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Literary Terms e
Literary terms for ms sones english class
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Hyperbole | an exaggeration, also known as an overstatement. Ex:) The teacher was fifty feet tall! |
| Idiom | a phase that was worded oddly, yet everyone understands. ex:) its raining cats and dogs! It's not really, but we know its raining very hard, idioms don't translate well into other languages. |
| Imagery | language taht appeals to the five senses. Great descriptions of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. ex:) The smell of the pine woods drifted towards me, I could feel the soft needles beneath my bare feet. |
| in media res | latin for in the middle of things. It's when a piece of literature starts in the middle of the action, not the beginning. ex:) Breathing hard he continued running, knowing that they were hard after him... |
| Irony | a contrast between what should be and what seems to be, a difference between expectation and fufillment, there are three important types of irony. |
| Dramatic Irony | when the audience know something about the plot that the characters don't know Ex:) Miss Pross knowing Solomon as her loving brother though he really was a horrible spy. |
| Cosmic Irony | depiction or fate of the universe as malicious or indifferent to human suffering creating a painful contrast between our purposeful activity and its ultimate meaningless. Ex:) She tried to help the bird with the broken wing, but it ended up not making it. |
| situational irony | a technique in which the logical outcome doesn't happen- an illogical unforseen outcome. (usually the opposite of what should happen.) Ex:) she fell up the stairs |
| verbal irony | saying one thing but meaning another Ex:) Your such a good friend... *Your a horrible friend!* |
| juxtaposition | placing unexpected combinations of words or ideas side by side. |
| legend | a widely told sorty that may or may not be true. Ex:) The story of pecos bill riding the giant catfish. |
| litotes | deliberate understatement in which an idea or opinion is often affrmed by negating its opposite. Ex:) Queen Victoria saying, "We are not amused." |
| metaphor | comparing two unlike things without the use of like or as. Ex:) Juliet is the sun... |
| mood | the feeling that is created when the audience is reading a work of literature. Ex:) there was a mood of suspicion. |
| metonymy | a figure of speech in which something is referred to by one of its attributes. Ex:) "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. |
| metonymy 2 | Or when one term is substituted for something that closely resembles it. Ex:) The white house released a statement today. White House=Government |
| motif | a recurring idea, structure, contrast or device that develops or informs the major themes of a work of literature. |
| myth | a story about the origins of ones beliefs and prctices of culture. Ex:) Zeus throwing lightning bolts. |
| onomatopoeia | words that sound like what they do. Ex:) Snap, Pop, Crackle! |
| oxymoron | the association of two contradictory terms Ex:) jumbo shrimp |
| paradox | a phrase that seems to be contradictory, though there is some truth behind it. Ex:) THings will get worse before they get better. |
| paralipsis | Drawing attention to something by claiming not to mention it. Ex:) I will not tell you that the mayor did a terrible job this year. |
| parallelism | the use of similar grammatical structures in a word order in two or more sentences, clauses or phrases to suggest a comparison or contrast between them. Ex:) Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream. |
| passive voice | using "To be" verbs- am, here, be, been, is, was were, etc. Verb that don't show an action. |
| personification | the use of human characteristics to decribe animals, objects, or ideas. |
| point of view | the perspective the story is told in |
| first person | when the narrator is a character in the story. The story is only known from what the character sees |
| second person | when the narrator is not a character but talks to the audience. Adresses the audience as you, etc. |
| third person omniscient | when the narrator is not a character and the story is told from many different persepectives. We know what many characters are seeing, feeling, etc... |
| third person limited | when the narrator is not a character, but the story is focusing in on one ccharacterand what he/she sees, knows etc... |
| thrid person omniscient objective | the narrator reports neutrally on the outward behavior of the characters, but offers not interpretations of their actions or inner states. |
| polysyndeton | the use of conjunctions in between each item of a series. Ex:) On my desk, are pens and pencils and books and paper. This emphasizes quantity. |
| propoganda | ideas, facts or allegations spread to persuade others to support ones cause or to go against the opposing cause. Ex:) a presidental election campaign. |
| protagonist | the main character in a piece of literature Ex:) Robin Hood in Robin Hood |
| pun | a play on words that exploits either the double definition of the words or similarity in ways words are pronounced. Ex:) Writing with a broken pencil is pointless. |
| rhetoric | the art of persuasion |
| rhetorical question | a question that does not warrant a response, but calls attention to the subject of the questions. Ex:) Why are people so rude sometimes? |
| satire | a work that ridicules elements of society- it pokes fun to prove a point |
| simile | comparing two unlike things using like or as, ex:) life is like a box of chocolates |
| syllepis | when a word modifies two or more words in other ways. Ex:) he took his hat and his leave |
| syllogism | a type of argument in which a conclusion is inferred from a general statement. Ex:) if a=b and b=c then a=c, all dogs bark and since fluffy barks, fluffy is a dog. |
| synaestesia | the use of one kind of sensory experience to describe another. Ex:) she has a hunger to swim in the icy pond |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part of and entity is used to refer to the whole or when a genus is referred to as a species Ex:) Do you want to take a ride in my new wheels? |
| syntax | the sentence structure choice an author makes |
| tautology | obvious needless and redundant repitition, Ex:) Free gift... duh gifts are free |
| tone | the authors attitude of what he or she is writing about |
| understatement | deliberatly representing/ describing something with less importance tahn it really is. Ex:) If your parents are angry its an nudersatement as to describe them as unhappy |
Created by:
cparker1996
Popular English Vocabulary sets