Literary Terms 101
Literary Terms 102
Elements to a Story
Create Your Own...
All Mixed Up
100
The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe. i.e. "The burning wood crackled and hissed." "He fell, boom, bang, crash, right through the ceiling."
What is Onomatopoeia?
100
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
What is personification?
100
The structure of events within a story and the causal relationship between them; a chain of events caused by each other in a story or drama.
What is plot?
100
Make up a simile.
Did you compare two things using like or as?
100
A word or object that stands for another word or object.
What is symbol?
200
Putting two contradictory words together. i.e. bittersweet, jumbo shrimp, and act naturally...
What is an example of oxymoron?
200
Hints or clues of what is to come in the action of a play or a story; i.e. Bambi's mother warns him about the dangers of Man in the forest. Later she is killed by a hunter.
What is foreshadowing?
200
Where a story or drama takes place.
What is setting?
200
Give an example of a flashback from one of the texts read in class.
Did you talk about Tucker's flashback in "The White Circle"? Or another?
200
The pot jumped to the floor with a clang. (Hint: there is more than one answer)
What is personification and onomatopoeia?
300
Giving human qualities to animals or objects. i.e. "The daffodils nodded their yellow heads."
What is personification?
300
A comparison in which one thing is said to be another. i.e. The cat's eyes were jewels, gleaming in the darkness.
What is metaphor?
300
The highest point in a story or drama; the top of the mountain of action.
What is climax?
300
_________________, in a literary text, is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to their work.
What is imagery?
300
1. The basic items that make up a work of literature. 2. Literary techniques and methods employed to help the author get his or her point across. Not all literary devices will be used within one work.
What is literary 1) elements and 2) techniques?
400
Figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. i.e. "She floated in like a cloud."
What is a simile?
400
An extended comparison of two things that is continued throughout a piece of work, or in more than one line of poetry. "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." ("As You Like It," Shakespeare)
What is an extended metaphor?
400
The main character in a story.
What is protagonist?
400
Using descriptive language (touch, sound, sight, feel, hear) is one way an author can create ____________.
What is descriptive imagery?
400
The major underlying idea in a specific literary work.
What is theme?
500
"It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!" (Slogan for Hoover vacuum cleaners)
What is assonance?
500
Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," where on the surface he is trying to decide which way to turn at a fork in the road, but, of course, the meaning extends to life itself. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
What is extended metaphor?
500
Every storyline involves some kind of ___________. It is a struggle between two forces, but these forces can be either internal (feelings) or external (physical).
What is conflict?
500
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence, i.e. "I was there for her, pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her... cuz we related physically and mentally." (Common, "I used to love her") "Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin' my ash Runnin with my money, son, go out with a blast." (Busta Rhymes, "Gimme Some More")
What is assonance?
500
A type of language that does not mean exactly what it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to understand an author's point. It usually involves a comparison between two things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one another.
What is figurative language?