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Literary Terms- 9
Literary Terms for the Freshman Midterm
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Allegory | The representation of ideas or moral principles by means of symbolic characters, events, or objects |
| Alliteration | The repetition of a consonant sound to create rythm and aid memory |
| Allusion | A brief reference to a historical or literary person, place, object, or event |
| Analogy | The comparison of two similar things to suggest that if they are alike in some respects, they are probably alike in other ways as well |
| Anecdote | A short narrative that tells the particulars of an interesting and/or humorous event |
| Antagonist | A person of thing that opposes the protagonist or hero/heroine of the story |
| Apostrophe | A figure of speech where someone(usually absent or dead), an object, some abstract quality, or a nonexistent person is addresses as though present and real |
| Blank Verse | Unrhymed, but otherwise regular verse, usually iambic pentameter |
| Caricature | A representation or imitation of a person's physical or personality traits that are so exaggerated they become comic or absurd |
| Characterization | The creation of imaginary persons so that they seem life-like |
| Cliche | A word or phrase that is so overused that it is no longer effective in most writing situations |
| Climax | A high point in a piece of literature, the point at which the rising action reverses and becomes the falling action or denoument |
| Coherence | The parts of a compostion should be arranged in a logical and orderly manner so that the meaning and ideas are clear and intelligible |
| Conflict | The problem or struggle that the characters have to solve or come to grips with by the end of the story |
| Connotation | The emotions and feelings that surround a word; they may be negative, neutral, or postive, depending on their context |
| Context | The environment of a word, the words that surround a particular word and help to determine or deepen its meaning |
| Couplet | In poetry(verse), two consecutive line that rhyme |
| Critique | A critical examination of a work of art to determinehow it measures up to established standards |
| Denotation | The literal or basic meaning of a word(the dictionary definition) |
| Denouement | The resolution or outcome of a play or story |
| Dialogue | The conversation between two or more characters in a work of literature |
| Diction | The writer's choice of words based on their clarity and effectiveness |
| Drama | A story told by actors who play the characters and reveal the conflict through their actions and dialogue |
| Editorial | A short essay in a newspaper or magazine that expresses the opinion of the writer |
| Elegy | A formal poem that meditates on death or another solemn theme |
| Empathy | When you put yourself in someone else's place and imagine how that person must feel |
| Epic | A long narrative poem on a great an serious subject |
| Epitaph | A short verse or poem in memory of someone |
| Essay | A piece of prose the expresses an individual's point of view; it is a series of of closely related paragraphs that discuss a single topic |
| Eulogy | A formal speech praising a person or thing |
| Euphemism | When you replace one word or phrase for another in order to avoid being offensive |
| Expostion | The introducory section of a play or novel that provides background information on setting, characters, and plot |
| Fable | A brief tale that uses animals as characters and teaches a moral lesson |
| Falling Action | The last section of a play or story that works out the decision arrived at during the climax |
| Farce | Literature that has essentially one purpose, to make the audience laugh |
| Figurative Language | Expressive language that is written to create a special effect or feeling |
| Flashback | Insertion of a scene or event that took place in the past for the purpose of making something in the present more clear |
| Foil | Any person who,through contrast, underscores the distinctive characteristics of another |
| Foreshadowing | The suggestion or hint of events to come later in a literary work |
| Free Verse | Verse written without rhyme, meter, or regular rhythm |
| Genre | A French word that means type or form of literature |
| Hamartia | The error, frailty, mistaken judgement, or misstep through which the fortunes of a tragic hero are reversed |
| Heroic Couplet | Two consecutive lines of rhymed verse written in iambib pentameter |
| Historical Fiction | Fiction whose setting is in some other time than that in which it is written |
| Hyperbole | A type of figurative language that makes an overstatement for the purpose of empahsis |
| Iambic Pentameter | A line of poetry that contains five iambic feet |
| Imagery | The use of decriptive words or phrases to create vivd mental pictures in the mind of the reader, often appealing to sight, sound, taste, or smell |
| Irony: Dramatic | When the audience knows more than the characters on stage which creates tension |
| Irony: Situational | A situtaion or event that is the opposite of what is or might be expected |
| Irony: Verbal | The expression of an attitude or intention that is the opposite of what is actually meant |
| Legend | A narrative or tradition handed down from the past |
