Literary Terms Test Questions – Flashcards

A fictional character who stands as a representative of some identifiable class or group of people.

A fictional representation of a person in a play or a story. This establishes the difference of one character from another.

“A fictional style, characterized by the Odyssey, in which everything is externalized and no contour is blurred. “Clearly outlined, brightly and uniformly illuminated, man and things stand out in a realm where everything is visible; and not less clear—wholly expressed, orderly even in their ardor—are the feelings and thoughts of the persons involved (Auerbach).” “

“A figure of speech (usually metaphor, simile, personification, or apostrophe) sustained or developed through a considerable number of lines or through a whole poem.”

A figure of speech based on inverted parallelism.

A figure of speech by which an affirmation is made indirectly by denying its opposite.

“A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words “”like”” or “”as.””

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth.

A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.

“A figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. “

A figure of speech used in subtle ways in which a word represents another object or idea to which it is related; often used in literature to have objects in nature symbolize human emotions.

A figure of speech wherein a part of something represents the whole thing.

“A figure of speech which takes the form of a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison can be found, and which uses the words “”like”” or “”as”” in the comparison.”

A form of a pun in which one of the two meanings is risqué or sexually suggestive.

A form of art in which the artist depicts the inner essence of man and projects his view of the world as colored by that essence.

“A form of fiction developed in the late eighteenth-century, particularly in England, generally attributed to Horace Walpole. Walpole claimed that he was trying to combine two kinds of fiction: events and story typical of the medieval romance and the delineation of character typical of the realistic novel.”

“A form of folktale in which supernatural events or characters are prominent, usually depicting a realm of reality beyond that of the natural world in which the laws of the natural world are suspended. “

A form of implied comparison or contrast created by placing two items side by side.

“A form of romanticism, largely of a philosophical nature; sponsored by Americans such as Emerson and Thoreau.”

A four-line stanza which may be rhymed or unrhymed.

A genre that lies between the “uncanny” and the “marvelous.”

“A highly formalized and logically structured mode of short fiction, the origin of which is attributed to Poe. “

A judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement.

A kind of ambiguity in literature resulting from a series of images invoking streams of thought.

“A kind of fiction that pictures creatures or events beyond the boundaries of known reality. Imaginative writing that takes the reader into an unrealistic, made-up world.”

“A kind of fiction, developing in the 18th century and principally in the novel, that attempts to correspond closely to possible actual reality.”

A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice.

“A Latin phrase which translates to “”Seize (catch) the day,”” meaning “”Make the most of today”; a motif in poetry.”

A literary composition that aims to provoke laughter by ridiculing serious works; a grotesque imitation of the dignified or pathetic.

A literary trope coined by the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin that refers to a literary mode that subverts and liberates the assumptions of the hegemony through humor and chaos.

A literary work that aims to arouse laughter by a ludicrous or grotesque imitation of a serious work.

A literary work that has to do with shepherds and rustic settings.

A literary work that imitates the style of another literary work.

“A literary work which is amusing and ends happily, and which emphasizes human limitation rather than human greatness.”

A long work of prose fiction. The form narrates the actions of characters who are the invention of the author and who are placed in an imaginary setting.

“A lyric poem lamenting death, loss, or the passing of things of value.”

A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose rhyme scheme is fixed.

A major subdivision in a poem.

A maker of plays.

A metrical pattern characterized by two or more successively-placed accented syllables. .

A metrical pattern in a line of poetry characterized by one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.

A metrical pattern of one unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.

“A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive.”

“A mode of a work in which the writer applies total objectivity in his/her observation and treatment of life without idealizing, imposing value judgments, or avoiding the repulsive; in practice, authors have distorted this objectivity by introducing excessively noble heroes and sensational incidents. “

“A movement or tendency in art, music, and literature to retain the characteristics found in work originating in classical Greece and Rome.”

“A narrative or description that has a second meaning beneath the surface one. Although the surface story or description may have its own interest, the author’s major interest is in the ulterior meaning.”

“A narrative that is handed down from generation to generation, usually associated with a particular place and a specific event. “

A pause within a line of poetry which may or may not affect the metrical.

A play on the multiple meanings of a word or on two words with the same sound but different meanings.

A plot which repeats basic historical or primitive life patterns; a universal symbol evoking deep responses in readers; from the psychology of Carl Jung and theory of Northrop Frye.

A poem in praise of something divine or expressing a noble idea.

