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Literary Terms
Definiton | Term |
---|---|
Is the introduction. It is the part of the work that introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation. | Exposition |
IS the part of the plot that begins to occur as soon as the conflict is introduced. The rising action adds complications to the conflict and increases reader insert. | Rising Action |
Is the greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in plot of a narrative. The Climax typically comes at the turning point in a story or drama. | Climax |
Is the action that typically follows the climax and reveals its results. | Falling Action |
Is the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggestion the outcome of the conflict. | Resolution |
Exist when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate. Man vs, Society Man vs. Man Man vs. Nature Man vs. Paranormal | External Conflict |
Exist within the mind of a character who is torn between different courses of action. Man vs. Himself | Internal Conflict |
Is literary device in which an earlier episode, conversation, or event is inserted into the sequence of events. Often flashbacks are presented as a memory of the narrator or of another character. | Flashback |
Is the author’s use of clues to hint at what happen later in the story. Writers use the foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare for what is to come. | Foreshadowing |
Is the growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a work of literature. | Suspense |
The use of one thing to represent another. Often the thing that representing intangible (touchable/physical) and the thing being represents in an idea, For example, a dove is a symbol of peace. | Symbolism |
Is the distinctive way in which an author uses language. Word choice, phrasing, sentence length, tone, dialogue, purpose, and attitude toward the audience and subject can be all contribute to an author’s writing style. | Style |
Is feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. | Mood |
Affects the mood. Is the reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work. | Tone |
Is words or phrases that appeal to one or more of five senses. Writers use imagery to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and smell. | Imagery |
A descriptive device uses to often imply ideas indirectly. | Figure of Speech |
An extreme exaggeration. - For example “Dan’s the funniest guy on the planet!” - “That baseball card is worth a zillion dollars.” | Hyperbole |
Is a type of speech that compares or equates two or more things that have something in common. A metaphor does NOT use like or as. Example: like is like a box of chocolates. | Metaphor |
Is another figure of speech that compares seemingly unlike things. Simile’s Do use LIKE and AS. Example: her voice was like nails on a chalk board. | Simile |
Is a figure of speech that is a combination of seemingly contradictory words. Examples: open secret, almost exactly, minor crisis, unbiased opinion, living dead, seriously funny, virtual reality, genuine imitation, rolling stop, jumbo shrimp. | Oxymoron |
Is a figure of speech in which an animal, object, force on nature, or an idea is given human qualities or characteristics. Example: tears began to fall from the dark clouds. | Personification |
A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. - Shows sarcasm on the part of the writer/speaker - Can show tone. | Understatement |
Asking a question that you do not intended to be answered. - Could you guys please stop talking? | Rhetorical Question |
A reference to something or someone often literary. - For instance, if you were trying to instill confidence in a friend and said, “Use the force,” that would be and allusion to Star Wars. - The verb form of allusion is to allude. | Allusion |
Is the repetition of sounds, most often consonant sounds, at the beginning of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to words. Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. | Alliteration |
The sound of vowel sounds. Example: “Eager Eagles at elephants eventually.” | Assonance |
A seeming contradiction. For example. - “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” | Paradox |
The relationship of similarity between two or more entities or a partial similarity on which a comparison is based. An example is the classic analogy between the heart and a pump. | Analogy |
An expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect. | Cliché |
Situational - When the opposite of what you expect to happen happens. Verbal - When you say the opposite of what you mean (related to sarcasm and being facetious) Dramatic - When the audience knows something that the characters on stage don’t know. | Irony |
A play on words - She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but broke it off. | Pun |
Direction exposition- what is said about the character. Indirect - Characters thoughts - Characters actions | Characterization |
Dynamic/Round Character Static/Flat- only displays one side of a character (all good or all evil) Stereotype Caricature | Character Types |