MPCS English 11 Final Literary Terms
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Created by:
erichardson008 on May 24, 2011
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 allusion | A REFERENCE to someone or something tht is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture. |
| ambiguity | A technique by which a writer deliberately suggests TWO or more different and sometimes CONFLICTING MEANINGS in a work. |
| anti-hero | Contrasts with the hero. |
| antagonists | The OPPONENTwho struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story. |
| archetype | A very OLD imaginative pattern that appears in literature across cultures and is REPEATED through the ages. It can be a character, plot, an image, theme, or a setting. |
| characterization | The PROCESS by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. |
| conflict | A STRUGGLE between OPPOSING forces or characters in a story. |
| external conflict | Conflicts can exists between two people, between a person and a force of nature, etc. |
| flashback | A scene that INTERRUPTS the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED AT AN EARLIER TIME. |
| foreshadowing | The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen LATER in a plot. |
| frame story | A literary device in which A STORY IS ENCLOSED in another story, A TALE WITHIN A TALE. |
| imagery | The use of language to envoke a PICTURE or a concrete sensation of a person, thing, place, etc. |
| irony | A DISCREPENCY between appearances and reality. |
| verbal irony | Occurs when someone says one thing but really MEANS ANOTHER. |
| situation irony | Takes place whe there is a discrepency between what is EXPECTED to happen, or what would be APPROPRIATE TO HAPPEN, and REALLY DOES HAPPEN. |
| dramatic irony | Often USED ON STAGE. A character in a play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better. |
| magic realism | A genre developed in LATIN AMERICA that JUXTAPOSES the everyday with the marvelous or magical. |
| memoir | A figure of speech that makes a COMPARISION between 2 unlike without the use of specifc words or comparison as like, as than or resemble. |
| implied metaphor | Does NOT state the two terms of the comparison. Ex. I like to see it lap the miles. |
| extended metaphor | A metaphor that is EXTENDE OR DEVELOPED over a number of lines or with several examples. |
| mood | The OVERALL EMOTION created by a work of literature. |
| motivation | The REASON for a character's behavior. |
| point-of-view | The VANTAGE POINT from which the writer tells the story. |
| first-person point of view | ONE of the characters in the story that TELLS the story, using I and WE. |
| third-person-limited point of view | An UNKNOWN narrator tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the feelings and thoughts of only ONE character. |
| omniscent point of view | An omniscent, ALL-KNOWING, narrator tells the story. |
| protagonist | The CENTRAL CHARACTER in a story, the one sho initiates or drives the action. (The hero.) |
| repetition | A unifying property of REPEATED words, sounds, syllables, etc. |
| rhyme | The REPETITION of VOWEL SOUNDS and all succeeding syllables. |
| rhythm | The alternation of STRESSED and UNSTRESSED syllables in language. |
| satire | A type of writing that RIDICULES the shortcomings of people or institution in an attempt to bring about change. |
| setting | The time and location in which a story takes place. |
| simile | A figure of speech that makes an explicit COMPARISION between 2 things, USING LIKE OR AS. |
| speaker | The VOICE that addresses the reader in a poem. |
| stream of consciousness | A style of writing that portrays the INNER workings of a CHARACTER'S MIND. |
| style | A distinctive way in which a writer USES language. |
| symbolism | A literary movement that originated in late 19th century FRANCE, in which the writer REARRANGED the world of appearances in order to reveal a more truthful version of reality. |
| theme | The INSIGHT about human life that is revealed in a literary work. |
| tone | The ATTITUDE a writer takes toward the subject of work, the characters, etc. |
| vernacular | The LANGUAGE SPOKEN by the PEOPLE who live in a particular locality. |
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