A poem that visually resembles something found in the physical world. A poem about a wormy apple written so that the words form the shape of an apple.

A quick succession of images or pictures to express an idea; used primarily in films.

A recognition or discovery on the part of the hero that results in a change from ignorance to knowledge.

A reference to an event which took place prior to the beginning of a story or play.

“A reference, explicit (clearly expressed) or implicit (implied), to something in previous literature or history.”

“A repeated word, phrase, line or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form.”

A repetition of sentences using the same structure.

“A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject’s distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect. “

A restatement of the content of a poem designed to make its prose meaning as clear as possible.

“A rule of conduct or maxim for living expressed or implied as the “”point”” of a literary work.”

“A set of beliefs and attitudes shared by a group, class or society; a collection of ‘truths’ about what is normal, what is valuable, and what is right.”

A seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literary form that presents types rather than individual characters.

A short fictional narrative.

A short poem in which the poet expresses an emotion or illuminates some life principle.

A situation containing apparently but not actually incompatible elements.

“A situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.”

A situation in which the author gives the plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the character involved.

“A situation, event, or an object that, when presented or described in a work, evokes a particular emotion for which the object is the formula.”

A statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant.

A stereotypical character.

“A story in poetic form, often about tragic love, and usually sung. These were passed down from generation to generation by singers.”

“A story of the exploits of a hero, or the story of a family told through several generations.”

A subdivision of an act in a play.

A subdivision of an epic poem. Each of the three books of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is divided into this unit.

A term coined by Nothrope Frye to indicate the author’s attempt to make the story psychologically motived and “realistic” even though the basic direction and motivation of the events of the story are its mythic plot.

A term contrary to traditional conventions of fiction in the following ways: (1) The reality of the external world is broken up. (2) Realism is violated to return to the earlier narrative world of the romance and fairy tale. (3) Event is less important than subjective voice. (4) The story may not have an identifiable theme. (5) The extreme rather than the ordinary in human experience is emphasized. (6) The experiencing mind takes the place of the analytical author.

“A term used by Aristotle to describe some sort of emotional release experienced by the audience at the end of a successful tragedy: the audience’s release of emotions of pity and fear. In comedy, the release is laughter and ridicule. In melodrama, the release allows for the pugration of fear and hatred.”

“A term used for words in a riming pattern that have some kind of sound correspondence but are not perfect rimes (for example, began-gun, flush-flash, arrayed-said).”

“A tragic flaw, weakness of character or error in judgment, which causes the downfall of the hero.”

“A trope in which an idea or inanimate object is described as though it were living, without attributing human traits to it.”

“A type of comedy based on a situation which provides the humor, not the cleverness of plot or lines, nor the absurdities of the character as in situational comedy.”

“A type of comedy whose likable and sensible main characters are placed in difficulties from which they are rescued at the end of the play, either attaining their ends or having their good fortunes restored.”

“A type of comedy whose main purpose is to expose and ridicule human folly, vanity, or hypocrisy.”

A type of drama (most often associated with Elizabethan and Jacobean drama) that mixes the conventions of tragedy and comedy and in which the protagonist suffers, but ultimately succeeds in his/her endeavors.

“A type of drama related to tragedy but featuring sensational incidents, emphasizing plot at the expense of characterization, relying on cruder conflicts (virtuous protagonist verses villainous antagonist), and having a happy ending in which good triumphs over evil.”

“A type of drama which is pre-eminently the story of one person, the hero who suffers a total reversal of fortune.”

“A type of play, written according to formula, characterized by a tightly structures, suspenseful plot that turns on a secret; quickly rising action; and a series of reversals, inevitably leading to a climactic scene that reveals the secret and allows the hero to triumph.”

A type of tragedy (originating in the eighteenth-century as a reflection of its growing middle-class society) in which an ordinary middle-class (or lower-class) protagonist suffers ordinary (although by no means insignificant) disasters.

A verse form composed of interlocking three-line stanzas.

A very short tale told by a character in a literary work.

A violent and scurrilous satirical attack against a person or institution.

A way of speaking which is characteristic of a certain geographical area or a certain group of people.

“A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell.”

A word or phrase that links to different ideas.

A word’s implied or suggested meaning.

“Also called the “”Resolution,”” this is the point in a drama to which the entire play has been leading. It is the logical outcome of everything that has come before it.”

