Literary terms 2
Terms
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- Define: free verse
- poetry that doesn not use regular rhyme, rhythm, or division into stanzas.
- Define: 2nd person
- point of view told from "you"
- Define: Major character
- Same as main character
- Define:Dramatic irony
- the audience knows something that the character does not.
- Define: Haiku
- a traditional Japanese three-line poem; five syllables in the first, seven in the second and five in the third line.
- Define: 1st person
- Point of view told from "I"
- Define: Protagonist
- Main character in a story.
- Define: dead metaphor
- an overused, figure of speech which compares two unlike things.
- Define: Hero
- A protagonist who exhibits extraordinary charcter or accomplished extraordinary feats.
- Define: voice
- The way a writer uses language to relect his/her unique personality and attitude toward topic, form, and audience.
- Define: Foil
- characters created in contrast to each other; good guy/bad guy.
- Define: Round character
- A well developed character, through description.
- Define: Conflict
- a struggle occurring as part of the plot chart.
- Define: colloquialism
- a dialect specific to a geographic region.
- Define: tragedy
- a type of drama in which the main characters suffer a downfall.
- Define: Direct characterization
- Character development in which the author tells the reader what he/she needs to know about the character.
- Define: rhyme
- the repetition of sounds at the ends of words.
- Define: Limerick
- a five-line light verse:the rhyme scheme is aabba
- Define: Stereotype
- A fixed idea of a person based on the characteristics of a group.
- Define: diction
- the proper pronounciation of words; properly spoken and stressed.
- Define: irony
- the contast between reality and appearance
- Define: Minor character
- not the most important,but necessary to the plot of the story.
- Define: iambic pentameter
- a line of poetry that contains 5 iambs; two syllables which are pronounced stressed/unstressed.
- Define: legends
- A story coming from the past, based on important real events or characters; may be based on a true historical figure but parts of the story are unrealistic.
- Define: blank verse
- poetry that is weritten in unrhymed, iambic pentameter.
- Define: antagonist
- Character in a story who struggles with the main character.
- Define: Nonfiction/Nonfiction Essay
- Writing about real people,places, things, and events.
- Define: Novel
- A longer fictional writing which includes involved plots, many characters, and numerous settings.
- Define:Historical fiction
- This tells a story that is partially based on actual historical events and is partly made up; writers use specific details to make the past come alive in the readers imagination.
- Define: reports
- Nonfiction account of a person, place or thing.
- Define: Narrative Poetry
- Poems which primary intention of the poet is to tell a story.
- Define: Short Stories
- Primary form of fiction, typically readable in its entirety in one setting.
- Define: Narrative Fiction/fiction prose
- (writing done in paragraphs and sentences) about imagined events or characters.
- Define: Autobiography
- Nonfiction story of a person's life told by that person.
- Define: Informative or reference material.
- Nonfiction publications which may include the following; atlas, dictionary, thesauraus, textbooks, enclyclopedia, newspapers,and magazines.
- Define: Essay
- Short nonfiction work that expresses that writer's thoughts about a single subject.
- Define: Realistic fiction
- Imaginary stories intended to present an accurate picture of life and events.
- Define: Comedy
- A type of drama typically characterized by humor and a happy ending.
- Define: fable
- Brief story that frequently includes animal characters and a moral.
- Define: lyric
- highly musical verse that expresses the emotions of the speaker and do not tell a story.
- Define: Skits
- A short dramatic production meant to illustrate a specific point.
- Define: Bias
- previously held beliefs that may influence an author or reader.
- Define: sonnet
- a 14-line poem usually written in iambic pentamenter with rhyme in a fixed scheme.
- Define: hyperbole
- an extreme exaggeration
- Define: Character
- people, animals, or objects in the story.
- Define: figurative language
- Writing or speaking that is meant to be understood imaginatively instead of literary; includes the literary techniques: apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox,personification, and simile.
- Define: Exposition
- The introduction of the plot.
- Define: Plot
- Organized pattern or sequence of events in a story.
