Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Talbot Terms Quiz
n/a
60
English
Undergraduate 2
02/23/2009

Additional English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Affective Fallacy
Definition
Interpretation of texts according to the psychological responses of readers
Term
Allegory
Definition
Concrete presentation of an abstract idea (typically in a narrative) with at least two levels of meaning (surface story line + moral, political or religious).
Term
Allusion
Definition
Indirect reference to a person, event, statement, theme or work. They enrich meaning through the connotations they carry.
Term
Archetype
Definition
Original model from which something is developed
Term
Black Humor
Definition
A dark, disturbing, and often morbid or grotesque mode of comedy found in certain (mostly postmodern) texts. Often concerns death and suffering and goes hand in hand with a pessimistic worldview.
Term
Blank Verse
Definition
Any unrhymed verse, usually refers to unrhymed iambic pentameter
Term
Canon
Definition
A body of written works accepted as authoritative or authentic.
Term
Carpe Diem
Definition
Latin for "seize the day," refers to the literary theme that we should enjoy the present while we can
Term
Catharsis
Definition
The emotional effect a tragic drama has on its audience
Term
Closure
Definition
Condition of finality and wholeness established at the end of a literary work; the process by which a work is brought to a fitting conclusion
Term
Comedy
Definition
Any amusing and entertaining work/drama. Ancient Greek comedy has 3 categories: old, middle, and new
Term
Conceit
Definition
A figure of speech involving an elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently highly dissimilar things, often in the form of an extended metaphor. Two major types: metaphysical and petrarchan
Term
Connotation
Definition
Associations evoked by a word beyond its literal meaning
Term
Couplet
Definition
Two successive lines of rhyming verse, often of the same meter
Term
Decorum
Definition
1. Propriety of conduct in accordance with societal conventions
2. In rhetoric, propriety in argument matching subject and words
3. In literature, propriety of the elements in a literary work so that all elements are compatible and fitting.
Term
Dramatic Monologue
Definition
Lyric poem in which the speaker addresses a silent listener, revealing himself in the context of a dramatic situation. Speaker provides information about the time, setting, key events as well as his own personality.
Term
Elegy
Definition
In Greek and Roman times, any poem composed in elegiac meter. In Elizabethan times, it referred to love poems. Now it refers to reflective poems that lament the loss of something.
Term
Epic
Definition
Long and formal narrative poem written in an elevated style that recounts the adventures of a hero
Term
Epigram
Definition
From the Greek for "inscription" originally an inscription on a monument, then a short poem, now either a short poem with short humorous ending or a witty prose statement.
Term
Epigraph
Definition
1. An inscription on a coin, stone, statue, or building
2. A passage printed on the title page or first page of a literary work or at the beginning of a section of such a work
Term
Foil
Definition
A character whose contract with the main character serves to accentuate the latter's distinctive qualities or characteristics.
Term
Form
Definition
Either the general type or the unique structure of a literary work
Term
Genre
Definition
Classification of literary works on the basis of their content, form, or technique
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
A trope employing deliberate, emphatic exaggeration, usually for comic or ironic effect (an overstatement).
Term
Iconography
Definition
Representation of biblical figures in painting and sculpture with an eye to symbolic significance
Term
Imagery
Definition
1. Corpus of images
2. In a text, the language used to convey a visual picture
2. The use of figurative language used to express abstract ideas
Term
Imagism
Definition
An Anglo-American movement in poetry from 1909-17 that emphasized concise direct expression and presentation of clear, precise images
Term
Intentional Fallacy
Definition
Term coined by New Critics, basing interpretations on the author's implied intentions
Term
Irony
Definition
An incongruity between expectation and reality
Term
Leitmotif
Definition
German for "leading motive," an image or phrase that recurs throughout a work, evoking past associations in such a way as to serve as a unifying element of the work
Term
Lyric
Definition
Originally, any poem designed to be sung with a lyre. Now, a brief imaginitive and melodic poem characterized by structured yet fervent first person voice of the speaker
Term
Mimesis
Definition
Imitation
Term
Muses
Definition
In Greek mythology, Zeus' nine daughters who each hold a sway over the arts and sciences
Term
Novel
Definition
Lengthy fictional prose narrative
Term
Novella
Definition
Fictional prose narrative, typically tightly structured and focused on a single serious event
Term
Ode
Definition
A relatively long, serious, and usually meditative lyric poem that treats a noble subject in a dignified and calm manner
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
Wording that seems to signify meaning through sound effects
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
A rhetorical figure that juxtaposes two opposites or contradictory words in order to present a dramatic paradox
Term
Paradigm
Definition
Synonym for episteme: a word used to refer to: 1. a network of discursive practices dominant during a given historical period
2. the rules governing the transformation of those practices
Term
Paradox
Definition
A statement that seems self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface but that, upon closer examination, may express an underlying truth. (Paradox formed by the juxtaposition of two opposite words in an oxymoron)
Term
Parody
Definition
A form of high burlesque that comically imitates a specific, generally serious work or the style of an author of genre
Term
Pastoral
Definition
Term that describes any work with a rural setting; the literary mode associated with country living
Term
Pathos
Definition
A quality in a work that makes the reader experience pity, sorrow, or tenderness. Victims are usually helpless, whereas in a tragedy the victims are usually in some way responsible for their own fate
Term
Persona
Definition
Speaker in a literary work, often a first person narrator, but not necessarily the author's voice
Term
Polyphonic
Definition
"Many-voiced" term used to refer to dialogic texts in which several viewpoints are discussed in dialogue.
Term
Romance
Definition
term used to describe fictional works that usually include some of the following: high adventure, thwarted love, mysterious circumstances, arduous quests, and improbable triumphs
Term
Satire
Definition
Literary genre that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices and foibles
Term
Scansion
Definition
The analysis of poetic meter, typically using visual symbols, of stressed and unstressed beats
Term
Soliloquy
Definition
In a play, a monologue delivered by a character alone on the stage that reveals inner thoughts and emotion
Term
Sonnet
Definition
lyric poem that typically consists of 14 lines that follows a conventional rhyme scheme
Term
Structure
Definition
Arrangement of material in a work; the design devised by the author to convey content and meaning
Term
Sublime
Definition
The quality of greatness in a literary work that elevates the reader to a higher plane.
Term
Surrealism
Definition
A literary and artistic movement whose proponents view the unconscious as the source of imaginative expression
Term
Symbol
Definition
SOmething that stands for or suggests something larger and more complex
Term
Synecdoche
Definition
A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part
Term
Tone
Definition
The attitude of the author toward the reader, audience, or subject matter of a literary work
Term
Tragedy
Definition
A serious and often somber drama written in prose or verse, that typically ends in disaster and that focuses on a character who undergoes unexpected person reversals
Term
Trope
Definition
"Figure of thought," one of the two major divisions of figures of speech. To trope is to turn or twist some word or phrase to make it mean something else
Term
Utopia
Definition
1. An ideal place that does not exist in reality
2. A work describing such a place
Term
Zeugma
Definition
A rhetorical figure in which one word or phrase governs or modifies two or more words or phrases. Usually involves a single verb that governs multiple nouns or prepositional phrases
Supporting users have an ad free experience!