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Glossary of litterms
English vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allegory | A literary work in which characters, setting, and events are symbolic; the symbols work together to suggest a theme or moral; it can be read on two levels; literal and symbolic |
| Alliteration | repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words |
| Allusion | a reference to a historical or fictional person, place, or event with which the reader should be familiar |
| Analogy | a comparison between two similar things for clarification |
| Protagonist | the main character who is involved with the main conflict |
| Antagonist | the character or force against the main character |
| Round character | a fully developed character with many evident character traits |
| Flat character | a character with limited character traits |
| Dynamic character | a character who undergoes a change as the plot unfolds |
| static character | a character who does not change much as the plot progresses |
| Conflict | the struggle between opposing forces that moves the plot forward |
| Internal conflict | the conflict occurs within the character |
| External conflict | the character is pitted against an outside force |
| Diction | a writer's choice of words |
| Denotation | literal or dictionary definition of the word |
| Connotation | the attitudes or feelings associated with a word |
| Figurative language | language that creates meaning beyond the literal, such as a smile, a metaphor, personification, etc. |
| Foil | a character who provides a striking contrast to another character |
| Flashback | a reference to an event that occurred at an earlier time |
| Foreshadowing | the use of hints or clues to suggest events that have not yet occured |
| Imagery | words and phrases that appeal to the senses and create vivid experiences for the reader |
| Irony | a discrepancy between appearance and reality |
| Situational irony | the reader or character expects one thing to happen but the opposite occurs |
| Dramatic irony | a character in the story line thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better |
| Verbal irony | a writer or character says one thing but means another |
| Mood | the feeling of atmosphere the writer creates for the reader |
| Motif | a recurring word, phrase, idea, image, object, etc. in a work of literature |
| Point of View | the vantage point from which an author tells a story |
| First person POV | the narrator is a character in the story; if the narrator is not the main character, this is first person limited |
| Third person objective | events and characters are described by an impersonal objective narrator outside the action of the story |
| Third person omniscient | the all-knowing narrator |
| Third person limited | the narrator tells the story from the perspective of only one character |
| Naive narrator | a narrator who misinterprets the events or situations he or she witnesses or experiences because of some character trait such as innocence or stupidity. The reader then has additional insight into the situation because he or she is older or better educate |
| Unreliable narrator | a narrator whose opinion the reader recognizes as flawed and, therefor, untrustworthy |
| Narrative construct | imagined speaker created by the writer; the reader must understand that the voice of the narrator is the narrative construct = |
| Prose | all forms of written or spoken language that is not poetry |
| Satire | a literary technique that ridicules ideas, customs, behaviors, or institutions to improve society through change |
| Parody | a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writers style |
| Setting | the time and place |
| Stereotype | stock characters who conform to a fixed pattern or behavior |
| Style | the particular way in which a piece of literature is written |
| Theme | a universal message from the author stated in terms that apply to all human beings |
| Tone | the writer's attitude about the subject |
| Tragedy | a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end |
| Tragic hero | main character in a tragedy who has a tragic flaw that leads to his/her destruction |
| Descriptive writing | writing in which language is used to create a mood or emotion by appealing to the five senses; one of the four major forms of discourse |
| Sensory details | language that appeals to the five senses |
| Persuasive writing | the writer tries to convince the audience to adopt an opinion or perform an action or both; this type of writing acknowledges teh writer's point of view and an opposing viewpoint; one of the four major forms of discourse. Without the opposing side, this w |
| Expository writing | this type of writing explains, interprets, and informs; one of the four major forms of discourse |
| Compare and Contrast | shows similarities and differences |
| Cause and Effect | shows how one event causes another to happen |
| Analysis | explains how something works, breaks down the parts, defines |
| Explication | a thorough analysis of a literary text, often referred to as a close reading |
| Narrative writing | tells a story or relates a personal experience, usually in chronological order; one of the four major forms of discourse |
| Rhetorical question | a question with no definitive answer |
Created by:
dreamdog12
Popular English Vocabulary sets