English- Literary Terms
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45 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Conflict | Struggle between opposing forces. |
| Climax | The highest point of interest/suspense. |
| Irony | Literary techniques that portray differences between appearance. |
| Imagery | Used to create pictures for the reader. |
| Symbol | Anything that stands for or represents something else. |
| Simile | Where like or as is used to make a comparison. |
| Theme | A central message or insight into life revealed through the literary work. |
| Metaphor | Figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else. |
| Protagonist | A person or animal who plays a major part in the action of literary work. The main character. |
| Tone | The attitude towards the audience from the writer (author). |
| Foreshadowing | Work of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur. |
| Setting | The time and place of the action. |
| Plot | Order of events in a literary work. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words that imitate sounds. |
| Personification | Where a non human subject is given human characteristics. |
| Motif | Something that repeats in a work for literature for emphasis or effect. |
| Antagonist | The person/thing that creates a problem in a story. |
| Point of view | The perspective from which a story is told. |
| Third person omniscient | The point of view that allows the author to enter the mind of any character he/she wishes. |
| Allusion | This is a reference within a story to something outside of literary work. |
| Third person objective | This is the point of view that works like a camera, able to record but not enter the mind of a character. |
| Flashback | This is a memory in a work of fiction, a return to an earlier scene. |
| Oxymoron | This is a figure of speech made up of two seemingly opposite words. |
| Paradox | This is a thought that seems to contradict itself but which makes sense upon further thought. |
| Limited omniscient | This is the point of view that allows the writer to enter the mind of on chosen person. |
| First person | This is the "I" point of view. |
| Annotation | The act of adding notes |
| Connotation | what a word suggests beyond its basic definition;a word or phrase may carry with it as distinguished from its denotative meanings. |
| Denotation | The act of indicating or pointing out by name. |
| Visual | Having to do with sight or seeing. |
| Alliteration | Use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse. |
| Hyperbole | Extreme exaggeration. |
| Atmosphere | A distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing. |
| Diction | The manner in which something is expressed in words. |
| Repetition | The act of doing or performing again; an event that repeats. |
| Verbal irony | Sarcasm. |
| Situational irony | A type of irony in which events turn out the opposite of what was expected. |
| Dramatic irony | When a reader is aware of something that a character doesn't know. |
| Inference | Logical interpretation based on prior knowledge and experience. |
| Dynamic character | One whose character changes in the course of the play or story. |
| Static character | A character who does not change during the story. |
| Round character | This character is fully developed - the writer reveals good and bad traits as well as background. |
| Flat character | A character who is not very well developed; has few identifiable characteristics. |
| Sensory imagery | Language that appeals to the senses. |
| Idiom | An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up. |
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