Name ______Mrs. Chesbro | 7th Grade Language Arts
Literary Terms: Every discipline employs a specialized vocabulary, and literary criticism is no exception. While working with or examining the readings for this course, you should learn to recognize and label the terms listed below. More importantly, cultivate an ability to explain how these language resources help to reinforce meaning. Some terms in the list apply to one genre only, but most function broadly across many genres. The underlined terms deserve special attention, as these are commonly used on AP exams. abstract / concrete hamartia (tragic flaw) verse allegory hubris vignette alliteration hyperbole / litotes villanelle allusion imagery voice ambiguity irony (verbal, situational, dramatic) ______anachronism juxtaposition anacoluthon kenning Genres anagnorisis legend 1. poetry (lyric, narrative, epic) anaphora limerick 2. autobiography anecdote malapropism 3. biography antagonist / protagonist melodrama 4. drama anthropomorphism metaphor 5. essay anti-hero metaphysical 6. fable / parable aphorism / adage / maxim metonymy / synecdoche 7. farce apostrophe monologue 8. novel / novella archetype mood 9. short story aside motivation ______assonance myth / folk tale asyndeton narrative Stages of Plot ballad naturalism 1. Exposition bathos / pathos objective / subjective 2. Inciting incident (complication) blank verse / free verse octave 3. Rising action (conflict) cacophony / euphony / dissonance ode 4. Climax caesura onomatopoeia 5. Falling action canto paradox / oxymoron 6. Resolution (denouement) carpe diem parallelism ______catharsis parody characterization (round, flat) pastoral / picaresque / Bildungsroman Grammatical Terms chiasmus persona (literary) 1. antecedent classicism / neoclassicism personification 2. appositive cliché point of view 3. auxiliary, action, linking verbs climax polysyndeton 4. clauses (noun, adj., adv.), colloquial prose (independent, dependent) conceit pun 5. phrases confidant / confidante quatrain 6. transitive / intransitive verbs conflict (man, himself, nature) realism 7. verbals (gerund, infinitive, connotation / denotation refrain participle) consonance rhetorical devices ______controlling image rhyme (perfect, slant, eye) couplet (heroic couplet) / triplet rhyme royal Prosody / Scansion denouement rhyme scheme Foot (u = unstressed s = stressed) deus ex machina Romanticism / Transcendentalism Iambic (u s) (1u, 1s) diction satire trochaic (s u) (1s, 1u) didactic / dialectic sestet or sextet anapestic (u u s) (2u, 1s) dirge setting dactylic (s u u) (1s, 2u) dramatic monologue simile pyrrhic (u u) (1u, 1u) elegy / eulogy solecism spondaic (s s) (1s, 1s) elision soliloquy ellipsis sonnet (English, Italian, Spenserian) Meter end-stop line speaker Dimeter = 2 beats per line enjambment stanza Trimeter = 3 beats per line epigram / epilogue / epigraph / stream of consciousness Tetrameter = 4 beats per line epitaph style Pentameter = 5 beats per line epiphany subplot Hexameter = 6 beats per line epithet syllepsis Heptameter =7 beats per line epistle (epistolary) syllogism Octameter = 8 beats per line ethos / pathos / logos symbol / symbolism euphemism / dysphemism synestesia existentialism syntax (anastrophe) expletive / pejorative / invective terza rima figurative language (trope) theme flashback tone foil turn / volta foreshadowing understatement genre utopia / dystopia gothic verisimilitude haiku vernacular