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Literary Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allusion | A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art to enrich the reading experience by adding meaning |
| Characterization | Techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character by what: -he/she does or says, -other characters say about him/her, or how they react to him/her -the author reveals directly or through a narrator |
| Flashback | Interruption of the chronological (time) order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the story. |
| Simile | Comparison of two things using the words "like" or "as". Ex: His smile was as cold as ice. |
| Metaphor | Comparison of two things essentially different but with some commonalities; does not use"like" or "as". Ex: Her smile was ice. |
| Foreshadowing | Important hints that an author drops to prepare the reader for what is to come, and help the reader anticipate the outcome. Ex: Occurs in Harrison Bergeron and A Very Old Man. When the buzzer from the headphones would signal danger, scatter thoughts. |
| Irony | A technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts. Verbally occurs when words are used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning. |
| Point of View | Perspective from which the story is being told. |
| Suspense | A feeling of excitement, curiosity, or expectation about what will happen |
| Symbol | Person, Place, or thing that represents something beyond itself, most often something concrete or tangible that represents an abstract idea |
| Fable | A short story that often uses talking animals as the main characters and teaches an explicit moral or lesson. |
| Biography | A writers account of some other persons life |
| Autobiography | A writers story of his or her own life |
| Historical Fiction | A made up story that is based on a real time and place in history, so fact is mixed with fiction. (A retelling of a real story that is fictionized) |
| Myth | A traditional story intended to explain some mystery of nature, religious doctrine, or cultural belief. The gods and goddesses of mythology have supernatural powers, but the human characters usually do not. Ex: A Short-short story of man kind |
| Prose | A literary work that uses the familiar spoken form of language, sentence after sentence. Essentially the opposite of poetry. |
| Realistic Fiction | Writing that attempts to show life as it really is. |
| Science Fiction | Writing based on real or imaginary scientific developments and often set in the future |
| Short Story | Shorter than a novel, this piece of literature can usually be read in one sitting. |
| Action | Everything that happens in a story |
| Character | One of the people in a story |
| Climax | The high point in the action of a story |
| Conflict | A problem or struggle between two opposing forces in a story |
| Dialogue | the conversations that characters have with one another |
| Falling Action | The action and dialogue following the climax that lead the reader into the storys end |
| Mood | The feeling a piece of literature is intended to create in a reader |
| Moral | The lesson a story teaches |
| Narrator | The person or character who actually tells the story, filling in the background information and bridging the gaps between dialogue. |
| Protagonist | The main character in a story, often good or heroic |
| Antagonist | Commonly against the protagonist, a villian |
| Resolution | The part of the story in which the problems are solved and the action comes to an end, typically the end of the story |
| Rising Action | The central part of the story during which various problems arise after a conflict is introduced |
| Setting | The place and time frame in which a story takes place |
| Style | The distinctive way that a writer uses language including such factors as word choice, sentence length, arrangement, and complexity and the use of figurative language and imagery. |
| Theme | The message about liege of human nature that is the "focus" in the story that the writer tells |
| Nonfiction | True writing, based on factual information. Ex: So you have been publically shamed |
Created by:
jasmeenkaila
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