| Term | Definition |
|---|
| dramatic irony | when the reader knows something that the characters in the story do not |
| dramatic monologue | a special kind of dramatic poem. In this, one character speaks to one or more other characters, whose replies are not given in the poem. The speaker, in a moment of great personal crisis reveals his or her deepest thoughts and feelings |
| elegy | a lyric poem that expresses mourning, usually over the deat of an individual |
| epic | a long, narrative poem celebrating the deeds of society's hero |
| exposition | background information |
| egalitarianism | political belief that everyone must be treated equal from birth |
| end rhyme | rhyming words that occur at the end of a line of poetry |
| exact rhyme | words that exactly repeat a sound (ex. love and dove) |
| falling action | all the action in a piece of literature following the climax or turning point |
| figurative language | the use of language to describe one thing in terms of something else |
| flashback | a scene in a story that interupts present action to tell about events that happened at an earlier time |
| foreshadowing | hints given to you by the author about what's to come |
| free verse | poetry that has no fixed line length, stanza form, rhyme scheme or meter |
| hyperbole | exaggeration for effect |
| haiku | originated in Japan, a three line poem with 17 syllables total, first line has 5, 2nd line has 7 and the 3rd line has 5 |
| iambic pentameter | a pattern of 5 groups of stressed and unstressed syllables |
| imagery | words/phrases that use description to create pictures in the reader's mind |
| irony | contrast between what is expected to happen and what happens |
| internal rhyme | rhyme occuring within a line of poetry |
| literal language | language that states facts or ideas directly |
| literary ballad | more elaborate version of a ballad written by known writers |
| lyric poetry | verse, usually brief, that focuses on the emotions or thoughts of the speaker |
| metaphor | a comparison of two unlike things without using "like" or "as" |
| meter | a pattern of rhythym in a line of poetry |
| monologue | a long speech in a story or play, delivered by a single person |
| motivation | the reason behind a character's actions |
| narration | the kind of writing or speaking that relates a series of events |
| narrative poetry | poetry that tells a story |
| narrator | one who narrates or tells a story |
| octave | a grouping of 8 lines of a verse, as in the first 8 lines of an Italian sonnet |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning |
| paraphrase | a rewording of a text or passage of a text, often for clarification or simplification |
| personification | giving human characteristics to inanimate objects |
| poetic license | the poet's freedom to use language creatively, the freedom to change words or invent new ones, rearrange the normal order of words and omit understood phrases in order to create a certain mood or create a special meaning |
| petrarchan sonnet | a lyric poem of 14 lines, written in Iambic pentameter, with an octave that presents one point of view and a sestet that presents the opposite view |
| plot | a series of events that make up a story |
| poetry | traditionally, it is language arranged in lines with a regular rhythym and often with a definite rhyme scheme |
| point of view | the vantage point from which the story is told |
| 1st person point of view | main character is narrating the story (I, me, my, we) |
| 3rd person omniscient point of view | an all knowing narrator, follows any/all characters |
| 3rd person limited point of view | narrator tells that story and is limited to one character |
| protagonist | the central character in a story or drama, the one whom the reader is supposed to sympathize with |
| pun | a play on words |
| quatrain | a 4 line stanza |
| refrain | the recurring use of a phrase, entrie line, or stanza |
| repetition | the reappearance of a word, stanza, or structure in any literary work |
| rhyme | the repetition of accented vowel sounds |
| rhyme scheme | a way of identifying the pattern of rhymes in a poem using lower case letters |
| rhythym | any regularly recurrent flow of motion or sound, natural rise and fall of a language |
| rising action | the series of events in a story that lead up to the climax |
| satire | a literary work that mocks or ridicules the stupidity of individuals, groups, institutions or society |
| sestet | the final 6 lines of an Italian sonnet |
| setting | the date, time, and place in which the events of a literary work take place |
| Shakespearian Sonnet | a lyric poem of 14 lines, written in iambic pentameter wit 3 quatrains and a concluding couplet. The 3 quatrains present a problem and the couplet presents a solution |
| short story | a story written in prose, shorter than a novel |
| simile | a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as" |
| sonnet | a lyric poem having 14 rhymed lines, usually writeen in iambic pentameter |
| speaker | the voice of the poem |
| stanza | a poetic paragraph, seperated by a space |
| suspense | a sense of uncertainty about the outcome of a story |
| symbol | something which maintains its own meaning, while at the same time standing for something broader than itself; something tangiblie that represents something intangible |
| tableau | picturesque scene |
| theme | the message the author wants you to take away from the story |
| tone | the author's attitude toward his/her subject |
| villanelle | 19 line poem, 6 stanzas, stanzas 1-5 have 3 lines each, stanza 6 has 4 lines |
| alliteration | the repitition of consonant sounds in a line of poetry |
| allusion | when an author refers to another work of art in their writing, expecting you to recognize it |
| antagonist | the character that the protagonist has a conflict with |
| artistic license | the freedom to part from known facts to create a story; by use of this, a writer discussing a historical person or event can change details to suit the purposes of their writing |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in a line of poetry |
| atmosphere | the general mood or feeling established in a work of literature |
| approximate rhyme | rhyme in which the final sounds of a word are similar but not identical (ex. love and prove) |
| allegory | an entire story that represents abstract ideas |
| ballad | a relatively short poem meant to be sung |
| blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| characterization | methods used to present personality and appearance of characters |
| direct characterization | when the author tells the reader something about the character using direct details (i.e. She is pretty) |
| indirect characterization | author gives the reader clues about the character and you make assumptions based on those clues |
| characters | persons, animals, natural forces or things represented as persons in lit, they affect the plot |
| climax | the turning point or the highest point of action |
| internal conflict | man vs. self |
| external conflict | man vs man, man vs. societ, man vs nature, man vs supernatural |
| connotation | the feeling you get when you hear a word |
| communism | an idealogy that seeks to establish a classless, stateless, social organization based on the common ownership |
| couplet | two lines, one after the other that rhyme |
| denotation | the dictionary definition of a word |
| dystopia | imperfect society |
| dialect | speech that is flavored by the usages of a particular social, regional or cultural groups |
| dialogue | conversation or speech among two or more characters |
| diction | the author's choice of words that help the characters to seem more realistic |
| dramatic poetry | poetry in which one or more characters speak, usually to each other but sometimes to themselves or directly to the reader |
Combine with other sets
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