Literary Terms-A
The sequence of events in a story. This includes the opening event, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution.
What is plot?
The means through which an author reveals a character's personality.
What is characterization?
The main or central character of a work of literature.
What is a protagonist?
The comparison of two unlike things to illuminate a particular quality or aspect of one of those things. For example, "Karen was a ray of sunshine."
What is metaphor?
The use of words whose sounds imitate the sounds of what they describe, such as hiss, murmur, growl, honk, buzz, woof, etc.
What is onomatopoeia?
The perspective from which the story is told.
What is point of view?
The opponent or enemy of the main character.
What is antagonist?
The time and place of a story.
What is setting?
Anxiety or tension a reader feels.
What is suspense?
Language that portrays sensory experiences, or experiences of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
What is imagery?
Describing nonhuman animals, objects, or ideas as though they possess human qualities or emotions. For example: "The moon smiled down on her."
What is personification?
A conflict in which a character is fighting with someone else.
What is man vs. man?
When two or more words in a group of words begin with the same sound. For example: Fred's frozen french fries.
What is alliteration?
A reference to another piece of history, art, literature, etc.
What is allusion?
Clues or hints about something that is going to happen later in the story. Authors use ________ to build suspense and to prepare the reader for what happens later.
What is foreshadowing?
When two unlike things are compared using like or as. For example, "Randy's voice is like melted chocolate."
What is simile?
A story's main message or moral.
What is theme?
A conflict in which a character is struggling with his/her own thoughts and feelings.
What is man vs. self?
A struggle between opposing characters or forces.
What is conflict?
A scene in a story that occurred before the present time in the story. _________ provide background information about events happening during the current narration.
What is a flashback?
Extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement that is not meant to be taken literally.
What is hyperbole?
The conversation between characters in a work of literature.
What is dialogue?
A play on words. For example: Put that down, it's nacho cheese!
What is a pun?
A long speech in which a character is alone on stage expressing his/her thoughts.
What is a soliloquy?
An object, setting, event, animal, or person that represents something else (a feeling, etc.). For example, in a story or play, rain could represent sadness or leaving the past behind.
What is a symbol?
The author's attitude toward the subject matter or toward the reader or audience. _______ is conveyed through the author's word choices and the details that he or she includes.
What is tone?
The feeling the reader gets from a work of literature. It's the atmosphere that makes you feel a certain way when you "walk into" a story. For example: creepy, calm, romantic, sad, or tense.
What is mood?
Short speech to the audience by a character in a drama that are not supposed to be heard by the other characters on stage. An ______ is usually used to let the audience know what a character is thinking.
What is aside?
A character who undergoes a significant change over the course of a story.This may change in understanding, values, insight, etc.
What is a dynamic character?
A type of irony in which the audience knows something that one of the characters doesn't know.
What is dramatic irony?
A form of irony in which something happens that is the reverse of what you expected.
What is situational irony?
A type of irony in which what is said is the opposite of what you mean (sarcasm).
What is verbal irony?
The dictionary definition of a word.
What is denotation?
The emotional impact of a word.
What is connotation?
A character who does not change over the course of the story.
What is a static character?
A word or phrase repeated for effect.
What is anaphora?