Literary Terms

Alliteration The same

sound repeated within a phrase

Example: Billy Buys Bugs from Baltimore

Allusion Text or phrases that

refers to another piece of text, which engages the reader’s background knowledge

Example: If John tells Jennifer that she is his Juliet, he is making an allusion to Shakespeare’s play

Analogy Comparing two

opposites to another pair of opposites to show the relation

Example – Hot is to cold as Up is to ????

Hot is the opposite of Cold, so the opposite of Up is ________.

Antagonist The person or thing

causing problems in the story

“The Bad Guy”

Example – The antagonist in The Lion King is Scar

Assonance When the middle of

words make the same sound

Examples: Get, Bit, Fit, Hit, Mitt, Lit, Knit, Pit, Sit, Wit, Zit

Autobiography A life story about

someone written by that someone

Example: When celebrity write their life story, they are writing autobiographies

Biography When someone

writes a life story about someone else

Example – If the child of a celebrity wrote the life story of their parent, they would be writing a biography about their parent

Blank Verse Poetry written in

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Example – “You stars that reign'd at my nativity…”

Climax Where the story

catches the reader’s or watcher’s attention the most or where the story is the most interesting

Example: In The Lion King, the climax of the story is when Simba comes back to Fight Scar for his family’s kingdom

Conflict The problem in the

story

Example: The conflict in The Lion King is that Simba believes, and so do the rest of the lions, that he killed his father, when Scar actually killed his brother, and framed Simba

Connotation When an emotion or

preconceived thought is associated with a word

Example: When people hear the word skunk, they think of a stinky animal or the Loony Toons character, Pepe L’Peu

Consonance When the ends of

words make the same sound

Example: think, wink, mink, sink, link, pink, rink

Couplet Two lines that

rhyme at the end of each line

Example:

Frogs are green

And girls are mean

Denotation When the definition

of a word is associated with the word

Example: When people hear the word skunk, they think of a black and white mammal that sprays to protect itself from its enemies

Foil Characters Two characters that

show how opposite each other are in the story

Usually the protagonist and the antagonist

Example: In The Lion King, Scar and Mufasa would be foil characters

Foreshadowing When a previous

event in a story relates to a later event in the story

Example: In The Lion King, when Mufasa is ruling the kingdom, it is always sunny. When Simba returns and there is no sunshine, foreshadows that the kingdom has gone downhill.

Free Verse Poetry that does not

rhyme

Example:

Hamburgers are nice

Tacos are great

Pasta is the best

And BBQ is wonderful.

Hyperbole Extreme

Exaggeration

Example: When Romeo tells Juliet that he feels like it has been 300 years since he has seen her, he is obviously exaggerating, as it has only been hours.

Imagery Imagination or

being able to close your eyes and see the image of what one is talking about

Example: When someone says “green bus”, you can imagine a green bus, and sketch it, without ever seeing the exact reference

Metaphor Comparing two

unlike things without using the words like, as, than

Example: My mother is married to a Santa Clause. This would compare your mother’s husband to a very old man with a white beard.

Narrative Telling a story from

your point of view

Narrative meaning narrator, which is the person writing the story

Written using the pronoun “I”

Example: Writing a friend a note / letter

Onomatopoeia Words that mimic

real world sound

Example:

Ding-Dong = doorbell

Boom = bomb

Tick-Tock = clock

Paradox When the opposite

happens of what is expected

Example: In Steel Magnolias, when commenting on a character’s confusion, it is said, “He doesn’t know whether to wind his butt, or scratch his clock.”

Personification When human

characteristics are given to non-human things

Example:

The window is whistling.

The clock is staring at me.

The chair hugged me.

Plot What happens in the

story from beginning to end

5 elements: conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Plot of The Lion King: A prince is framed for his father’s murder by his uncle, and returns to reign the kingdom, after restoring his uncle’s effects.

Protagonist The main character

in the story

“The Good Guy”

Example: The protagonist in The Lion King is Simba

Quatrain Four line poem

The prefix qua- meaning four

Example:

Flowers are nice

I don’t like mice

I gamble when I roll dice

I smile when I eat rice

4

Setting Where the story

takes place

Example: The Lion King takes place in Africa, more specifically Pride Rock

Simile Comparing two

unlike things using like as than

Example: Your mother looks like a dinosaur. This implies that your mother is as old as the dinosaurs.

Soliloquy One person, on

stage, speaking their innermost thoughts, out loud, to the “invisible” audience

Example: Romeo speaking his thoughts about Juliet out loud, but no one is supposed to hear him

Sonnet A fourteen line

poem

Example:

Click on URL to see an example of a sonnet:

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/all.php

Stanza A piece of a poem

or song

Example:

The verse or chorus of a song is a stanza of that song

An excerpt of a poem, written in complettion is a stanza

Symbol A graphic that is

related to an idea

Example:

A tree with ornaments

A rectangle with 16 red and white stripes, and 50 stars in the upper left hand corner

A circle with two hands, pointing to two of twelve numbers

Theme The main idea of a

text or idea

Example:

The theme of July

The theme of February

The theme of December

Tone An author’s attitude

or emotion in a text

Example:

What tone is represented?

I hate my sister.

I want to punch her.

She’s so stupid.

Shakespearean Plays Comedy

Midsummer Night’s Dream

Twelfth Night

Tragedy Romeo and Juliet

Julius Caesar

History Richard II

Richard III

Types of Writing Expository

Writing to inform

“Exposing” info

Expressive Writing to

entertain

Persuasive Writing to

persuade

Types of Rhyme True rhyme

Day, Say, May

Approximate rhyme End rhyme that is not

exact

Ex: down loud

Internal Rhyme Rhyme that occurs in the

middle and end of a line

Ex: dreary weary

End Rhyme Rhyme that occurs at the

end of lines

Types of Irony Verbal

When someone speaks an ironic statement

Usually a smart-alleck statement

Situational When an event is ironic

iPod breaking day after warranty ends

Dramatic When the audience knows

what the characters do not

Audience knows that Juliet isn’t dead when Romeo drinks the posion