- Define: Main Character
- Most important figure in a literary work.
- Define: 3rd person
- point of view told from "he, she or it"
- Define: tone
- The author's attitude as interpreted through word choice toward the subject or reader
- Define:rhythm
- pattern of beats in a line of poetry or prose.
- Define: couplet
- two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.
- Define: inciting incident
- The event in the plot that introduces the central conflict.
- Define: quatrain
- a 4-line stanza with a rhyme scheme.
- Define: Plays
- another term for drama
- Define: Mood
- feeling or emotion the writer creates in a literary work.
- Define: atmosphere
- same as mood of a literary work.
- Define: setting
- Time and place in which a literary work happens; may be revealed through scenery, clothing, weather, or season.
- Define: Prose
- all writing that is not poetry or drama; includes fiction and nonfiction.
- Define: imagery
- language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience by using the five senses.
- Define: Direct metaphor
- a comparison of tow unlike things which uses the verbs;is, are, was, or were.
- Define: motif
- anything that appears repeatedly in one or more works of literature.
- Define: Implied metaphor
- a comparison of two unlike things in which the things being compared may not ever actually be stated.
- Define:Archetype
- a recurring reference to a universal theme; example, the archetype of good vs evil.
- Define: Biography
- Nonfiction story about a person's life told by another person.
- Define: foreshadowing
- the dropping of hints in a work of literture as to events that may occur later in the work.
- Define Rhyme scheme
- pattern of rhyming lines in a poem; usually represented with letters.
- Define: Point of view
- the vantage point or angle from which a story is told.
- Define: 3rd person limited
- point of view limited ot one particular charcter's vantage point.
- Define: Indirect characterization
- Character development in which the author tells the reader what he/she needs to know about the character.
- Define: situational irony
- an event that contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience of a literary work.
- Define: repetition
- more than one use of a sound, word, or gourp of words.
- Define: 3rd person omniscient
- the narrator knows and tells about what each character thinks and feels.
- Define: internal conflict
- a struggle that takes place within the character.
- Define: Static Character
- A character who remains the same in a literary work.
- Define: Fairy tales
- Type of European folk tale containing supernatural events and often imaginary creatures such as elves and giants.
- Define:idiom
- a group of words that when placed together takes on an entirely different meaning than the individual words.
- Define: Complications
- The problems that arise within the plot of a story that keep the charcter from solving the conflict.
- Define: theme
- The underlying meaning of a story; unstated, typically inferred; common examples include: rite of passage, role of woman, intolerance, tragedy, and survival.
- Define: Dynamic character
- A character who makes a significant change in a literary work.
- Define: slant rhyme/aprox. rhyme.
- words that have similar sounds, but are not pure examples of rhyme.
- Define: Drama
- A story told through characters played by actors.
- Define: Mythology
- These are stories that explain objects or events in the natural world; explained as being caused by some supernatural force or being, often a god.
- Define: Symbolism
- the usage of something that stands for or represents both itself and something else.
- Define: meter
- a poem's overall rhythm, or pattern of beats.
- Define: external conflict
- A struggle that takes place between a charcter and something outside that character; man vs man, man vs nature, man vs society.
- Define: Verbal irony
- the character says one thing, but intends another.
- Define: Villain
- the bad guy or antagonist who opposes the protagonist.
- Define: Folklore
- Tales or songs passed by word of mouth from generation to generation of commonly shared ideas or feelings;anonymous.
- Define: apostrophe
- a poem that addresses an object or a person directly.
- Define: suspense
- The quality in literature that keeps a reader eager to know what will happen next.
- Define: falling action
- events in the plot that occur between the climax and resolution.
- Define: Cliche'
- an overused figure of speech.
- Define: allegory
- a work in which each element symbolizes or represents, something beyond itself.
- Define: Tall Tales
- Lighthearted or humorous story with many exaggerated lelments; depict the adventures of American folk heros of the wild west and offer explanations as to how certain mountains, lakes, or other geographical features came to exist.
