Literary Terms Flashcards

Flashcards covering literary terms discussed in the provided lecture notes.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in adjacent words.

Allusion

A reference to something outside a text, such as history, mythology, or pop culture.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in adjacent words.

Caesura

A pause within a line of poetry, indicated by punctuation.

Catharsis

The cleansing or purging of emotion in or caused by a literary work.

Closed Form Poetry

Poetry that sticks to predictable patterns and structures.

Connotation

The associated feelings or ideas that a particular word evokes.

Diction

The author's choice of words; analyzed using precise adjectives.

Dramatic Irony

When the reader or audience member knows something that a character does not.

Dynamic Character

A character that undergoes a significant character change throughout a narrative.

Enjambment

When a line of poetry continues onto the next line without any punctuation.

Epiphany

A sudden realization or discovery of the truth or meaning of things.

Flashback

A scene that interrupts the established linear narrative of a text to introduce character backgrounds or other important details.

Foil

A character who contrasts with the protagonist, highlighting differences and similarities.

Hyperbole

The use of extravagant exaggeration for a figurative effect.

Imagery

Sensory images contained in or evoked by a text, either figurative or directly described.

In Medias Res

Latin for 'in the midst of things;' a narrative that starts in the middle of the plot.

Juxtaposition

The act of contrasting two objects or images side by side to study the effects of this contrast.

Metaphor

A subtle or implied comparison between two unlike things.

Narrator

The voice or persona telling a story.

Open Form Poetry

Poetry that does not follow expected or predictable patterns.

Paradox

A statement that contradicts itself, or that must be both true and untrue at the same time.

Personification

The act of giving human qualities to a non-human object, emotion, or entity.

Perspective

How narrators, characters, or speakers understand their circumstances, informed by background, personality, biases, and relationships.

Point of View

The perspective used in a text, which affects how a story is told.

Setting

The time and place of a story, including the historical and cultural background.

Simile

A direct comparison between two unlike things, using words like "like," "as," "than," or "resembles."

Situational Irony

When the expected action is turned on its head and the opposite happens instead.

Static Character

A character that remains unchanged throughout the course of a narrative.

Symbol

A tangible object that represents something intangible or abstract.

Syntax

The arrangement of words in a line of poetry or in a sentence of prose.