Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Brit Lit Terms 1
Learn 'Em!
43
English
Undergraduate 1
09/18/2011

Additional English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Arete
Definition
Excellence of any kind.
Term
Moira
Definition
Fate, destiny.
Term
Muses
Definition
The goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.
Term
Dike
Definition
The spirit of moral order and fair judgement
Term
Hubris
Definition
Excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.
Term
Genre
Definition
A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.
Term
Epic
Definition
A long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style
Term
In Medias Res
Definition
In or into the middle of events or a narrative.
Term
Invocation to the Muses
Definition
To conjure or ask for help and a muse in greek mythos was a female goddess or spirit that would inspire the creative process.
Term
Epithet
Definition
Any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality
Term
Epic Simile
Definition
A simile developed over several lines of verse, especially one used in an epic poem.
Term
Catalog
Definition
Something that contains such a list or record, as a book, leaflet, or file.
Term
Realism
Definition
Interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative, etc
Term
Catharsis
Definition
The purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
Term
Hamartia
Definition
A tragic fault.
Term
Skene
Definition
A structure facing the audience and forming the background before which performances were given.
Term
Orchestra
Definition
A group of performers on various musical instruments, including especially stringed instruments of the viol class, clarinets and flutes, cornets and trombones, drums, and cymbals, for playing music, as symphonies, operas, popular music, or other compositions.
Term
Parodos
Definition
An ode sung by the chorus at their entrance, usually beginning the play and preceding the proagōn in comedy or the alteration of epeisodia and stasima in tragedy.
Term
Exodus
Definition
A going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people: the summer exodus to the country and shore.
Term
Episodes
Definition
An incident, scene, etc., within a narrative, usually fully developed and either integrated within the main story or digressing from it.
Term
Stasimon/Stasima
Definition
A choral ode, especially in tragedy, divided into strophe and antistrophe: usually alternating with the epeisodion and, in the final ode, preceding the exodos.
Term
Chorus
Definition
A lyric poem, believed to have been in dithyrambic form, that was sung and danced to, originally as a religious rite, by a company of persons.
Term
Narrative
Definition
A story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
Term
Tragedy
Definition
A dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction.
Term
Plot
Definition
Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.
Term
Setting
Definition
The locale or period in which the action of a novel, play, film, etc., takes place.
Term
Characterization
Definition
Portrayal; description.
Term
Protagonist
Definition
The leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work.
Term
Antagonist
Definition
The adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work.
Term
Poetic Justice
Definition
An ideal distribution of rewards and punishments such as is common in some poetry and fiction.
Term
Foreshadowing
Definition
To show or indicate beforehand.
Term
Dramatic Irony
Definition
Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.
Term
Personification
Definition
Giving inanimate objects human-like qualities.
Term
Allusion
Definition
An incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication.
Term
Metaphor
Definition
A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
Term
Imagery
Definition
Figurative description or illustration.
Term
Paradox
Definition
A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
A digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea.
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
A figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect.
Term
Ambiguity
Definition
Doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention.
Term
Stereotype
Definition
A simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.
Term
Archetype
Definition
The original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
Term
Tone
Definition
The way an author communicates a feeling or attitude toward the subject he is writing about.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!