english exam terms
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- Reliable narrator
- A narrator that appears to be trustworthy and would have no outside interests to protect. Usually a 3rd person narrator, but not always.
- Modernism
- the bold new experimental styles and forms that swept the arts during the first third of the twentieth century. Modernism called for changes in subject matter, in fictional styles, in poetic forms, and in attitudes.
- extended metaphor
- metaphor that continues into following sentences, or one developed at great length, occurring frequently throughout a work.
- soliloquy
- a dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener
- Imagism
- the 20th century movement in European and American poetry, which advocated the creation of hard, clear images concisely written in everyday speech.
- persona
- voice or character representing the speaker in a literary work; narrator of or a character in a literary work, sometimes identified with the author.
- inversion
- a reversal of the order of things
- Revelation
- a surprising and previously unknown fact, esp. one that is made known in a dramatic way
- Apostrophe
- addressing an inanimate object or anything nonhuman
- Pun
- a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word
- euphemism
- expression intended to be less offensive to the listener than the word it replaces
- couplet
- a two line stanza
- Flat characters
- minor characters that are not very deep and do not undergo any substantial change or growth
- microcosm
- human beings, humanity, society, or the like, viewed as an epitome or miniature of the world or universe
- macrocosm
- a representation of a smaller unit or entity by a larger one
- chain of being
- the Elizabethan world view in which the world is separated into the spiritual and the terrestrial and each of these sections are ordered in accordance to their place in the universe; this view reflects the Elizabethans love of a structured life
- Simile
- a comparison using "like" or "as"
- quatrain
- a four line stanza
- Blank verse
- unrhymed verse, esp. the unrhymed iambic pentameter most frequently used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse.
- foil
- the character who is usually the exact opposite of the main character and therefore serves to magnify certain characteristics of the main character
- Allusion
- a reference in one literary work to another
- motivation
- what makes a character do what s/he does, be they goals, incentives, or the nature of the character
- parallel structure
- using same pattern of words to show that 2 or more ideas have same level of importance
- Hyperbole
- a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect
- Disillusionment
- a freeing or a being freed from illusion or conviction; disenchantment.
- Assonance
- repetition of vowel sounds
- Satire
- a literary composition that is ironic, sarcastic, or ridicules
- Paradox
- a seemingly contradiction of meaning but may not be upon closer inspection
- Situational irony
- Players and events coming together in improbable situations creating a tension between expected and real results. Situational irony occurs when the results of a situation are far different from what was expected.
- paraphrase
- restatement of the same concept using different words
- Imagery
- the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream. ; pictorial images
- figurative language
- word or phrase that departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness figures of speech
- Round characters
- major characters in fiction that are changed by conflict
- Objectivism
- the emphasis on concrete objects and images rather than feelings or thoughts in literature.
- Unreliable narrator
- Narrators whose account of a story seems to be false, biased, or distorted. Usually a 1st person narrator, but not always.
- run-on line
- when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning
- Connotation
- the suggested feeling or atmosphere of a word or phrase. The opposite of denotation, which is the literal definition of a word.
- The Waste Land
- a highly influential 434-line modernist poem by T.S. Eliot
- Black humor
- presenting tragic or harrowing situations in comic terms
- aphorism
- a statement that expresses a principle in a few telling words or any general truth in a sentence
- diction
- the author's word choice
- Ambiguity
- doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention: to speak with ambiguity; an ambiguity of manner.
- Epic poetry
- poetry celebrating the deeds of some hero [syn: heroic poetry]
- Interior monologue
- speech made by one person speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing a reader, audience, or character.
- Dramatic irony
- when a character on stage or in a story is ignorant, but the audience watching knows his or her eventual fate, as in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
- naturalism
- a new rebellious type of writing introduced in the late 19th & early 20th century that imported scientific determination into literature, viewing people as part of the animal world, prey to natural forces
- Lyric poetry
- a type of emotional songlike poetry, distinguished from dramatic and narrative poetry
- Meter
- the arrangement of words in poetry that is divided by rhythm and syllables
- Alliteration
- the repetition of initial consonant sounds
- anecdote
- an interesting short account of an incident
- denouement
- the outcome or unraveling of the plot
- Parody
- a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious work of literature
- Slant rhyme
- a rhyme that is close, but somewhat different, such as predicate and ate
- tone
- the author's attitudes toward subject & audience
- syntax
- the rules of a language; word order
- paraphrase
- statement or remark explained in other words or another way to clarify its meaning.
- archaic language
- language no longer in use in the modern world
- Verbal irony
- Verbal irony is a figure of speech. The speaker intends to be understood as meaning something that contrasts with the literal or usual meaning of what he says.
- Stream of consciousness
- literary technique which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes
- catalogues
- long lists
- The American Dream
- the idea (often associated with the Protestant work ethic) held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one could achieve prosperity.
- onomatopoeia
- word or grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing
- local color
- style of writing that focuses on features particular to a specific region
- Expressionistic theater
- theater in which the physical theater, including props, lighting, music, dance, etc., is used to create the interior consciousness of characters
- exposition
- a detailed explanation, normally near the beginning of a story
- Conceit
- a figure of speech in which to dissimilar things are compared
- tercet
- three lines of poetry
- end-stopped line
- A poetic line that has a pause at the end and is usually marked by punctuation
- Harlem Renaissance
- the flourishing of African-American literature and art in the 1920's, mostly in urban centers across America. Prominent figures: Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, W.E.B. DuBois
- aside
- a character addresses the audience directly and the other characters on stage cannot hear him
- Exact rhyme
- perfect rhyme, such as buzz and fuzz
- Objective correlative
- A situation or a sequence of events or objects that evokes a particular emotion in a reader or audience.
- realism
- literature towards depictions of contemporary life and society 'as they were', as opposed to the romantic style.
- Dialect
- a provincial and regional variety of a language distinguished by phonology, grammar, and vocabulary
- Symbolism
- the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
- cadence
- a fall in inflection (change in pitch or tone) of a speaker's voice, such as at the end of a sentence
- Personification
- giving something nonhuman human qualities
- Dramatic monologue
- type of lyric poem, developed during the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives
- Free verse
- verse that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern.
- Gothic
- genre that combines elements of both horror & romance
- Confessional poetry
- intimate and often blunt poetry that is used by the author to "confess". Confessional poets are sometimes deeply troubled and use writing as an outlet for their emotions.
- analogy
- a comparison between similar words or things
- Lost Generation
- a group of American writers that rebelled against America's lack of cosmopolitan culture in the early 20th century. Many moved to cultural centers such as London in Paris in search for literary freedom. Prominent writers included T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway among others.
- Epiphany
- a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience. OR a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.