Literary Terms

Got it! Here are your flashcards, tailored to your specific list and with concise examples:

Figures of Speech

• Front: Metaphor

  • Back: A figure of speech that directly describes one object by stating that it is another, unlike object, without using "like" or "as." Example: "The world is a stage."

• Front: Tenor

  • Back: The subject or thing being described in a metaphor. Example: In "The world is a stage," the tenor is "world."

• Front: Vehicle

  • Back: The object whose characteristics are used to describe the tenor in a metaphor. Example: In "The world is a stage," the vehicle is "stage."

• Front: Personification

  • Back: Giving human characteristics to something that is not human. Example: "The wind whispered."

• Front: Simile

  • Back: A figure of speech that indirectly compares two fundamentally unlike things, often using "like" or "as." Example: "He ran like a gazelle."

• Front: Metonymy

  • Back: The comparison—or describing one thing as another—of unlike things based on their proximity. Example: "The crown issued a decree."

• Front: Synecdoche

  • Back: A subset of metonymy that uses the part to describe the whole, or the whole to describe the part. Example: "Wheels" to mean "car."

• Front: Allusion

  • Back: A brief reference to a cultural, mythological, or historical person, place, thing, or idea which invokes the context without explicitly spelling it out. Example: "He was a real Romeo."

• Front: Oxymoron

  • Back: A figure of speech that has two contradicting words appearing side by side. Example: "bitter sweet."

• Front: Pun

  • Back: The humorous use of a word, or of two similar sounding words, in such a way to suggest two or more meanings. Example: "A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it is two tired."

• Front: Anaphora

  • Back: The repetition of words or phrases at the beginnings of successive sentences, clauses, or poetic lines. Example: "We shall fight. We shall overcome."

Figures of Sound

• Front: Alliteration

  • Back: The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginnings of words within a close proximity of each other. Example: "silly snakes."

• Front: Rhyme

  • Back: Identical or similar sounds are repeated in the last stressed syllable and all following syllables of a word or words. Example: "cat/hat."

• Front: Masculine Rhyme

  • Back: A rhyme of just 1 syllable. Example: "light/night."

• Front: Feminine Rhyme

  • Back: A rhyme of more than 1 syllable. Example: "flowing/knowing."

• Front: Rhyming Couplets

  • Back: A pair of consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme with each other. Example: "The sun is hot, the day is done."

Form

• Front: Iambic Pentameter

  • Back: A line or verse composed of ten syllables per line, with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. Example: "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?"

• Front: Blank Verse

  • Back: Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example: Many of Shakespeare's plays.

Dramatic Terms

• Front: Soliloquy

  • Back: A speech when a character speaks to themself, sharing inner thoughts and feelings. Example: Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech.

• Front: Aside

  • Back: Brief passage addressed to the audience, not meant to be heard by other characters. Example: A quick comment to the audience.

• Front: Irony

  • Back: A gap between appearance and reality, or expectation and event. Example: A fire station burning down.

• Front: Dramatic Irony

  • Back: Audience knows something characters do not. Example: Audience knows a killer is hiding, but the character does not.

• Front: Comic Relief

  • Back: Moments of humor in a serious situation to ease tension. Example: A humorous character in a tragedy.

• Front: Hamartia

  • Back: Tragic flaw (fatal flaw). Example: Macbeth's ambition.

• Front: Peripeteia

  • Back: Sudden, unexpected turn of events. Example: A sudden reversal of fortune.

• Front: Anagnorisis

  • Back: Movement from ignorance to knowledge; discovery or recognition. Example: A character discovering a hidden truth.

• Front: Catharsis

  • Back: Purging emotions (pity and fear) leading to release and renewal. Example: Emotional release at a play's end.

• Front: Freytag’s Pyramid

Back: A dramatic structure with: Exposition (setting the scene), Rising Action (building tension), Climax (peak of tension), Falling Action (easing tension), Catastrophe/Denouement (resolution).