English 11 Literary Terms

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English 11 Literary Terms
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Voice

• Voice has two meanings. First, voice is how you,
  as the reader, hear the author speaking. It is
  the combination of qualities that conveys the
  author's unique attitude, personality, and
  character.
• In the second meaning, voice is the
  characteristic speech and thought patterns of
  narrator that may be a creation, or persona, of
  the writer.
• Because voice has so much to do with the reader's
  experience of a work of literature, it is one of
  the most important elements of a piece of
  writing.

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Dramatic Irony

• When readers know more about the situation than
  the characters do
• Example In a murder mystery novel, we see the
  murderers movements but the detective doesnt.

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Situational Irony

• Contrast between what is expected to happen and
  what actually does happen
• Example A police station is burglarized.

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Diction

• Choice of words in a piece of work the kind of
  vocabulary that is used

Diction affects tone! For example To a friend "a
screw-up" To a child "a mistake" To the police
"an accident" To an employer "an oversight"
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Symbolism

• A person thing or action that represents more
  than itself typically something concrete that
  represents abstract concepts like faith or
  courage.
• Example
• Conch shell in The Lord of the Flies

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Hyperbole

• An exaggeration for effect.
• I am so hungry I could eat a horse!
• Youre killing me with all that talking!
• When they started making excuses for why they
  couldnt do it, she knocked them out with all the
  reasons why they could.

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Foil (Character)

• A minor character whose qualities and actions
  tend to contrast with those of a major character
  so that the audience can better appreciate the
  major character.
• In Macbeth, Banquos qualities, and his death,
  show us just how horrible Macbeth is by in
  contrast.

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Stage Directions

• Written notes within plays which explain the
  movements, appearance and inner feelings of
  actors at specific points in a play.
• MERCY Oh, Jesus! (Falls back on bed. Enter Mary
  Warren, breathless. She is seventeen, a
  subservient, naïve girl.)
• MARY I just come from the farm, the whole
  countrys talking witchcraft!

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Irony

• Contrast between what is generally expected and
  what actually happens contrast between
  appearance and actuality
• It is said that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was to
  be beheaded, a special French executioner was
  hired for the job. When she greeted him, she
  pressed a coin into his hand saying, Do it
  quickly, as I have but a thin neck. But the man
  was so distraught at her polite resignation that
  he botched the job. It took three chops to sever
  her head from her body.

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Metaphor

• Comparison of two UNLIKE things not using like
  or as
• Usually linked by is/are or was/were
• Examples
• She is a cow!
• Hes a criminal behind the wheel.
• He was a madman on the football field

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Understatement

• A statement which lessens the importance of what
  is meant.
• Example Its 125 degrees in the desert and you
  say, "It's a little warm today."
• Your friend is in the Intensive Care Unit and you
  say Hes a little under the weather.

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Paradox

• A statement or situation that seems contradictory
  but nevertheless expresses some truth.
• The money for a music video can feed people and
  provide lots of resources for others.
• Al Capone gave money to poor people.

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Pun

• A play on words. You use the word in a way that
  plays on its different meanings.
• Ex. The hungry gorilla went ape.
• Shift happens
• She got the gold mine and I got the shaft.

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Simile

• Comparison using like or as
• Examples
• As graceful as a three-legged elephant.
• Dance like nobodys looking.
• As busy as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking
  contest.

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Personification

• You give something human traits.
• Example
• The clouds were crying.
• The brakes screamed as she slammed the pedal to
  the floor.
• Hell is gaping and waiting for sinners.

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Cliché
An overused phrase.

• Keep ahead of the pack.
• Never give up.
• Give 110 percent.
• Shes so phat!
• Its a rat race.
• __________like theres no tomorrow.

• All's fair in love and war
• bats in the belfry
• It goes without saying
• moment of glory
• stubborn as a mule
• what comes around, goes around

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Theme

• The central or overarching idea in a piece of
  literature. Some big themes are
• Our relationship with nature (Man vs. Nature)
• Our relationship with society (Man vs. Society)
• alienation and isolation
• disillusionment
• rebellion and protest
• loss of innocence
• coming of age
• the American Dream

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Dialogue

• The exact words exchanged among characters.
• Jesus, you startled me. I wasnt expecting you
  here.
• Its been a real day for expectations. Where were
  you? Ive been waiting here for an hour. You
  didnt leave a note or
• I wasnt planning on going anywhere
• I can see that. Wheres your coat?
• I left the house in a hurry. I um my mother
• The hospital reached you? God, Im sorry. Thats
  why
• The hospital?
• They called me when they couldnt get you.
• I dont understand.
• Your mother. You said
• I ran out to buy some flowers for her. Shes been
  so down.
• For three hours youve been buying flowers?
• http//hollylisle.com/dialogue-examples/

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Imagery

• Words which appeal to the senses and so invoke
  sensory impressions in the mind of the reader.
• MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains     
• My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk

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Tone

• Tone is the authors attitude toward the writing
  (his characters, the situation) and the readers.
  A work of writing can have more than one tone. An
  example of tone could be both serious and
  humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice of
  vocabulary and other details.
• (Mood, on the other hand, is the general
  atmosphere created by the authors words and the
  feeling the reader gets from reading those words.)

