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FHS literary terms
Mrs. Carthel's Lit terms for study and TAKS review
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| allegory | narrative in which characters often stand for abstract concepts and are often used to teach a lesson |
| alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds in a sentence or series of sentences, such as: The silly sly snake slithered slowly. |
| allusion | reference to historical or literary person, place, or thing with which the reader is assumed to be familiar, such as the Bible, Shakespeare, Aristotle, etc. |
| ambiguity | a word or expression that has more than one meaning and leaves uncertainty as to the intended significance of the statement |
| anachronism | an object or event out of its normal time, ie. a telephone mentioned in a Civil War novel |
| analogy | point by point comparison of two things in order to more clearly define the lesser known of the two |
| antagonist | force (person or thing) against which the protagonist (main character) is pitted |
| antithesis | involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings, generally for the purpose of contrast, ie. sink or swim; high and low |
| aphorism | brief statement that expresses a basic truth about life or a moral concise statement of a principle given in pointed words, such as “No pain, no gain” or “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” Abraham Lincoln |
| archetypes | ideal model or pattern from which all things of the same type are copied, ie. love story based on family or social conflicts like Romeo and Juliet, father-son competition/conflicts found in Hamlet |
| aside | remarks made by a character directly to the audience in a drama |
| assonance | repetition of vowel sound within a word or lines, like Mississippi, make the grade, advantage, add the backpack |
| autobiography | story of a person’s life written by that person (auto means self) |
| ballad | narrative (story) poem originally meant to be sung; song that tells a story |
| biography | story of a person’s life written by someone else |
| blank verse | unrhymed poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter (five accented meters), such as Shakespeare’s works |
| character | people or animals who participate in the action of a literary work |
| climax | turning point of action in a literary work that brings about changes in all characters and brings about the greatest emotional response |
| colloquialism | an expression used in informal conversation but accepted universally in formal speech or writing, usually associated with particular regions of the country, and not necessarily the lower levels of slang |
| conflict | struggle between opposing forces which creates the plot in dramatic and narrative literature |
| consonance | the repetition in two or more words of final consonants in stressed syllables |
| contrast | writing device that in which one element has been put into opposition with each other |
| denouement | unraveling of the plot in which conflicts used to build the plot are resolved and question are answered |
| denotation | specific, exact meaning of a word without emotional coloration or association; dictionary meaning |
| connotation | implied or suggested meaning of a word, outside of its literal meaning |
| description | a portrait in words of a person, place, or object |
| details | the facts given by the author or speaker as support for the tone and attitude of the story |
| dialect | a particular variety of language spoken in one place by a distinct group of people and written phonetically, such Brooklyn’s Bronx dialect, or a Louisiana's Cajun dialect |
| dialogue | written conversation between two or more characters |
| diction | word choice; why was that particular word chosen, for example, the difference between angry or furious, or tattered or torn |
| direct characterization | the author directly states a character’s traits instead of implying them through the character’s reactions and behaviors |
| drama | literature in ply form |
| dramatic irony | a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true |
| elegy | a poem written in tribute to someone or something- usually someone or something that has recently died, such as “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns, which later inspired John Steinbeck to entitled his novel, Of Mice and Men |
| epigraph | motto or quotation that appears at the beginning of a literary work, usually showing the source for the title of the work |
| epiphany | sudden realization which prior to this time was not thought or understood; a moment when a concept or idea is suddenly understood, such as a student suddenly understanding a difficult concept, or realizing the point in a murder mystery where you suddenly |
| epistle | formal composition generally addressed to one person or group, but meant for a wider audience, such as the epistle chapters in the Bible written directly to a specific church, but meant for all followers of Christ, or Martin Luther King’s Letter from Bi |
| epitaph | speech or inscription on monument in memory of someone who has died, such as Shakespeare’s epitaph |
| epithet | phrase used to identify a person or thing, ex. Superman’s is “the man of steel,” or George Washington’s “the father of our country” |
| essay | nonfiction composition that offers an opinion on a subject using support and elaboration to present the writer’s opinion most effectively |
| eulogy | public speech of tribute especially for one who has died(usually given at a funeral) |
| euphemism | a device where being indirect replaces directness in order to avoid unpleasantness, for example, a housekeeper might be described as a domestic engineer, or an unruly and undisciplined child might be described as spirited and lively |
