Honors English 3 Lit Terms

Set 1-4 (Semester 1 Exam)

Anticlimax

a disappointing situation or a sudden transition from something of importance to something trivial or ridiculous

Aside

a statement made by a character in a play, intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters on the stage

Catastrophe

the conclusion of a work, particularly a tragedy, marked by the fall of the central character and including the resolution of the central conflict

Catharsis

the purging of emotions through the viewing of a tragedy

Central conflict

the primary struggle dealt with in the plot of a story or drama

Climax

the point of highest interest and/or suspense in a literary work

Comic relief

humorous scene or character inserted into a drama or other work of fiction to relieve and/or highlight the emotional intensity of the rest of the action in the work

Complication

event(s) which draw out and build the conflict in a literary work

Conflict

a struggle between two forces in a literary work

Crisis

also called the turning point; that point in the development of the conflict at which a decisive event occurs that causes the main character's situation to become better or worse

Denouement

any material that follows the resolution and that ties up loose ends; the end of a literary work

Deus ex machina

the circumstance in which an implausible concept or a divine character is introduced into a storyline for the purpose of resolving its conflict or procuring an interesting outcome

Dialogue

conversation between two or more people in a book, play, or movie

Dramatic/poetic license

the right, claimed by writers, to change elements of reality to suit the purposes of a particular work that they create

Epilogue

a concluding section or statement, often one that comments on or draws conclusions from the work as a whole

Epiphany

a moment of sudden insight in which the essence, or nature, of a person, thing, or situation is revealed

Exposition

that part of the narrative that provides background information, often about the characters, setting, or conflict

External conflict

the struggle between a character in a literary work with some outside force such as another character, nature, society, or fate

Falling action

all the events that follow the climax and/or turning point of a literary work

Flashback

a section of literary work that presents an event or series of events that occurred earlier than the current time in the work, often used to provide exposition

Foreshadowing

the act of presenting material that hint at events to occur later in the story

Fourth wall

a dramatic convention which involves the removal of this at the front of the stage allowing the audience to see action taking place in an imaged interior

Frame tale

a story that itself provides a vehicle for the telling of other stories

In medias res

the technique of beginning a story in the middle of the action

Inciting incident

event which introduces the central conflict of the plot

Intercalary chapter(s)

a chapter in a story that is relevant to the theme, but does not involve the main characters or further the plot

Internal conflict

a struggle between a character in a literary work and something within him

Monologue

a long speech by one actor in a play or movie

Prologue

an introduction to a literary work, often one that sets the scene and introduces the conflict or the main characters

Resolution

the point at which the central conflict is ended

Reversal

a dramatic change in the direction of events in a drama or narrative, especially a change in the fortunes of the protagonist

Rising action

the part of a plot in which a series of events builds the conflict to the climax and/or turning point

Scene

one of the subdivisions of a play

Solioquy

a speech delivered by a lone character that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings

Spectacle

all the elements that are presented to the senses of the audience, including the lights, setting, costumes, makeup, music, sound effects, and movements of the actors in a drama

Subplot

a subordinate story told in addition to the major story in a work of fiction

Suspense

a feeling of expectation, anxiousness, or curiosity created by questions raised in the mind of the reader or viewer

Turning point

also called the crisis; this is the point in the plot where something decisive happens to determine the future course of events, and the eventual working out of the conflict

Alexandrine

a verse of poetry made up of lines of iambic hexameter

Alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds

Anapest

a poetic foot containing two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable

Assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds

Cacophony

harsh or unpleasant sound

Caesura

a major pause in a line of poetry

Consonance

a kind of slant rhyme in which the ending and/or middle consonant sounds of two words match but the vowel sounds do not

Dactyl

a poetic foot made up of an accent syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

Dimeter

a line of poetry consisting of two poetic feet

End Rhyme

rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines of verse

End-stopped line

a line of verse in which both the sense and the grammar are complete at the end of the line

Enjambment

the act of continuing a statement beyond the end of a line of poetry

Euphony

pleasing sound

Eye/sight rhyme

a pair of words, generally at the ends of lines of verse, that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently

