Flashcards › Introduct to Literature: Final Exam

What word derives from the Greek word dran, meaning "to do" or "to perform" Drama What is the main character of a narrative; its central character who engages the readers interest and empathy? Protagonist What is the character, force or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story? Antagonist Stories that are written in this form divide the plot into three essential parts (the risisng action, climax, and falling action)... Pyramidal Pattern A character in a work whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the destinctive temperment of that character (usually protagonist)... Foil Who was the god of wine and inspired madness? (major figure of greek mythology) Dionysus In Greek tragedies, a group of people who serve mainly as commentros of the characters and events... Chorus A story that presents couragous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat and even death. Tragedy A term coined my Aristotle to describe "some error or frailty" that brings about misfortune for a tragic hero... Hamartia Excessive pride of self-confidence that leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or to violate an important moral law. Hubris (or Hybris) Creates a discrepency between what a character believes or says and what the reader or audience member knows to be true... Dramatic Irony A form of dramatic irony found in tragedies (such as Oedipus the King) Tragic Irony The voice used by an author to tell a story or speak a poem... Speaker A type of brief poem that expresses the personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker... Lyric Poem A poem that tells a story. May be short or long, and the story it relates may be simple or complex... Narrative Poem A writers choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language which combine to help create meaning... Diction Literally, its a mask. In Literature, it is a speaker created by a writer to tell a story or speak in a poem... Persona The ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns such as phrases, clauses and sentences... Syntax The dictionary meaning of a word... Denotation Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of the word, which derive from how the word is commonly used and the associations people make with it... Connotation A type of lyric poem in which a character (the speaker) adresses a distinct but silent audience imagined to be present in the poem in such a way as to reveal a dramatic situation and often, unintentionally, some aspect of his or her temperment or personality... Dramatic Monologue The Latin phrase meaning "seize the day." Carpe Diem A word, phrase or figure of speech that addresses the senses, suggesting mental pictures of sights, sounds, tastes, feelings or actions... Image A common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things using words such as: like, as, than, appears and seems (ex: a sip of her coffee is like a punch in the stomach) Simile A figure of speech that makes a comparision between two unlike things without using the words like or as... Metaphor Runs through and entire work and determines the form or nature of that work... Controlling Metaphor An address, either to someone who is absent and cannot hear the speaker or to somethning non-human that cannot comprehend... Apostrophe A person, object, image, word or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance... Symbol A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different than what appears to be true... Irony Exists when there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens due to forces beyond human comprehension or control... Situational Irony Figure of speech that occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite... Verbal Irony A song, transmitted orally from generation to generation, that tells a story and that eventually is written down... Ballad The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable (ex: descending dew drops)... Alliteration The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same (ex: asleep under a tree)... Assonance When a ryhthemic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem... Meter The metrical unit by which a line of poetry is measured.... Foot A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line (an iambic foot or iamb consists of one unstresses syllable followed by a stressed syllable)... Iambic Pentameter Unrhymed iambic pentameter... Blank Verse A term used to refer to the recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry... Rhythem The grouping of lines, set off by a space, that usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme... Stanza Describes the pattern of end rhymes... Rhyme Scheme A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of 14 lines, usually written in iambic pentameter... Sonnet (aka: Petrarchan sonnet) is divided into an octave, which typically rhymes (abbaaba) and a sestet why may have varying rhyme schemes... Italian Sonnet (aka: Shakespearean Sonnet) is organized into three quatrains and a couplet (abab cdcd efef gg) English Sonnet A mournful, contemplative lyric poem, written to commemorate someone who is dead, often ending in consolation... Elegy all material for Mr. Wood's Final Exam (CSCC)