Student

Ms. Whitesides

English: Period Six

11/19/15

Literary Terms

IRONY

Definition:

The contrast between expectation and reality. Irony can

create humor or strong emotion.

Example:

"I was never kinder to the old man until the day that I

killed him" (Poe).

Illustration:

Situational Irony

Definition:

Occurs when what happens is very different

from what we expect to happen.

Example:

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is drugged and as

Romeo finds her, he assumes she is dead,

thus kills himself. Juliet wakes up, seeing his

dead body, and kills herself as well

(Shakespeare).

Illustration:

Verbal Irony

Definition:

When what is said or written is different from

what is meant. Often using dialogue to show it.

Example:

"'Oh, goody,' Katherine said, a little bit too much

sarcasm in her voice" (Haddix 26).

Illustration:

Dramatic Irony

Definition:

When the audience or reader knows something the

characters do not know.

Example:

In Macbeth, the readers know that Macbeth acts

loyal to Duncan while planning his murder

(Shakespeare).

Illustration:

Character

Definition:

A personal or animal in a story, play, or poem.

Example:

In the novel The Missing Series: Caught, it

speaks about the main character, Jonah

Skidmore, his physical appearance,

emotional status, and how he feels about

his classmates (Haddix 1-2).

Illustration:

Protagonist

Definition:

The main character in a work of literature who is

involved in the central conflict and forwards (pro) the

plot all along.

Example:

Jonah Skidmore, in The Missing Series:

Caught, brings along the story in his

perspective mainly, and showing his

thoughts only and what he sees (Haddix 1-

343). John at times can be good and bad.

Illustration:

Antagonist

Definition:

The character who opposes the main character and puts

the conflict or plot in motion.

Example:

Starting at page seven, Gary and Hodge in

The Missing Series: Caught, set the plot in

motion by making a conflict of time for the

protagonist (Haddix 7-218).

Illustration:

Dynamic Character

Definition:

A character who changes as a result of the story's events.

Example:

Mileva Einstein, Albert Einstein's wife

became a time traveler after she discovered

Jonah and Katherine's secret. In the next

showing, she has changed significantly both

physically and internally (Haddix 42-324).

Illustration:

Static Character Definition:

A character who does not change over the course of a

story.

Example:

In To Kill a Mockingbird: Calpurnia, the maid

and care giver of Scout and Gem, stays

constant in her diligence in raising these

children and does not change significantly

in the book (Lee 1-376).

Illustration:

Stock Character

Definition:

An over-simplified character that lacks dimension.

Example:

In The Missing series: Caught, The janitor and the lunch

lady Jonah and Katherine find at the back of the school is

an example of stock characters that aren't very

important (Haddix 12-13).

Illustration:

Personification

Definition:

An over-simplified character that lacks dimension.

Example:

in the book "Have You Got A Brook in Your Little

Heart," “Have you got a brook in your little heart,

Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go

down to drink, And shadows tremble so?”

(Dickenson).

Illustration:

Point Of View

Definition:

The vantage point from which a story is told.

Example:

In Caught, The entire book is placed through Jonah

Skidmores' point of view (Haddix 1-324).

Illustration:

First Person

Narrator

Definition:

One of the characters is telling the story using the

personal pronoun "I."

Example:

“It was times like these when I thought my father, who

hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the

bravest man who ever lived" (Lee).

Illustration:

Third Person

Narrator

Definition:

The narrator focuses on thoughts and feelings of just one

character. Uses third person pronouns such as "he" and

"she."

Example:

"Jonah Skidmore was in science class before time

stopped"(Haddix 1).

Illustration:

Omniscient

Definition:

The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the

characters and understands their pasts.

Example:

The novel, Da Vinci Code, the narrator provides

information about the background and related

knowledge that characters are unaware of (Brown).

Illustration:

Dialect

Definition:

A way of speaking characteristic of a certain

geographical area or a certain group of people.

Includes both accent and word choices.

Example:

"Reckon I have. Almost died first year I

come to school and et them pecans —

folks say he pizened ‘em and put ‘em

over on the school side of the fence"

(Lee).

Illustration:

Theme

Definition

The general idea or insight about life that a work of

literature reveals. It is more than a subject in a work.

Themes are the messages about a subject that a writer

wishes to convey.

Example:

In Caught, one would believe that the

theme of this novel is, "Don't trust the

things you see" (Haddix 1-324).

Illustration:

Setting

Definition:

The time and place of a story, play, or narrative

poem. It is usually described at the beginning of the

work in the exposition.

Example:

At the beginning of Caught, the setting is in

the 21st century, in Jonah and Katherine's'

middle school (Haddix 1-24).

Illustration:

Foreshadowing

Definition:

The use of clues or events suggesting events that will

occur later in the plot.

Example:

"Trapped watching.. in the early nineteen-

hundreds. His daughter is one of the

missing children of history. We had to

return her. We had to. He's not thinking

about right things. He..... I thought...."

(Haddix 28).

Illustration:

Mood

Definition:

The overall feeling of a work of literature. Can be happy,

sad, scary, horrific, etc.

Example:

The novel Wuthering Heights creates two contrasting

moods through two contrasting settings in two

neighboring houses: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross

Grange. A depressing mood is created whenever

Wuthering Heights is described (Brontë).

Illustration:

Plot

Definition:

The series of related events that make up a story.

Example:

In Pride and Prejudice, The plot of the story begins when

Lizzie’s sister, Jane. Lizzie develops and interest in for Mr.

