Literary Terms
Terms
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- allusion
- term given to a reference to either a famous literary work or figure or to a famous historical event or person
- dialect
- the way people from a particular region or group speak that is different from everyone else
- dialogue
- the written conversation between characters
- flashback
- account of something that has already happened in the story usu. involves an interuption in action of the story
- foreshadowing
- author gives us a hint at something that is going to happen
- hyperbole
- statement that is an obvious exaggeration
- idiom
- use of words in such a way that the meaning is lost if the expression is translated literally
- imagery
- use of laguage to create a vivid picture and to put across an experience
- irony
- figure of speech in which the actual meaning is the opposite of the words being used
- mood
- atmosphere created by the writer
- point of view
- "eyes" through which the story is told
- stream of consciousness
- writing technique in which the writer tries to capture the exact flow of the character's thoughts
- symbol
- an image that represents something other than itself
- tone
- feeling or effect the writer creates toward his character or his subject
- characterization
- character development, creation of imaginary perosns so that they seem lifelike
- direct characterization
- explicit presentation of the character through direct exposition
- indirect characterization
- presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment
- plot
- events of a story or narrative with a variety or sequencing paterns, what happens in a story
- exposition
- background information of a story, story before story
- conflict
- struggle between two forces, protagonist and antagonist
- climax
- point in the story where conflict is at its peak
- resolution
- conclusion of the story, unfolding of the theme
- verbal irony
- discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
- situational irony
- discrepancy between what is expected, as in action or as regards to the situation/setting, and what one wold expect to happen
- dramatic irony
- discrepancy between what the character knows, and what the reader knows to be true, when the reader knows something that the character doesn't
- first person
- told from the narrator's point of view, using "I"
- second person
- told from the reader's point of view, usind "you"
- third person limited
- told using third person language, but author may know only what the main character is thinking or feeling
- third person omniscient
- told using third person language, using "he/she" and author knows what all characters are thinking and feeling
- theme
- message or main idea in a piece of literature, what the author wants us to know about the truth of the story
- imply
- to express indirectly
- infer
- to derive as a conclusion from facts or premises