literary terms
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Created by:
ArianaJ81115 on December 14, 2011
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25 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 characterization | the process of revealing the personality of a character in a story |
| direct characterization | telling us directly what the character's personality is like:cruel, kind, sneaky, brave... |
| indirect characterization | letting us hear the character speak, descriving how the character looks and dresses, letting us listen ot the character's inner thoughts and feelings, revealing what other characters in the story think or say about the character, and showing us what the character does-how he or she acts |
| conflict | struggle or clash between opposing characters or opposing forces |
| internal conflict | takes place entirely within a character's own mind. a struggle between opposing needs or desires or emotions within a single person |
| external conflict | a character struggles against an outside force, like another character, or society as a whole, or something in nature |
| climax | moment of great emotional intensity or suspense in a plot |
| resolution | End of the story where loose ends are tied up. finding a solution to a problem |
| plot | series of related events that make up a story or drama |
| setting | the time and place of a story or play |
| theme | central idea of a work of literature |
| atmosphere | a distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing. The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. a particular environment or surrounding influence. Mood or feelings brought on by a story's setting. |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in a plot |
| point of view | vantage point from which a writer tells a story. in broad terms there are three possivle points of view: omniscient, first person and third-person limited |
| short story | short, concentrated, fictional prose narritive |
| novella | A prose work longer than the standard short story, but shorter and less complex than a full-length novel. |
| folk tale | story that has no known author and was originally passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth. |
| suspense | uncertainty or anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen next in a story |
| supprise ending | ... |
| irony | contrast or discrepancy between expectationand reality- between what is said and what is really meant, between what is expected to happen nd what really does happen, or between what appears to be true and what is really true |
| verbal irony | a writer or speaker says one thing but really mean omething completely different |
| dramatic irony | occurs when the audiance or the reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know |
| situational irony | occurs when there is a contrast between what would seem appropriate and what really happens or when there is a contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does take place |
| satire | type or writing that redicules some thing- a person, a group of people, humanity at large, an attitude or failing, a social institution- in order to reveal a weakness |
| mood | a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling, verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker |
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