Download Term Definition Example 1. metaphor a comparison between two

Term
Definition
Unit 1
a comparison between two things
wherein one thing is spoken of as
though it were something else
1.
metaphor
2.
hyperbole
a deliberate exaggeration or
overstatement
3.
images; there
are seven types:
visual, auditory,
gustatory,
olfactory, tactile,
kinesthetic, and
kinetic
a description or representation of an
experience of one of the five senses
or an experience of motion:
visual=sight;
auditory=sound;gustatory=taste;
olfactory=smell;tactile=touch;
kinesthetic=human or animal
movement; kinetic=general
movement
4.
euphemism
5.
farce
a drama intended to create (lots of)
laughter and dependent less on plot
or character; the laughter is largely
derived from coarse humor and
impossible exaggerations
6.
stanza
a group of lines roughly analogous
in function in poetry to the
paragraph's function in prose
7.
cacophony
a harsh, unpleasant combination of
sounds; the opposite of euphony
8.
refrain
a line or set of lines repeated
several times over the course of a
poem
Unit 2
a device where being indirect
replaces directness to avoid
unpleasantness
Example
"Life is a broken-winged bird."
"No; this my hand will rather/The
multitudinous seas
incarnadine,/Making the green
one red."
"passed away" instead of "died"
9.
sonnet
a poem almost invariably of
fourteen lines and following one of
several set rhyme schemes;
ITALIAN/PETRARCHAN: two
divisions called the octave and the
sestet;ENGLISH/
SHAKESPEAREAN: four divisions-three quatrains and a concluding
couplet (two lines)
10. lament
a poem of sadness or grief over the
death of a loved one or over some
other intense loss
11. juxtaposition
a poetic and rhetorical device in
which normally unassociated ideas,
words, or phrases are placed next
to each other
12. caricature
a portrait (verbal or otherwise) that
exaggerates a facet of a personality
13. allusion
Unit 3
a reference to a well-known person,
place event, literary work, or work of
art; often divided into
historical/biblical/mythological
14. masculine rhyme a rhyme ending on the final
stressed syllable
15. aside
a speech (usually just a short
comment) made by an actor to the
audience, as though momentarily
stepping outside of the action on
stage; the actor acknowledges the
audience's presence
16. soliloquy
a speech spoken by a character
alone on stage; it is meant to
convey the impression that the
audience is listening to the
character's thoughts, though it is
NOT meant to imply that the actor
acknowledges the audience's
presence
the picture of King David and the
prophet Nathan--who accused
David of adultery--in
Dimmesdale's apartment in The
Scarlet Letter
regular old rhyme; lines ending
with fire and aspire
17. paradox
a statement that seems
contradictory or absurd but that
expresses the truth
18. abstract
a style of writing that is typically
complex, discusses intangible
qualities like good and evil, and
seldom uses examples to
support its points
19. interior
monologue
a term for novels and poetry, not
plays; it refers to writing that records
the mental talking that goes on
inside a character's head, and it is
usually coherent and resembles
actual speech
20. simile
when like or as is used to make a
comparison between two basically
unlike subjects
21. aphorism
a terse statement--often witty--which "A classic? That's a book that
expresses a general truth or a moral people praise and don't read."
principle
22. elegy
a type of poem that meditates on
death or mortality in a serious,
thoughtful manner; an elegy often
uses the recent death of a noted
person or loved one as a starting
point; an elegy also memorializes
specific dead people
23. lyric
"For when I am weak, then I am
strong."
"She is as flighty as a sparrow."
Unit 4
a type of poetry that explores the
poet's personal interpretation of and
feelings about the world (or the part
that this poem is about); when used
as a tone word it refers to a sweet,
emotional melodiousness
24. apostrophe
when a speaker directly addresses
an absent person or a personified
quality
25. parody
a work done in imitation of another,
usually in order to mock it
"Age, thou art sham'd/ Rome,
thou hast lost the breed of noble
bloods!"
26. tragedy
a work of literature, especially a
play, that results in catastrophe for
the main character
27. colloquialism
an expression used in informal
"I'm toasted"; "Now I've got this
conversation but not accepted
wicked headache"
universaly in speech or writing; lies
between formal language and slang
28. feminine rhyme
lines rhymed by their final two
syllables
29. euphony
pleasing sounds; the opposite of
cacophony; a subjective element
30. bombast
pretentious, exaggeratedly learned
language; when a person tries to be
eloquent by using the largest, most
uncommon words, one falls into
bombast
31. catharsis
refers to the "cleansing" of emotion Macbeth allows us to feel the
an audience member experiences, intensity of ambition and the
having lived (vicariously) through
hardening of sin
the experiences presented on
stage; this term is drawn from
Aristotle's writings on tragedy
32. understatement
saying less than is actually meant,
usually in an ironic way
33. anachronism
34. irony; there are
three types:
verbal, dramatic,
and situational
Unit 5
something out of its normal time
the basic meaning is a difference between
reality and appearance; verbal irony occurs
when what is said is the exact opposite of
what is meant; dramatic irony occurs when
the audience has knowledge that is hidden
from the characters; situational irony
emphasizes that humans are subject to
forces beyond their comprehension and
control and thus are often helpless
Macbeth , Julius Caesar ,
Romeo and Juliet
lines ending with running and
gunning
No, that didn't hurt at all.
"There in the coffin lies Caesar"
(In ancient Rome, coffins had
not yet been invented.)
verbal-"Brutus is an honorable
man"; dramatic-we know Juliet is
not dead but Romeo does not;
situational-Piggy is murdered
when he acts with the defiance
the tribe exhibits
35. point of view;
there are four
types: first
person, third
person
omniscient, third
person limited
ominiscient, and
third person
objectice
the basic meaning is the position from
which details of a story are perceived and
told; first person p.o.v. is characterized by
the pronoun "I", "my", "we", or "our", and the
narrator is either a direct participant or
observer of the action; third person p.o.v. is
characterized by the pronouns "she", "he",
"it", or "they"; in third person omniscient, the
activities and thoughts of all characters are
fully and openly known; in third person
limited omniscient, the activities and
thoughts of only one character are known;
in third person objective, the narration is
confined only to what can be seen and
heard with no commentary nor ability to see
into the thoughts of characters
36. enjambment
the continuation of a syntactic unit "Turning and turning in the
(sentence or phrase) from one line widening gyre/The falcon cannot
of a poem to another with no pause hear the falconer"
37. oxymoron
when two opposing or contradictory freezing fire
ideas are combined
38. hubris
Unit 6
the excessive pride or ambition that
leads to the main character's
downfall (also drawn from Aristotle's
writings on tragedy)
39. denouement
the final unraveling of a plot; the
solution of a mystery; an
explanation or outcome (sometimes
denouement is used as a synonym
for falling action)
40. persona
the narrator or speaker of a poem
41. exposition
the part of a story or play that
the first scene in Romeo and
introduces the characters, the
Juliet wherein the families fight
setting, and the basic situation; any
writing that informs
42. consonance
the repetition in two or more words
of final consonants in stressed
syllables
hid head
43. dramatic
monologue
when a single speaker in literature
says something to a silent but
present audience
"Dover Beach" (poem)
44. alliteration
the repetition of initital consonant
sounds
silence cynically surged softly
45. assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds
followed by different consonants in
two or more stressed syllables
weak and weary
46. onomatopoeia
the use of words that imitate sounds subtle:"The moan of doves in
immemorial elms/ And
murmuring of innumberable
bees"; obvious: "hiss", "buzz",
"sizzle"
47. personification
when a nonhuman subject is given
human characteristics
Additional Words
The lone tree stood at attention
in the bare plain.