Literary Terms
ProtagonistThe chief actor in any literary work. The focus of interest
»The term is usually preferable to hero or heroine because it can include characters such as villains or weak characters who are not aptly called protagonists.
Antagonist
a character or force that opposes (literally, “wrestles”)
the protagonist
Conflict
• A struggle between a character and some obstacle (for example another character or fate) or between internal forces, such as divided loyalties
Conflict
• Internal
• A struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single person
• External
• A struggle against some outside force such as another character, society as a whole, or some natural force
Foreshadowing
• The use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot
Epiphany
• A moment or event in which a character achieves a spiritual insight into life or into her or his own circumstances
Characterization
• The presentation of a character, whether by direct description by showing the character in action, or by the presentation of other characters who help to define each other
Characterization
• Indirect
• By what the character says• By how the character looks
and dresses• By what the character thinks• By what others say or think
about the character• By what the character does
• Direct• By telling exactly what
the character is like –
• cruel,• kind, • sneaky, • brave
Mood
• The atmosphere, usually created by descriptions of the settings and characters
Theme
• The central idea of a work of literature.
• The theme is the idea the writer wishes to convey about the subject. The theme must be expressed in a statement.
• What piece of literature expresses this theme?
• Love is more powerful than family loyalty
Point of View
• The perspective from which a story is told
• Omniscient- all knowing
• Third person limited
• First person
Irony
• A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality
VERBAL what is said and what is meant are contradictory
SITUATIONAL when what we expect to happen is opposite of what does happen
DRAMATIC
What the audience knows is different from what the character knows. The character is in a state of ignorance.
Setting
• The time and place of a story, play, or poem
• The setting often contributes to the emotional effect
• “It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season”
Tone
• The attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character
• Tone is conveyed through the writer’s choice of words, detail, syntax or imagery
Style
• The manner of expression, evident not only in the choice of words but in the use of sentence structure, characters, settings, and themes
Symbolism
• A person, a place, a thing or an event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well
• Ex. A scale is an instrument for measuring weights, but it is also a symbol for _______________
Parable
• A short narrative that is al least in part allegorical and illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson
Prose
• Literature written in paragraph form
Regionalism
• fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region. Influenced by Southwestern and Down East humor, between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century, this mode of writing became dominant in American literature.
Satire
• Literature that entertainingly attacks folly or vice; amusingly abusive writing.
• Satire intends to change behavior
• What television programs are satirical?
Stream of Consciousness
• The presentation of a a character’s unrestricted flow of thought, often with free associations and often without punctuation
• Try it: Write a stream of consciousness about the most stressful (exciting) part of being a senior
Allusion
• A reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth politics, sports, science or pop culture
• She has a Mona Lisa smile.
Anecdote
• A short narrative, usually reporting an amusing event in the life of an important person
Genre
• Kind or type of literature
• Fiction
• Poetry
• Drama
• Nonfiction prose
Parody
• A humorous imitation of a literary work
Persona
• The speaker of a work
• The voice or mouthpiece created by the author
Pathos
• Pity or sadness
Personification
• A kind of figurative language in which an inanimate object, animal, or other nonhuman is given human traits
• Example: The cruel sea
Rhetoric
The art of effective speaking or writing
Narrative
• Writing or speaking that tells a story
Annotation
• A brief description of a work that is non judgemental
Motif
• A recurrent theme within a work, or a theme common to many works
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