Lit Terms
Here is a list of terms that we need to know for our Lit mid term
Terms
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- allergory
- is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
- metaphor
- Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile.
- simile
- Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Related to metaphor
- foreshadowing
- is a literary device in which an author drops subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story. An example of foreshadowing might be when a character displays a gun or knife early in the story. Merely the appearance of a deadly weapon, even though it is used for an innocuous purpose — such as being cleaned or whittling wood — suggests terrible consequences later on.
- Tragic Flaw
- A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.
- paradox
- seemingly opposite, an apparent contradiction that actually expresses a non-dual truth
- conflict
- Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people.
- oxymoron
- Oxymoron is putting two contradictory words together.
- tone
- Tone is a literary technique, that is a part of composition, that encompasses the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes
- literary allusion
- Allusion is a traditional term for the literary act of referring to previous literary texts. Poems allude to previous poems,
- alliteration
- Alliteration is the repetition of a leading vowel or consonant sound in a phrase. A common example in English is "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers". Alliteration can take the form of assonance, the repetition of a vowel, or consonance, the repetition of a consonant;
- personification
- Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects.
- imagery
- Imagery involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). An author uses a word or phrase to stimulate your memory of those senses. These memories can be positive or negative
- dramatic irony
- Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves.
- climax
- In general, a climax is a point of greatest intensity
- point of view
- In literature and storytelling, a point of view (POV) is the related experience of the narrator — not that of the author. Authors rarely, in fiction, insert or inject their own voice, as this challenges the suspension of disbelief. Texts encourage the reader to identify with the narrator, not with the author.
- theme
- a common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated throughout a literary work. A theme is a thought or idea the author presents to the reader that may be deep, difficult to understand, or even moralistic