Literary Terms
A figure of speech in which humanlike qualities are assigned to animals, things, or ideas.
What is personification?
The point of maximum tension in a story.
What is the climax?
A short poem that expresses an emotion or describes a scene.
What is a lyric poem?
Most of the literature from this time period has been passed down through oral storytelling, as there was no written language.
What is Native American/Early American literature?
This is the first thing that will be listed in a citation for a source on a Works Cited page.
What is author's last name?
The repetitive use of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words in a sentence. Example: Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.
What is alliteration?
A comparison of two unlike things without a modifier (like or as)
What is a metaphor?
A series of lines in a poem; similar to a paragraph in prose
What is a stanza?
A time period where imagination was valued over reason.
What is Romanticism?
an instance of using a comma to link two independent clauses
What is a comma splice?
An extreme exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally.
What is hyperbole?
The author uses figurative or descriptive language to create a mental picture of the scene in the reader's head.
What is imagery?
poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter
What is free verse?
Literature from this time period focused on everyday, low-middle class characters and often featured common speech. Real life, real events.
What is Realism?
Correct the mistake in the following sentence:
Sugar, flour, and eggs is needed for this recipe.
What is:
Sugar, flour, and eggs are needed for this recipe.
A thing in literature that represents or stands for something else.
What is a symbol?
The part of the plot diagram where the events begin to unfold
What is the rising action?
a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable,
What is iambic pentameter?
The time period that was a cultural revolution for African Americans in art, literature, etc.
What is the Harlem Renaissance
A grammatical error where multiple independent clauses (full sentences) are incorrectly joined together.
What is a run-on sentence?
An authors word choice.
What is diction?
The process by which a character's personality traits are revealed through the way he or she acts, dresses, and/or speaks.
What is indirect characterization?
Identify which type of sound device is used in the following example:
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas
alliteration (scuttling silent seas)
Writers from this time period, including Jonathan Edwards, William Bradford, and Anne Bradstreet, share religious enlightenment and provide a history of the time. The people believed in Predestination.
What is Puritanism or Colonialism.
What is a thesis statement?