LITERARY TERMS
LITERARY TERMS
PERIODS OF AM LIT
RESEARCH AND THE WRITING PROCESS
Authors and Quotes
100
A technique used by writers such as Patrick Henry, suggesting that their arguments make the answer obvious or self-evident. These questions do not require a reply.
What is a rhetorical question?
100
A character in the story who speaks directly to the reader and uses I
What is First Person Point of View?
100
This period of American literature reflects a sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the American dream.
What is Modernism?
100
The use of another's words or ideas, whether intentional or unintentional, and claiming them as your own.
What is plagiarism?
100
"Give me liberty or give me death!"
Who is Patrick Henry?
200
A writer's attitude toward his subject, communicated through diction, choice of details, or direct statements of his or her position. It reflects the feelings of the writer.
What is tone?
200
The author uses descriptive or figurative language to create word pictures for the reader.
What is imagery?
200
In this period, writers focused their attention on everyday life and ordinary human behavior. These writers view life as a losing battle against an uncaring universe and feel that he has no control over their destiny.
What is Realism?
200
Taking source cards and note cards, outlining and composing a rough draft are part of this part of the process.
What is prewriting?
200
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately."
Who is Henry David Thoreau?
300
A technique characterized by Whitman, as seen in this line: "My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same" It is a list of people, things, or attributes.
What is cataloging?
300
The audience or reader knows information that the characters do not know.
What is dramatic irony?
300
Writers from this time period, including John Smith and Phyllis Wheatley, and William Bradford share religious enlightenment and provide a history of the time.
Who are Puritan writers?
300
This usually appears at the end of your first paragraph in a research paper, and should cover only what you will discuss in your paper.
What is a thesis statement or claim statement?
300
"Success is counted sweetest, by those who ne'er succeed"
Who is Emily Dickinson?
400
The use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related. An example is seen in Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing" as he uses the gerund phrases: I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singinghis as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
What is parallelism?
400
"Small yellow creatures bob like dandelions in the field," is an example of the use of what literary device.
What is a simile?
400
Works of this period included speeches, documents, pamphlets, letters, and the like. Major writers during this time period, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and Abigail Adams, were concerned with government and society and early women's rights.
What is Rationalism or the Age of Reason?
400
In MLA style documentation, to what does the internal documentation connect or refer?
the Works Cited Page
400
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary"
Who is Edgar Allen Poe?
500
In "Waldlen," Thoreau writes, "I am not as wise as the day I was born." This is an example of a rhetorical strategy known as a ____, which seems to contradict itself but suggests an important truth.
What is a paradox?
500
A lengthy comparison between two unlike things without using the words like or as.
What is an extended metaphor?
500
"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the live of our people. He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas." This passage from the Declaration of Independence is an example of what rhetorical device?
What is parallelism or parallel structure?
500
The information in parentheses that refers to the source of a direct or indirect quotation in a research paper
What is parenthetical or internal documentation?
500
"I celebrate myself and I sing myself, and what I assume, you shall assume"
Who is Walt Whitman?
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