Literary Terms #1
Literary Terms #2
Literary Terms #3
Literary Terms #4
Literary Terms #5
100
The character around whom the story moves.
What is Narrative Focus?
100
The "all knowing" narrator knows all of the details about events, characters, etc. and reveals them to the reader as the story unfolds.
What is Omniscient?
100
An argument or decision-making process within one character's mind.
What is Internal Conflict?
100
A position from which someone or something is observed or considered; a standpoint. The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature.
What is Point of View?
100
A paragraph or longer of description which builds upon an initial metaphor, often bringing several of the senses (sight, sound, touch, hearing, taste) into play.
What is Extended Metaphor?
200
"I" tells the story and is a character in the story; this can be present tense or past tense.
What is 1st Person?
200
The overall feeling created by a piece of writing. It can often be described in a few words, such as scary, lonely, empty, triumphant, anxious, but you must be able to refer to specific details in the description, setting, or passage to defend your word or words.
What is Mood or Tone?
200
The comparison of two unlike things to suggest things which they have in common - for example: Joe is a lion on the playing field would compare Joe to a lion in how he moves, his aggression, his animal-like actions, his skill and strength, his leadership.
What is Metaphor?
200
A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.
What is Allusion?
200
An obvious and unrealistic exaggeration - for example: His gaping jaw could hold a flock of the King's fattest sheep indicates excess and perhaps a fearful or highly imaginative narrative focus.
What is Hyperbole?
300
"You" is used to tell the story; these tend to be like Choose Your Own Adventure stories or computer games and are usually in the present tense.
What is 2nd Person?
300
What type of person is this? These are revealed through actions, dialogue, internal monologue, and by the author or narrator directly.
What are Character Traits?
300
A comparison of two unlike things using like or as - for example: Sue flits through life like a moth in a room of candles compares Sue to a delicate, fluttering moth which is drawn to fire and raises an image of both delight and confusion, perhaps also mindlessness and upcoming death or failure.
What is Simile?
300
A person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature.
What is Character?
300
Use of a word which sounds like it means - for example: plunk, zip, buzz, bong, zap all have meaning which is reinforced by the sound of the word. Repetition of onomatopoeic words is used by authors to create a mood or tone and to convey sense impressions (e.g. motion, touch, sound).
What is Onomatopoeia?
400
"He, she, it, they" - the story is told by someone, usually not identified by name, who knows it. Usually in the past tense.
What is 3rd Person?
400
What motivates a character to do something. It is often a feeling or logical conclusion, but can be also impulse based upon the actions or words of another.
What is Motive?
400
The description of an inanimate object as if it were a human being or an animal - for example: The kite tugged and pulled at the string, longing for the freedom of the skies gives the kite human actions and a motive for them.
What is Personification?
400
A kind of retelling of something that happened. It is not the story itself but rather the telling of the story.
What is Narrative?
400
A word which has several meanings, all of which apply. For example: "I smell" when testing to see if he is awake; he can smell, but he also does smell.
What is Pun?
500
The narrator only knows what he/she experiences or learns about in some way- the narrator's knowledge grows as the story unfolds; at times, the reader may know more than the narrator.
What is a Limited Narrator?
500
A fight, argument, disagreement or simply opposition in which 2 sides (people) are present.
What is External Conflict?
500
The person created by the author to tell a story. The actual author of the work often distances himself from what is said or told by adopting a persona--a personality amerent from his real one. Thus, attitudes, beliefs, and degree of understanding expressed by the narrator may not be the same as those of the actual author.
What is Persona?
500
A pattern of sounds that includes the repetition of consonant sounds.
What is Alliteration?
500
A phrase which contains opposite elements or words with opposite meanings, yet which expresses one idea when taken as a whole - for example: Bottom says in Midsummer Night's Dream, "I'll speak in a monstrous little voice."
What is Oxymoron?
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