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Literary Terms
for Ms. Calo's finals
32
English
10th Grade
05/19/2012

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Term
archetype
Definition
a common type of character or a common theme that seems to appear in lit. throughout all cultures and time periods, like the general character of the epic hero
Term
assonance
Definition
the repetition of vowel sounds
Term
ballad
Definition
a song/songlike poem that tells a story, usually have a regular rhythm/rhyming pattern, usually have a refrain- a phrase that is repeated at regular intervals
Term
blank verse
Definition
poetry in unrhymed iambic pentameter
Term
caesura
Definition
a pause/break in the middle of a line of poetry
Term
consonance
Definition
the repetition of consonant sounds (strets and frets) - usually used to refer to final consonant sounds (but can be used for the middle sounds), and alliteration is the same thing but usually used to refer to initial consonant sounds
Term
diction
Definition
an author’s word choice- the connotations of the words used (the emotional implications/associations that a word can carry) are more important to the diction than their denotations (their strict, literal meanings)
Term
elegy
Definition
a sad poem of mourning, usually mourning a death or a lost love
Term
epic
Definition
a long narrative poem that tells of the great deeds done by a hero or the challenges overcome. The hero usually embodies a value of society that the author thinks is important. examples: Beowulf and Milton’s Paradise Lost
Term
epithet
Definition
a descriptive phrase regularly used to characterize a character or a place, or used in place of their name. for ex., “the gray-eyed goddess Athena” (or just “the gray-eyed goddess)
Term
fable
Definition
a short story teaching a moral/lesson, ex. The Canterbury Tales
Term
feudalism
Definition
the economic, political, and social system of Medieval Europe- 1. the feudal lords(powerful), 2. vassals (did work/military service in exchange for land to live on and farm), 3. serfs (servants, bound to the land)
Term
foil
Definition
a character who provides a strong contrast to another character
Term
frame story
Definition
a story within a story
Term
free verse
Definition
poetry with no regular rhyme, depends on the rhythms of natural speech, ex. The Hollow Men, Dover Beach
Term
humanism
Definition
an intellectual movement in the Renaissance- revived the study of the classics, focused on the study of human life/ earthly matters over religion, ex. Thomas More
Term
hyperbole
Definition
an exaggeration to make a point
Term
iambic pentameter
Definition
a line of poetry made up of five iambs (one iamb= an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable)
Term
dramatic irony
Definition
when the audience/reader knows something that the characters in the play/story don’t because of a third person omniscient point of view
Term
lyric poetry
Definition
poetry that focuses on expressing emotions rather than telling a story
Term
metonymy
Definition
when something related to a thing/suggested by it is used in place of the thing itself, ex. : “the White House” for the president/gov.
Term
ode
Definition
a long lyric poem, usually thoughtful and on serious subjects
Term
onomatopoeia
Definition
the use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning, ex. “lapping” in The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Term
parable
Definition
a short allegorical story that teaches a moral lesson
Term
paradox
Definition
something that seems to contradict itself, but is actually true, for ex. “Death, thou shalt die” from Donne’s “Death be not proud”
Term
pastoral
Definition
related to idyllic country life
Term
third person limited point of view
Definition
the narrator is outside the story but tells it from the vantage point of only one character
Term
third person omniscient
Definition
told from outside the story, and the narrator is “all knowing”
Term
sonnet
Definition
a 14 line lyric poem
Term
stream of consciousness
Definition
writing that tried to follow the random flow of thoughts and emotions going through a person’s mind, demonstrated by Virginia Woolf and James Joyce
Term
synecdoche
Definition
a figure of speech in which a part represents a whole, ex. to give one’s hand in marriage, with hand representing the whole person
Term
synesthesia
Definition
describing one sense (like sight) in the terms of another (like sound, ex. a “loud” yellow
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