Poetry Terms
General Lit Terms
Major Works
Style
Figurative Language
100
the narrative voice of the poem.
What is the speaker?
100
the emotional quality of a passage or the perceived attitude of a speaker towards a thing or idea in the text.
What is tone?
100
the author of the play A Raisin in the Sun
Who is Lorraine Hansberry?
100
ridiculing to show weakness in order to make a point, teach.
What is satirical?
100
a basic comparison of two generally unlike things that produced insight.
What is metaphor?
200
a combination of sounds that produces a harsh or discordant effect. “Lick, crack, sick, hack. The beggar harried her open back. Crash, bang, clang!! We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will.” -- Winston Churchill
What is cacophony?
200
the author's choice of words based on their exact or connotative meaning for effect.
What is diction?
200
the names of Oedipus' forsaken parents, the King and Queen of Thebes.
Who are Jocasta and Laius?
200
instructive; author attempts to educate or instruct the reader.
What is didactic?
200
A device mastered by Mary Shelley in her novel, Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus; references to literature, greek mythology, biblical, and/or hisorical.
What is allusion?
300
the repetition of vowel sounds: “which din dims the light.”
What is assonance?
300
what a word suggests beyond its denotative (precise or dictionary) meaning, including social or emotional connections.
What is connotation?
300
the name of the author of Oedipus Rex.
Who is Sophocles?
300
serious in purpose and convention (no slang, contractions; no idioms).
What is formal?
300
Detailed description including vivid details that appeal to the five senses.
What is imagery?
400
the speaker addresses something or someone that cannot answer, something nonliving or inanimate. "Oh, Captain! My Captain!" _Walt Whitman
What is apostrophe?
400
a clever little story; a short account of an interesting situation relevant to the text and used as example.
What is an anecdote?
400
the tragic hero's tragic flaw, usually hubris (pride)
What is hamartia?
400
short, to the point.
What is terse?
400
language used by a writer to portray their ideas in a more colorful and effective manner. Ex. "After he was betrayed, he turned into a raging bull and wage a war against humanity."
What is figurative language?
500
represented by ten unstressed and stressed syllables. Ex. "Two households both alike in dignity In Fair Verona where we lay our scene." -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
What is iambic pentameter?
500
a moment of insight, spiritual or personal; a character's sudden revelation about life or his or her own circumstances.
What is epiphany?
500
Dr. Victor Frankenstein's hamartia.
What is ambition?
500
learned, polished, scholarly.
What is erudite?
500
when the opposite of what is expected occurs, often used in dramas to engage the audience in suspense.
What is irony and dramatic irony?
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