Terms I
An Allegory
What is an extended metaphor, where the entire story or poem has a secondary symbolic meaning?
Aside
What is a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage?
Assonance
What is a repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds? For Example: “Anna’s apples,” “the pond is long gone”
Characterization
What is the manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities?
Author's Purpose
What is the reason behind what an author writes, not the main idea of the story?
Dialogue
What is direct speech between characters in a literary work?
Diction
What is word choice to create a specific effect?
Motif
What is a recurring feature of a literary work that is related to the theme?
Dramatic Irony
What is when the reader or audience knows something a character does not?
Verbal Irony
What is when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite?
Situational Irony
What is it when there is a disparity between what is expected and what actually occurs?
Oxymoron
What is a phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory? For Example: “living dead” or “pretty ugly”
Point of View
What is the vantage point or perspective from which a literary work is told?
1st Person Point of View
What is the narrator is a character in the story (use of ‘I’)
3rd person point of view
What is the narrator is outside of the story (use of ‘he’ ‘she’ ‘they’)
Rhetorical Devices
What is a technique an author uses to convey to the reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective or to effectively transmit the author’s message to the reader?
Satire
What is the tone writers use when they are trying to make fun of what they are writing about?
Soliloquy
What is a dramatic device in which a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud?
Denotation
What is the literal meaning of a word—the meaning you would find in a dictionary?
Connotation
What is the emotional meaning of a word—the deeper meaning a word is being used to represent. For example, “house” and “home” are literally very similar, but their connotations are very different. A house is just a building, while a home is the place you belong and where your family is. “Home” has a different emotional effect than “house” does, so it has a different connotation?
Rhetorical Question
What is figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point and without the expectation of a reply?
Mood
What is the feeling the reader takes away from the piece?
Tone
What is the author’s attitude toward the subject of a work?
What is the underlying main idea of a literary work. Theme differs from the subject of a literary work in that it involves a statement or opinion about the subject?
Symbol/Symbolism
What is one thing (object, person, place) used to represent something else?