LITERATURE TERMS

LITERATURE TERMS Notes on commonly used literary terms

1. Setting: • TIME • PLACE • CUSTOMS, CULTURE OF SOCIETY

First Person - Third Person - Limited Third Person - Omniscient - Character tells story; uses “I, me” Someone outside story narrates from one character’s perspective All-knowing narrator; knows thoughts of multiple characters 2. Point of View: perspective from which a story is told

Dynamic: Character who changes significantly Static: Character who doesn’t change much or at all 3. Character: person, animal, or imaginary creature in story

main character in story person with the conflict or problem THERE IS NO “GOOD” OR “BAD” GUY! 4. Protagonist :

person or force opposing the main character person causing the conflict THERE IS NO “GOOD” OR “BAD” GUY! 5. Antagonist:

6. Characterization: the techniques writers use to create characters • Direct – author describes directly • Indirect – • Words of character • Description of thoughts • Other characters’ comments • Character’s behavior

Internal- problem within character ONLY example: man vs. himself External- problem outside character examples: Man vs. Man Man vs. Society Man vs. Nature 7. Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces

Exposition: the background information the reader needs so the story makes sense Rising Action: complications that move the plot forward Climax: the turning point, point of maximum interest, outcome becomes clear Falling Action: after climax, loose ends wrapped up Resolution: how the author closes the story 8. Plot: Sequence of related events that make up a story

9. Sample Plotline: Climax Falling Action Rising Action Resolution Exposition

10. Chronological order: • The order in which events happen in time.

11. Theme: • Meaning or message about life or human nature in a piece of writing • (There can be multiple themes in one piece of writing.)

12. Foreshadowing: • use of clues to suggest events that will occur later

13. Irony: Contrast between expectation and reality • Verbal : What is said is the opposite of what is meant • Situational: The outcome of a situation is the opposite of what is expected. • Dramatic : The reader/audience knows something the character needs to know but doesn’t

14. Symbol: • A person, place, object, or action in a story stands for something beyond itself. II symbolism!

15. Allusion: A reference to something or someone outside of the story that the writer expects you to know

16. Tone: • attitude writer has toward subject • ex. Humorous, sincere, sarcastic

17. Style: • The way a writer uses language • Includes both diction and syntax.

18. Mood(Atmosphere): • The feeling a literary work gives a reader • ex. suspenseful, happy, sad

19. Dialect: • A form of language spoken in a certain geographical area or by a certain group of people

20. Diction • Writer’s or speaker’s choice of words • Part of STYLE

21. Roundcharacter: • A character who has more than one “side” or aspect to his or her personality

22. Flatcharacter: • A character who has only one “side” or aspect to his or her personality

Poetic Devices • Devices of Sound: Elements a poet or writer uses to make his or her work appealing when read aloud.

1. Alliteration: • A repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words EXAMPLE: “Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered, weak and weary” (Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

2. Onomatopoeia: • The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning EXAMPLE: "Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room."(Richard Wright, Native Son, 1940)

3. Repetition: • A sound, word, phrase or line that is repeated for effect or emphasis EXAMPLE: “Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”)

4. Rhyme : A repetition of sounds • Internal rhyme: rhyme occurring within a line of poetry • End rhyme: rhyme occurring at the end of lines of poetry • Rhyme Scheme: the pattern of end rhyme in a poem; each sound is assigned a letter-- abcd

5. Figures of Speech: • A.K.A. Figurative language • Expressions that are not literally true • Examples– hyperbole, metaphor, personification, simile

6. Hyperbole: • The truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect • Example: I’ve told you a million times what hyperbole is, and if you don’t get it right, my head’s going to explode!

7. Imagery: • The use of language to appeal to the reader’s senses • Example from “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth-- A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way

8. Metaphor: • The direct comparison of two UNLIKE things that have some quality in common • Example: “All the world’s a stage” from As You Like It -- William Shakespeare

9. Personification: • The giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea; this is a specific type of metaphor • Example: “Into the jaws of Death/ Into the mouth of Hell” from “The Charge of the Light Brigade -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

10. Simile: • The comparison of two UNLIKE things using like, as, or other words of comparison • Example: “My love is like a red, red rose” from “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

MISCELLANEOUS 11. Connotation: the feeling associated with a word 12. Denotation: a word’s dictionary definition 13. Poetry: ideas and feelings expressed in compact, imaginative language 14. Prose: form of language that is NOT poetry

LITERATURE TERMS