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Allegory

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a story or narrative, often told at some length, which has a deeper meaning below the surface

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Alliteration

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the repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of words

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Allusion

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a reference to another event, person, place, or work of literature - usually implied rather than explicit and often provides another layer of meaning to what is being said

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Ambiguity

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use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible interpretations or meanings

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Ambivalence

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indicates more than one possible attitude is being displayed by the writer towards a character, theme, or idea, etc

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Anachronism

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something that is historically inaccurate

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Anthropomorphism

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the endowment of something that is not human with human characteristics

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Antithesis

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contrasting ideas or words that are balanced against each other

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Apostrophe

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an interruption in a poem or narrative so that the speaker or writer can address a dead or absent person or particular audience directly

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Archaic

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language that is old-fashioned - not completely obsolete but no longer in current use

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Assonance

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the repetition of similar vowel sounds

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Atmosphere

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the prevailing mood created by a piece of writing

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Ballad

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a narrative poem that tells a story usually in a straightforward way. The theme is often tragic or contains a whimsical, supernatural, or fantastical element.

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Blank verse

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unrhymed poetry that adheres to a strict pattern in that each line is an iambic pentameter (a ten-syllable line with five stresses)

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Caricature

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a character described through the exaggeration of a small number of features that he or she possesses

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Catharsis

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a purging of the emotions which takes place at the end of a tragedy

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Cliché

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a phrase, idea, or image that has been used so much that it has lost much of its original meaning, impact, and freshness

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Colloquial

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ordinary, everyday speech and language

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Comedy

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originally simply a play or other work which ended happily. Now we use this term to describe something that is funny and which makes us laugh.

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Connotation

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an implication or association attached to a word or phrase

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Consonance

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the repetition of the same consonant sounds in two or more words in which the vowel sounds are different

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Couplet

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two consecutive lines of verse that rhyme

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Dénouement

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the ending of a play, novel, or drama where 'all is revealed' and the plot is unraveled

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Diction

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the choice of words that a writer makes

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Didactic

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a work that is intended to preach or teach, often containing a particular moral or political point

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Dramatic monologue

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a poem or prose piece in which a character addresses an audience

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Elegy

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a meditative poem, usually sad and reflective in nature

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Empathy

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a feeling on the part of the reader of sharing the particular experience being described by the character or writer

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End Stopping

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a verse line with a pause or a stop at the end of it

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Epic

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a long narrative poem, written in an elevated style and usually dealing with a heroic theme or story

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Euphemism

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expressing an unpleasant or unsavory idea in a less blunt and more pleasant way

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Euphony

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use of pleasant or melodious sounds

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Fable

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a short story that presents a clear moral lesson

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Farce

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a play that aims to entertain the audience through absurd and ridiculous characters and action

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Figurative language

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language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally

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Foot

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a group of syllables forming a unit of verse - the basic unit of 'meter'

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Free verse

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verse written without any fixed structure

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Genre

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a particular type of writing

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Heptameter

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a verse line containing seven feet

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Hexameter

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a verse line containing six feet

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Hyperbole

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deliberate and extravagant exaggeration

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Iamb

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the most common metrical foot in English poetry, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

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Imagery

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the use of words to create a picture or 'image' in the mind of the reader

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Internal rhyme

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rhyming words within a line rather than at the end of lines

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Irony

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at its simplest level, it means saying one thing while meaning another

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Lament

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a poem expressing intense grief

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Metaphor

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a comparison of one thing to another in order to make description more vivid; it actually states that one thing is the other

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Motif

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a dominant theme, subject, or idea which runs through a piece of literature

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Narrative

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a piece of writing that tells a story

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Onomatopoeia

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the use of words whose sound copies the sound of the thing or process that they describe

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Oxymoron

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a figure of speech which joins together words of opposite meanings

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Paradox

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a statement that appears contradictory, but when considered more closely is seen to contain a good deal of truth

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Parody

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a work that is written in imitation of another work, very often with the intention of making fun of the original

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Pastoral

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generally, literature concerning rural life with idealizes settings and rustic characters

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Pathos

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the effect in literature which makes the reader feel sadness or pity

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Pentameter

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a line of verse containing five feet

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Personification

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the attribution of human feelings, emotions, or sensations to an inanimate object

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Plot

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the sequence of events in a poem, play, novel, or short story that make up the main story line

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Prose

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any kind of writing which is not verse - usually divided into fiction and non-fiction

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Protagonist

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the main character or speaker in a poem, monologue, play, or story

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Pun

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a play on words that have similar sounds but quite different meanings

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Quatrain

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a stanza of four lines which can have various rhyme schemes

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Refrain

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repetition throughout a poem of a phrase, line, or series of lines, as in the 'chorus' of a song

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Rhetoric

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originally, the art of speaking and writing in such a way as to persuade an audience to a particular point of view. Now this term is often used to imply grand words that have no substance to them

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Rhyme

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corresponding sounds in words, usually at the end of each line but not always

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Rhyme scheme

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the pattern of the rhymes in a poem

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Rhythm

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the 'movement' of the poem as created through the meter and the way that language is stressed within the poem

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Satire

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the highlighting or exposing of human failings or foolishness within a society through ridiculing them

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Scansion

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the analysis of metrical patterns in poetry

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Sestet

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the last six lines of a sonnet

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Simile

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a comparison of one thing to another in order to make description more vivid; uses the words 'like' or 'as' in this comparison

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Soliloquy

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a speech in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts and feelings aloud for the benefit of the audience, often in a revealing way

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Sonnet

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a fourteen-line poem, usually with ten syllables in each line

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Stanza

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the blocks of lines into which a poem is divided

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Stream of Consciousness

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a technique in which the writer records thoughts and emotions in a 'stream' as they come to mind, without giving order or structure

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Structure

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the way that a poem or play or other piece of writing has been put together

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Style

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the individual way in which a writer has used language to express his or her ideas

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Sub-plot

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a secondary storyline in a story or play

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Symbol

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like images, these represent something else

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Syntax

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the way in which sentences are structured

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Theme

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the central idea or ideas that the writer explores through a text

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Tone

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a literary technique created through the combined effects of a number of features, such as diction, syntax, rhythm, etc

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Sophie

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a crazy awesome chica who rocks my socks!

IB English Literary Terms – Flashcards

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