IB English Literary Terms – Flashcards

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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!
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