LITERARY TERMS

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LITERARY TERMS

• Mrs. Fordham
• English
• Ponte Vedra High School

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Elements of Plot

• 1. Exposition (know the following)
• Meet the characters
• Learn the setting
• Gain background information
• 2. Rising Action
• 3. Climax
• 4. Falling Action
• 5. Resolution (Denouement)

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Elements of Story/Plot
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Allegory

• a work in which the characters and events are to
  be understood as representing other things and
  symbolically expressing a deeper, often
  spiritual, moral, or political meaning.
• Ex. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

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Alliteration

• is the repetition of initial sounds in
  neighboring words
• generally more than 2 words
• A SOUND device
• ex. We wink when widows wince...

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Allusion

• Noun
• is a brief reference to a person, event, or
  place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art.
• ex. I am not the type to say, To infinity and
  beyond. Rather, I am an awkward dinosaur or a
  three-eyed alien.
• Or
• I alluded to a Bible story when I said that I
  thought my father walked on water.

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anadiplosis

• noun
• Repetition of the last word of one clause at the
  beginning of the next clause.
• "The crime was common, common be the pain."
  (Alexander Pope)

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Analogy

• is the comparison of two pairs that have the same
  relationship.
• ex. How a doctor diagnoses diseases is like how a
  detective investigates crimes.

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anecdote

• noun
• A short and amusing or interesting story
• The writer started his To Kill a Mockingbird
  essay with an anecdote from his childhood.

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Antagonist

• The person (character) or thing that opposes the
  protagonist (main character)

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aphorism

• noun
• A concise statement designed to make a point or
  illustrate a commonly held belief
• "Early to bed and early to rise/Make a man
  healthy, wealthy, and wise." -Benjamin Franklin

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apostrophe

• noun
• A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or
  abstract quality is addressed as if present
• Spoken prayer is an apostrophe to God.

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Archetype

• a typical character, an action or a situation
  that seems to represent such universal patterns
  of human nature.
• Ex the hero, the villain, the jock
• Fall from grace, good vs evil

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asyndeton

• noun
• The practice of omitting conjunctions between
  words, phrases, or clauses. In a list, it gives a
  more extemporaneous effect and suggests the list
  may be incomplete
• "He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing."

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catharsis

• noun
• Purification or cleansing of the spirit through
  the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to a
  tragedy.
• The author of Oedipus Rex uses catharsis when
  Oedipus finds out that the woman he married is
  actually his birth mother.

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Characterization

• is the method used by a writer to develop a
  character.
• (1) showing the character's appearance
• (2) displaying the character's actions
• (3) revealing the character's thoughts
• (4) letting the character speak
• (5) getting the reactions of others.

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Conflict

• is the opposition between or among characters or
  forces in a literary work that shapes or
  motivates the action of the plot.
• Conflict may be internal or external.
• Internal-Man vs. Self (in the mind)
• External-Man vs. Man or Man vs. Nature physical
  conflict

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Conflict Cont.

• (1) Man in conflict with another Man (300, Rocky)
  
• (2) Man in conflict in Nature (Titanic)
• (3) Man in conflict with Self (Fight Club,
  Beautiful Mind)
• (4) Man in conflict with Machine (Matrix,
  Terminator)

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Connotation

• Examples could be negative or positive

• Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied
  by a word apart from the thing which it describes
  explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional
  associations or meanings in addition to their
  literal meanings or denotations. For instance,
  Wall Street literally means a street situated
  in Lower Manhattan but connotatively it refers to
  wealth and power.

• A dog connotes an ugly face.
• A dove implies peace
• Home suggests family, comfort and security.
• Politician has a connotation of wickedness and
  insincerity while statesperson connotes
  sincerity.
• Pushy refers to someone loud-mouthed.
• Mom and Dad when used in place of mother and
  father connote loving parents.

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Diction

• noun
• An author's choice of words to convey a tone or
  effect
• "Listen up! Drop the magazine and get with the
  program!"
• vs."Dearest reader, I humbly entreat you to
  eschew the latest celebrity tittle-tattle and
  instead devote your attention to something
  important.

