Anecdote An anecdote is a short narrative, a story of personal experience of a particular incident.

An anecdote differs from a short story in that it is unified in time and space, is uncomplicated, and deals with a single episode.

Antagonist The antagonist is any character/force in a literary work that opposes the efforts of the protagonist (hero or main character). Many stories have only a single antagonist (or one main one), while longer works ­­ especially novels ­­ may have many antagonists.

In “The Most Dangerous Game,” General Zaroff is the antagonist to the character of Rainsford, the protagonist.

Apostrophe A figure of speech where someone, usually absent or dead), an object, some abstract quality, or a nonexistent person is directly addressed as though present and real

“Roll on thou deep and dark blue ocean—roll! (Byron) “Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.” (Donne)

Assonance The repetition of internal vowel sounds but not consonant sounds as in consonance.

Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks.

Ballad A relatively short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action. The ballad is traced back to the Middle Ages. Ballads were usually created by common people and passed orally due to the illiteracy of the time. Subjects for ballads include killings, feuds, important historical events, and rebellion.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Blank verse Any verse comprised of unrhymed lines all in the same meter, usually iambic pentameter.

From Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall:” “Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen­ground­swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”

Character Dynamic Round Static Flat

A person or animal in a story Dynamic/Round—Julie in Julie of the Wolves

Static/Flat—Cinderella in Cinderella

Characterization The process by which a character’s nature or traits are revealed to the reader.

The six elements used to reveal character are: physical description, speech, thoughts/feelings, actions/reactions, what other characters say about them and possible direct comments from a narrator.

Climax The moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis reaches its point of greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved.

Comedy In medieval and Renaissance use, the word comedy came to mean any play or narrative poem in which the main characters manage to avoid a disaster and have a happy ending. The comedy did not necessarily have to be funny, and indeed, many comedies are serious in tone. It is only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that comedy's exclusive connotations of humor arose.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night or Midsummer Night’s Dream

Realistic fiction: Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff by Walter Dean Myers

Conflict A problem or opposition between two characters (such as a protagonist and an antagonist), between two large groups of people, or between the protagonist and a larger problem such as forces of nature, ideas, and so on. The struggle found in fiction. Conflict may be internal or external and is best seen in (1) Man in conflict with another man/person: (2) Man in conflict in nature; (3) Man in conflict with self. (4) Man in conflict with society. (5) Man in conflict with supernatural or machine.

In Jack London's "To Build a Fire,” the Californian struggles to save himself from freezing to death in Alaska. In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell­Tale Heart," the protagonist ends up struggling with his own guilt after committing a murder.

Connotation The emotional or cultural associations surrounding a word, as opposed to its strict literal dictionary meaning (denotation).

Example, “nag” and “steed” are all synonyms for a horse,. The first word conjures up a negative association while the second suggests a favorable one.

Consonance The repetition of identical consonant sounds that are preceded by different vowel sounds.

Examples: rider, reader, raider, and ruder or linger, longer

Context Discovering the meaning of an unknown word by using the words around it.

“Mr. Anderson grasped the arms of the rocker, his knuckles chalk white. “You certainly ain’t taught none of your younguns how to behave, Caroline,” he said curtly.

Contrast Bringing together the ideas, images, or characters to show how they differ.

From The Outsiders: Ponyboy and Randy came from different sides of town—Ponyboy is a greaser and Randy is a soc. However, they are also similar in that they both want the fighting between their groups to end.

Couplet A pair of rhyming lines with identical meter.

From Maxine Rumin’s “The Morning Swim:” Into my empty head there come a cotton beach, a dock wherefrom

I set out, oily and nude through mist in oily solitude.

Denotation The strict dictionary meaning of a word without emotional associations.

The denotation of the word ghetto (The American Collegiate Dictionary, Third Edition p. 572): “noun…1. A section of a city occupied by a minority group who live there esp. because of social, economic, or legal pressure. 2. A walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted…” The connotation of the word “ghetto” has come to suggest an impoverished and rundown section of a city.

Dialogue The lines spoken by a character or characters in a play, essay, story, or novel, especially a conversation between two characters.

“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell: “The place has a reputation—a bad one.” (Whitney) “Cannibals?” asked Rainsford. “Hardly. Even cannibals wouldn’t live in such a God­forsaken place.”

Drama A story written to be acted out on the stage.

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs

Excerpt A part taken from a longer piece of writing—sometimes only a few lines, sometimes several chapters from a book.

Exposition The type of writing that explains or informs.

Fable A brief story illustrating a moral. Unlike the parables, fables often include talking animals or animated objects as the principal characters.

The sixth century B. C. Greek writer Aesop is most famous as an author of fables. “The Fox and the Grapes,” for example, is one of his creations.

Falling Action The last section of a play or story that works out the decision arrived at during the climax.

Farce A farce is a form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations. Could include slapstick.

