9TH GRADE LITERARY TERMS

Mrs. Davis

1. Allegory

A story or tale with two or more levels of meaning-a literary level and one or more symbolic levels. The events, setting, and characters in an allegory are symbols for ideas and qualities. The overall purpose is to teach a moral lesson. (“The Tortoise and the Hare”)

2. Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds. (Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,…)

3. Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. (Is there Balm in Gilead? …Biblical Allusion from “The Raven”)

4. Ambiguity

A statement which has two or more possible meanings or a statement whose meaning is unclear. (In “The Raven”, when the poem speaks of the man’s soul being on the floor, never to be lifted, it is unclear exactly what Poe meant. Perhaps the raven physically killed him, or maybe he has just lost hope in the face of his sorrowful life. The true origin and actions of the raven, and for that matter Lenore, are never concretely revealed, and Poe’s ambiguity, which is shown through confusion of characters and their origins, is consistent throughout.)

5. Analogy

Makes a comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike. (Elie Wiesel:Tzipora::the narrator in “The Raven”: _____________)

6. Analysis

To examine critically, carefully, and in detail.

7. Anecdote

A brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event told to entertain or make a point.

In Night, Elie Wiesel tells the story of the French girl who cared for him after his beating. He meets her later in life and learns she is actually a Jew.

8. Antagonist

A character or force in conflict with main character, or protagonist.

The raven is the antagonist to the narrator in The Raven.

The Nazi party is one antagonist to Elie in Night.

9. Argument

A logical way of presenting a belief, conclusion, or stance. A good argument is supported with reasoning and evidence.

10. Aside

A short speech delivered by a character in a play in order to express his or her true thoughts and feelings. Traditionally, the aside is directed to the audience and presumed to be inaudible to the other actors.

11. Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds. True assonance does not rhyme.

Purple curtain

12. Audience

Person or people reading or viewing the story, play, or movie.

13. Autobiography

A form of nonfiction in which a writer tells his or her own life story.

14. Ballad

A relatively short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action. Ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination of these.

15. Biography

A form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person.

16. Blank Verse

Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. This verse form was widely used by William Shakespeare.

17. Characterization

The act of creating and developing a character.

18. Chronological Order

Time order

19. Cliché

An overused expression.

Lost track of time or at the speed of light are both clichés.

20. Climax

The high point of interest or suspense in a story, play, or novel.

21. Comedy

A literary work, especially a play, that has a happy ending.

22. Comparison/Contrast

To determine similarities and differences between two elements. A mode of writing in which similarities and differences of pieces of writing are discussed.

23. Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces

External – the main character struggles against an outside force

Internal – involves a character at conflict with himself or herself.

24. Connotation

The set of ideas associated with a word in addition to its explicit meaning – may be negative or positive.

Sip vs. SlurpSlim vs. BonyFat vs. Voluptuous Inform vs. Gossip

25. Couplet

A pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter.

His red sports car is just a dream It needs no gas, it runs on steamThe children like the ocean shore We want to leave but they want more

26. Denotation

A word’s dictionary meaning.

27. Description

A portrait in words of a person, place, or an object. Descriptive writing uses sensory details, those that appeal to the senses.

28. Dialect

The form of language spoken by people in a specific region or group, may involve changes in the pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence structure of standard English.

29. Denouement

The unraveling and resolution of a problem in a story.

30. Dialogue

Conversation between characters that may reveal their traits and advance the action.

31. Diction

Refers to an author’s choice of words, especially with regard to range of vocabulary, use of slang, and colloquial language.

32. Drama

A story written to be performed by actors.

33. Dramatic Monologue

A poem in which a character revels himself or herself by speaking to a silent listener.

34. Dramatic Irony

A contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true.

35. Essay

A short nonfiction work about a particular subject.

36. Euphemism

The substitution for a mild word or phrase for a word that would be considered undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive.

Passed away instead of diedRestroom instead of bathroom

37. Evaluate

Forming a personal judgment about an idea’s or a literary work’s value.

38. Exposition

In the plot of a story or drama, this introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation, or conflict.

The exposition in Poe’s “The Raven” is a chamber on a dark, stormy night at midnight in December. He is reading, almost asleep, when he hears a tapping sound.

39. Fable

fa·ble noun 1. a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often

with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; Aesop's fables.

2. a story not founded on fact: This biography is largely a self-laudatory fable.

3. a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend: the fables of gods and heroes.

4. legends or myths collectively: the heroes of Greek fable.

5. an untruth; falsehood: This boast of a cure is a medical fable.

40. Falling Action

The events leading to the resolution in which the action begins to wind down.