“Although literature may depict life, the depiction is always by means of devices of stylization and compression. Such tropes constitute the necessary difference between life and art. “

“An allegorical form common in the Middle Ages in which the narrator or a character falls asleep and then dreams a dream that becomes the actual framed story. Often, the line between dream and reality is blurred.”

An author’s method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group.

An ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved.

An ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity. This provides an answer to the question. “What is the work about? “

“An invocation is any address to a deity, usually for help of some sort.”

An unchanging character.

An unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation; used to create suspense.

An unverifiable story based on a religious belief.

“Any dramatic device which, although it departs from reality, is implicitly accepted by author and audience as a means of representing.”

Applied to the voice or mask the author adopts for the telling the story or “speaking” the words of a lyric poem.

“Aristotle’s term for arrogance or overweening pride which causes the hero’s transgression against the gods; usually, the tragic flaw.”

As distinguished from Dionysian; refers to the noble qualities of human beings and nature as opposed to the savage and destructive forces.

“As expressed in the works of such writers as Kafka, Camus, and Faulkner, a view of life that emphasizes existence as opposed to essence; human beings are presented as unable to solve the basic enigmas of life.”

“As opposed to abstract terms, these refer to things that have actual existence, that can be seen or known.”

“As opposed to concrete terms, these represent ideas or thoughts—generalities.”

“At the basic level, there is the most common definition of a word.”

Author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people/places/events in a work.

Bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed.

“Broadly speaking, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly, a way of saying one thing and meaning another. Similar to Tropes.”

Central character engaging a reader’s/audience’s interest/empathy.

Character/force in fiction or drama in conflict with the protagonist; a person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work.

Comparison in which the terms are not explicitly explained.

Complex character displaying inconsistencies and internal conflicts.

Concrete poem in which the lines form a specific shape related to the poem’s content.

Condensed paradox juxtaposing two contradictory words.

“Consisting of unrhymed five-stress lines, as used by Marlowe, Shakespeare and Milton develops an inner cohesion that replaces the props provided by rhyme and stanza. It became the standard meter for English dramatic and epic poetry. “

Consists of rhyming words of two syllables in which the accent falls on the first syllable.

“Depended upon quantity, a long syllable being regarded as occupying twice the time taken up by a short syllable. Long and short syllables were combined in feet.”

Detached third person narrator unable to see into the mind of any other character.

Difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does.

“Dignified, impersonal, elevated language conveying a lofty tone.”

“Distinguished from Apollonian; refers to the sensual, pleasure-seeking qualities of humans and nature.”

“Drama that attempts, in content and in presentation, to preserve the illusion of actual, everyday life.”

“Drama that, in content, presentation, or both, departs markedly from fidelity to the outward appearances of life.”

Eight feet constituting a line of verse.

Elevated diction that differs significantly from common speech.

Fiction that rejects tested formulas in an attempt to give a fresh interpretation of life.

Fiction written to meet the taste of a wide popular audience which relies usually on tested formulas for satisfying such taste.

“From the Greek for “”orator,”” this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively.”

“God, destiny, or fate dashing the hopes/expectations of characters.”

“In a line of poetry, two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable forming the pattern for the line or perhaps for the entire poem. “

“In a strict sense, refers to an elaborate style of architecture that followed classicism; in general usage, however, refers to elaborate and unstructured style.”

“In all sustained spoken English we feel a rhythm, that is, a recognizable through variable pattern in the beat of the stresses in the stream of sound. If this rhythm of stresses is structured into a recurrence of regular–that is, approximately equivalent–units, we identify as this trope. Compositions written in this trope are known as verse.”

“In common usage, an attitude that emphasizes human interests; an optimistic view of human potential.”

“In drama, a conversation between two or more characters.”

“In drama, a method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come.”

“In drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to the beginning of the play.”

“In literature and art, an attempt to reproduce and interpret the visions and images of the unconscious mind as manifested in dreams; characterized by an irrational arrangement of bizarre experiences.”

“In literature and in art, the depiction of idealized, fabulous, or fantastic characters and events; the stories abound in dashing, extravagant adventures, characters of extreme virtues or faults, exotic worlds, strong and inflexible loyalties, and idealized love-making.”

“In literature generally, a major work dealing with an important theme.”

“In literature, a speaker talks either in the first person from his or her own perspective, or in the third person from the perspective of an onlooker. The perspective used is identified by this term.”

“In literature, a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.”

“In literature, a word of phrase preceding or following a name which serves to describe the character.”

“In literature, the occurrence of a single speaker saying something to a silent audience.”

