Literary Terms Review Woohoo!

(That’s onomatopoeia.)

Theme The theme of a literary work is its central

message, concern, or purpose.

A theme can usually be expressed as a generalization, or general statement, about people or life.

TIP: Theme is the EASIEST Literary Element

to write about when writing a Critical Lens Essay

Theme

A theme may be stated directly by the writer although it is more often presented indirectly.

When the theme is stated indirectly, the

reader must look carefully at what the work reveals about the people or about life.

Samples: LOVE, LOYALTY, CORRUPTION, POWER, DEATH, FRIENDSHIP, TRUTH, IDENTITY

CharacterizationThe process by which the writer reveals the

personality of a character

• Direct Characterization • TELLS the reader about a character’s

personality

• Indirect Characterization • SHOWS things the REVEAL the personality

of a character

Indirect CharacterizationThe way a character speaksHow the character looksInner thoughts and feelingsInteractions with othersWhat other characters say and how

they reactKey Element is MOTIVATION… What

motivates a character to make choice in the novel

PROTAGONIST• The main character in a story, novel, drama, or

other literary work, the character that the reader or audience empathizes with.

ANTAGONIST• A character or force in conflict with a main

character, or protagonist.

** In the most archetypical narratives, this boils down to bad guy vs. good guy: Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader in Star Wars, for instance.

Imagery

• Language that appeals to the senses

• Most are visual – they are designed to create pictures in the reader’s mind

• Ex: The family dinner was a “combination of boisterous conversation, badly burnt chicken, and the scent of freshly baked bread.”

MOODThe FEELING created in the by a

literary work or passage. Writers use many devices to create mood, including images, dialogue, setting, and plot.

Often, a writer creates a mood at the beginning of a work and then sustains the mood throughout.

Sometimes, however, the mood of the work changes dramatically.

PLOTLINE

ExpositionResolution (Denouement)

Ris

ing A

ctio

n

Climax

Falling Action

Conflict Introduced

Exposition

The part of the work that introduces…

CharactersSettingBasic Situation

Rising ActionRising Action is the part of the plot that

begins to occur as soon as the conflict is introduced.

The rising action adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest.

Climax

The Climax is the point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot of a narrative.

The climax typically comes at the turning point in a story or drama.

Falling Action

Falling Action is the action that typically follows the climax and reveals its results.

Resolution (Denouement)

The Resolution is the part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict.

External Conflict

External conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another character, nature, society, or fate.

Person vs. PersonPerson vs. NaturePerson vs. Society

Internal Conflict

Internal conflict exists within the mind of a character who is torn between different courses of action.

Person vs. Self

Flashback◊ A flashback is a literary device

in which an earlier episode, conversation, or event is inserted into the sequence of events.

◊ Often flashbacks are presented as a memory of the narrator or of another character.

Point of View

• The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story.

• First-person is narrated by a character in the story or a direct observer).

• Second person style which addresses the reader as you, hoping to make you identify with the character

• Third-person Omniscient knows all about all the characters and is only limited by what she may want to tell you.

• Third-person Limited describes a narrator who knows everything but only follows the point of view of one particular character.

Setting Includes all the details of a place and

time – the year, the time of day, even the weather. The place may be a specific country, state, region, community, neighborhood, building, institution, or home.

Details such as dialect, clothing, customs, and modes of transportation are often used to establish setting.

In most stories, the setting serves as a backdrop – a context in which the characters interact. The setting of a story often helps to create a particular mood, or feeling.

Symbolism

• A person, place, thing, or event that stands both for itself and for something beyond itself

• Examples…– Cross symbolizes Christianity– Scale symbolizes Justice

– In Literature, writers many times create new symbols which must be understood by their context

Allusion

• Reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or the arts

• Examples:"Christy didn't like to spend money. She was no Scrooge, but she seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities".

Irony--3 kinds

• A deliberate contrast between two levels of meaning

• Verbal—implying a different meaning than what is directly stated– Different than sarcasm, which is much more direct

and harsh

• Situational--the opposite of what is expected happens

• Dramatic—audience knows something that one or more of the characters does not

Simile

• Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things by using a connective word—like, as, than, or resembles

• “My love is like a red, red rose.” -Robert Burns

• “And the sudden flurries of snow-birds/Like brown leaves whirling by.” –James Russell Lowell

Hyperbole

• Figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or create a comic effect

• Ex: The limousine was as long as the Titanic.

• Julie wears so much make-up she has to use a sandblaster to get it off at night.

Hyperbole

• “At last the garbage reached so highThat finally it touched the sky.And all the neighbors moved away,And none of her friends would come out to play.And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,“OK, I’ll take the garbage out!”But then, of course, it was too late. . .

--Shel Silverstein

Metaphor

• Figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using a connective word such as like or as.

• Metaphors can be direct, implied, extended, or mixed

• Ex: “All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players in it.”

-William Shakespeare

Personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given human qualities or characteristics.

• Examples…– The tree sighed sadly in the cold

wind.– The warm sun wrapped me in a

blanket of peace.

Oxymoron

• Figure of speech which seems to be contradictory, but is actually true; a compressed paradox

• Ex: Romeo describes love using several oxymorons, such as “cold fire,” “feather of lead” and “sick health”

• Ex: She had a terrible beauty. There was a deafening silence.

Satire• Genre of comedy ridiculing human

faults such as vanity, hypocrisy, stupidity, and greed--the aim is to evoke laughter, to expose and criticize

• Ex: Anything on Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show

• Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”• Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” in which

he proposes a solution to the problem of over-population in Ireland--the children of the poor should be a food source for the rich

AlliterationAlliteration is the repetition of

sounds, most often consonant sounds, at the beginning of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to words.

Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Diction• WORD CHOICE

This is Key to Your Success as a Writer

Don’t use slang when writing such as… LOL Totes Obvi b/c w/e K Forget the # – this isn’t Twitter