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FRESHMAN ENGLISH
Literary Terms
Short Story Unit
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR STUDYING LITERARY TERMS How does the development of literary
terms knowledge convey meaning to a story and bring the story to life for the reader?
How does an author’s point of view and the author’s perspective impact the writing of a piece of literature?
How does understanding the theme of a story help to connect the reader to the story?
METAPHOR The comparison of two unlike things
stating a single comparison that something “is” something else.
SIMILE The comparison of two unlike things
stating a single comparison using “like” or “as”
SYMBOLISM a concrete object, person, place or
action that represents something larger or more abstract than itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value.
The Grim Reaper is a SYMBOL of death
ALLUSION a reference (in literature) to a well-
known person, place, event or literary work that the author assumes the reader is familiar with
EXAMPLES:The girl’s love of sweets was her Achilles
heel.Don’t be a scrooge.
ALLITERATION The repetition of consonant sounds at
the beginnings of words in order to produce an effect/emotion (example – tongue twisters)
IMAGERY words or phrases that create mental
pictures
The crimson liquid spilled from the neck of the white dove, staining and matting its pure, white feathers.
For the life of him, he couldn't figure why these East Enders called themselves black. He kept looking and looking, and the colors he found were gingersnap and light fudge and dark fudge and acorn and butter rum and cinnamon and burnt orange. But never licorice, which, to him, was real black. (excerpt from Maniac Magee)
IRONY The opposite of what is expected
Situational irony The contrast between what is expected to
happen and what actually exists or happens
Dally rides the ponies fairly. He will not cheat when he races.
From The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
IRONY Dramatic irony
The reader or viewer knows something that a character does not know
In The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, only the audience and Ponyboy know that Randy is going to skip the rumble.
IRONY Verbal irony
When someone knowingly exaggerates or says one thing and means another
“You, punk. This is what you get for helping those kids, you little punk,” Dally says to Johnny on his deathbed after passing away.
From The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
PERSONIFICATION Giving human qualities to inanimate or
non-human objects
SNOW
Snow speaks to the people itsfalling above in the glooming
sunlight.Its white sparkling voiceechoes as it falls throughthe air.
Anonymous
STYLE a writer’s characteristic way of writing
(determined by the choice of words, the arrangement of words in sentences, and the relationship of the sentences to one another)
DIALOGUE Spoken conversation of fictional
characters or real people
DICTION Word Choice
A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words and way of arranging the words in sentences
Most common forms of DICTION in literature:formalinformalcolloquialslang
AUTHOR PERSPECTIVE An author’s beliefs and attitudes
expressed in his or her writing
If you recognize the author’s perspective, you will recognize any bias in the writing, why an author includes some things, but not others and why an author says things in a certain way.
PLOT Series of related events that make up a
story
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution
denouement
CONFLICT A struggle between opposing characters
and/or forces
Internal conflict Person vs. Self
External conflict Person vs. Person Person vs. Society Person vs. Nature
INTRODUCTION/EXPOSITION Introduction to the characters, setting,
tone, and conflict of a storyAlso gives needed background information
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
GENERATING CIRCUMSTANCE The event that leads to writing the
novel/puts the plot in motion
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
NARRATIVE HOOK The beginning of the rising action
The first big event happens in the story
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
RISING ACTION Actions that build the suspense and lead
to the climax
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Ris
ing
action
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
CLIMAX The turning point, highest point, peak of
action in the storyWhere the main conflict is resolved
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
FALLING ACTION The actions that result from the climax
and resolve any left over conflicts
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
RESOLUTION The final outcome, how the problem is
solved
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution
denouement
DENOUEMENT The end, the finale
Introduction/exposition
Generating circumstance
Narrative hook
Rising
ac
tion
climaxFalling action
resolution denouement
NARRATIVE A first or third person account of an
event
NARRATOR The character or voice who tells the
story
AUTHOR The person who wrote the story
NOVEL A long fictional story; usually more than
100 pages in length
PROTAGONIST The central character in a story; The Main character Not always the “good guy” Usually the one with whom the audience
can relate
Ponyboy from The Outsiders was the PROTAGONIST of that novel.
ANTAGONIST The principal character or force that is in
opposition with the protagonist
SETTING Time and place of a story
THEME The main idea or message of a story A perception about life or human nature
Some Common Themes in Literature1. The only person you can truly trust is yourself2. It is important to follow your instincts3. Man is inherently evil4. Man is inherently good5. It’s important to never give up6. Human beings are products of their society7. It’s a crime to kill innocence8. The innocent aren’t always treated fairly9. It is important to stand up for what you believe in
FORESHADOW A writer’s use of hints or clues to
indicate events and situations that will occur later in the plot
FLASHBACK A conversation, episode, or an event
that happened before the beginning of the story
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home.“
The famous first line of The Outsiders which begins the flashback of the novel – Ponyboy writing his English composition in order to receive the credit to graduate.
CHARACTERIZATION The way a writer portrays a character;
through physical description; through the character’s own speech, thoughts, feeling or actions; or through direct comments about the character
POINT OF VIEW The perspective from which the story is
toldFirst person
the narrator is a character in the story; uses “I” and “me” statements
Third person – the narrator is outside the action Third person omniscient
Narrator is all-knowing, can see in the minds of more than one character
Third person limitedNarrator can only see into the mind of one
character