Literary Lingo
This device is used to give human attributes to abstract concepts or non-human objects.
What is personification?
This fourteen line poem often poses a question or problem, turning to resolution around line 9 or 13.
What is a sonnet?
What is dystopian, or a dystopia?
This refers to the time and place, including geographical, socio-historical, and cultural locales of a story.
What is the setting?
This literary era is known for broad skepticism and moral relativism -- a widely accepted "you do you" attitude.
What is postmodernism?
Two things are placed beside one another or close to each other to create a contrast.
What is juxtaposition?
Often in narrative form, this song-like poem is defined by verses that have a ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme.
What is a ballad?
This refers to the choice of words, whether formal, informal, or slang, used in a piece of writing
What is the diction?
This term is used to discuss the perspective from which a work of literature is written.
What is "point of view"?
This modernist philosophy paints a rather pessimistic perspective, believing that nothing has meaning and rejecting religious and moral principles.
What is nihilism?
A direct comparison that uses the words "like" or "as" to add concreteness or visualization to an abstract concept.
What is a simile?
Written in iambic pentameter, these rhyming lines were mastered by poets like Wheatley and Pope.
What are heroic couplets?
The final part of a story when the plot resolves.
What is denouement?
This is a universal idea, message or lesson that is explored in a literary work.
What is a theme?
This Renaissance intellectual movement focused on the beauty, worth, and morality of mankind, often separate or distanced from religious values.
What is humanism?
The comparison of two unlike object, concepts, or actions in which characteristics of the first comparison figuratively transfer to the second comparison.
What is a metaphor?
This poetic form was often used to celebrate an important person or event
What is an ode?
Who is John Donne?
The construction or description of a person's physical and non-physical traits.
What is characterization?
Characterized by a wide-spread interest in ancient writers, this era was known for poetry that functioned more like essays
What is neoclassicism?
This term refers to the tension or anticipation that is created when the readers know something that the characters do not, understanding the full significance of the action.
What is irony? BONUS! Double your points if you responded "What is dramatic irony?"
Often used to express grief or loss, this melancholic lament will traditionally have an ABAB rhyme scheme and end with acceptance or consolation.
What is an elegy?
The clashing of two unharmonious sounds, ideas, or concepts.
What is dissonance?
This part of a story provides readers with background information such as setting or characters and sets the mood for the story.
What is the exposition?
This social theory favours personal rights over collectivism.
What is individualism?