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Denotation

• literal or dictionary meanings of a word in
  contrast to its connotative or associated
  meanings.
• EX Dove-bird
• Wall-barrier
• Heart-organ that pumps blood through the body

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didactic

• adjective
• Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson
• The tapes were entertaining and didactic because
  they amused and instructed the children.

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epistolary

• noun
• A piece of literature contained in or carried on
  by letters
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an example of
  an epistolary because the story unfolds through
  Charlies letters.

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Foreshadowing

• is a literary device in which an author drops
  subtle hints about plot developments to come
  later in the story.

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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING BY COMPARING IT TO
  SOMETHING ELSE.
• Simile
• Analogy
• Metaphor

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FOIL

• a character that shows qualities that are in
  contrast with the qualities of another character
  with the objective to highlight the traits of the
  other character
• EX Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Hyperbole

• is a deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for
  effect
• ex. I called you a billion times and you never
  picked up!
• ex. I worked a shift that seemed to last forever.
  

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IDIOM

• An expression not interpreted literally. The
  phrase is understood as to mean something quite
  different from what individual words of the
  phrase would imply.
• Ex Its raining cats and dogs
• Im as hungry as a horse
• The subject is black and white

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Imagery

• is writing or language that evokes one or all of
  the five senses.
• Ex The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and
  sweet.
• The blue, soft, satin blanket.

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Irony

• incongruity between what actually happens and
  what might be expected to happen.
• ex. The firemans house burnt down.
• 1. verbal irony is when an author says one thing
  and means something else.2. dramatic irony is
  when an audience perceives something that a
  character in the literature does not know.3.
  irony of situation is a discrepancy between the
  expected result and actual results.

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Juxtaposition

• noun
• Placing of two items side by side to create a
  certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish
  some other purpose
• In Lost, Jack's flashback to the plane is chaotic
  and destructive, with people being hurled around
  the plane. The next shot juxtaposed the first
  because it is of a calm and peaceful ocean.

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LITERAL LANGUAGE

• TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING AS IT IS.

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litotes

• noun
• Form of understatement in which the negative of
  the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and
  intensity.
• "She is not a bad cook."
• "No man ever followed his genius until it misled
  him." - Henry David Thoreau

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Metaphor

• is a comparison of two unlike things using the
  verb "to be" (am, are, was, were, etc.) instead
  of using like or as.
• ex. Her words are butterflies.
• ex. I am an old abandoned house.

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Metonymy

• is substituting a word for another word closely
  associated with it.
• ex. Calling the police pigs or the fuzz

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Motif

• is an important and sometimes recurring theme or
  idea in a work of literature.
• NOT the same as the word, MOTIVE

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Mood

• is the atmosphere or state of mind of a work.

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Motivation

• the reasons, justifications, and
• explanations for the action of a
• character

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onomatopoeia

• noun
• A word capturing or approximating the sound of
  what it describes
• buzz, hiss

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Oxymoron

• noun
• A figure of speech that combines two apparently
  contradictory elements and putting those two
  contradictory elements or words together.
• Ex jumbo shrimp, living dead

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Paradox

• Noun
• is a statement, proposition, or situation that
  seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact
  is or may be true.
• ex. Everything begins where it ends.
• ex. The first shall be last.
• Ex. The only way to overcome death is to die.

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Parody

• is a piece of writing that deliberately copies
  another work in order to comment or critique it.
• ex. Tina Fey parodies Sarah Palin on SNL.

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parallelism

• noun
• Grammatical similarity between two parts of a
  sentence. It also adds balance, rhythm, and
  clarity to the sentence.
• On Mondays, Ms. Smith spends her time baking
  cakes for local charities and knitting socks for
  the homeless.

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Pastiche

• is a piece of writing that deliberately copies
  another work yet does not comment or critique it.
• ex. Every Family Guy episode.

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Personification

• is giving human qualities to inanimate objects.
• ex. The sun smiled down on us.
• ex. The gate squawked closed.

