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| Story in which people, things, and actions represent an idea or generalization about life; it can be read on one level for its literal meaning and on a second level for its symbolic meaning which often includes a strong moral or lesson. |
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| Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that are close together |
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| A literary reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture. |
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| The repitition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds, especially in words close together. |
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| A comparison of two or more similar objects to show how they are alike. |
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| A short summary of a humorous event used to make a point. |
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| The opponent (person or thing) who struggles against or blocks the protagonist, or hero, of the story. |
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| A brief, witty, cleverly worded statement or poem that makes a wise observation about life; often dealing with its subject in a satirical manner. |
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| An account of the writer's own life. |
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| An account of someone's life written by another person. |
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| Blank verse, iambic pentameter |
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| An unrhymed form of poetry — each line normally consists of 10 syllables in which every other syllabic is stressed. |
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| The method or process an author uses to reveal the personality of a character. |
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| That point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. |
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| Literature in which human errors or problems appear funny - In general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character(s). |
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| The struggle or problem between opposing forces or characters in a story. |
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| Conflict: Person vs. Person |
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Definition
One character in a story has a problem with one or more of the other
characters. |
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| Conflict: Person vs. Society |
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| A character has a problem with some element of society: the school, the law, the "accepted" way of doing things. |
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| Conflict: Person vs. Self or Internal conflict |
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| A character has a problem deciding what to do in a certain situation. The struggle or opposing forces are within a person's mind |
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| Conflict: Person vs. Nature |
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| A character has a problem with elemental forces: heat, cold, a tornado, an avalanche, etc. |
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| Conflict: Person vs. Fate (God) |
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| A character must battle what seems to be an uncontrollable problem. Whenever the conflict is an unbelievable or strange coincidence, it can be attributed to this. |
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| The repetition of the same or similar final consonant sounds on accented syllables or in important words. |
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| Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry. |
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The final resolution or outcome of a play or story.
At this point all the mysteries are unraveled, the conflicts are resolved, and the questions are answered. |
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| An author's choice of words based on their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness depending on the writer's subject, purpose, and audience. |
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| An expression that is usually accepted in informal situations and certain locations, as in "He really grinds my beans." |
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| The specialized language used by a specific group: teachers, doctors, computer technicians, etc. Technical diction. |
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| Literature that instructs or presents a moral or religious statement. |
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| The form of literature known as a play; also refers to the type of serious play that is often concerned with the leading character's relationship to society. |
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| A long narrative poem, written in heightened language, that tells of the deeds and adventures of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society. |
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| A sudden perception (moment of understanding) that causes a character to change or act in a certain way. |
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| A short poem or verse written in memory of someone. |
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| Writing intended to explain something that might otherwise be difficult to understand; as a part of plot, it is beginning background information on the characters, the setting, and the conflicts. |
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| The part of the plot after the turning point that leads to the final resolution of the conflict. |
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| A figure of speech that states an opposition, or contrast, of ideas: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities |
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| A figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement for effect: "I have seen this river so wide it had only one bank. " - Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi |
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| A figure of speech that makes a comparison of two unlike things in which no word of comparison (as, like, than, or resembles) is used: A green plant is a machine that runs on solar energy. " — Scientific American |
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| A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it. The related word is substituted for the actual word: "The While House has decided to create more public service jobs. " (While House is substituted for president) |
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| A figure of speech in which a part of a person, place, or thing is used to represent the whole. "Washington and Tehran are both claiming victory.'' |
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| A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, attitudes, or other human characteristics: "The rock stubbornly refused in move |
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| A figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles. "She stood in front of the altar, shaking like a freshly caught trout. " Maya Angeloii, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings |
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| A Figure of speech that is a way of emphasizing an idea by talking about it in a restrained manner; the statement says less than what is meant: "Aunt Polly is prejudiced against snakes. " (She was terrified of them.) - Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
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A scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a
story to depict something that happened at an earlier time. |
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| A character who serves as a contrast or challenge to another character. |
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| Poetry that docs not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme. |
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| Refers to a category or type of literature based on its style, form and content; the mystery novel is a literary __________. |
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| A type of fiction that is characterized by gloomy castles, ghosts, and supernatural happenings - creating a mysterious and sometimes frightening story — Bram Stoker's Dracula is probably the best known novel of this type still popular today. |
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| The use of language to create a certain picture in the reader's mind of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience; is usually based on sensory details: "The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw, the streets were wel and sloppy. " - Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers |
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| In general, a discrepancy between appearances and reality. |
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| The type of irony when the audience sees a character's mistakes, but the character does not. The character thinks one thing is true, 'but the reader knows better. |
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| The type of irony when someone says one thing, but really means something else: "the best substitute for experience is being thirteen " |
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| The type of irony when there is a discrepancy (difference) between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really docs happen. |
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| The use of language and details that are common in a certain region of the country: "Mama came out and lit into me for sitting there doing nothing. Said I was no-count and shiftless ..." —Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree |
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| A poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker. |
