Lit Terms (Minus Most Pear Decks)

Juxtaposes two opposite or apparently contradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox

Verse that tells a story

Discrepancy between expectation and reality

A speaker or author's word choice

39 lines of any length, 6 sestets + 1 envoy, the six end words of the first stanza repeat in a complex pattern

Describes ideas or general qualities of things; lacking vivid details

A figure of speech that compares two distinct things by using words such as like or as

19 lines, 5 tercets+1 quatrain, ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA rhyme scheme, lines 1+3 are repeated as a refrain later

Result of something being stated in such a way that its meaning cannot be definitely determined

Character who changes in response to circumstance and experience

Inexact but close rhyme

Sound effect that uses harsh and displeasing sounds

The analysis of verse to show its meter

A brief melodic poem characterized by the fervent expression of private thoughts and emotions by a single speaker

An animal that takes on human characteristics (walking, talking, etc.)

Basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of verse; one accented syllables and one-two unaccented syllables

Soft, pleasing sounds

A humorous scene/passage inserted into an otherwise serious work intended to provide an emotional outlet/ change of pace

Conversation between two or more characters in a literary work

A measured flow of words and signifying the basic beat of pattern in a language

A character, alone on a stage, addresses themself; a dramatic means of letting an audience know important information

Describes specific details to particular persons/things; creates a clear image for the reader

A lyric poem that almost always consists of 14 lines and follows a conventional rhyme scheme; typically about love

A type of language employing figures of speech; cannot be taken literally OR ONLY literally

A figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect; sometimes called overstatement

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in stressed syllables

The general feeling created in the reader at a given point

The creation or use of words that sound like what they mean or seem to signify meaning through sound effects

A protagonist in a modern work who does not exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero

A narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters

A poem about dawn; a morning love song; or a poem about the parting of lovers at dawn

The repetition of sounds

Poetry that lacks a regular meter, does not rhyme, and use irregular and sometimes very short line lengths.

Words that look like they should rhyme in a poem

Reflective, formal poem that laments death, sometimes loss

An elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently highly dissimilar things; noted for ingenuity

An expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression

A contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant

Informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing.

Person or force working against the protagonist

Character who doesn't change significantly over the course of a work

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

A detail/image/character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to be considered universal

Presentation of one sense experience in terms usually associated with another sensation

A familiar proverb or saying

The vantage point from which a narrative is told

A part of something is used to represent the whole, or occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part

Figure in a literary work

Rhyme that occurs within lines

An incongruity between what a character says/thinks and what the reader knows to be true

A lyric poem with a dignified tone in praise of someone, something, or an important occasion

Excessive pride that constitutes the protagonist’s tragic flaw and leads to his/her downfall

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

A comparison of two different things which are similar in some way

The literal meaning of a word

The patterned repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables

Characters’ actions, dialogue, other characters’ comments about them

Intended to reveal to the reader the subjective thoughts/emotions/fleeting sensations experienced by a character

Something that means more than what it is; stands for/suggests something larger and more complex

Authors/speakers at some point reveal their narration to be the fabrication of a highly self-conscious creator

Recounts the development of an individual from childhood to maturity/recognizes his or her place/role in the world

Narrator’s description of a character

The exaggeration of specific features of appearance or personality

Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of the lines

Repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words (“made/wood”)

Various means by which an author describes and develops the characters in a literary work

A statement containing apparently contradictory/ incompatible elements; contains an underlying truth

Character around which the action is centered

The representation through language of sense experience

Line(s) that recur(s) throughout a poem or lyrics of a song; may vary slightly but is generally the same (like a chorus)

Repetition of the same sound at the end of the lines

14 lines, 2 parts: the octave and the sestet--begins with a ABBAABBA rhyme scheme

A speaker through whom an author presents a narrative, often but not always a character in the work

A figure of speech that associates two unlike things; the representation of one thing by another

A device used wherein a character addresses a dead, absent, or imaginary person, thing or personified abstraction

The association developed by a word beyond its denotation or literal meaning

Bestows human characteristics upon anything nonhuman (abstract idea/physical force/inanimate object/living organism)

The repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words

A moment of sudden revelation or insight

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

Emotional effect a tragic drama has on its audience; a “cleansing”; opportunity to purge the emotions of pity and fear

Central character in a tragedy who has a tragic flaw which is the error/misstep/frailty/flaw which causes their downfall

A reference to something literary/mythological/Biblical/the arts/historical the author assumes the reader will recognize

A narrator who is a character in the story

A unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent image/symbol/character type/subject/narrative detail

The pattern of rhyme in a poem

A play on words that capitalizes on a similarity of spelling/pronunciation between words that have different meanings

Expression used so often that it has become hackneyed and lost its original impact

Character who, by their contrast with the protagonist, serves to accentuate their distinctive qualities/characteristics

A group of set lines in a poem, usually physically set off from the other such clusters by a blank line

14 lines; 3 quatrains and a couplet, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme

An interlocking rhyme scheme with the pattern ABA BCB CDC DED etc

The specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession

A narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a single character and restricts information

Character who has three-dimensional complexity of real people

A poem that recounts a story--generally some dramatic episode-and that has been composed to be sung.

Character who is defined by a single idea or quality

A convention by which actors speak briefly to the audience, supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage

One thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it