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Point of View

• is the perspective on events of the narrator or a
  particular character in a story.
• 1st person __I, We, Us are used__
• 2nd person __You, Your are used_
• 3rd person _He, She, They_

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Point of View Cont

• May be
• Omniscient/third-person omniscient-Narrator know
  the thoughts of ALL the characters and writes
  using He, She, and They
• Omniscient/third-person limited-Story is told
  from one characters POV, but the reader/viewer
  knows things outside the main characters POV as
  well. Not ALL knowing, but more than one
  character thoughts are known
• Objective-The narrator is outside the story (not
  a character) and is neutral in opinion
• First person/subjective- I, we Personal
  opinions known.
• Limited-Only a single characters thoughts are
  known

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polysyndeton

• noun
• using several conjunctions in close succession,
  especially where some might be omitted
• he ran and jumped and laughed for joy

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prose

• noun
• The ordinary form of written language without
  metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry
  or verse
• The novel Death be Not Proud is considered prose
  because it does not have a beat to it as opposed
  to the poem by the same name.

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Protagonist

• -A storys main character
• -Often undergoes some kind of change
• -Is a dynamic, round character

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Repetition

• Repeats the same words or phrases a few times to
  make an idea clearer
• As a rhetorical device, it could be a word, a
  phrase or a full sentence or a poetical line
  repeated to emphasize its significance in the
  entire text.

• Anadiplosis Repetition of the last word in a
  line or clause.
• Anaphora Repetition of words at the start of
  clauses or verses.

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rhetoric

• a technique of using language effectively and
  persuasively in spoken or written form. It is an
  art of discourse, which studies and employs
  various methods to convince, influence or please
  an audience.
• Ethos
• Pathos
• Logos

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Aristotles Rhetoric

• Logos
• Appeal to logic and reason-data, facts

• Ethos
• Appeals to how the audience feels about the
  author/speaker

Pathos Appeals to the audiences
emotions
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Sarcasm

• A mocking, often ironic or satirical remark,
  usually intended to wound or amuse. Usually
  humorous.

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Satire

• is the use of wit, especially irony, sarcasm, and
  ridicule, to critique politics and society.
• ex. South Park
• ex. The Simpsons
• NOT Saytr, as in the half man, half goat.

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Setting

• is the time and location in which a story takes
  place.
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Simile

• is a comparison between two different things
  using like or as.
• ex. You spin a story like a spider spins her
  web. - The Format
• ex. He jumped as if his feet were on fire.

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syllogism

• noun
• An instance of a form of reasoning in which a
  conclusion is drawn from two given or assumed
  premises
• All football players are athletic. Bob is a
  football player. Therefore, Bob is athletic.

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syntax

• noun
• The way words are put together to form phrases,
  clauses, and sentences. It is sentence structure
  and how it influences the way a reader perceives
  a piece of writing.
• P J Kavanaghs in his poem Beyond Decoration
  does not rely on merely stating a simple I
  cannot go out rather he shift the syntax and
  says Go out I cannot, which lays a much
  stronger emphasis on the incapability conveyed by
  the word cannot.

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Stream of consciousness

• is a literary style that presents a characters
  continuous random flow of thoughts as they arise.

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Symbolism

• is the use of symbols to represent something
  abstract by something concrete.
• ex. The color white often symbolizes purity.

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Text Structures

• cause/effect
• compare/contrast
• problem/solution
• main ideas/supporting details
• most important to least important
• chronological,
• spatial,
• sequence

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Theme

• is a broad idea in a story, or a message or
  lesson conveyed by a work.
• Often reads like a fortune cookie
• How to find the theme in a work
• 1. Ask yourself, What is the work about?
  ___________
• 2. Ask yourself, What about __________?
• Theme is NEVER just one word.
• Love isnt a theme / Love endures all things
  is a theme

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Tone

• is the attitude of the author/speaker towards the
  subject and/or toward the audience implied in a
  literary work.
• Ex. "Atticus was feeble he was nearly fifty."
  This example shows the naiveté of Scout because
  she thinks that 50 is extremely old. A coming of
  age narrative is established.

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vernacular

• noun
• The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary
  people in a particular country or region
• The new student, who came from New York, didnt
  understand the vernacular his classmates used in
  their emails.

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voice

• noun
• the individual writing style of an author, a
  combination of syntax, diction, punctuation,
  character development, dialogue, etc., within a
  given body of text
• Ernest Hemingways voice consists of short,
  concise, and to the point sentences to show the
  simplicity of life.