Praxis 5039: Figurative Language and Literary Terminology

A story in which people (or things or actions) represent an idea or a generalization about life. Allegories usually have a strong lesson or moral. Example: Animal Farm Orwell argues that governments can be corrupt; mostly seen through the symbolism of the dogs, the hens, and Boxer. Orwell uses the dogs to symbolize how governments use military force to intimidate society.

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

A reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event Example: Chocolate cake is my achilles heel.

A comparison of objects or ideas that appear, at first, to be different but are alike in some important way Example: She's as blind as a bat.

Meter that is composed of feet that are short-short-long or unaccented-unaccented-accented, usually used in light or whimsical poetry, such as a limerick. Example: comp-re-HEND

A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of several clauses. Example: “I wish I may; I wish I might.”

A brief story that illustrates or makes a point. Ex:if a group of coworkers are discussing pets, and one coworker tells a story about how her cat comes downstairs at only a certain time of the night

A person or thing working against the hero, the protagonist, of a literary work.

A device in which the writer attributes human characteristics to an animate being or an inanimate object example: The Cat in the Hat

A contrast or opposition between two things Example:Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open

Literary critic Harold Bloom advanced this way of interpreting poetry by using Sigmund Freud's notion of the Oedipus complex to suggest that poets, filled with anxiety, and no new ideas to express struggle against the earlier influences of a previous generation of poets. While Bloom advanced the anxiety of influence when one is reading poetry, readers can also use this lens to interpret other literary works.

A wise saying, usually short and witty Example: The early bird gets the worm

A turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons who is absent. Ex.“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

A character, plot, image, theme, or setting that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated over time. Example: The hero/Harry Potter

A repetition of the same sound in words close to one another Example: White Stripes

Unrhymed verse, most often occurring in iambic pentameter. Example: To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

The natural rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken Example:

A break in the rhythm of language, particularly a natural pause in a line of verse Example: To be, or not to be - that is the question.

A group of literary works considered by some to be central or authoritative to the literary tradition. Example: Works by Shakespeare or Homer

A method an author uses to let readers know more about the characters and their personal traits. Example: “The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother.”

An expression that has been used so often that it loses its expressive power. Example: "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse."

A specific type of metaphor or figure of speech, often elaborate, that compares two things that are very different. Example: "A broken heart is like a damaged clock."

Repetition of the final consonant sound in words containing different vowels Example: Stroke of luck

A stanza made up of two rhyming lines Example: "Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow."

A metrical foot of three syllables in which the first syllable is stressed and the next two are unstressed Example: OUT of the CRAdle, ENDlessly ROCKing

A literary criticism that rebuts the traditional literary criticism notion that the biography of an author provides a context for the interpretation of the text; instead, the writing and the creator are unrelated Example:

The resolution or conclusion of a story

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain region or social group

An author's choice of words based on their clarity, conciseness, effectiveness, and authenticity.

The following terms relate to diction: archaic (old fashioned words), Colloquialisms (expressions like "wicked awesome" ), Dialect (language used by people in a geographic area), Jargon (specialized language in a certain content area), Profanity (language that shows disrespect for others), Slang (informal language), Vulgarity (crude or offensive language)

Language that intentionally distorts or disguises meaning Example: Let go=fired

Rhyming that occurs at the ends of lines of verse Example: Whose woods these are I think I know, His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

Also known as a run-on line in poetry. Occurs when one line ends and continues onto the next line to complete the meaning. Example:"I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I / Did, till we loved?

A descriptive phrase or word frequently used to characterize a person or thing Example: "The father of psychology"= Sigmund Freud

A word or phrase that substitutes for an offensive or suggestive one Example: "lost their lives"= killed

A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility. Famous Existentialists: Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Franz Kafka

A literary device in which the author jumps back in time in the chronology of a narrative

A character who acts in contrast to another character Example: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy

A metrical foot is one stressed syllable and a number of unstressed syllables

A literary technique in which the author gives hints or clues about what is to come at a later point in the story

A literary device in which a story is enclosed in another story

Verse that contains an irregular metrical pattern and line length Example: For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry. For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him. For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way. For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness. For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer …

A category of literature defined by its style, form, and content Example: Poetry, Biography, etc

The art and science of text interpretation

A pair of rhyming lines of poetic verse written in iambic pentameter Example: O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.

The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero Example: William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a classic example of hubris. In this play, the protagonist, Macbeth, is filled with the desire for power. This thirst for ultimate control ultimately leads to the downfall of himself and many people around him including his wife, Lady Macbeth.

An exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect

An expression specific to a certain language that means something different from the literal meaning Example: Sick as a dog= very ill

The use of words to create pictures or arouse senses in the reader's mind

The joining of opposites Example: A cat at a dog's birthday party

A narrative technique that reveals a character's internal thoughts and memories

A rhyme that occurs within a line of verse, not at the end of the line. Example: I went to town to buy a gown. / I took the car, and it wasn't far.

The relationship between texts, especially works of literature Example: The main plotline of Disney's The Lion King is a take on Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or expected meaning. There are three kinds of irony: (Dramatic: reader sees a characters errors, but the character does not), (Verbal: the writer says one thing and means another), (Situational: the purpose of a particular action differs greatly from the result)

A type of pun or play on words that result when two words become mixed up in the speaker's mind. Example: “What do I look like, an inferior decorator?”

A figure of speech in which a subtle or implicit comparison is made between two unlike things

A rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables

A figure of speech which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. Example. Dish = entire plate of food

The feeling a text evokes in the reader Example: Sadness

A lesson a work of literature is teaching

A literary term for themes or ideas that are often repeated in a literary work

The telling of a story

From the Freudian theory that posits people experience a complex set of emotions based on sexual attraction, especially at a young age, to their parent of the opposite sex

The use of words to suggest sounds Example: Buzz, click, vroom

A phrase that consists of two contradictory terms Example: deafening silence

A contradictory statement that makes sense Example: man learns from history that man learns nothing from history

The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals Examples: I wandered lonely as a cloud.

a literary device in which animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits Example: The wind whispered through the trees

A term that means a character gets what he or she "deserves" in the end

the perspective from which a story is told

A play on words based on multiple meanings or on words that sound alike but have different meanings Example: Denial ain't just a river in Egypt

The repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals, particularly at the end of each stanza Example: jump back, honey, jump back

Persuasive writing

A question that is posed but does not actually require an answer

The repetition of sounds in two or more words, usually at the end of a line, but not always

The regular or random pattern of sounds in poetry

The time and place in which the action of a fictional work takes place

A comparison of two unlikely things including the word like or as

A rhyme that is not exact Example: Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all

A long speech made in a play while no other characters are speaking. Usually the character will be alone on stage

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are stressed. Example: bookmark

A division of poetry named for the number of lines it contains

a style of writing that portrays the inner thoughts of a character.

How the author uses words, phrases, and sentences to form ideas

A person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else Example: white flag= surrender

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. Example: All hands on deck

The juxtaposition of one sensory image with another that appeals to an unrelated sense. Example: the region where the sun is silent

The overall feeling created by an author's use of words Example: Somber

The overall impression a literary work leaves on the reader

During the mid-19th century in New England, several writers and intellectuals worked together to write, translate works, and publish. Their philosophy focused on protesting the puritan ethic and materialism. They valued individualism, freedom, experimentation, and spirituality. Examples: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A metrical foot made up of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable Example: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf; Witches' mummy; maw and gulf

Language spoken by people who live in a particular region

A metric line of poetry

Distinctive features of a person's speech and speech patterns