Lit terms

Flashcard 1
Front: What is a motif in literature?
Back: A motif is a conspicuous recurring element in a work of literature, such as an incident, device, reference, object, idea, or verbal formula.
Example: The emotion of jealousy is a common motif in Shakespeare’s Othello.

Flashcard 2
Front: What is onomatopoeia?
Back: Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sounds reinforce their meaning.
Example: Pop, splash.

Flashcard 3
Front: What is an oxymoron in literature?
Back: An oxymoron is a figure of speech where apparently contradictory terms are grouped together.
Example: Cruel kindness, jumbo shrimp.

Flashcard 4
Front: What is a paradox in literature?
Back: A paradox is a statement that appears contradictory but actually contains some truth.
Example: "He worked hard at being lazy." "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Flashcard 5
Front: What is a periodic sentence?
Back: A periodic sentence is a sentence in which the main or independent clause is at the end, with additional grammatical units leading up to it. The sentence doesn't make sense until the end.
Example: "In the light of the moon, on the desolate plains, howled the wolves."

Flashcard 6
Front: What is polysyndeton?
Back: Polysyndeton is the use of many conjunctions in close succession.
Example: "We have ships and men and money and stores of food."

Flashcard 7
Front: What is slant rhyme in poetry?
Back: Slant rhyme refers to a type of rhyme where two words at the end of a line of poetry have similar but not identical consonant sounds.
Examples: "Worm" and "swarm," "fate" and "save."

Flashcard 8
Front: What is syllepsis?
Back: Syllepsis is a grammatically correct construction where one word is placed in the same grammatical relationship to two words, but in different senses (one literal and one figurative).
Example: "I would rather stain my linen shirt than my honor."
"If we don’t hang together, we shall hang separately" (Benjamin Franklin).

Flashcard 9
Front: What is synecdoche?
Back: Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something signifies the whole.
Example: "Hired hands" to signify workers, "mouths to feed" for hungry people.

Flashcard 10
Front: What is synesthesia in literature?
Back: Synesthesia is when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another.
Example: "Taste the pain" (Red Hot Chili Peppers song), "She painted her room in loud colors."