Literary Terms
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Transcript of Literary Terms
Literary Terms
Alliteration The same
sound repeated within a phrase
Example: Billy Buys Bugs from Baltimore
Allusion Text or phrases that
refers to another piece of text, which engages the reader’s background knowledge
Example: If John tells Jennifer that she is his Juliet, he is making an allusion to Shakespeare’s play
Analogy Comparing two
opposites to another pair of opposites to show the relation
Example – Hot is to cold as Up is to ????
Hot is the opposite of Cold, so the opposite of Up is ________.
Antagonist The person or thing
causing problems in the story
“The Bad Guy” Example – The
antagonist in The Lion King is Scar
Assonance When the middle of
words make the same sound
Examples: Get, Bit, Fit, Hit, Mitt, Lit, Knit, Pit, Sit, Wit, Zit
Autobiography A life story about
someone written by that someone
Example: When celebrity write their life story, they are writing autobiographies
Biography When someone
writes a life story about someone else
Example – If the child of a celebrity wrote the life story of their parent, they would be writing a biography about their parent
Blank Verse Poetry written in
unrhymed iambic pentameter
Example – “You stars that reign'd at my nativity…”
Climax Where the story
catches the reader’s or watcher’s attention the most or where the story is the most interesting
Example: In The Lion King, the climax of the story is when Simba comes back to Fight Scar for his family’s kingdom
Conflict The problem in the
story Example: The
conflict in The Lion King is that Simba believes, and so do the rest of the lions, that he killed his father, when Scar actually killed his brother, and framed Simba
Connotation When an emotion or
preconceived thought is associated with a word
Example: When people hear the word skunk, they think of a stinky animal or the Loony Toons character, Pepe L’Peu
Consonance When the ends of
words make the same sound
Example: think, wink, mink, sink, link, pink, rink
Couplet Two lines that
rhyme at the end of each line
Example:
Frogs are green
And girls are mean
Denotation When the definition
of a word is associated with the word
Example: When people hear the word skunk, they think of a black and white mammal that sprays to protect itself from its enemies
Foil Characters Two characters that
show how opposite each other are in the story
Usually the protagonist and the antagonist
Example: In The Lion King, Scar and Mufasa would be foil characters
Foreshadowing When a previous event
in a story relates to a later event in the story
Example: In The Lion King, when Mufasa is ruling the kingdom, it is always sunny. When Simba returns and there is no sunshine, foreshadows that the kingdom has gone downhill.
Free Verse Poetry that does not
rhyme Example:
Hamburgers are nice
Tacos are great
Pasta is the best
And BBQ is wonderful.
Hyperbole Extreme
Exaggeration Example: When
Romeo tells Juliet that he feels like it has been 300 years since he has seen her, he is obviously exaggerating, as it has only been hours.
Imagery Imagination or
being able to close your eyes and see the image of what one is talking about
Example: When someone says “green bus”, you can imagine a green bus, and sketch it, without ever seeing the exact reference
Metaphor Comparing two
unlike things without using the words like, as, than
Example: My mother is married to a Santa Clause. This would compare your mother’s husband to a very old man with a white beard.
Narrative Telling a story from
your point of view Narrative meaning
narrator, which is the person writing the story
Written using the pronoun “I”
Example: Writing a friend a note / letter
Onomatopoeia Words that mimic
real world sound Example:
Ding-Dong = doorbell
Boom = bomb
Tick-Tock = clock
Paradox When the opposite
happens of what is expected
Example: In Steel Magnolias, when commenting on a character’s confusion, it is said, “He doesn’t know whether to wind his butt, or scratch his clock.”
Personification When human
characteristics are given to non-human things
Example:
The window is whistling.
The clock is staring at me.
The chair hugged me.
Plot What happens in the
story from beginning to end
5 elements: conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Plot of The Lion King: A prince is framed for his father’s murder by his uncle, and returns to reign the kingdom, after restoring his uncle’s effects.
Protagonist The main character
in the story “The Good Guy” Example: The
protagonist in The Lion King is Simba
Quatrain Four line poem The prefix qua-
meaning four Example:
Flowers are nice
I don’t like mice
I gamble when I roll dice
I smile when I eat rice
4
Setting Where the story
takes place Example: The Lion
King takes place in Africa, more specifically Pride Rock
Simile Comparing two
unlike things using like as than
Example: Your mother looks like a dinosaur. This implies that your mother is as old as the dinosaurs.
Soliloquy One person, on
stage, speaking their innermost thoughts, out loud, to the “invisible” audience
Example: Romeo speaking his thoughts about Juliet out loud, but no one is supposed to hear him
Sonnet A fourteen line
poem Example:
Click on URL to see an example of a sonnet:
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/all.php
Stanza A piece of a poem or
song Example:
The verse or chorus of a song is a stanza of that song
An excerpt of a poem, written in complettion is a stanza
Symbol A graphic that is related
to an idea Example:
A tree with ornaments
A rectangle with 16 red and white stripes, and 50 stars in the upper left hand corner
A circle with two hands, pointing to two of twelve numbers
Theme The main idea of a
text or idea Example:
The theme of July
The theme of February
The theme of December
Tone An author’s attitude
or emotion in a text Example:
What tone is represented?
I hate my sister.
I want to punch her.
She’s so stupid.
Shakespearean Plays Comedy
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Twelfth Night
Tragedy Romeo and Juliet Julius Caesar
History Richard II Richard III
Types of Writing Expository
Writing to inform “Exposing” info
Expressive Writing to
entertain
Persuasive Writing to
persuade
Types of Rhyme True rhyme
Day, Say, May
Approximate rhyme End rhyme that is not exact Ex: down loud
Internal Rhyme Rhyme that occurs in the
middle and end of a line Ex: dreary weary
End Rhyme Rhyme that occurs at the
end of lines
Types of Irony Verbal
When someone speaks an ironic statement
Usually a smart-alleck statement
Situational When an event is ironic iPod breaking day after
warranty ends
Dramatic When the audience knows
what the characters do not Audience knows that Juliet
isn’t dead when Romeo drinks the posion