Literary elements
Terms
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- Paradox
- apparent contradictions which are true
- Climax
- turning point of a story (no more conflicts arise after this)
- existentialism
- a philosophy that suggests we must struggle to create our won meaning and morality in the absence of absolute values; many believe that the universe is indifferent to human suffering
- caesura
- pause of break within a line of poetry, usually indicated by a natural rhythm
- free verse
- poetry with no regular meter or rhyme scheme
- Theme
- underlying lesson or moral in writing
- Aural imagery
- descriptive language that appeals to the sense of hearing
- Olfactory imagery
- descriptive language that appeals to the sense of smell
- Metaphor
- comparison of two things without using like or as
- Falling action
- conflicts begin to be resolved
- Denouement
- story is resolved and comes to a close
- aside
- private words a character speaks to the audience or to another character which are not heard by others onstage
- couplet
- pair of rhyming lines in poetry
- exaggeration
- extreme overstatement
- Epiphany
- a moment of sudden insight or revelation
- sestet
- a six line stanza or poem, or the last six lines of a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet
- catastrophe
- the ruin, devastation, calamity caused by the tragic hero's tragic flaw
- Carpe diem
- "seize the day" is a literary theme that urges us to live in the present moment
- Gustatory imagery
- descriptive language that appeals to the sense of taste
- understatement
- extreme sarcasm, saying much less than what you mean
- Simile
- comparison of two things using like or as
- Setting
- time and place of action in a story
- enjambment
- continuation of meaning from one line of poetry to the next
- pastoral poetry
- works set in an idealized countryside
- Visual imagery
- descriptive language that appeals to the sense of sight
- Oxymoron
- pair of opposite words (bright night)
- octave
- an eight line stanza or poem, or the first eight lines of a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet where the rhyme scheme is abbaabba
- Assonance
- repeated vowel sounds
- Iambic pentameter
- line of poetry made of five iambs (10 syllables) and is the most common verse rhythm of poetry. An iamb is a unit of measure made of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
- Symbol
- creature, concept, object, idea with both literal and figurative meanings
- hyperbole
- extreme extreme exaggeration
- Plot
- sequence of a story that has five parts: setting, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement
- Verbal irony
- characters mean the exact opposite of what they say; sarcasm
- tragic flaw
- a great weakness that causes the tragic hero's downfall
- Characterization
- description of a character, either direct or indirect
- tercet
- triplet or three rhyming lines in poetry
- metaphysical conceits
- especially complex and ingenious figures of speech that make surprising connections between two seemingly extremely dissimilar things
- ode
- complex, long lyric poem on a serious subject
- Stream of consciousness
- writing style that mimics the random flow of thoughts, emotions and memories running through a characters mind
- Flashback
- author remembers the past, but acts like it is happening now
- Personification
- human characteristics are given to non-human things
- Dramatic irony
- readers know something that the characters do not
- Onomatopoeia
- sound effects (crash, bang, boom)
- Alliteration
- repeated consonant sounds
- chronicle
- historical account of specific events told in chronological order
- tragic hero
- a character of high status who possesses a tragic flaw
- Foreshadowing
- hints or clues an author gives about what is to come later on
- Pun
- a play on words with multiple meanings or with words that sound alike but have different meanings
- satire
- writing that ridicules human weakness, vice, or folly in order to cause social reform
- Elegy
- poem that mourns the death of a person or laments something lost
- Tone
- the attitude a writer takes within a work (satiric, ironic, hyperbolic, etc)
- blank verse
- unrhymed iambic pentameter
- tragedy
- depicts serious events where the protagonist (usually high-ranking and dignified) comes to an unhappy end
- Tactile imagery
- descriptive language that appeals to the sense of touch
- Rising action
- conflicts are introduced
- Allegory
- story or poem with two meanings: a literal meaning and a figurative (metaphorical/symbolic) meaning
- journal
- record of events, kept regularly by an eyewitness or participant
- sonnet
- 14-line poem about love, death, and/or time
- Situational irony
- the opposite of what is expected occurs
- Lyric poem
- songlike poem that expresses emotion or thoughts rather than a story
- quatrain
- a four line stanza or poem usually unified by a rhyme scheme
- catharsis
- figurative cleansing of emotions caused by the resolution of catastrophe