Literary Terms Vocabulary

305 vocabulary flashcards covering literary terms from the video notes.

Abstract language

Language that describes ideas or concepts rather than specific, tangible objects.

Absurdist drama

Theater emphasizing the illogical or meaningless nature of life.

Accentual meter

Poetry that counts only stressed syllables per line.

Accentual-syllabic meter

Poetry that counts both stressed syllables and total syllables.

Adjectives

Words that describe nouns or pronouns.

Allegories

Stories where characters or events symbolize broader ideas or morals.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Allusions

Indirect references to known works, events, or figures.

Anagnorisis

A character’s moment of critical discovery or recognition.

Analogy

A comparison showing similarity between two things.

Anapestic foot

A metrical foot with two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

Anapestic trimeter

A poetic line composed of three anapestic feet.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or clauses.

Ancient Greek drama

Plays from ancient Greece, often tragedies or comedies.

Antagonist

Character or force opposing the protagonist.

Anthology citations

Instructions for citing a work from a collection in bibliographies.

Antihero

A main character who lacks traditional heroic qualities.

Antinovels

Novels that reject traditional structure and plot conventions.

Antithesis

A rhetorical device presenting contrasting ideas in parallel form.

Aphorisms

Concise, memorable statements expressing a general truth.

Apostrophe

Direct address to someone absent or to an inanimate object as if it were present.

Appositive

A noun or phrase that renames or explains another noun beside it.

Asides

Remarks spoken by a character intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters.

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.

Atmosphere

The prevailing mood or feeling in a literary work.

Author information

Details about the author used in citations or bibliographies.

Ballad meter

A poetic meter consisting of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter.

Bibliographic information

Full details of sources used, for citation purposes.

Bildungsroman

A novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood.

Blank verse

Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter.

Blocking of asides

Stage directions indicating how and when asides should be delivered.

Caesuras

Pauses or breaks within a line of poetry, usually marked by punctuation.

Catalectic foot (catalexis)

A metrical foot that is missing a syllable, often at the end of a line.

Catharsis in tragedy

Emotional release or purification experienced by the audience after a tragic drama.

Characterization

The process by which a writer reveals the personality and traits of a character.

Chiasmus

A rhetorical device in which words or concepts are repeated in reverse order.

Classical tragedy

A tragedy adhering to the conventions established by ancient Greek and Roman drama.

Closed couplets

Two rhymed lines that form a complete, independent thought.

Closed form of poetry

Poetry that follows a specific pattern of meter and rhyme.

Closet drama

A play written to be read rather than performed.

Colloquial language

Informal, everyday speech used in writing or conversation.

Comedy

A literary work with a humorous tone and usually a happy ending.

Common meter

A poetic meter with alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines, often used in hymns.

Complete predicate

The verb and all words related to it in a sentence.

Complete subject

The main noun and all its modifiers in a sentence.

Complex sentences

Sentences containing one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Compound sentences

Sentences made up of two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction.

Conceit, metaphysical

An extended metaphor that makes a striking and elaborate comparison between two very different things.

Concrete language

Language that describes specific, tangible objects or actions.

Conjunctions, coordinating

Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal rank (e.g., and, but, or).

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words in close proximity.

Coordinated clauses

Independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions

Conjunctions that join equal sentence parts (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Coordination

The grammatical linking of equal elements within a sentence.

Cosmic irony

The perception that fate or the universe is indifferent or hostile to human hopes and efforts.

Couplets

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

Cumulative sentence

A sentence that starts with the main clause and then adds details or modifiers.

Curtal sonnet

A shortened sonnet form consisting of 10.5 lines.

Dactylic feet

Metrical feet consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Dactylic tetrameter

A line of poetry with four dactylic feet.

Dependent clause

A clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence and depends on an independent clause.

Detail selection and order

The choice and arrangement of details in writing to shape meaning or effect.

Dialogue

The spoken words between characters in a literary work.

Diction

The choice of words and style of expression in writing or speech.

Dimeter

A poetic line consisting of two metrical feet.

Direct discourse

The exact words spoken or thought by a character, usually quoted.

Direct object

The noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb.

Direct satire

Satire in which the author or speaker addresses the audience directly.

Doggerel tragedy

A poorly written or trivial tragic work.

Domestic tragedy

A tragedy that focuses on middle- or lower-class characters and family issues.

Double rhyme

A rhyme involving two syllables, as in motion and ocean.

Drama

Literature intended for performance, usually involving conflict and emotion.

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows information that characters do not.

Dramatic monologue

A poem in which a single character speaks to a silent listener revealing their thoughts or feelings.

Dramatic poetry

Poetry that contains dramatic elements, such as dialogue or conflict.

Eighteenth-century drama

Plays written during the 1700s, often characterized by wit and satire.

Elizabethan drama

Plays written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, notably including Shakespeare’s works.

Email, in order of works cited

Guidelines for citing email correspondence in bibliographies.

Endnotes, MLA style

Notes placed at the end of a document to provide additional information or citations according to MLA format.

End rhyme

Rhyme occurring at the ends of lines.

End-stopped lines

Lines of poetry that end with punctuation, signaling a pause.

English medieval drama

Plays from medieval England often with religious themes.

English (Shakespearean) sonnets

Fourteen-line poems with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Enjambments

The continuation of a sentence or phrase beyond the end of a line in poetry without pause.

Epic poetry (epics)

Long narrative poems telling of heroic deeds and events.

Epigrams

Short, witty poems or statements.

Epiphany

A sudden realization or insight experienced by a character.

Epistolary novels

Novels written as a series of letters or correspondence.

Equivoque

A pun or phrase with multiple meanings.

Essay, understatement

Writing that deliberately downplays the importance of something.

Exposition

The part of a story that provides background information.

Extended metaphors

Metaphors developed at length throughout a passage or entire work.

Eye rhyme

Words that appear to rhyme based on spelling but do not sound alike.

Fallacy, pathetic

Attributing human feelings to nature in an inappropriate or false way.

Falling meters

Metrical feet that move from stressed to unstressed syllables, like trochees and dactyls.

Farce

A comedy characterized by exaggerated situations and physical humor.

Feet, metrical

Basic units of measurement in poetry consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Feminine ending

A line of poetry ending with an unstressed syllable.

Fiction

Literature based on imaginative narration rather than facts.

Fictional narrator

A narrator who is a created character within a story.