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English 1 Year Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| allegory | a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions; it includes symbols representing truths about human life |
| alliteration | the repetition of beginning consonant sounds in two or more words in close proximity |
| allusion | a subtle reference to something literary, classical, biblical, historical, etc. that the author presumes the reader will know |
| archetype | a detail, character, or image that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal to humans in a universal way across times and cultures |
| aside | when an actor literally turns to the audience and speaks and is supposedly not heard by the other actors on the stage |
| ballad poem | a long narrative poem in rhythmic verse that could be put to music; often about legendary characters |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| climax | the point of highest interest or action in a story |
| conflict | a struggle between two opposing forces |
| dialogue | the spoken words between characters in a story or play; usually set off with quotation marks |
| direct characterization | when an author tells the reader details about a character in the actual words of the text |
| dramatic irony | when the audience knows what is going to happen or details that the characters in a story, play, or movie do not know |
| dramatic poetry | poetry that is meant to be spoken or sung, often as part of a stage performance |
| epic poem | a long narrative poem written in an elevated style which presents the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation; often about heroes or heroic deeds |
| exposition | the part of the plot, often at the beginning of the selections, in which background info is revealed |
| falling action | after the climax, this part of the plot begins to take the reader toward the resolution |
| 1st person POV | when the narrator is a character in the story and refers to him/herself as "I" |
| flashback | a device that takes the reader/watcher back in time, usually to provide some otherwise unknowable information |
| foreshadowing | a hint or indication of things that happen later in the story |
| free verse | poetry with no discernible rhythm or rhyme scheme |
| hyperbole | the use of exaggeration in a literary work |
| idiom | an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements |
| indirect characterization | when a character's qualities are revealed through the reactions of other characters, or what other characters say about the character |
| internal rhyme | a rhyme created by two or more words within the same line of verse |
| lyric poem | a short poem that's purpose is to express the poet's feelings; often has a song-like quality |
| metaphor | a figure of speech, also a type of analogy, in which a comparison is made between two unlike things in order to suggest a unique resemblance |
| monologue | when an actor has a long speech as a part of the dialogue of a play; other actors can be or are on stage and can hear the speech |
| mood | the atmosphere created by the writer of a story--usually associated with the setting |
| motif | a recurring theme, idea, or subject in a literary, artistic, or musical work |
| narrative hook | the point in the plot where the author catches and holds the reader's interest in the story or work |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate sounds |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction |
| parable | a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, principle, or moral lesson |
| paradox | a statement that sounds self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth |
| parallelism | a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure |
| parody | a humorous or satirical imitation of someone or something |
| personification | the giving of human qualities to inhuman things |
| plot | the sequence of events in a story |
| poetry | verse; the art of often rhythmical composition through the use of elevated or figurative language for the purpose of beauty or enlightenment |
| prose | the ordinary form of written language, as distinguished from poetry; non-verse writing |
| pun | a play on words which uses the various meanings of a word to create witty connections |
| repetition | using repeated words, phrases, stanzas, etc. for literary effect |
| resolution | the point in the plot when the conflict is settled or a conclusion is reached |
| rhetoric | the art of persuasion; using whatever means available to persuade |
| rhyme | similarity in sound, especially at the end of words or lines of verse |
| rhythm | a uniform or patterned beat; in poetry, it is a pattern of accents or beats used to create an effect and to help accomplish the poet's purpose |
| rising action | the building of conflicts or tensions in a story's plot |
| satire | a work in which human folly or vice is ridiculed through the use of irony and sarcasm for the purpose of exposing a wrong and promoting change |
| simile | a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as" |
| situational irony | when the opposite of what is expected to happen happens, with an ironic twist |
| slant rhyme | when the rhyming sounds are close but not identical |
| soliloquy | when an actor is performing as if he/she is alone on the stage; if other actors are on the stage, they appear unable to hear the actor speaking |
| sonnet | a 14-line lyric poem written in iambic pentameter that has a fixed rhyme scheme |
| stage directions | the directions for the actors/readers that the writer includes in the script of a play; often written in italics and placed in parentheses |
| symbol | something that stands for or represents something else |
| theme | a unifying or dominant idea or motif in a work or works |
| 3rd person limited POV | when the reader gets the internal thoughts and feelings of a single character only, and the other characters are only seen externally; third person pronouns used |
| tone | the author's attitude toward his subject or audience that is created by his/her diction, references, imagery, etc |
| verbal irony | a contrast between what one says and what is actually meant; sarcasm |
| 3rd person omniscient POV | all-knowing; the reader gets the internal thoughts and feelings of all the characters; third person pronouns used |
| 3rd person objective POV | third person pronouns used; no feelings or thoughts portrayed for any character |
| analogy | a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way |
| anecdote | a short account of a particular incident or event |
| antagonist | a principal character or force in opposition to a protagonist or main character |
| antonym | a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word |
| central idea | the main thought or focus of a work of literature |
| chronological order | events are presented in the order in which they occur |
| citation page | a page dedicated to recognizing a source of information or a quoted passage |
| clause | a group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence |
| cliche | an overly used expression or idea |
| conventions | things that are normal, ordinary, and following the accepted way |
| cumulative | the total amount of something when it's all added together |
| delineate | to describe or portray in precise or vivid detail |
| ellipsis | the leaving out of one or more words that are not necessary for a phrase to be understood |
| excerpt | a passage or segment taken from a text |
| explicit | said or written in a clear and direct way |
| external conflict | a struggle against an outside force |
| fable | a short story with a moral, often with animal characters |
| fallacious | based on unsound logic; in error; illogical |
| genre | a category of art, music, or literature |
| hypothesis | a prediction or educated guess |
| iambic pentameter | a five-beat poetic line |
| imagery | language that appeals to the senses |
| inference | a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning |
| informative/explanatory writing | writing that provides factual information and that often explains ideas/teaches processes |
| integrate | to bring together and mix into a whole |
| internal conflict | a struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single character |
| multimedia | the combination of sound still, pictures, and video |
| myth | a traditional story told to explain the customs and beliefs of a society |
| omniscient | having total knowledge |
| paraphrasing | a restatement of a passage or text in somewhat different words so as to simplify or clarify |
| pathetic fallacy | the treatment of inanimate objects as if they had human feelings |
| primary source | an original source of the information being discussed such as a person with direct knowledge of a situation or a document created by such a person |
| protagonist | the main character in fiction or drama |
| rhetorical question | question requiring no answer |
| salutation | an expression of greeting or goodwill |
| secondary source | documents or recordings that relate or discuss information originally presented elsewhere |
| slang | a kind of language used in playful and casual speech, not to be used in formal speech or writing |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole |
| syntax | the way in which words are put together to form phrases, sentences, and clauses |
| thesis statement | the sentence or two in your text that contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about |
| tragedy | a serious drama with a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion |
| valid | based on truth, fact, or logic |
Created by:
alicemb00
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