| exposition | detailed explanation that lays the groundwork for the narrative and often provide pertinent background information necessary to understand the actions that follow |
| extended metaphor | two unlike things are compared in several ways and at some length, over several sentences, paragraphs, and even thorough out an entire work |
| fable | a brief tale used to illustrate a moral, such as the most famous fables written by Aesop, and many works, such as The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens written to teach a moral lesson about greed |
| facade | a false front or pretense |
| fiction | imaginative work of prose |
| figurative language | communicates ideas beyond the ordinary, everyday meaning of words— impressions, ideas |
| first person narrator | a character in the story who is actually telling the story;the point of view that employs I |
| flashback | a conversation, scene, or incident that happened before the beginning of the story |
| folk tale | short story that exhibits fairy tale unreality and sometimes includes supernatural events |
| foreshadowing | hints of clues of things to come in a narrative |
| free verse | poetry written without any regular patterns of rhyme or meter |
| genre | kind or type of literature, such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short story, etc. |
| Gothic literature | fiction using strange, gloomy settings, and mysterious, violent, often supernatural events to create suspense |
| hyperbole | figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis |
| iambic pentameter | line of verse with five metric feet or iambs,and in which two syllables, stresse and unstressed |
| imagery | Words and phrases which create vivid sensory experiences for the reader. |
| irony | contrasts between appearance and reality |
| juxtapose/juxtaposition | to put side by side for the sake of comparison or contrast |
| literal language | uses words in their ordinary sense; the opposite of figurative language |
| litote | understatement; the opposite of hyperbole |
| metaphor | comparison of two unlike objects, without using like or as |
| meter | repetition of regular rhythmic units in a line of poetry |
| metonymy | a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it |
| monologue | speech by one character in a play, story, or poem |
| motif | a simple device that serves as a recurring feature in the work |
| motivation | a reason or explanation of a character’s thoughts, feelings,actions, or behavior |
| narrator | person telling the story from his or her own point of view |
| Naturalism or Realism | literature which portrays the world as it is perceived by the writer without idealism |
| nonfiction | true story based on facts and real events |
| onomatopoeia | using words to imitate sounds, such as bang, pop, whir, hiss |
| oral literature | stories passed down from one generation to the next without being written down |
| oxymoron | statement of contradiction or using two contradictory terms |
| parable | short tale teaches a lesson or illustrates a moral truth |
| paradox | statement that seems contradictory, but is quite true |
| parallelism | structural arrangement of parts of a sentence, sentences, paragraphs, and larger units of composition by which one element is of equal importance and similarly developed |
| parody | imitation of a serious work for the purpose of criticizing or making fun of the work |
| personification | human qualities are attributed to an object, animal, or idea |
| plot | planned series of interrelated actions and events used to tell a story |
| poetry | arrangement of lines in which forms and content fuse to suggest meanings beyond the literal meaning of the words |
| point of view | refers to the narrative method used in literary work in which first person, third person omniscient, and third person limited are used |
| protagonist | central character involved in the central conflict of the story |
| psalm | a song, most famous is collection of psalms from the Bible, which declare praise and devotion for God |
| pun | play on words |
| rhetorical question | question for which there is no answer is expected |
| Romanticism | literary time period in which arts flourished |
| sarcasm | verbal irony in which literal meaning is the opposite of the actual meaning |
| satire | literary technique in which foolish ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society |
| science fiction | prose written presenting the possibility of past or future using scientific data and theories as well as the imagination of the writer |
| setting | time and place for the action of a story |
| short story | a narrative that can be read at one sitting |
| simile | comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as” |
| soliloquy | speech delivered by character on stage which allows the audience to know the character’s thoughts, ideas, feelings, and plans |
| sonnet | lyric poem consisting of fourteen line of rhymed iambic pentameter |
| speaker | the voice that talks to the reader |
| stanza | group of lines that form a unit of poetry or unit of a song |
| stream of consciousness | the technique of presenting the flow of thoughts, responses, or sensations of one or more characters |
| synecdoche | a form of metaphor in which a part of something is used to stand for the whole thing |
| title | distinguishing name attached to any literary work |
| theme | main idea or message of a work of literature |
| tone | attitude a writer takes toward a subject |
| Transcendentalism | belief in Utopian society; the innate goodness of mankind |
| trite expression or cliche | any expression that has been overused and lost its clarity |
| vernacular | common, everyday language of the people so that it is spelled as it sounds when spoken |
| pun | a play on words; a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word |
Created by:
Mrs. Carthel
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