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Literary Terms
Literary terms for english students
45
English
10th Grade
08/25/2010

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Term
Alliteration
Definition
The practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words with the same sound: e.g.,"The twisting trout twinkled below"
Term

Allusion

Definition
A reference to a mythological, literary, historical person, place, or thing: e.g.,"He met his Waterloo."
Term
Antagonist
Definition
A character or force against which a main character struggles
Term
Antithesis
Definition
a direct juxaposition of structurally parallel words, phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast
e.g., "Sink or swim"
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate, as if animate.
Term
Assonance
Definition
the repition of accented vowel sounds in a series of words.
Term
Characterization
Definition
The method a writer uses to reveal the personalilty of a character in a literary work
Term
Character
Definition

Flat-has only one or two personality traits

Round-complex character that have many traits

Stock-flat characters that have many common traits and are representative of their class or group

Term
Climax
Definition
the turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work
Term
Conflict
Definition
a struggle between opposing forces
Term
Consonance
Definition
the repetition of a consonant sound within a series og words to produce a harmonious effect.
Term
Connoatation/Denotation
Definition
the denotation of a word is its dictionary definition. The connotation of a word is its emotional content.
Term
Diction
Definition
word choice intended to convey certain effect
Term
Direct Characterization
Definition
the writer tells the reader directly what the character is like
Term
Epic
Definition
a long narrative poem about the adventures of a god or a hero
Term
Exposition
Definition
The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot in which necessary background information is provided
Term
Figurative language
Definition
a form of language use in which writers and speakers mean something other than the literal meaning of their words
Term
Flashback
Definition
a scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event
Term
Foreshadowing
Definition
the use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest a future action
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration
Term
Imagery
Definition
The words of phrases a writer used to represent persons, objects, actions, feelings, and ideas descriptively by appealing to the senses
Term
Indirect Characterization
Definition
The reader must put clues together to figure out what the character is like
Term
Irony
Definition

Verbal irony-when a speaker or narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite.

Situational irony- when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect.

Dramatic irony-when a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings from what he or she thinks it means, though the audience and other characters understand the full implications of the speech or action

Term
Metaphor
Definition
a comparison of two unlike things not using 'like' or 'as'
Term
Mataphor-extended
Definition
differs from a regular metaphor in that it is sustained for several lines or sentences or throughout a work
Term
Mood
Definition
atmosphere or predominant emotion in a literary work
Term
Motif
Definition
a term that describes a patternt or strand of imagery or symbolism in a work of literature
Term
Narration
Definition
A piece of literary work that tells a series of events or a story
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
the use of words that mimic the sounds they describe
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
a form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression
Term
Parody
Definition
a humorous, mocking imitation of a literary work
Term
Personification
Definition
a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstact ideas human characteristics
Term
Plot
Definition
the sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem
Term
Point of view
Definition
the perspective from which a narrative is told
Term
Protagonist
Definition
the main character of a literary work
Term
Resolution
Definition
the sorting out or unraveling of a plot at the end of a drama or narrative
Term
Setting
Definition
The time and place in which the events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem take place
Term
Simile
Definition
a comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words 'like' or 'as'
Term
Structure
Definition
the design of form of a literary work
Term
style
Definition
the writer's characteristic manner of emplying language
Term
Suspence
Definition
the quality of a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that makes the readers or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events
Term
symbolism
Definition
the use of any object, person, place, or action that not only has a meaning in itself, but also stands for something larger than itself, such as quality, attitude, belief, or value
Term
Theme
Definition
the central message of a literary work
Term
tone
Definition
the writer's or speaker's attitude toward a subject, character, or audience, and it is conveyed through the author's choice of words and details
Term
Understatement
Definition
the opposite of hyperbole. It is the kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is
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