“In modern usage, a poet. In the past, however, the term referred to poets who related stories of heroes to the accompaniment of a musical instrument such as the harp.”

“In poetry, a metrical pattern consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.”

“In satirical writing, the use of denunciatory, angry, and insulting language.”

“In the broadest sense, anyone who recounts a narrative, either in writing or orally.”

“In the Middle Ages, tales of exciting adventures written in the vernacular instead of Latin. Currently, this now applies to any fictional account of heroic achievements, colorful scenes, passionate love, or supernatural experiences.”

“In writing, the presentation of the salient features of a scene, event, or person as they appear to the author at the time; a highly personal approach.”

Inflated language; the use of high-sounding language for a trivial subject.

Intrinsic criticism; a concern by a critic with analysis of a work itself without seeking answers to problems in the biography or milieu of the author or in influences upon him/her; the method of the New Critics.

Irony in which one is the instrument of his/her own downfall.

Is a form of rhyme wherein the way words look (based on spelling) rather than sound is important.

Is a movement usually said to have begun in the early twentieth-century as an attempt to overturn nineteenth-century bourgeois realism.

Is a pleasant combination of sounds.

Is an unpleasant combination of sounds.

“It can mean simply an extended piece of writing or speech on a particular subject: a treatise, discussion, sermon, etc.”

“Japanese verse form consists of three lines: five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven syllables in the second line.”

“Kind or type; in literature, these include poetry, prose, and drama.”

“Literary device revealing a reality different from what appears to be true. It is any situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy.”

Literature designed explicitly to instruct.

Literature that provides valid insights into the nature of human life or behavior.

Literature with imagined characters and events.

“Literature written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life or behavior.”

“Many things enter into this: the author’s use of figurative language, diction, sound effects and other literary devices.”

“Metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things; a figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.”

“Narration point of view using “”I”” and presenting just one character’s understanding of events.”

Narrator whose interpretation of events runs contrary to the author’s own.

“Nonmetrical verse, arranged in lines that may be more or less rhythmical, but has no fixed metrical pattern or expectation.”

“Occurs when the final consonants rhyme, but the vowel sounds do not (chill-Tulle; Day-Eternity).”

“On the assumption that stories are governed by rules, a grammar of stories is a set of statements describing these rules. “

One foot constituting a line of verse.

One line that runs into another without pause to complete its meaning; also called run-on line.

“One of the major divisions of genre, this refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms, because they are written in ordinary language and most closely resemble everyday speech.”

One sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience.

One who undergoes some kind of a change because of an action in the plot.

Opening speech or dialogue of a play or the introduction to any literary work.

“Plain everyday language including slang, idiomatic expressions, etc.”

“Poetry using artificially eloquent language, that is, language too high-flown for its occasion and unfaithful to the full complexity of human experience.”

Poetry whose primary purpose is to teach or preach.

“Predominant in English poetry, consists of accented words of one syllable or polysyllabic words where the final syllable is accented.”

Prevailing mood through which the poet tries to make the reader feel or respond to the poem’s themes.

“Protagonist with attributes opposite to, or incompatible with, of those traditionally heroic. “

Recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry; any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.

“Refers to an attempt on the part of an author to reproduce the unembellished flow of thoughts in the human mind with its feelings, judgments, associations, and memories.”

Related metaphors providing a sustained comparison in all/part of a poem.

“Resolution of the plot following the climax, literally means “”unraveling””; that portion of a plot that reveals the final outcome of its conflicts or the solution of its mysteries.”

Rhymed words included within a line of verse.

Rhymes that occur at the ends of lines.

Selection and arrangement of incidents in a story to shape action and give focus. It is the turning point or highest emotional point in a story.

Selection/arrangement of incidents in a story to shape the action and give meaning.

Sequence of words printed as a single entity on a page.

Seven feet to a live of verse.

“Similar to allegory, but shorter; a story that teaches a moral lesson.”

Similar to apologue: a brief tale designed to illustrate a moral lesson. Often the characters are animals or inanimate things as in the fables of Aesop.

“Similar to plurisignation, a statement which can contain two or more meanings.”

Similar to truth; the quality of realism in a work which persuades the reader that he/she is getting a vision of life as it is.

Six feet in a line of verse.

Slang or informality in speech or writing.

Specifically meaning “rebirth”; also applied to the period between the medieval and the modern world.

Statement that initially appears contradictory but actually makes sense.