- Define: script
- written format of a drama or play.
- Define: actor
- characters in a play
- Define: simile
- a comparison of two unlike things which uses the words;like, as, or resembles, to make the comparison.
- Define: expository
- writing or speech that explains a process or presents information.
- Define: Flat character
- A one-sided character who often represents a stereotype.
- Define: Primary character
- same as main character
- Define: Epic
- a long, narrative poem depicting the adventures of a hero.
- Define: declining action
- same as falling action
- Define: Fantasy
- very unrealistic or imaginary story; often contrasted with science fiction.
- Define: Dialect
- a version of language spoken by people of a particular place,time or group.
- Define: tragic flaw
- the characteristic that leads the hero to his downfall.
- Define: flashback
- part of a story, poem, or play that presents events that happened at an earlier time.
- Define: epic conventions
- include a hero, epic similes, in medias res
- Define: moral
- a practical lesson, usually relating to the principals of right and wrongto be drawn from a story or other works of literature.
- Define: epic hero
- the protagonist of an epic.
- Define: In medias res
- in the middle of; all epics begin here usually through the literary usage of a flashback.
- Define: Epistolary
- writing that tells a story through letters written by one or more characters.
- Define: allusion
- a reference in literature to something famous whether it be person, place or event or anything else that is well known.
- Define: extended metaphor
- a comparison of two unlike things that may take an entire stanza or poem to develop the meaning or understanding of.
- Define: Ballad
- a narrative poem written in song form.
- Define: Rising action
- events in the plot that lead to the climax.
- Define: refrain
- the repeating section of a ballad
- Define: act
- major divisions in a play.
- Define:style
- an author's chosen method for writing literature.
- Define: Pun
- a play on the multiple meanings or spellings of a word.
- Define: tragic hero
- main character of a tragedy who inevitably suffers a downfall.
- Define: Climax
- The moment in the plot of highest intensity.
- Define: parable
- story told to communicate a moral
- Define: set
- the backdrop of a play
- Define:Paradox
- a statement that seems to go against common sense but is actually true.
- Define: Connotation
- emotional association attached to a word or statement.
- Define: Science fiction
- imaginative literature based on scientific principals, discoveries or laws.
- Define: Cinquain
- Poems that are five lines in length; syllable sinquains give each line a certain number of syllables: first-2, second-4, third-6, fourth-8, and fifth-2.
- Define: stanza
- a group of lines in a poem; usually separated by spaces from other groups of lines.
- Define: costumes
- clothing worn by charcters often reveals important settings or character traits.
- Define: aside
- a statement during a play directed to the audience and not heard by players on stage.
- Define: denouement
- any material that follows the resolution and that ties up loose ends.
- Define: resolution
- The point in the plot at which the central conflict is ended.
- Define: Personification
- giving human characteristics to non-human things.
- Define: Turning Point
- same as crisis
- Define: objectivity
- a style of writing nonfiction based on factual information only.
- Define: Crisis
- The point in the plot when something happens to determine the future course of events and the eventual fate of the main character.
- define: Metaphor
- a comparison of two unlike things.
- Define: dialogue
- conversation involving two or more characters.
- Define: stage directions
- information in parentheses giving necessary information to the players.
- Define: subjectivity
- a style of writing nonfiction based on the opinions of the author.
- Define: Denotation
- basic meaning or dictionary definition of a word.
- Define: monologue
- a speech performed by one character.
- Define: alliteration
- the repetition of like consonant sounds in a line of poetry.
- Define: Onomatopoeia
- a poetic device through which the words in a line of poetry are used to make that particular sound.
- Define: Lyric Poetry
- Highly musical verse that expresses the emotions of a speaker and does not tell a story.
- Define: Assonance
- the repetition of like vowel sounds in a line of poetry.
- Define: scene
- major divisions within the act of a play.
- Define: soliloquy
- a long speech performed by a character alone on stage.
- Define: props
- objects used in a play by characters.