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Literary Terms
Literary Term Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| HYPERBOLE | AN EXAGERATION TO MAKE A POINT "I am so hungry I could eat a horse" |
| CLICHE' | AN OFTEN REPEATED OR USED PHRASE OR STATEMENT THAT HAS BEEN USED SO MUCH THAT IT HAS BECOME MEANINGLESS. "walk a mile in another's shoes" |
| PUN | A JOKE MAKING A PLAY ON WORDS "Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses" |
| ALLUSION | A STATEMENT THAT HINTS AT SOMETHING RATHER THAN BEING DIRECT. "Boy you look tired; have you been getting enough sleep" Rather than telling someone they look old due to the lines under their eyes. |
| FORESHADOWING | A LITERARY DEVICE USED BY AUTHORS TO CREATE SUSPENSE "a character complains of a headache which we later finds out has a brain tumor" |
| INVERSION | A REVERSAL OF THE NORMAL ORDER OF WORDS "instead of "HE SAID" the author might say "SAID HE". |
| SIMILE | A FIGURE OF SPEECH WHERE 2 UNLIKE THINGS ARE COMPARED GENERALLY USING THE WORDS "like" or "as". |
| ALLITERATION | A GRAMMATICAL TERM USING 2 or MORE WORDS IN A ROW STARTING WITH THE SAME SOUNDS. "winds whipping wildly put the man in a trance" |
| ASSONANCE | REPEATING THE SAME VOWEL SOUNDS IN WORDS CLOSE TO EACH OTHER. "True, I do love Sue" USED OFTERN IN POETRY |
| PERSONIFICATION | GIVING HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS TO NON LIVINGS OR IDEAS. "The sun smiling on a field of flowers" |
| FLASHBACK | WHEN A PAST EXPERIENCE IS REMEMBERED. "When George discusses how he caused Lennie to jump in the creek and almost drown" (From "Of Mice & Men") |
| METAPHOR | TO COMPARE 2 UNLIKE OBJECTS, IDEAS, FEELINGS OR THOUGHTS TO PROVIDE CLEARED UNDERSTANDING. "calling the dependable parent a rock" |
| PARADOX | SOMETHING THAT SEEMS SO UNBELEIVABLE BUT MAY BE TRUE. "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young". -G.B. Shaw or "Going to war to bring about peace". |
| OXYMORON | A COMBINATION OF CONTRACDICTORY WORDS. "Jumbo shrimp", "a definite maybe" or "It hurts so good". |
| IMAGERY | PICTURES CREATED BY THE MIND OR FROM MEMORY or EXPLAINED MENTAL PICTURES. |
| ANTAGONIST | A major character who opposes the main character in a story or play. |
| ATMOSPHERE | The overall feeling of a work related to tone and mood |
| ALLEGORY | A story in which the characters represent abstract qualities or ideas. |
| CHARACTERIZATION | The means by which an author describes the appearance and personality of a person in a story of play. |
| EPIC | A long poem narrating the adventures of a heroic figure. |
| FABLE | A story that illustrates a moral, often using animals as characters. |
| FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE | Language that does not mean exactly what it says. |
| MONOLOGUE | A long speech by one character in a play or story that everyone is suppose to hear. |
| MYTH | A legend that embodies the beliefs of people and offers some explanation for natural and social phenomena |
| OXYMORON | A phrase made up of two seemingly opposite words. |
| PROTAGONIST | The main character of a novel, play, or story. |
| PLOT | The action of the story that summarizes the plan of the main story. |
| RHETORICAL QUESTION | A question not meant to be answered. |
Created by:
Ronchima
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