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Archetypes

• Pre-existent personality patterns that lie behind
  all the major characters, whether in fiction or
  in real life.
• There are many examples. Some are queen,
  heroine, faithful companion, trickster, warrior,
  rebel, rugged individualist, hero, mentor,
  victim.

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Hero/Heroine

• The chief character in a work of literature.

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Trickster
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Faithful Companion
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Outsider/Outcast
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Rugged Individualist
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Innocent
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Villain
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Caretaker
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Earth Mother
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Rebel
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Misfit
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Conflict

• A problem in literature
• Example

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Allusion

• A passing reference in a work of literature to
  something outside itself.
• Example Speak to my gossip VENUS one fair word.

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Satire

• Literature which represents something in a
  comical sense, making it appear ridiculous

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Soliloquy

• A character speaks directly to the audience
  (thinking aloud about motives, feelings, and
  decisions)
• Example

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Monologue

• A single person speaking, with or without an
  audience
• Example Saturday Night Live episode

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Verbal Irony

• When someone states one thing and means another

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Tragedy

• Traces the career and downfall of an individual

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Sarcasm

• An ironical statement intended to hurt or insult
• (ex. Brilliant, stated to a student who is
  clearly wrong.)

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Figurative Literal Language

• Figurative Language-an exaggeration
• Literal Language-literally true

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Free Verse

• Poetry that does not have regular patterns of
  rhyme and meter

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Alliteration
A sequence of repeated consonantal sounds in a
stretch of language Example Some late visitor
entreating entrance at my chamber door. (from
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe)
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Rhyme

• Similarity of sound between two words

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End Rhyme

• Poetry that rhymes at the end of the line

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Slant Rhyme

• Words that sounds similar with a hint of a rhyme
  (inexact rhyme)
• Example

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Internal Rhyme

• Poetry that rhymes in the middle of the line

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Couplets

• Two lines by two lines that rhyme
• Example

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Blank Verse

• A poem written in blank verse consists of
  unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

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Repetition

• Repeating of words or sounds in poetry
• Example May the warp be/May the weft be/May
  the border be (from the Song of the Sky Loom,
  a Navajo song)

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Refrain
Repeating a Stanza Example Nevermore from
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
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Aside

• A character speaks in such a way that some of the
  characters on stage do not hear what is said
  (while others do)

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Catharsis

• Explains the effects of tragic drama on an
  audience

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English 11 Literary Terms Cont.
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Caricature

• A grotesque or foolish image of a character,
  achieved through the exaggeration of personality
  traits

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Apostrophe

• A rhetorical (not requiring a response) term for
  a speech addresses to someone or something in the
  beginning of a poem or essay
• Clue When your parents ask, Who do you think
  you are? You are not supposed to respond.

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Metonymy

• The substitution of the name of a thing by the
  name of an attribute of it,
• (Ex.the crown monarchy)

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Synecdoche

• A part is used to describe the whole.
• Ex all hands on decksailors
• All aboardboarding a train

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Rhetorical Question

• Not requiring a response

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Dialect

• The style and manner of speaking from one
  particular area
• (Ex.New Yorkers are from New Yark)

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Elevated Language/Style
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Parallelism

• The building up of sentence or statement using
  repeated syntactic units (repeated words and
  sounds)

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Colloquialism/Vernacular

• The use of the kinds of expression and grammar
  associated with ordinary, everyday speech rather
  than formal language

Ex. Cool, Phat!
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Connotation/Denotation

• Connotation-emotional response evoked by a word
• Ex. Kittensoft, warm, cuddly
• Denotation-literal meaning
• Ex. Kittenyoung cat

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Stream of Consciousness

• Present the flow of a characters seemingly
  unconnected thoughts, responses, and sensations.

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English 11 Literary Terms

• Literary Forms

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Gothic

• Grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and
  violent events

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Historical Fiction

• Fiction that is loosely based on some historical
  period

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Proverb

• Short popular saying embodying a general truth
• Ex. Look before you leap

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Aphorism

• A generally accepted principle or truth expressed
  in a short, witty manner
• Ex. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

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Epigram

• Originally an inscription on a monumentnow used
  to describe a witty saying or poem with a sharp,
  satiric, or amusing ending
• Ex In God We Trust

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Tall Tale

• Humorous story characterized by exaggeration
• Ex Jack and the Beanstalk

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English 11 Literary Terms

• Poetry

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Meter

• The repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a
  line of poetry.

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Foot

• One stressed syllable indicated by a
• Two stressed syllables indicated by a

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Iamb

• An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
  syllable

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Pentameter

• Five feet

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Stress

• The accent is on a specific part of the word

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Masculine Rhyme

• The accent is on a specific part of the word, and
  stressed in a deep voice.

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Scansion

• The process of determining meter when you scan a
  line of poetry, you mark its stressed and
  unstressed syllables to identify the rhythm

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Inversion

• Departure from normal word order, common in
  poetry

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Assonance

• The correspondence, or near-correspondence, in
  two words of the stressed vowel, and sometimes
  those which follow, but not of the consonants
  (unlike rhyme).
• Example Can and fat food and droop
• Child and silence nation and traitor

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Ballad

• A poem or song which tells a story in simple,
  colloquial language.
• Example O What is That Sound by W. H. Auden

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Feminine Rhyme

• A rhyme in which two differing sounds in two
  words are followed by stressed rhyming syllables
  and unstressed rhyming syllables
• Example revival, survival, arrival