Literary Terms
- Alliteration- the repetition of a beginning consonant sound
- Allusion - a direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly
known, such as event, book, myth, place, or work of art
- Biography-a story of someone’s life written by someone else
- Character-the people (and sometimes animals) in a story
- Flat Character- character in a story that has only one prominent trait, such as greed or
cruelty.
- Round Character- character in a story that has many aspects to his or her personality.
The character may have a good side and a bad side; he or she may be unpredictable.
- Static Character- character in a literary work that does not change his or her outlook in
response to events taking place.
- Climax-the turning point of the story; point of highest interest or suspense
- Conflict-the central source of tension and drama in a story; the problem.
- Connection-when a story reminds the reader of a personal experience, a similar event
or another story.
- Denouement-the events following the climax that lead to the resolution
- Dialogue-written conversation between characters
- Diary-when someone writes their personal thoughts; usually not created for others to read
- Drama- a play
- Comedy-a play with a happy ending
- Tragedy-a play with a sad ending
- Exposition-what is happening when the story begins; includes characters and setting
- Flashback-taking the reader back to an earlier time.
- Foreshadowing-when the author gives clues about what will happen later in the story
- Hyperbole-an exaggeration; not meant to be taken literally (I am so hungry, I could eat a horse)
- Idiom-a figurative expression no meant to be taken literally.(it rained cats and dogs)
- Imagery-sensory details, words that make the reader see, hear, feel, taste
- Infer (inference) - to draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented
- Irony-the tone created when the reader says one thing but means another
- Verbal Irony-a contradiction between shat is said and what is meant
- Situational Irony-a twist of fate in which the results of a certain actions is not consisted with expected results.
- Dramatic irony - facts or events are unknown to a character but known to the reader or audience and other characters in the work.
- Metaphor-a comparison that does not use like or as.
- Mood-the overall feeling a reader gets from a story.
- Nonfiction-True or factual (Not False)
- Onomatopoeia-the words that sound like the sound or action they describe (Bullets whizzed by)
- Oxymoron- putting two terms together that are opposite: (jumbo shrimp)
- Personification-giving human qualities to something that is not human.
- Plot-the series of events in a story
- Sub Plot-a minor plot; a story within a story
- Poetry-writing in which the sound, rhythm, meaning and imagery are especially important.
- Point-of-view-the prospective or position from which the story is told.
- First Person-a character tells the story (I)
- Third Person-an outside person/narrator tells the story (He/She)
- Resolution-the solution to the conflict
- Satire-making fun of a person, a weakness, or of certain human behavior.
- Setting-the environment in which the story takes place: when and where.
- Simile-a comparison using like or as.
- Suspense- the quality that keeps the reader anxiously wanting to know what will happen next
- Symbol-an image, object, character or action that stands for an idea. (the flag stands for freedom)
- Theme-the message, lesson, or universal truth communicated by the author.
- Thesis - in expository writing, the thesis statement is the sentence or group of sentences that directly express the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition.
- Tone - similar to mood, describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both
- Transition - a word or phrase that links different ideas
- Soliloquy - recitation in a play in which a character reveals his thoughts to the audience but not to other characters in the play.