Literary Terms 1
Literary Terms used during first six weeks.
Terms
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- irony
- a literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be. The two most common being verbal irony and dramatic irony.
- connotation
- an association that comes along with a particular word. Connotations relate not to a word's actual meaning, or denotation, but rather to the ideas or qualities that are implied by that word.
- denouement
- literally meaning the action of untying, a denouement is the final outcome of the main complication in a play or story. Usually the climax (the turning point or "crisis") of the work has already occurred by the time the denouement occurs.
- figurative language
- a type of language that varies from the norms of literal lnnguage, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as the "ornaments of language," figurative language does not mean exactly what it says but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend an author's point. It usually involves a comparison betwen two things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one another.
- allusion
- a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events.
- flashback
- an interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence. A flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events in order to provide background for the current narration. By giving material that occurred prior to the present event, the writer provides the reader with insight into a characcter's motivation and/or background to a conflict
- genre
- a type or category of literature. We say a poem, novel, story, or other literary work belongs to a particular genre if it shares at least a few conventions, or standard characteristics, with other works in that genre. For example, works in the Gothic genre often feature supernautral elements, attempts to horrify the reader, and dark, foreboding settings, particularly very old castles or mansions.
- hyperbole
- an extravagant exaggeration. from the Greek for "overcasting," hyperbole is a figure of speech that is a grossly exaggerated description or statement. I literature such exaggeration is used for emphasis or vivid descriptions.
- verbal irony
- occurs when either the speaker means something totally different than what he is saying or the audience realizes, because of their knowledge of the particular situation to which the speaker is referring, that the opposite of what a character is saying is true. Verbal irony also occurs when a character says something in jest that, in actuality, is true.
- dramatic irony
- occurs when facts are not known to the characters in a work of literature but are known by the audience. In the movie Titanic, the viewer already knows the fate of the passengers and the characters have no idea of their impending doom.
- alliteration
- a pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds. The repetition can be located at the beginning of successive words or inside the words.
- denotation
- the exact maning of a word, without the fellings or suggestions that the word my imply. It is the opposite of c"connotation" in that it is the "dictionary" meaning of a word, without attached feelings or associations.