movement in which writers captured the essence of modern life in both the form and content of their work

realism

a literary movement in which writers sought to portray life as faithfully and accurately as possible, focusing on ordinary people suffering the harsh realities of everyday life

Naturalism

a literary movement in which writers showed people succumbing to forces beyond their control

Regionalism

a literary movement in which writers depicted the unique qualities of a geographical area and its people

southern gothic

a style of writing practiced by many writers of the american south whose stories set in the region are characterized by grotesque, macabre (disturbing), or fantastic incidents

grotesque

distorted, exaggerated description (of ten of the human body)

allegory

a story in which all the literal elements are also symbols

catalog

list of things, people, places, actions, etc

dramatic monologue

speaker of the poem is a character who addresses the reader like a character in a play might speak to the audience

syntax

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentneces in a language

• ex- subject + verb + object → the clilmbs the tree

free verse

a poem that does not have a particular rhyme scheme or meter

hyperbole

exaggeration

imagery

descriptive writing that appeals to the senses

situational irony

when something happens in a way that is opposite of what’s expected

dramatic irony

when the reader knows something that a character does not

verbal irony

when someone says the opposite of what they mean

narrative poem

a poem that tells a story

paradox

a statement that at first appears to be contradictory, but upon closer inspection turns out to make sense

parallelism

a balance within one more sentences of similar phrases that have the same grammatical structure

refrain

a phrase, line, or set of lines that is repeated at regular intervals

metaphor

a comparison of two unlike things

simile

comparison of two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”

slant or near rhyme

the sounds are almost but not exactly alike

spirituals

folk songs often sung by enslaved African Americans

stream of consciousness

writing that presents thoughts and ideas the way the human experiences them- in short bursts, without full sentences, and often without clear or logical connections

third person limited narration

when a story is restricted to the perspective of one particular character with the use of he/she pronouns

third person omniscient narration

an all-knowing narrator who is not a character in a story

allusion

an implied or indirect reference to a person, event or thing (like to the bible or story)

irony

situation where a contrast between reality and expectations

onomatopoeia

using words that create or imitate a sound

understatement

literary device used to downplay a situation as less serious, significant or smaller than it is