Literary Terms
Terms
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- allusion
- a reference to a person, place, object, or event that is not part of the story that the author expects the reader will recognize
- connotation
- a meaning of a word that carries a suggested meaning different from the actual definition
- sestet
- a six line stanza
- paradox
- a statement that is self contradictory on its surface, yet makes a point through juxtaposition of the ideas and words within the paradox
- allegory
- a narrative having a second meaning beneath the surface one
- tone
- the atmosphere in a literary work or the attitude the author puts in a literary work
- figurative language
- expressions that use words to mean something other than their literal meaning
- mood
- the overall atmosphere of prevaling emotional feeling of a work
- octave
- an eight line stanza
- rhyme
- the occurence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words
- didactic poetry
- poems intended to teach a lesson
- consonance
- the repitition of an interior consonant sound within a short sentence
- understatement
- the intentional downplaying of a situation's significance, often for ironic or humorous effect
- blank verse
- unrhymed iambic pentameter
- ekphrastic poetry
- poems based on a work of art
- hyperbole
- an exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true
- dramatic irony
- where the audience or reader knows more about a character's situation thatn the character does and knows that the characters understanding is incorrect
- Petrachian sonnet
- lyric poems that are divivded into two quatrains and a six line sestet
- free verse
- poetry that has neither rhyme nor regular meter
- assonance
- the repitition of an interior vowel sound within a short section
- end rhyme
- rhyme at the end stanzas
- sarcasm
- a disrepancy between what is said and what is really meant (sarcasm)
- extended metaphor
- an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or entire poem
- ballad
- a poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain
- satire
- using humor to expose something or someone to ridicule
- stanza
- a group of lines in a poem
- couplet
- a two line stanza usually with the same end rhymes
- rhythm
- the flow of stressed and unstressed syllables
- alliteration
- the repitition of sounds at the beginning of words
- verbal irony
- a disrepancy between what is said and what is really meant (sarcasm)
- quatrain
- a four line stanza
- Shakespearean sonnet
- lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quotations and a concluding couplet
- denotation
- the primary understanding or meaning of a word