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Rumors by Neil Simon

Fiction Prose writings about people and events that are products of an author’s imagination. (Historical fiction—a piece of writing that combines historical fact and imagination)

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson

Figurative Language An expression in which words are used in a way that is not literal in order to make a comparison for the sake of greater force or beauty: hyperbole, metaphor,

Personification: In the story, “Song of the Trees,” Cassie shares with us that the trees talk and play hide and seek with her.

personification, or simile. Flashback A temporary interruption in the

present action so that the reader can witness past events­­usually in the form of a character's memories, dreams, or narration.

Foil A character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize opposing traits in another character.

Foot A basic unit of meter consisting of a set number of strong stresses and light stresses. The same as meter.

(U/) is one iambic foot.

Foreshadowing Suggesting, hinting, indicating, or showing what will occur later in a narrative. Foreshadowing often provides hints about what will happen next.

For instance, a movie director might show a clip in which two parents discuss their son's leukemia. The camera briefly changes shots to do an extended close­ up of a dying plant in the garden outside, or one of the parents might mention that another relative died on the same date. The perceptive audience sees the dying plant, or hears the reference to the date of death, and realizes this detail foreshadows the child's death later in the movie.

Free Verse Verse that has no fixed patterns or rhyme, rhythm, or line length. Free verse achieves its effects with sound devices and subtle patterns of rhythm.

Haiku A traditional Japanese poem, haiku consists of three lines. The first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven, and the last line five.

In the amber dusk Each island dreams its own night­­ The sea swarms with gold. By James Kirkup

Hyperbole An extravagant exaggeration designed for an effect.

“I laughed so hard I thought my sides would split open!”

Iambic Pentameter A five­foot line of iambic meter. This is the most common meter in English.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date…”

By William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII

Imagery A visual description that appeals to the reader’s senses to heighten the emotional effect.

Inference A reasonable, logical conclusion drawn from evidence given.

The reader could correctly infer that Salamanca (Walk Two Moons) is in denial about what happened to her mother because Sal uses the euphemism “resting peacefully” to talk about the whereabouts of her mother.

Irony Dramatic Situational Verbal

A difference between appearance and reality. 1. Verbal irony occurs when an author says one thing and means something else (often said sarcastically). 2. Dramatic irony occurs when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know. 3. Situational irony occurs when there is a difference between the expected result and actual result.

1. Verbal irony – "Why, no one would dare argue that there could be anything more important in choosing a college than its closeness to the beach." 2. Dramatic irony – this occurs when King Oedipus, (Oedipus Rex) who has unknowingly killed his father, says that he will banish his father's killer when he finds him. This is dramatic irony because the audience knows sometime Oedipus does not—that he killed his own father. 3. Situational irony ­ An example of situational irony would occur if a professional pickpocket had his own pocket picked just as he was in the act of picking someone else's pocket.

Metaphor A comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as.

He is an ox. Thou art sunshine.

Meter The rhythmic pattern produced when words are arranged so that their stressed and unstressed syllables fall into a more or less regular sequence.

Mood The frame of mind or state of feeling created within a piece of writing. The general atmosphere created by the choice of words, setting, images, and details.

Moral A lesson to be drawn from a story; it usually involves a moral issue.

Honesty is the best policy. Don’t judge others.

Motif A recurring object, idea, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil.

In Walk Two Moons there are recurring motifs of denial, secrets, and nature.

Myth Created to explain natural occurrences that were puzzling to people long ago, such as why the sun sets and how the earth came to be.

Hercules, Icarus, Medusa, Pandora

Nonfiction Any prose writing that is not “made up,” such as biographies, essays, and true accounts of travel, adventure, and news.

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. This is an account of Easy Company’s experiences during World War II.

Onomatopoeia A word that imitates the sound it represents. Such devices bring out the full flavor of words.

“Splash,” “gush,” “kerplunk,” "buzz," "crash," "whirr," "clang" "hiss," "purr," "squeak," "mumble," "hush.”

Oxymoron Involves putting two contradictory words together.

‘Cruel kindness' or 'jumbo shrimp' (Jumbo means 'large' while shrimp means 'small.’). Also, ‘genuine imitation’, ‘sanitary landfill,’ ‘silent scream.’

Paradox Reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. Good fences make good neighbors.

Parallelism I enjoy biking and walking down by the pier.

Personification Giving human qualities to animals or objects

A smiling moon, a jovial sun

Plot The series of interrelated events that present and resolve a conflict—usually told in chronological (time) order. Sometimes flashback is used.

Poetry A piece of literature written in meter; verse.

“A Time to Talk” by Robert Frost

Point of View First Person Third Person

Limited Third Person

Omniscient

The position from which a story is presented by the author. 1. First person – told by a character (“I”); this is limited or subjective. 2. Third person limited – tells only what a single character can see and experience and is told in third person (“He/She/They”). 3. Third person omniscient (all­ knowing) – allows a reader to be told a great deal about the thoughts, feelings, and actions of many characters—more than any one character would know.