| Limerick | A form of light verse that follows a definite rhyme scheme where the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and the the third and fourth lines rhyme |
| Lyric | A short poem that expresses the personal feelings and thoughts of a single speaker |
| Malapropism | When two words become jumbled in the mind of a speaker because they resemble each other and he/she uses the wrong one |
| Melodrama | An exaggerated, sensational form of drama which is intended to appeal to the emotions of the audience |
| Metaphor | A comparision of to dissimilar things |
| Direct Metaphor | When the writer directly states both of the things being compared |
| Indirect Metaphor | When the writer states one of the things and the reader must infer the other |
| Metonymy | The substitution of and object closely associated with a word for the word itself |
| Mood | The feeling a piece of literature arouses in the READER |
| Motif | Recurring ideas, images, and actions that tend unify a work |
| Myth | A traditonal story that presents supernatural beings and situations that attempt to explain and/or interpret natural events |
| Narrator | The person who is telling the story |
| Novel | Covering a wide range of prose materials which have two common characteristics: they are fictional and lenghty |
| Objective | When a writer makes every attempt to simply present the facts, without opinion or bias |
| Onomatopoeia | A type of figurative language in which words sound like the things they name |
| Oxymoron | A self-contradictory combination of words |
| Parable | A short descriptive story whose purpose is to illustate a lesson or moral |
| Paradox | A statement that at first seems contradictory, but in fact reveals a truth |
| Parody | When a writer imitates and alreadt existsing form for the purpose of humor |
| Personification | A type of figurative language that gives animate(living) characteristics to inanimate(nonliving) things |
| Plot | The action of the story; all of the events that occur from the beginning to the end |
| Point of View | From whose angle the story is being told |
| First Person | When a character in the story tells the story using I or WE |
| Second Person | Used in nonfiction, primarily for the purpose of writing instructions, using YOU |
| Third Person | When the narrator is telling the events from "outside" the story from and neutral or unemotional point using HE SHE etc. |
| Omniscient | When the narrator can see into the hearts and minds of more than one of the characters in the story |
| Limited Omniscient | When the narrator can see into the mind and hear of only one of the characters ing the story |
| Protagonist | The main character in a work: the action revolves aroung this person and the antagonist |
| Pseudonym | Means "false name" and is used by some writers instead of their real name |
| Pun | A word or phrase which had a double meaing as intended by the writer |
| Repetition | Repeating a word or group of words for emphasis or effect |
| Resolution | The portion of a play or story where the problem is resolved |
| Rhetorical Question | A question asked only for effect or to make a statement but not to get an answer |
| Rising Action | The portion of a play after the initial incident where the action is complicated by opposing forces ending with the climax |
| Satire | A type of writing that uses humor, irony, or wit to make a point |
| Setting | The time and place of a story, which usually play an important role in the events that occur |
| Short story | A relatively brief fictional narrative in prose |
| Similie | A comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Soliloquy | A speech given by a character alone on stage that reveals his/her innermost thoughts and feelings |
| Sonnet | A poem of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter that follows one of several rhyme schemes |
| Stereotype | This is a pattern or form which does not change; this term is applied to oversimplified mental pictures or judgements |
| Structure | This is the organization or planned framework that a writer creates for his/her piece of literature |
| Style | This refers to HOW the author writes instead of WHAT he/she writes |
| Subjective | When a writer inserts opinion or bias into the piece of writing |
| Symbolism | A symbol is something that stands for something larger than itself |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or when the whole represents the part |
| Syntax | The arrangement of words within a phrase, clause or sentence |
| Theme | A statement of the central idea of a pieceof writing |
| Tone | The attitude of the AUTHOR toward his/her subject and audience |
| Tragedy | A dramatic work |
| Classical Tragedy | A dramatic work where a noble hero's tragic flaw causes him/her to break a moral law that leads to his/her downfall |
| Modern Tragedy | A dramatic work where the hero is often an ordinary person who faces circumstances with dignity and courage of spirit |
| Unity | A piece of writing is organized so that all of its parts belong and are well integrated |
| Writer's Voice | The writer's awareness and effective use of such elements as diction, tone, syntax, unity, coherence, adn audience to create and clear and distinct "personality of the writer" |
Created by:
Daisy Archer
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