Literary Terms You Should Know

1. Literary Terms You Should Know In your notes, write the definition, and one example for each term. And yes, there will be a quiz. (woot)

2. Figurative Language • a tool a writer uses to help the reader visualize what is happening in a piece of writing

3. Simile • a comparison between two unlike things using the words like, as or than -The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky. - Her feet were bigger than boats. - They fought like cats and dogs.

4. Metaphor • a comparison between two unlike things without using the words like, as, or than; when one thing is the other thing - Her home was a prison. - His hair is straw. - George is a sheep.

5. Hyperbole • the use of a big exaggeration to make a point or for effect. - He has tons of money. - Her brain is the size of a pea. - I’ve told you a million times to capitalize people’s names.

6. Idioms • expressions that usually cannot be understood by defining the separate words - I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. - That test was a piece of cake. - Something fishy is going on around here!

7. Allusion • a reference to something from literature, history, or culture to express a point. - Christy didn't like to spend money, but she was no Scrooge. - The cinnamon rolls were huge and golden brown, reminiscent of the twisted buns on the sides of Princess Leia's head. - I am afraid of spiders, but I'm no cowardly lion!

8. Personification • giving human qualities to non-human objects - The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell. - The car engine coughed and sputtered as it started. - The microwave timer told me my pizza was ready.

9. Alliteration • repetition of an initial sound; there should be at least two repetitions in a row - The wooly walrus wonders when we’ll walk by. - Sally sells seashells by the seashore. - Peter Piper picks pickled peppers.

10. Consonance • Similarity between consonants in a line of poetry, prose or dialogue “Amidst the mist of fearsome frost with barest wrists and stoutest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the post and still insist he sees the ghost.”

11. Assonance • In poetry, a repetition of vowel sounds • "I lie down by the side of my bride"/"Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese"/"Hear the lark and harden to the barking of the dark fox gone to ground”--Pink Floyd

12. Onomatopoeia • when a word sounds like what it represents - splash - drip - smush - splat

13. Imagery • the use of vivid sensory description to create mental pictures. - The room was dark and musty and smelled like an old shoe. - The blueberries were as big as your thumb and tasted like soot. - We heard the horses hoofs clatter on the cobblestone street.

14. Pun or “play on words” I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. It's not that the man did not know how to juggle, he just didn't have the balls to do it.

15. Irony • Sarcasm • Something humorous based on a contradiction • Absurdity and Inconsistency

16. Dramatic Irony • a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play. • http://ed.ted.com/lessons/in-on-a-secret-that-s-dramatic-irony-christopher-warner

17. Situational Irony • http://ed.ted.com/lessons/situational-irony-the-opposite-of-what-you-think-christopher-warner

18. Verbal Irony • http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-verbal-irony-christopher-warner

19. Cosmic Irony • This type of irony can be attributed to some sort of misfortune. Usually cosmic irony is the end result of fate or chance. At a ceremony celebrating the rehabilitation of seals after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, at an average cost of $80,000 per seal, two seals were released back into the wild only to be eaten within a minute by a killer whale.

20. QUIZ  Name the following examples with the figurative language terms you just reviewed.