Literary Terms

VOCABULARY

Literary Terms

alliteration

Is the repetition of initial consonant sounds.

An example is : Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

allusion

An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art.

antagonist

Is the character or force in conflict with the main character in a literary work.

Usually the bad guy in the story.

caricature

Use of exaggeration to make a character humorous

climax

Is the most exciting point in the story

The highest point in the story

conflict

Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces, such as two people fighting or the problem in the story.

denouement

French word pronounced day-noo-maun

The winding down of a story is referred to as the falling action, which comes immediately after the climax.

The denouement refers to any events that occur after the resolution (climax) in a story.

First person

The first person point of view is when a character tells the story , and the reader knows only what this character feels and sees.

Uses “I”

flashback

The interruption of time in a story.

Inserting past incidents

foreshadowing

Is the use of clues that suggest or predict what will occur later in the story.

hyperbole

Exaggeration that is so extreme that it cannot be true

Example-I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

idiom

A group of words having a different meaning.

Popular usage

Example-You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Be nice, it will get you results.

imagery

The art of painting images using words not paintbrushes.

inference

The reader draws conclusions from the clues given by the author.

Read between the lines

Irony or paradox

Contrast between the expected and the actual event or statement

Often hidden from the characters in the story

Verbal-saying one thing, but meaning the opposite (sarcasm)

Situational-events turn out opposite to what you expect

Dramatic-readers see what the characters in a story do not see.

metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two things are compared without the use of “like” or “as”

Example-On the football team, the defensive line was a concrete wall.

The team isn’t really a concrete wall, right?The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

Sometimes uses is, are, was, were

mood

Mood is the feeling created in the reader by the literary work.

How you feel when you are reading.

onomatopoeia

Is the use of words that imitate sounds

Crash, bang, clang,

Imitates the sounds they name

Buzz, baa, vroom

oxymoron

Combination of contradictory words

Example-Who ordered the giant shrimp?

personification

Is a type of figurative language in which a non-human subject is given human characteristics.

Giving human characteristics and feelings to animals, objects and ideas.

plot

Is the sequence of events, or what happens in a story.

The action plan of a story, usually involves the introduction, rising action, climax, resolution (denouement) and conclusion.

protagonist

Is the main character in a literary work.

Usually considered the “good” guy

pro

rhyme

Repetition of the same vowel and consonant sounds at the end of words

rhythm

The beat of the sentence

setting

The time and place of the action in a literary work.

Where and when does the story take place?

simile

A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared with the use of “like” or “as”.

Example-On the football team, the defensive line was as solid as a concrete wall.

He was as clever as a fox.Leaves drifted from the maple trees like tiny

parachutesSimile starts with an s=as and has an L=like

symbol

Anything that stands for or represents something else is called a symbol.

Flag represents the US and freedom

theme

Is the central message of a literary work .

It is a generalization about human beings or about life.

The underlying topic of a story.

Third person omniscient

The 3rd person omniscient point of view is when a voice outside of the work tells the story, and the reader can tell what any character thinks or feels.

third-person limited

The third-person limited is when the reader experiences the story through the senses and thoughts of just one character.

Example-J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter

tone

A writer’s attitude toward his or her subject.

understatement

A statement less than the truth