Wickham, who accuses Darcy of destroying him

financially. Jane runs away with Mr. Wickham and Lizzie

realizes that Mr. Darcy is not as bad a man as she

thought him to be (Austen).

Illusrtation:

Exposition:

Definition:

The introduction of a story that introduces the setting,

(time and place) and the characters.

Example:

"Once upon a time, there were three bears. There was a

Daddy Bear, who was very big, a Mama Bear, who was

middle-sized, and a Baby Bear, who was very small. They

all lived together in a little cottage in the middle of the

woods. Their favorite breakfast was porridge. One

morning, after they made their porridge, Daddy Bear

said, ‘Let’s go for walk in the woods until it cools.'"

(Grimm).

Illustration:

Flashback

Definition:

Interruption in the present action of a plot to flash

backward and tell what happened at an earlier time. This

often has a trigger using the senses as a cue.

Example:

Death of a Salesman uses flashback to narrate Willy

Loman’s memories of the past. At one moment, Willy

talks with his dead brother while playing cards with

Charley (Miller)

Illustration:

Conflict

Definition:

A struggle between opposing characters or forces.

Example:

The Old English epic poem Beowulf is the tale of the

eponymous hero who must defeat three monsters. These

monsters include Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a

dragon. The three monsters are not human and

represent the fears that the Anglo-Saxons had about the

natural world and its ability to destroy humanity (Green).

Illustration:

Internal Conflict Definition:

A struggle within a single character. It is a struggle

between opposing needs, desires, or emotions.

Example:

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

or to take arms against a sea of troubles

and by opposing end them. To die, to sleep”

(Shakespeare).

Illustration:

External Conflict Definition:

A character struggles with an outside force which may be

another character, society as a whole, or a natural or man-

made force.

Example:

In the novel The Lord of the Flies, Ralph (A

'Good Guy') steadily comes into conflict with

Jack (a bully). Jack gives in to their savage

instinct and make attempts to hunt or kill the

civilized batch of boys (Golding 1-236).

Illustration:

Man vs Man Conflict

Definition:

One character struggles against another character.

Example:

The play Othello’s key struggles are between

Othello and his nemesis, Iago. Iago is upset with

Othello for two main reasons—Othello has

promoted another man instead of Iago, and

Iago believes that Othello has slept with his

wife, Emilia. Hence Othello, a man is in conflict

with another man, Iago (Shakespeare).

Illustration:

Man vs. Nature Conflict

Definition:

One character struggles against the elements or forces of

nature.

Example:

The Old English poem Beowulf is the tale of the

hero who must defeat three monsters;

Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. The

three monsters are not human and represent

the fears that the Anglo-Saxons had about the

natural world and its ability to destroy

humanity (Anonymous).

Illustration:

Man vs. Society Conflict

Definition:

A character struggles against the rules or norms of

society.

Example:

The novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a

futuristic dystopia in which the

protagonist must confront the incredibly

unjust world in which she is living

(Atwood).

Illustration:

Man vs. Technology Conflict

Definition:

A character struggles against technology.

Example:

In Caught, there is a machine called an

Elucidator that has the ability to teleport or

listen to commands from a person, and

Jonah got it snatched away from Milevia

Einstein (Haddix 1-324).

Illustration:

Climax

Definition:

The most exciting moment in the story when the

outcome is decided one way or another.

Example:

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo

realizes he has killed his wife’s cousin,

Tybalt (Shakespeare).

Illustration:

Tone

Definition:

The emotion given to a specific (shorter) passage or

character by the author.

Example:

“All morons hate it when you call them a

moron,” - from Catching In The Rye

(Salinger).

Illustration:

Alliteration

Definition: A repetition of sounds in one line that is stressed. Two or more sounds close together in a line create alliteration.

Example:

“Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole

story” (Poe).

Illustration:

Resolution (Also Called

Denouement) Definition:

When the story's problems are solved and the story

ends.

Example:

In Hamlet, the main character learns that he

himself has been poisoned and will die, so he

musters the courage and kills his treacherous

uncle, the king, and resolve an evil government

that existed (Shakespeare).

Illustration

Allusion

Example:

When Charlie Gordon in Flowers for

Algernon becomes fired, a static character

named Fanny Girden gives an allusion to a

reference in the Old Testament (Bible) by

saying, “It was evil when Eve listened to the

snake and ate from the tree of knowledge”

(Keyes 49).

Illustration

Definition: A brief and indirect reference to a person, place,

thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.

Assonance

Definition:

caused by the repetition of vowel sounds within

sentences, phrases, or in poems.

Example:

“He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

(Frost).

Illustration:

Consonance

Definition:

The repetition of consonant sounds within sentences,

phrases, or in poems.

Example:

“A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun, Or Nature spending with herself Sequestered afternoon” (Dickinson).

Illustration:

Anapestic Tri-Meter

Definition:

This is a poetic meter that has three anapestic metrical

feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables

followed by a stressed syllable.

Example:

"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee"

(Bryon).

Illustration:

Iambic Pentameter

Definition:

A foot is an iamb if it consists of one unstressed syllable

followed by a stressed syllable, so the word remark is an

iamb. Pent means five, so a line of iambic pentameter

consists of five iambs.

Example:

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date"

(Shakespeare).

Illustration:

*Refrain

Definition:

When a line or a phrase is repeated in order to emphasis

a concept or idea.

Example:

" O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done…"

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells…”

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still…”

(Whitman).

Illustration: