World Lit Exam – Flashcards
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Fable
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a prose or Verse narrative intended to convey a moral; animals or inanimate objects with human characteristics often serve as characters in fables
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Fairy tale
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short narratives featuring mythical beings such as fairies, elves, and spirtes
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Epic simile
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an elaborate, detailed comparison written as a simile many lines in length
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Archetype
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original pattern or model from which all other things are same kind are made
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Dramatic irony
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occurs when the audience of a play or the reader of a work of literature knows something that a character in the work does not know itself; the irony is in the contrast between the intended meaning of the statements or actions of a character and the additional information understood by the audience
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Paradox
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a statement that appears illogical or contradictory at first, but may actually point to an underlying truth
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Invocation
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an appeal made by a poet to a muse or deity for help in composing the poem
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Folktale
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story originating in oral tradition; fall into a variety of categories, including legends, ghost stories, fairy tales, fables, and anecdotes based on historical figures and events
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Epic hero
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main character in an epic poem, larger than life figure, part of a dangerous adventure of historical or cultural importance, reflection of the ideals and values of his/her people, extraordinary courage and strength, assisted/interacted with supernatural beings
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Symbolism
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the use of one object to represent another
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Trickster
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a character or figure common in Native America and African literature who uses his ingenuity to defeat enemies and escape difficult situations; often animals but could also be humans
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Proverb
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a brief, sage saying that expresses a truth about life in a striking manner
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Epic
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a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance
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Trickster tale
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a genre of literature found all over the world, humorous folktale in which an animal or person creates mischief by trying to outwit others
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Epic Hero Cycle
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birth, call to adventure, helpers/amulet, crossing the threshold, tests, helpers, climax/final battle, flight, return, elixer, home
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In Medias Res
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"in the middle of things", refers to the technique of beginning a story at its midpoint and then using various flashback devices to reveal previous action
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Frame story
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a story in which another story is enclosed or embedded as a tale within a tale or which contains several such tales
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Paraphrase
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a restatement of a text or passage giving the meaning in another form
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Summary
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a brief recap of what has taken place in a work of literature
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Parallelism
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a method of comparison of two ideas in which each is developed in the same grammatical structure
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Myth
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an anonymous tale emerging from the traditional beliefs of a culture or social unit; supernatural explanations for natural phenomena
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Legend
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a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical
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Theme
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the main point of a work of literature
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Motif
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a theme, character type, image, metaphor, or pther verbal element that recurs throughout a single work of literature or occurs in a number of different works over a period of time
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evaluating websites
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examine the URL, look for authors and dates, check for links to sources and what others say about the site
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The Popol Vuh
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Culture: Mayan culture Plot: Heart of Sky creates things by thinking of them, Heart of sky doesn't like his creations so he turns them into monkeys Fall: Hurricane comes and starts attacking wood people Symbols: wood people are humans, Grandparents are advisors
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Genesis Creation Story
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Culture: Christian, Hebrew, Islam Plot: God says "let their be..." and it is created, God thinks everything is good Fall: Serpent tempts humans to go against what God has said Symbols: Serpent is the devil, fruit is temptation
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The Creation Story (first)
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Culture: Inca Plot: The god brought humans for company, he took care of them and sent them to every corner of the world Fall: no fall Symbols: rocks are people
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The Creation Story (second)
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Culture: Inca Plot: Con wanted people around, cared for the people until they rebelled, made the people work really hard without water Fall: Rebelled against Con Symbols: Leg bones are people
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Drop of Milk
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Culture: Africa Plot: Doondari created one thing but it all lead to another, rules over man and had a plan for them, mankind ruined plan so he had to defeat them Fall: death was created because humans were blind to what is important Symbols: milk shows the importance of cows, Gueno is Jesus, Doondari is God
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Pan Gu
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Culture: China Plot: Pan Gu created world by standing on it and it began to grow, when Pan Gu died his body added to the world (breath became the wind etc.)
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The Separation of Heaven and Earth
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Culture: Maori Plot: world descended from heaven and earth's sons, was an ancestor of all humans and things Fall: Fall of brothers: betraying their parents Symbols: family relationships, love of parents
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Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor
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Culture: Arabic Plot: Sinbad grew restless of his leisure life and set sail, where he was accidentally abandoned by his shipmates on an island that contains Roc eggs. Sinbad attaches himself to the Roc egg and gets carried away by an eagle to a valley of diamonds. Merchants throw meat at the diamonds, so Sinbad attaches the meat to himself and escapes the valley with the merchants
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Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
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Culture: Arabic Plot: Ali watches some thieves enter and cave and return with gold. He enters the cave once everyone is gone and grabs some gold. He borrows his sister in laws scale and accidentally leaves some gold on the scale. Ali's brother discovers the cave and gets caught by the merchants and killed. The merchants come after Ali dressed up as an oil merchant and the rest hide in jars. The slave dumps hot oil on all of them and kills them. The slave girl also stabs the oil merchant in the heart
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Anansi's Stories
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Culture: Africa Plot: Anansi asks for all the stories. THe sky god tells Anansi he needs to bring him a leopard, hornets, and a python in order to get the stories. Anansi tricks all the animals and gets the permission to tell all the stories
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Brer Fox and Old Man Tarrypin
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Culture: North America Plot: Old Man Tarrypin always picked on Brer Fox. One day Brer Fox caught Old Man Tarrypin and threatened to drown him. Old Man tricked the fox by saying that he was drowning and he better not let go of his tail. The fox did and the turtle escaped
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Yeh-hsien
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Culture: China Plot: A young girl is mistreated by her stepmother and discovers a magical fish. The stepmother finds the fish and kills it. The girl is still able to wish on the fish bones. She looses her shoe like Cinderella at a festival. The king finds it and gives it to her, and takes her back to his country.
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Donkeyskin
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Plot: A king's wife dies and her last wish is that he marries a woman more beautiful than her. The king realizes the only girl more beautiful is their daughter. The daughter flees, hidden in the skin of the king's favorite donkey. The girl works for a family in the forest. One day a prince sees her and falls in love immediately. He gets sick and says the only thing that will make him feel better is a pie from the girl. The girl accidentally drops her ring in the pie. The prince searches for the girl who owns the ring, finds her, and they get married.
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The Gulistan
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Culture: Islam Plot: A man who was an expert at wrestling teaches a student everything he knows except for one trick. The student challenges the teacher and the teacher beats him by using the secret move. The student gets mad that the teacher didn't tell him the trick, but the teacher said you should not give too much power to a pupil that he should wish to harm you because he will be able to do so.
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What Men Live By
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Plot: A poor man finds a naked man frozen on the street and allows him to live in his house if he works for him. The naked man is an angel who was sent to earth as a punishment because he didn't take the soul of a dying woman. He must learn what dwells in man, it is not given to man to know his own needs, and what men should live by. He learns the lessons when the wife lets him stay, the man orders boots, and the twin girls come into the shop
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Zen Parables - Publishing the Sutras
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Plot: Tetsugen planned to publish sutras in Japanese, but he needed a lot of money. Every time he was close to having enough money, a natural disaster occurred and he donated the money. Eventually he earned enough to publish the books. Lesson: Put others first in your life because it will eventually lead to not only you helping others but you will help yourself
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Zen Parables - Right & Wrong
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Plot: Bankei taught a class meditation. Some students noticed one of them was stealing, but when they told Bankei, he didn't do anything about it. After telling Bankei numerous times, they wrote a petition to get the thief kicked out of class. Bankei still refused. Lesson: Treat others the way you want to be treated and don't judge a person by their actions
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The Analects
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Don't be selfish; recognize the good in others before promoting your own good. Stay firm in your beliefs and other people will follow you. Respect your parents and put them first. Speak up when it is important, but don't talk to hear your voice. Think before you speak. Treat people the way you would want to be treated. The purpose of authority is to take care of everyone, and to take control. There is no point in doing something without feeling it. To fully avoid evil, you always have to be good. Don't get caught up in trying to be popular; try to deserve to be popular. Ritual is needed for people to be good. Do unto others as you would like done to yourself.
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The Rig Veda
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Culture: Hindu Plot: gods came after creation, it is unknown who created the world Fall: No fall Symbols: No symbols
