Lovable Lit Terms
Order by
80 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 allusion | reference to a well-known place, event, literary work, or work of art |
| antagonists | a character or a force in conflict with the main character or protogonists |
| atmosphere | mood or feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. |
| autobiography | story of a writers life, told by the writer |
| biography | the writer tells the life story of someone else. |
| character | person or animal that takes part in the action of a literary work |
| characterization | the act of creating and developing a character |
| climax | the turning point, the high point in the action of the plot, the moment of greatest tension. |
| conflict | struggle between opposing force |
| kinmanism | a rare breed of english teacher humor that is supposed to be funny but isn't. |
| plot | the sequence of events in a literary piece. |
| point of view | perspective from which a story is told |
| protagonists | the main character in a literary work |
| setting | the time and place of the action |
| short story | a brief work of fiction |
| theme | central message or concern of a literary work |
| exposition | the introduction or part of a literary work that introduces the characters, setting and basic situation |
| foreshadowing | a hint or clue as to what might happen later in the story |
| genre | a division or type of literature |
| inference | drawing conclusions about characters based on the evidence |
| irony | literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting,or amusing contradictions |
| narrator | speaker or character who is telling the story |
| connation | what a word brings to mind. Set of ideas associated with the word, in addition to its explicit meaning. |
| denotation | dictionary definition of a word |
| dialect | form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group |
| dialogue | conversation between characters |
| drama | a story written to be performed by actors |
| essay | short nonfiction work sbout a particular subject |
| fable | a brief story or poem, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson or moral |
| fantasy | highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real ife |
| fiction | prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events |
| figurative language | writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally (metaphor, personification, simile) |
| flashback | scene that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past |
| hero/heroine | character whose actions are inspiring or noble |
| journal | a daily, or periodic, account of events and the writer's thoughts and feelings about those events |
| moral | the lesson taught by a literary work |
| motive | reason that explains a charcter's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech |
| myth | a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or heroes, or the origins of elements of nature |
| narrative | anything that tells a story |
| nonfiction | prose writing about real people, places, objects, or events (essays, biographies, letters, reports, etc) |
| novel | a long work of fiction |
| repetition | using a word, phrase, or clause more than once. Using a word, phrase, or clause more than once |
| resolution | the outcome of the conflict in a plot |
| scene | a section of uninterrupted action in the act of a drama |
| suspense | a feeling of anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events, etc |
| historical fiction | real events, places, or people are incorporated into a fictional, or ade-up story |
| idiom | expression that has a meaning particular to a language or region "aking a face" |
| legend | a widely told story about the past which may or may not be true |
| oral tradition | the passing of songs, stories, and poems, from generation to generations by word of mouth |
| oxymoron | the joining of seemingly contradictory terms (paid volunteer, act naturally, etc.) |
| prose | ordinary form of written language (short stories, novels, essays, etc.) |
| soliloquy | a long speech in a play or prose work, made by a character who is alone |
| stage directions | includes the setting, the lighting, the costues, special effects, etc. |
| symbol | anything that stands for or represents something else |
| tall tale | usually involve characters with highly exaggerated abilities and qualities |
| tragedy | work of literature, especially a play, that results in catastrophe for the ain character |
| alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sounds |
| analogy | a comparison between two or more things |
| euphimism | a more agreeable or less offensive espression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant |
| ballad | a songlike poem that tells a story |
| concrete poem | its shape suggests its subject |
| couplet | two consecutive lines of verse with end rhymes |
| elegy | a solemn and formal lyric poem about death |
| epic poem | a long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or a hero |
| Haiku | a three line Japanese verse form |
| limerick | a humorous, rhyming, five-line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme |
| lyric poem | musical verse that expresses feelings and observations of a single speaker |
| metamorphosis | a change in shape or form |
| metaphor | a comparison pointing out the similarity of two UNLIKE things |
| meter | the rhythimical pattern of a poem (stresses and syllables in each line) |
| narrator | speaker or character who is telling the story |
| novella | work of fiction that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel |
| ode | a formal lyric poem with a serious theme |
| onomatopoeia | words that imitate sounds: buzz, clink, hiss, jingle, screech, etc |
| personification | nonhuman subject is given human characteristics |
| refrain | a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a song or poem |
| rhyme scheme | a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem |
| rhythm | the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllalbes in spoken or written language |
| simile | using LIKE or AS to make comparison between two unlike things |
| sonnett | a fourteen-line lyric poem with a single theme |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.