Literary Terms Summer Reading 2017 Next year we will spend some time focusing on poetry. In order to do this, we will ask you to prepare by making a set of flashcards for the following words and definitions. We are not asking you to memorize or study these over the summer, just to make the flashcard. :)
Master List of Literary Terms
1. Metaphor: a figure of speech which makes a direct comparison of two unlike objects by identification or substitution
Example: All the world’s a stage (William Shakespeare, As You Like It). 2. Simile: a direct comparison of two unlike objects, using like or as Example: The holy time is quiet as a nun (William Wordsworth, “On the Beach of Calais”)
1. Personification: a figure of speech which objects and animals have human qualities
Example: When it comes, the landscape listens, Shadows hold their breath. (Emily Dickenson, “A certain Slant of Light.”)
2. Hyperbole: a gross exaggeration for effect: overstatement Example: Our hands were firmly cemented together.(John Donne, “The Ecstasy”)
3. Irony: the contrast between the actual meaning and the expected meaning Example: A doctor’s office is closed due to illness.
4. Symbolism: the use of one object to suggest another, hidden object of idea Example: In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken, “ the fork in the road represents a major decision in life, each road, a separate way of life.
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5. Imagery: the use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory description
Example: Unhooked his gorping, water-horny mouth And seen his horror-tilted eye (DH Lawrence, “Fish”)
6. Oxymoron: Two words that contradict one another Example: Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven! Wolvish-ravening lamb! (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
7. Allusion: A reference to an outside fact, event or other source. Example: A girl says to her brother that he is “like Noah, with his ark.”
8. Diction: The author’s choice of words. When you talk about diction, talk about the kind of diction you see, such as romantic, sad, angry, calm.
Example: “emaciated” instead of “thin”; “sear” instead of “burn”; “infuriate” instead of “anger”
9. Syntax: The arrangement—ordering, grouping and placement—of words within a phrase, clause or sentence. This can include punctuation. For instance, if you change the order of words from “I rode across the meadow” to “Across the meadow rode I”, you have changed the syntax.
10. Allegory – a prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance. For example, Animal Farm is an allegory because everything relates to the Russian Revolution. 11. Alliteration – a repletion of beginning sounds- usually consonants or words or of stressed syllables. “landscape-lover, lord of language”- Tennyson
12. Enjambment – the continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next.
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Example: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness: but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
13. Onomatopoeia – a word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes Example: buzz, whirr, tap
14. Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds in a literary work, especially in a poem. Depending on which vowel is used, different moods are created. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells” contains numerous examples:
Example: FrOm the mOlten-gOlden nOtes …
15. Consonance –The repetition of a final consonant sound or sounds following different vowel sounds
Example: made and wood, blade and blood, flash and flesh
16. Tone: The attitude that the author conveys in a literary work. It could be serious, playful, mocking, sad, etc. You can find tone by looking for particular words and phrases that the author uses, or the actions of characters within the story or poem.
17. Idiom: is an expression consisting of a combination of words that has a figurative meaning. It is usually not related to the actual definition of the words within the phrase.
Example: Kick the bucket Keep an eye out Get to the bottom of it
18. Paradox: A statement that seems to contradict itself, but actually expresses the truth.
Example: I have no name, you may call me V. I always tell lies.
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19. Apostrophe: When the speaker addresses a person who is dead or absent, or imaginary.
Example: Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are … "Dear Ella Our Special First Lady of Song You gave your best for so long."
20. Stanza: A set of lines in a poem—a poetic paragraph. Usually separated from other stanzas by a break in the lines.
21. Repetition: When a word or set of words is repeated in a poem. Often used for emphasis or effect.
22. Connotation: The deeper meaning of words, beyond their dictionary definitions, often based on the reader’s ideas. For instance, “child” literally means a young person, but the connotation of “child” could be innocence or freedom.
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