Literary Terms: MemoirAdvanced English 9

Point of View

Point of View- method of narration used in a short story, novel, narrative poem, or work of nonfiction

Point of View

First-Person Point of View- the narrator is a character in the story

Point of View

Third-Person Point of View- the narrative voice is outside the action; not one of the characters

Point of view

Third-Person Limited Point of View- the narrator tells what only one character thinks, feels, and observesThird-Person Omniscient Point of View- the narrator is all-knowing; the narrator sees into the minds of all characters

Devices

Mood- the feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Descriptive words, imagery, and figurative language contribute to the mood of a text

the way the reader feels as he or she reads a story

Setting

Speaker

• The voice of the person assume by the author of a poem

Devices

Style- particular way in which a literary text is written- not what is said but HOW it is said

many elements contribute to style- word choice, sentence structure, tone, figurative language, and point of view

Possible styles include- formal, informal, journalistic, conversational, wordy, ornate, poetic, or dynamic

DevicesTone- an attitude a writer takes toward a subject

may be described in a variety of ways- serious, humorous, playful, academic, bitter, ironic, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Jm0Z7rt5U

Voice

• The way in which language reveals an author’s personality, awareness of audience, and passion for his or her subject

Anecdote

• a brief illustrative account, often based on a personal incident or actual event

Dialogue

Narrative structure

Flashback- an account of a conversation, an episode, or an event that happened before the beginning of the story

often interrupts the chronological flow of a story to give the reader information needed for the understanding of a character’s present situation

Narrative structure

Foreshadowing- writer’s use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in a storyhints or clues might be included in a character’s dialogue or behavior, or they might be included in details of description

creates suspense and makes readers more active participants in the story

Audience

• The person(s) meant to see and/or hear the work

VS

Author

Author’s Purpose- a writer usually writes for one of the following purposes: to express thoughts or feelings, to inform or explain, to persuade, or to entertain

Devices

• Allusion—an indirect reference to a person, place, event, or thing—real or fictional

Devices

• Cliché—an expression that has become lifeless from overuse

Devices

Denotation- the literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word

Devices

Connotation- an attitude or feeling associated with the word

a nuanced significance

Devices

Diction- a writer’s or speaker’s choice of words

can be described in many ways, including- formal, informal, technical, ornate, plain, abstract, concrete, etc

Devices

• Dialect—a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation

Hyperbole

• Hyperbole—exaggeration to express strong emotion or create comic effect

Devices

Imagery- descriptive words and phrases that re-create sensory experiences for the readerappeals to one of the five senses- sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch

helps the reader imagine exactly what is being described

Devices

• Pun—a phrase that deliberately confuses similar-sounding words for humorous effect

Device

• Rhetorical question—a question that is not actually meant to be answered

Device• Sarcasm—a

particularly cutting remark, sometimes ironic, in which praise is used tauntingly to indicate it is opposite in meaning; intended to wound

Devices

• Simile— comparing two things using like or as

• Ex. Nir is as quiet as a mouse.

• Metaphor— comparing two or more unlike things without using like or as

• Ex. I aced the test; I hit it out of the park.

Devices

Symbol- a person, place, an object, or an activity that stands for something beyond itself

Devices

Syntax- arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses into sentences.

Devices

• Understatement—a figure of speech that says less than what it really meant or says something with less force than is appropriate

Roman a clef

• Roman a clef- French for novel with a key, is a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction

• The “key” is the relationship between nonfiction and fiction

• Ex. Fictitious names

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