Protagonist The central character in a literary work. Usually the protagonist is in conflict against an opponent, or antagonist.

The protagonist in the novel I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier is Adam Farmer.

Pseudonym A "false name" or alias used by a writer desiring not to use his or her real name. Sometimes called a nom de plume or "pen name," pseudonyms have been popular for several reasons.

Director Woody Allen’s real name is Allen Stewart Konigsberg

Pun A play on words where a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time.

The line below, spoken by Mercutio in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," is an example of a pun. Mercutio has just been stabbed, knows he is dying and says: “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.” Mercutio's use of the word "grave' renders it capable of two meanings: a serious person or a corpse in his grave. Other examples: 1.A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two­tired. 2. What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead giveaway). 3. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Resolution The portion of a play or story where the conflict/problem is

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the Montague and Capulet families come

resolved. It does not always mean a happy ending.

together at the end of the story to mourn the deaths of their children and to pledge to put aside the feud.

Rhetorical Question A question asked only for effect or to make a statement, but not to get an answer.

Rhyme Rhyme scheme is rhymed words at the ends of lines. Rhyme is not only a recurrence but a matching of sounds.

Roses are red Violets are blue Sugar is sweet And so are you.

Rhythm Recurrences of stressed and unstressed syllables at equal intervals, similar to meter.

Rising Action The part of the drama that begins with the exposition and sets the stage for the climax. Through the conflict, tension builds. The action reaches a high point and results in a climax.

Satire Literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. Ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and several other techniques are almost always present.

Jonathan Swift’s Modest Proposal

Science Fiction Imaginative stories about happenings that may be pure fancy or have some scientific basis.

“The Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury. Set in 2055, a group of men travel sixty million years back in time to hunt the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex only to discover in their return that one of them has irrevocably changed history.

Setting The total environment for the action of a fictional work. Setting includes time period (such as the 1890's), the place (such as downtown Warsaw), the historical milieu (such as during the Civil War).

The setting for “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a sunny day in a small village somewhere in the U.S.

Short Story A short fictional narrative. “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O’Henry.

Simile The comparison of two unlike things using like or as.

Examples: He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.

Sonnet A fourteen line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme. The two main types of sonnet are the Petrarchan (or Italian) and the Shakespearean.

The Shakespearean Sonnet, (perfected though not invented by Shakespeare), contains three quatrains and a couplet, with more rhymes (because of the greater difficulty finding rhymes in English). The most common rhyme scheme is A­B­A­B C­D­C­D E­F­E­F G­G. In Shakespeare, the couplet often undercuts the thought created in the rest of the poem.

Stanza A unified group of lines in poetry From Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain” written after Abraham Lincoln’s tragic death:

“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring…”

Stereotype A fixed, generalized image of a character, setting, or plot. Skilled writers use them for a purpose— to serve as immediately recognizable types or as foils to more fully developed characters.

At the beginning of the story “The Possibility of Evil,” Adela Strangeworth is characterized as a stereotypical old lady: sweet, delicate, “walking daintily along Pleasant Street.”

Surprise Ending An unexpected turn of events at the very end of a story.

The last line of the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, the main character receives a shocking note that says, “Look out at what used to be your roses.”

Suspense A feeling of excitement or curiosity about the outcome.

From “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell: “The old charts call it ‘Ship­Trap Island,’” Whitney replied. “A suggestive name, isn’t it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place.”

Symbol An object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

The bird of night (The owl is a symbol of death.). Light often is used to symbolize knowledge or truth. The dove is a symbol of peace.

Theme The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express. All of the elements of literary terms contribute to theme. A simple theme is usually stated in a single sentence.

“After reading (this book, poem, essay), I think the author wants me to understand that there is no one way for a person to experience grief.” Themes can be moral lessons (“Honesty is the best policy.” “To thine ownself be true.”) or observations about life (“Life is not fair.”).

Tone The author’s attitude towards his subject or character: serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue­in­cheek, solemn, objective.

Tragedy A serious drama in which the hero struggles against some form of evil. The evil can be another character, something in society, or even nature. The hero eventually loses the struggle, often because of a character flaw or error in judgment.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Tragic Hero/Tragic Figure

A tragic hero has the potential for greatness but is doomed to fail. He is trapped in a situation where he cannot win. He makes some sort of tragic flaw, and this causes his fall from greatness. Even though he is a fallen hero, he still

Tragic heroes are: Born into nobility: Responsible for their own fate Endowed with a tragic flaw Doomed to make a serious error in judgment Eventually, tragic heroes

wins a moral victory, and his spirit lives on.

Fall from great heights or high esteem Realize they have made an irreversible mistake Faces and accepts death with honor Meet a tragic death For all tragic heroes The audience is affected by pity and/or fear