Storytelling.

“Suspense in fiction results primarily from two factors: the reader’s identification with and concern for the welfare of a convincing and sympathetic character, and an anticipation of violence.”

That element of literature which stimulates pity or sorrow. Overdone or misused pathos becomes mere sentimentality.

“That method of characterization in which the author shows us a character in action, compelling us to infer what the character is like from what is said or done by the character.”

“That method of characterization in which the author, by exposition or analysis, tells us directly what a character is like, or has someone else in the story do so.”

That part of a poem’s total meaning that can be separated out and expressed through paraphrase.

That point in a story in which the conflict is developed or when the already existing conflict is further intensified. It constitutes the rising action that must lead up to the climax and resolution.

That principle of writing that insists that the separate parts of the work be arranged in such a way that the meaning of the work is clear or the effect of the work is achieved.

That segment of the plot that comes between the climax and the conclusion.

“The atmosphere or feeling generated by a literary work, partly by the description of objects or by the style of the descriptions.”

The basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word.

The basic unit of measurement in a line of poetry.

The chance concurrence of two events having a peculiar correspondence between them.

The condition of a successful literary work whereby all its elements work together for the achievement of its central purpose.

The description and study of the underlying principles of poetry.

The discrepancy between what a character believes and what a reader/audience knows.

“The distance between a work of art and its perceiver, the perceiver recognizing that the work of art is pretense and thereby on occasion larger than life.”

The doctrine (now generally discredited in theory and practice) that good should be rewarded and evil punished—that characters in the end should reap their just rewards.

The English language as spoken after the Norman Conquest (1066); used by Chaucer.

“The fictional style, characterized by the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis, which externalize phenomenon only to the extent that is necessary for the narrative, leaving all else in obscurity.”

“The form of literature known as plays, meant to be performed by actors for an audience.”

“The genre of literature that is written in sentences and also arranged in lines, and frequently the lines of verse establish a pattern of rhythm, called meter. “

The goddesses presiding over the arts.

“The grammatical oratorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. “

The Greek term for understatement or belittling; a rhetorical figure by which something is referred to in terms less important than it really deserves.

“The identity of sound, usually in the endings of lines of verse.”

“The incentives or goals that, in combination with the inherent natures of characters, cause them to behave as they do.”

“The incorporation of an event, scene, or person who does not correspond with the time period portrayed in the work.”

“The individual, often a minor character, to whom a major character reveals or “confesses” his or her most private thoughts and feelings. “

“The ingenious, witty, thoughtful, provocative statement ending a short poem, in which the author provides the substance for the conclusion.”

The main character of a narrative who engages the reader’s interest and empathy.

The method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work.

The occurrence of an event that has no apparent cause in antecedent events or in predisposition of character.

The outcome or solution of the plot.

The part of a drama which begins with the exposition and sets the stage for the climax.

The pattern of rhymes used in a poem.

The person/object/image/word/event evoking abstract meaning beyond the literary.

The physical and social context in which the action of a story or drama occurs.

“The presentation through dialogue of information about events that occurred before the action of a play, or that occur offstage or between the staged actions.”

“The quality in action, speech or writing which excites amusement; less intellectual than wit and having a more sympathetic tone.”

The quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that surprise and delight by their unexpectedness.

“The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words: near rhyme in which identical consonants are preceded by different vowels (for example, book–plaque–thicker).”

“The repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllable or important words (for example, map-moon, kill-code, preach-approve).”

“The repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words (for example, hat-ran-amber, vein-made).”

The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence (so named from the practice of some Greek dramatists having a God descend from heaven at the last possible minute to rescue the protagonist from an impossible situation).

The revelation of a god to a particular character.

The scene in a tragedy which includes the death or moral destruction of the protagonist.

“The situation, whether actual or fictional, realistic or fanciful, in which an author places his or her characters in order to express the theme.”

The speech of a character designed to introduce us directly to the character’s internal life.

The structural reversal of fortune.

The term means a rival or opponent who cannot be overcome.

The type of irony in which a person says one thing but means another.

“The use of ludicrous, commonplace speech or writing; anticlimax.”

The voice used by an author to tell a story or poem.

“The way and author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. “

“The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, which employ elaborate conceits; such poetry is highly intellectual and expresses life’s complexities.”

“The writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language.”

Third person narrator restricted to the perspective of one or two characters.

Third person narrator who sees into all characters’ thoughts.

