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Literary Terms 49
Literary Terams Sept 11 grade 9
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Moral | The lesson that is learned through a fable |
Suspense | The feeling of uncertainty about the outcome of events in a literary work. |
Fantasy | A highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found I real life. |
Conflict | A struggle between two opposing forces |
Fiction | Prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. |
Genre | A category or type of literature. |
Fable | A fictional story that teaches a lesson. |
Prose | The ordinary form of written language |
Plot | The sequence of events in literary work. |
Nonfiction | Prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, ideas or events. |
Dialect | The form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group. |
Local color | Very similar to dialect except that it deals with dress, customs, regions, traditions. |
Setting | The time and place of action. |
Narrator | The speaker or character who tells a story. |
Mood | The feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. |
Motivation | The reason that explains or partially explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way. |
Characterization | The act of creating and developing a character. |
Flashback | An interruption in the action of a story to show events that happened earlier. |
Character | A person or animal who takes part in the action of a literary work. |
Foreshadowing | The use of clues in a literary work that suggest events that have yet to occur. |
Exposition | The beginning of the plot introduces the setting, characters, and the basic situation. |
Theme | The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work. |
Irony | The general term for literary techniques that portray differences between appearance and reality, or expectation and result. |
Denotation | The dictionary meaning of a word, independent of other associations that the word may have. |
Point of View | The vantage point from which a story is being told. |
Connotation | The set of ideas associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning. |
Internal Conflict | A character in conflict with himself or herself. |
Symbol | Anything that stands for or represents something else. |
Tone | The writer's attitude toward his or her audience and subject. |
Diction | The author's word choice. |
Flat character | A character who shows only one trait. |
Protagonist | The main character in a literary work. |
Climax | The highest point of interest or suspense in the plot. |
External Conflict | When a character struggles with an outside force. |
Round character | A character who shows many different traits, faults as well as virtues. |
Static character | A character who does not change during a story. |
Stereotype | A character who possess little or no individuality. |
Antagonist | A character or force in conflict with the main character. |
Dynamic character | A character who develops and grows during the course of the story. |
Inciting incident | Introduces the central conflict. |
Epic | A long narrative about the adventures of a hero. |
Autobiography | Nonfiction in which a writer tells his or her own story. |
Simile | A figure of speech using like or as to compare to unlike things. |
Personification | When a non human object is given human characteristics. |
Hyperbole | A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. |
Dialogue | A conversation between two characters. |
Novel | A long work of fiction, one or more subplots and several themes. |
Bias | A judgement based on a personal point of view. |
Figurative/imagery | Descriptive language that creates mental pictures for the reader. |