Literary Terms

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Literary Terms
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Atmosphere

• The mood or emotional qualities of the scene
• Example A stormy night creates a creepy, scary
  atmosphere.

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Character

• Someone in the story
• The main character is sometimes also known as the
  protagonist.

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Characterization

• How the author reveals the character
• How you know whether or not to like the character
• The story details that let you judge the character

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Stages of a Story

• The typical process a storys plot goes through
  as it progresses from beginning to end.
• Opening/Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution/Conclusion

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Foreshadowing

• Clues or hints at whats to come
• Example The character may have a dream that
  someone dies. Later in the story, another
  character is killed.

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Hyperbole

• Exaggeration
• Example Its so hot in here that I think Im
  melting. or Im starving to death. When
  is lunch?

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Imagery

• Word Pictures
• Example The softly rustling leaves gently moved
  in a caressing breeze along the banks of the
  happily bubbling stream in the quiet, shaded
  woods.

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Irony

• When the opposite you expect happens.
• Example It was ironic when the student with the
  worst eyesight turned out to have the smallest
  project.

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Simile/Metaphor

• Both compare two things that dont normally go
  together.
• Similes use like or as in the comparison as
  in, My sisters hair flows like a brown river.
• Metaphors do not use like or as for example,
  My sisters hair is a flowing river of brown.

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Personification

• Something not human is given human qualities
• Example The sky wept sadly all week long.

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Point of view

• The relationship of the narrator to the story.
• Types of point of view
• 1st person
• 3rd person limited
• 3rd person omniscient

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Symbolism

• Something that represents a larger idea
• Example A dove sometimes symbolizes or
  represents peace.

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Theme

• The main idea or message of the story.

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Onomatopoeic

• A word that is spelled to represent a sound.
• Example buzz, fizz, whoosh

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Alliteration

• A phrase where the initial (beginning) sound is
  repeated in most words.
• Example The first fellow fell forward.

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Analogy

• A comparison between two things that may have one
  aspect in common. Similar to a simile or
  metaphor, but it can be an entire story, passage,
  or just a phrase.

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Rhyme Scheme

• The pattern of rhyming words in a poem.
• Example
• Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
• And sorry I could not travel both
• And be one traveler, long I stood
• And looked down one as far as I could
• To where it bent in the under growth