LITERARY TERMS

1
LITERARY TERMS

• Know them,
• use them,
• LOVE them!

2
CHARACTERIZATION

• The method a writer uses to reveal the
  personality of a character.
• Direct characterization the writer makes direct
  statements about a characters personality
• Indirect characterization the writer reveals a
  characters personality through the characters
  words and actions and through what other
  characters think and say about the character

3
CHARACTER TYPES

• Static character a character who remains the
  same
• Dynamic character a character who changes

4
MOOD

• The emotional quality or atmosphere of a story
• Example
• The Red Death had long devastated the country.
  No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so
  hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its sealthe
  redness and the horror of blood.
• From The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen
  Poe

5
TONE

• A reflection of a writers or speakers attitude
  toward the subject
• A writers tone may convey a variety of
  attitudes, including, sympathy, objectivity,
  seriousness, irony, sadness, bitterness, or humor
• Example Dont talk to me about voting or
  politics. Im not interested. All politicians
  are self-serving and corrupt. My vote wont
  change a thing!

6
FORESHADOWING

• The use of clues by the author to prepare readers
  for events that will happen later in a story

7
SYMBOL

• An object, person, place or experience that means
  more than what it is

8
IMAGERY

• The word pictures that writers create to help
  evoke an emotional response.
• Writers use sensory details , or descriptions
  that appeal to one or more of the five senses
  sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

9
SIMILE

• A figure of speech using like or as to compare
  seemingly unlike things
• Example
• The corn was as high as an elephants eye.

I mean really! Do corn and an Elephant have
ANYTHING in common?
10
METAPHOR

• A figure of speech that compares two or more
  things that have something in common. In
  contrast to a simile, a metaphor implies the
  comparison instead of stating it directly.
• Example
• Hes a bear when hes angry!

11
PERSONIFICATION

• A figure of speech in which an animal, object,
  force of nature, or idea is given human qualities
  or characteristics
• Example
• The shadow crept along
• the hallway.

12
IRONY

• A contrast or discrepancy between appearance and
  reality, or between what is expected and what
  actually happens.
• There are three types of irony
• Situational irony the actual outcome of a
  situation is the opposite of someones
  expectations
• Verbal irony a person says one thing and means
  another (You wreak your car and exclaim, Well
  this is great!)
• Dramatic irony the audience has important
  information that characters in a literary work do
  not have

13
INFERENCE

• The act of concluding from evidence deduction.
  In literature it describes the act of figuring
  something out by using what you already know.
• Example
• A B C
• If A 2 and B 3 then using what you know, you
  can deduce what C equals.

14
DICTION

• The writers choice of words an important
  element in the writers voice or style
• Good writers choose their words carefully to
  convey a particular meaning or feeling

15
DENOTATION

• The literal or dictionary meaning of a word
• Example Home - a house, dwelling, a place where
  one lives permanently

CONNOTATION

• The suggested or implied meanings associated with
  a word beyond its dictionary meaning
• Example Home - family, loving, safe, warm