Fourteener

a line of poetry consisting of seven iambic feet

Heptameter

a line of poetry consisting of seven poetic feet

Hexameter

a line of poetry consisting of six poetic feet

Iamb

a poetic foot containing an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable

Internal rhyme

the use of rhyming words within lines of poetry

Monometer

a line of poetry consisting of one poetic feet

Octameter

a line of poetry consisting of eight poetic feet

Onomatopoeia

a word that imitates the sound it represents; the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named; word that imitate sounds

Pentameter

a line of poetry consisting of five poetic feet

Prosody

the study of the structure of poetry

Pyrrhic foot

a poetic foot containing two unaccented syllables

Repetition

the writer's conscious reuse of a sound, word, phrase, sentence, or other element

Run-on line

a line of verse in which the sense or the grammatical structure does not end with the end of the line but rather is continued on ones or more subsequent lines

Scansion

the art of analyzing poetry to determine its meter

Slant/off/half rhyme

the substitution of assonance or consonance for true rhyme

Spondee

a poetic foot containing two accented syllables

Stress/accent

the level of emphasis given to a syllable

Tetrameter

a line of poetry consisting of four poetic feet

Trimeter

a line of poetry consisting of three poetic feet

Trochee

a poetic foot containing an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable

Allegory

an extended form of personification in which an abstract concept is presented as it were a character who speaks and acts an independent being or a story in which nearly every aspect represents an abstract concept

Anaphora

the intentional repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines, stanzas, sentences, or paragraphs

Antithesis

figurative language in which words or phrases that are parallel in order and syntax express opposite or contrasting meanings

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love

Chiasmus

two or more clauses which are related grammatically and conceptually, but in which the grammar and concepts are reversed

Cosmic irony

a type of irony that replies to a worldview in which characters are led to embrace false hopes of aid or success, only to be defeated by some larger force, such as God or fate

Dead metaphor

a metaphor that is so familiar that its original metaphorical meaning is rarely thought of when the expression is used

Dramatic irony

a type of irony that involves the reader's or audience's knowledge of something that a character does not have

Epithet

a characteristic word or phrase used alongside the name of a person, place, or thing

Equivoque

a special form of pun in which a word or phrase that has disparate meanings is used in a way that makes each meaning equally relevant

Euphemism

the use of an innocuous phrase to replace a less blunt or pointed word or phrase

Extended metaphor

a metaphor that is carried through several lines or longer

Hyperbole

figurative language in which a point is greatly exaggerated

Irony

the broadest category of figurative language that depends on a deliberate contrast between two levels of meaning

Litotes

figurative language in which a point is affirmed by negating its opposite, a special form of understatement delivered with a sarcastic tone

Metaphor

a comparison of two seemingly dissimilar items as though one were the other

Metonymy

figurative language which substitutes the name of an entity which something else is closely associated with it

Mixed metaphor

a metaphor which occurs when two or more incongruous comparisons are applied to the same object, person, or place

Oxymoron

a compressed paradox that closely links two seemingly contrasting elements in a way that, on further consideration, turns out to make good sense

Paradox

figurative language in which a statement that appears on the surface to be contradictory or impossible turns out to express an often striking truth

Pathetic fallacy

a special type of personification that occurs when inanimate aspects of nature, such as the landscape or the weather, are given human qualities or feelings

Periphrasis

figurative language in which a point is stated by deliberate circumlocution rather than directly

Personfication

figurative language in which an abstract concept, animal, or inanimate object is treated as though it were alive and had human attributes

Pun

a play on words that have the same or closely similar sounds but sharply contrasting meanings

Sarcasm

an ironic remark, somewhat rooted in humor, that is intended to mock or satirize something; often difficult to convey as it is frequently dependent on context and/or tone

Simile

a comparison of two seemingly dissimilar items using the words "like" or "as"

Situational irony

a type of irony in which events turn out very differently than expected than expected by the characters and the audience

Structural irony

a type of irony that refers to an implication of alternate or reverse meaning that pervades a literary work