“This employs logical reasoning, combining a clear idea (or multiple ideas) with a well-thought-out and appropriate examples and details.”

This establishes credibility in the speaker.

This is an extension of the modernist movement that results from an increasing emphasis on self-consciousness and consequently self-reflexiveness in fiction. It moves beyond the modernist focus on the individual self to a fiction that is more and more about itself as fiction and about fictional processes.

This is another term for near rhyme.

This is five feet to a line of verse.

This is four feet to a line of verse.

“This is the process through which any symbol takes on one discreet meaning, from the infinite listing of arbitrary meanings that are possible. It is the assignment of a particular signifier to a particular signified.”

“This is the technical term for the epic convention of beginning “”in the middle of things,”” rather than at the very start of the story.”

“This trope describes a situation in which a word, such as a verb, has nonparallel, unequal links to two or more nouns.”

This trope presents a world radically discontinuous with the virtual world yet makes us confront that world in some cognitive way.

“This trope, which is composed of two or more scenes centering around a central even, is perhaps the most common type of action embodied in shorter fiction.”

“This type of verse avoids rhyme, stanza form, and any obvious rhythmical basis.”

This verse form consists of iambic pentameter lines with rhymed couplets.

Three feet to a line of poetry.

Tired and trite idea or phrase. Any word or phrase that has been overused.

Turning point in the action of a story.

Two feet to a line of verse.

“Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by rhyme.”

Two successive syllables with approximately equal light stresses.

Two successive syllables with approximately equal strong stresses.

Unmerited or contrived tender feeling; that quality in a story that elicits or seeks to elicit tears through an oversimplification or falsification of reality.

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Used to describe (and justify) literary experimentation: a writer’s deliberate departure from conventions of form and language—and at times even the departure from logic and fact.

“Usually a long poem, sometimes even book length, which tells a story.”

Usually a short composition having the intentions of poetry but written in prose rather than verse.

“When something familiar, uninteresting and ignored is made strange, fresh, new and worthy of close scrutiny, or even wonder.”

Word/phrase/figure of speech creating sensory impressions.

Words used with a decided change or extension in their literal meaning; the use of a word in a figurative sense.

Works generally considered by scholars as the most important to read and study.

Writing that departs from the narrative or dramatic mode and instructs the reader how to think or feel about the events of a story or the behavior of a character.

Writing that uses immoderately heightened or distended language to sway the reader’s feelings.

[Greek: ‘name-making’] figure of speech that copies natural sounds.

“A body of literature including drama, poetry, fiction, and criticism which is inherently artistic, as opposed to scientific writing.”

A brief anecdote or tale often introduced into medieval sermons for edifying or illustrative purposes.

“A brief piece of writing that attempts to explain a subject, discuss a topic, or persuade an audience about a thesis.”

“A brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work, often containing a clue to the writer’s intention.”

A brief speech in which a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience; a dramatic device for letting the audience know what a character is really thinking or feeling as opposed to what the character pretends to think or feel.

“A brief statement which expresses an observation about life, usually intended as a wise observation.”

A central image around which the story turns.

A character whose behavior/values contrast with those of another in order to highlight them.

A character with only one or two defining qualities.

“A chronicle, usually autobiographical, presenting the life story of a rascal of low degree engaged in menial tasks who makes his living more through his wits than his industry.”

“A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story or drama. Conflict may exist between the main character and some other person or persons; between the main character and some external force–physical nature, society or “”fate””; or between the main character and some destructive element in his or her own nature. It is the struggle between characters or opposing forces.”

“A close, critical reading of a poem, examining the work for meter.”

A common theme in the nineteenth-century in which a single character is split in two character objectifications of the self.

A comparison between two similar things.

“A deliberate overstatement, an exaggeration to emphasize truth. “

“A detailed setting forth of the characteristics and environment of a particular locality enabling the reader to “”see”” the setting.”

A device in literature where an object represents an idea.

A device which serves as a unifying agent in conveying a theme or as the basis for the structure of the narrative.

A drama based on an absurd situation.

A factual story of a person’s life written by another author.

A factual story of a person’s life written by that person.

“A fallacy of reason in suggesting that nonhuman phenomena act from human feelings; a literary device wherein something nonhuman found in nature-a beast, plant, stream, natural force, etc.-performs as though from human feeling or motivation. “

“A far-fetched simile or metaphor, these occur when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things. “

A feeling of association or identification with an object; experiencing its sensations and responding with similar feelings.