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| An exaggerated form of drama (as in television soap operas) characterized by heavy use of romance, suspense, and emotion. |
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| A story based on the writer's memory of a particular time, place, or incident. |
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| The feeling a text arouses in the reader: happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and so on |
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| The particular value or lesson the author is trying to get across to the reader. |
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| A traditional story that is basically religious in nature and that usually serves to explain a belief, ritual or mysterious natural phenomenon. |
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| The mode of writing that relates an event or series of events: used in all kinds of literature: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. |
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| The person who is telling the story. |
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| A nineteenth-century literary movement that was an extreme form of realism in which the author tries to show the relation of a person to the environment or surroundings; often, the author finds it necessary to show the ugly or raw side of that relationship. |
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| A lengthy, fictional story with a plot that is revealed by the speech, actions, and thoughts of the characters. |
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| A prose work longer than the standard short story, but shorter and less complex than a full-length novel. |
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| The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning, as in clang, buzz, and twang |
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| A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase: jumbo shrimp, tough love, or cruel kindness |
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| A short descriptive story that teaches a moral, or lesson, about how to lead a good life. |
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| A statement that seems contrary to common sense, yet may, in fact, be true; it appears self-contradictory but reveals a kind of truth and expresses the complexity of life. |
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| A form of literature that intentionally uses comic effect by imitating (mocking) some aspect of a literary work or style. |
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| A work of fiction consisting of a lengthy string of loosely connected events; it usually features the adventures of a rogue living by his or her wits. |
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| The series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the story line. |
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| The vantage point from which the writer tells a story. |
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| The point of view when one of the characters in the story tells the story using pronouns such as I and we. The reader knows only what the narrator knows. |
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| The point of view when the narrator is "all-knowing" and tells the story with third-person pronouns. Allows the narrator to share the thoughts and feelings of all the characters. |
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| The point of view when a narrator is totally impersonal and factual and tells the story with no comment on any characters or events. It is like a movie camera in that the reader knows only what the camera might see. |
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| Third person limited point of view |
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| The point of view when an unknown narrator tells the story, but the author zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character. Does not use first-person pronouns. |
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| The main character of the story; the one who initiates or drives the action. |
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| A style of writing, developed in the nineteenth century, that attempts to depict life as it really is without idealizing or romanticizing it. |
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| Means "rebirth;" is the period of history following the Middle Ages, beginning in the late fourteenth century and continuing through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. |
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| Also known as denouement, the portion of the play or story in which the problem is solved; it comes after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the story to a satisfactory end. |
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| The similarity or likeness of sound existing between two words: sat and cat are perfect examples because the vowel and final consonant sounds are exactly the same. |
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| The type of rhyme existing between two rhyming words placed as the last words on lines of poetry. |
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| The type of rhyme existing when rhyming words are within the same line of poetry. |
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| The regular or random occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables in language; a regular beat is called meter, random occurrence of sound is called free verse. |
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| The series of struggles that builds a story or play toward the turning point. |
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| A literary movement beginning in the late eighteenth century characterized by: an idealization of rural life and the wilderness; an interest in the past and the supernatural; a conviction that the natural world contains truth; that the imagination and emotions are superior to reason, and poetry is superior to science. |
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| The use of praise to mock someone or something, as in "She's a real winner." |
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| A literary lone used to ridicule human shortcomings or institutions, often with the intent of changing the subject of the attack. Can range from gentle spoofing to savage mockery. |
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| The time and location in which the action of a literary work occurs. |
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| A brief fictional work; it usually contains one major conflict and one main character. |
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| A story which has no traditional plot line and often an open ending. It tries to depict the everyday life of ordinary people. A term that describes the type of realistic or naturalistic writing that accurately reflects what life is really like. |
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| A fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of two basic structures: the Petrarchan or the Italian. |
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| A fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea that does not allow for any individuality, and is often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices. |
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| A style of writing in which the thoughts and feelings of the writer are recorded as they occur. Records the random flow of ideas, memories, associations, images, and emotions, as they arise in a character's mind. |
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| How the author uses words, phrases, and sentences to form ideas; this term is also thought of as the qualities and characteristics that distinguish one writer's work from the work of others determined by such factors as sentence length and complexity, use of figurative language and imagery, and diction. |
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| A person, a place, a thing, or an event used to represent something else: dove/peace; white/good, two snakes on a staff/ medicine; journey/search for truth |
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| The insight about life that is revealed in a literary work; in most cases this will be inferred after considerable thought rather than directly spelled out. |
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| The overall feeling, or attitude, created by a writer's use of words toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience. It can be described in a single word: objective, solemn, playful, ironic, philosophical, and so on. |
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| A literary work in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end. |
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| A character in an enviable, even exalted position whose downfall or death occurs because of some combination of fate, an error in judgment, or a personality failure. This character usually gains wisdom at the end of the story. |
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| A nineteenth-century movement in the Romantic tradition, which held that every individual can reach ultimate truths through spiritual intuition, which is superior to reason and sensory experience. Its basic tenets were: a belief that God is present in Nature; that everyone can apprehend God through intuition; that all of Nature is symbolic of the spirit; and that the world is good and evil is nonexistent. |
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| A technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent. |
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| The study of sound and rhythm in poetry |
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| The arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence |
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| A play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings. ____ can have serious as well as humorous uses: e.g., when Mercutio is bleeding to death in Romeo and Juliet, he says to his friends, "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." |
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