English Literary Terms Irani 10H Midterm
Terms
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- abstract
- `having to do with concepts or qualities that cannot be directly seen or touched, such as love, justice, beauty, liberty
- ***allegory
- ***a story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities
- alliteration
- the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together
- allusion
- `reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture
- analogy
- a comparison made between two things to show how they are alike
- anecdote
- a brief story told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something
- antagonist
- the opponent who struggles against the hero or protagonist in a story
- apostrophe
- a technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent
- audience
- the people to whom a writer's words are directed
- autobiography
- an account of the writer's own life
- ballad
- a song or poem that tells a story
- biography
- an account of someone's life written by another person
- blank verse
- poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter
- cadence
- the natrual rhythmic rise and fall of a language as it is normally spoken
- caesura
- a pause or break within a line of poetry
- static character
- a character who does not change much in the course of a story
- dynamic character
- a character who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action
- ***flat character
- ***a one-dimensional character who has only one or two personality traits
- round character
- a multi-dimensional character who is complex, just as real people are
- cliche
- a word or phrase that has become lifeless because of overuse
- climax
- that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest
- colloquialism
- expressions that are generally appropriate for conversation and informal writing, but not for formal writing or professional settings
- concrete
- having to do with objects or qualities that can be perceived by the senses
- conflict
- the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story
- connotation
- the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase in addition to its strict dictionary definition
- consonance
- the repetition of the same or similar final consonant sounds on accented syllables or in important words
- couplet
- two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry
- denotation
- the basic dictionary meaning of a word without any of its associated meanings
- dialect
- a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area
- denouement
- the conclusion or unraveling of a story
- diction
- a speaker or writer's choice of words
- elegy
- a poem of mourning
- epic
- a long narrative poem which recounts the deeds of a heroic character
- euphemism
- a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept
- exposition
- that part of a plot in which the reader is given important background information on the characters, their problems, and the setting
- fable
- a short story told in prose or petry (usually using animals as characters) that teaches a practical lesson about life
- figure of speech
- a device used to produce figurative language, often comparing dissimilar things (ex: apostrophe hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, and understatement)
- flashback
- a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events ina story to depict something that happened at an earlier time
- foot
- a metrical unit of poetry
- foreshadowing
- the use of hints and clues ot suggest what will happen later in a plot
- free verse
- poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme
- hyperbole
- a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement for effect
- iamb
- a metrical foot in poetry that has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in protect
- iambic pentameter
- a line of poetry that contains five iambic feet
- imagery****
- the use of language to evoke a picture of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience****
- internal rhyme
- rhyme that occurs within a line or consecutive lines of poetry
- inversion
- the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase
- irony
- a discrepancy between appearances and reality
- dramatic irony
- a character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better
- situational irony
- when there is a discrepancy between what is expect to happen and what really does happen
- verbal irony
- when someone says one thng but really means something else
- metaphor
- a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of words such as "like" or "as"
- meter
- a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry
- mood
- the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a word
- ode
- a lyric poem on a seirous subject written in dignified language
- onomatopoeia
- formation of a word by imitating the sound associated with the thing designated as in "buzz" "hum" "cuckoo" "slap" or "splash"
- oxymoron
- a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase
- parable
- a relatively short story that teaches a moral or lesson about how to lead a good life
- paradox
- a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth
- parallel structure / parallelism
- the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures
- paraphrase
- to state the meaning of a passage in one's own words
- parody
- a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style
- personification
- a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, attitudes, or characteristics
- plagiarism
- presenting the words or ideas of someone else as if they were your own
- plot
- the series of related events in a story or play
- point of view
- the vantage point from which the writer tells the story
- first person
- one of the characters tells the story using first-person pronouns such as "i" or "we"
- ***third-person limited
- ***an unknown narrator tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thougths and feelings of only one character using third-person pronouns such as "he" "she" and "they"
- third-person objective
- a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story with no comment on any characters or events using third-person pronouns suh as "he" "she" and "they"
- third-person omniscient
- an all-knowing narrator tells the story using third-person pronouns such as "he" "she" and "they"
- prose
- fiction and nonfiction written in ordinary language and resembling everyday speech
- protagonist
- the cetnral character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action
- purpose
- a writer's reason for writing
- refrain
- a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated for effect several times in a poem
- resolution
- a conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled.
- rhetorical question
- a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer
- rhyme
- the repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables
- rhyme scheme
- the pattern of rhymes in a poem commonly indicated with letters of the alphabet
- rhythm
- a rise and fall produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language
- sarcasm
- language whihc is bitter and caustic meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something
- satire
- a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change
- setting
- the time and location in which a story takes place
- simile
- a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things using words such as "like" "as" "than" or "resembles"
- stereotype
- a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for any individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices
- stream of consciousness
- a style of writing that portrays the inner, often chaotic, workings of a character's mind
- style
- the distinctive way in which a writer uses language
- symbol
- a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself
- theme
- the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work
- tone
- the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience