| Term | Definition |
|---|
| slant rhyme | occurs when the final sounds in lines of poetry are similar but not identical |
| exact rhyme | occurs when two words have identical sounds in their final accented syllables |
| parallelism | the repitition of phrases or sentences with similar structures or meaning |
| free verse | poetry that has irregular meter and line length |
| climax | the point of greatest interest when the reader finds out whether the protagonist has succeeded or failed |
| regional dialect | language specific to a particular area of the country |
| dramatic irony | occurs when the reader is aware of something that a character in a literary work does not know |
| situational irony | occurs when the outcome of a situation or action is very different from what one expects |
| verbal irony | the use of words to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning |
| chronological order | events represented in the sequence in which they occurred |
| stream of consciousness | thoughts and ideas the way the human mind experiences them, in short bursts without full sentences or logical connections |
| third person limited point of view | the narrator participates in the action usingthe pronoun "I" |
| objective point of view | the reader follows the action of the story without understanding any character's thoughts about the events |
| hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement |
| allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work |
| direct characterization | the writer tells the reader what the character is like |
| indirect characterization | the character's traits are revealed through their thoughts, actions, and words, and by what other characters say about them |
| foreshadowing | the use of details or clues that hint at what will occur later in a plot or suggest a certain outcome |
| anecdote | a short account of an amusingor interesting event |
| dramatic dialogue | a poem or speech in which a character addresses asilent listener |
| suspense | a feeling of growing uncertainty about the outcome of events in a literary work |
| colonialism | during this period many explorers and colonists wrote about their experiences in settling the new land and surviving in the wilderness |
| puritanism | sought to translate god's word into every aspect of daily lives. They believed in predestination and that basically man is corrupt and that only a few can receive salvation. |
| neoclassical age | this literary period began to evolve away from the colonial years and move toward a more formal approach influenced by politics, philosophy, and the arts. |
| romanticism | plced a premium or imagination, emotion, nature, individuality |
| transcendentalism | a 19th century philosophical movement that promoted the idea that intuition and the individual conscience transcend experience and thus are better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason |
| regionalism | a manner of speaking that is common to a particular region or group |
| realism | a literary movement that stressed the actual as opposed to the imagined or fanciful |
| naturalism | a literary movement that portrayed ordinary people as hapless victimsof their environment, heredity or chance. |
| modernism | a radical departure from traditional literary forms including free verse and experimentation with narrative structure |
| post modernism | a period of literature after WW II that saw a rise in feminism, literary criticism, and contemporary topics. Also sometimes called "The Age of Anxiety" |
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