lit terms
Terms
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- scansion
- measuring the stresses in order to determine its metrical pattern
- metaphor
- two dissimilar things that are compared using words such as "like" "as" "than" or "resembles"
- personification
- giving human or animate qualities to nonhuman or inanimate things (ex: the raindrops danced on the sidewalk)
- internal conflict
- a struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single character
- Third person limited
- the narrator is outside the story but tells the story from the vantage point of only ONE character; the character can enter the mind of this chosen character but cannot tell what any other characters are thinking except by observation
- Point of view
- the vantage point from which a write tells a story
- character
- fictional personality created by the author
- static character
- a character who does not change much in the course of the story
- Dramatic Irony
- when the reader or audience knows something important that a character in a story or drama does not know
- Verbal Irony
- when a speaker says one thing but means the opposite
- protagonist
- central character the reader focuses on; the person whose conflict sets the plot in motion
- perfect rhyme
- Rhymes involving sound that are exactly the same (ex: love, dove)
- atmosphere
- the mood or feeling in a work of literature
- assonance
- the similarity or repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words with different consonant sounds (ex: she is free and easy)
- imperfect rhyme
- : rhyme involving words that sound similar, but are not exactly the same (ex: heart, smart)
- Foil character
- a character who is used as a contrast to another character; the contrast emphasizes the differences between the two characters, bringing out the distinctive qualities in each
- antagonist
- the character or force that blocks the protagonist
- refrain
- a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a song or poem, esp. at the end of each stanza; chorus.
- pun
- a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings
- Third person omniscient
- all knowing, narrator is outside the story, a god- like observe who can tell the reader what all the characters are thinking and feeling, as well as what is happening anywhere in the story
- suspense
- a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome
- meter
- poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses
- exposition
- background information on characters and events necessary for understanding the story.
- lyric poem
- a brief, personal poem that is especially musical and filled with emotion; sonnets, odes, and elegies are types of lyrics
- repetition
- repeating a word or phrase within a poem- 3 reasons: pleasing to the ear, emphasis, and structure
- iambic
- a 2 syllable foot with the stress on the second syllable: most common in English language
- foreshadowing
- the use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot
- alliteration
- the repetition of the initial consonant sound in two or more words in a line of verse (ex: mark my melodious midnight moans)
- foot
- a unit of meter, can consist of 2 or 3 syllables
- eye rhyme
- words that look like they rhyme but they don't (ex: daughter, laughter- move, dove)
- Antithesis
- Direct contrast; opposition
- flat character
- a character who is not well developed, but rather one dimensional; he/ she has only one or two personality traits
- tone
- the attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject, or a character; tone is conveyed through the writer's choice of words and details
- dramatic climax
- the point of greatest interest or intensity in the story. This type of climax is not related to plot structure
- direct metaphor
- directly compares two things with a verb such as "is" (ex: my love is a red rose, red rose)
- mixed metaphor
- a combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect
- plot
- underlying structure of a story, purpose is to convey meaning and to provide an enjoyable or moving reading experience
- free verse
- consists of lines of poetry that do not have a regular rhythm and do not rhyme
- onomatopoeia
- the use of words that imitate the sounds they define (ex: buzz)
- symbol
- a person, place, thing, or event that stands for both itself and for something beyond itself (ex: snake symbolizes evil) something concrete to represent something abstract
- stanza
- One of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines.
- implied metaphor
- suggests a comparison without using "is" (ex: my love blossoms and flowers)
- Synecdoche
- figure of speech which something is used to signify the whole (ex: behind bars- in jail)
- ballad
- a type of poem of poem that is meant to be sung and is both lyric and narrative in nature
- round character
- a character in fiction whose personality, background, motives, and other features are fully delineated by the author
- conflict
- a struggle or clash between two opposing characters, forces, or emotions
- characterization
- the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character
- sonnet
- a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet.
- narrative poem
- a story told in verse form
- hyperbole
- exaggeration for the sake of effect, for emphasis, not to be taken literally; overstatement (ex: I cried my eyes out!)
- Rhyme scheme
- the pattern of rhymes used in a poem, usually marked by letters to symbolize correspondences
- Second person
- the person used by a speaker in referring to the one or ones to whom he or she is speaking: in English you is a second person pronoun.
- apostrophe
- addressing something nonhuman as if it were human (ex: Death, be not proud..)
- technical climax
- turning point of the plot, outcome is determined, and the protagonist often changes or has an opportunity to change but does not
- First person
- the narrator is a character in the story, uses the pronoun I
- dramatic characterization
- showing, more indirect, less quick, more attention- getting. The reader has to experience her own judgment, putting clues together to figure out what the character is like
- setting
- the time and place of events in a literary work
- irony
- saying the opposite of what is true
- poetry
- rhythmic, compressed language uses figures of speech and imagery to appeal to emotion and imagination, often contain rhyme and meter, but not all of the time
- plotless short story
- plot has minor function; these works may focus instead on characterization and point of view
- resolution
- all of the problems or mysteries of the plot are unraveled.
- frame story
- a secondary story or stories embedded in the main story
- dead metaphor
- : a metaphor that has occurred so often that it has become a new meaning of the expression (e.g., 'he is a snake' may once have been a metaphor but after years of use it has died and become a new sense of the word 'snake')
- expository characterization
- direct, telling, quicker, less- attention- getting, factual
- theme
- the central idea or insight of a work of literature; most themes are implied rather than directly stated
- end stopped line
- line has a pause at the end
- imagery
- language that addresses the senses, allows us to experience things in our imagination, conveys emotion& mood
- narrator
- the teller of the story
- internal rhyme
- rhyme between words that occur within a single line of poetry (ex: o fleet, sweet sorrow)
- blank verse
- consists of unrhymed iambic pentameter
- Situational Irony
- what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate
- motivation
- the reasons that cause the characters to act as they do
- paradox
- an apparent contradiction which proves, upon examination, to be true (ex: poor little rich girl)
- rhythm
- the pattern of stresses and unstressed syllables in words in a line of poetry
- external conflict
- a character struggles against some outside force: another character, society as a whole, or some natural force
- extended metaphor
- a metaphor that is developed over several lines of writing
- run on line
- line that ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning