Literary Terms
P.S. See the bottom of the page by the poetry.
1. Plot: The sequence of events.
2. Flashback: You are taken back in time to see a past event.
3. Exposition: Background information- where something begins.
4. Rising Action: The series of conflicts that lead to the climax.
5. Climax: The turning point, the most intense moment- either mentally or in action.
6. Falling action: All of the action which follows the climax.
7. Resolution/ Denouement: The conclusion, the tying up of loose ends.
8. Irony: A contrast of what is and what ought to be. Or, what you think is going to happen as opposed to what actually happens.
9. Foreshadowing: The use o-f clues by the author to prepare readers for events that will happen in the near future.
10. Dialogue: what the characters are saying.
11. Setting: Where the story takes place.
12. Tone: The attitude of a narrator toward the subject. Ex.) Erie, threatening, serious, or light.
13. Mood: The emotional quality or atmosphere of the story.
14. Theme: What the story is about.
15. Protagonist: The central character (person or creature) in a story, drama, or dramatic poem.
16. Antagonist: A person or force that opposes the protagonist, orb central character in fiction. The reader is generally not supposed to sympathize with the antagonist.
17. Narration: The telling of a sequence of events.
18. Point of View:
19. First Person Point of View: Is told by one of the characters where the reader sees everything through the characters eyes.
20. Third Person Limited Point of View: The narrator is outside the story and reveals the thoughts of only one of only one character but refers to that character as he or she.
21. Third Person Omniscient Point of View: The narrator is outside the story but can reveal all events, thoughts, and actions of the characters as well as background information.
22. Conflict: the dramatic struggle between two forces. Without conflict- no rising action and essentially no plot.
23. Internal Conflict: Person V.S. Self.
24. External Conflict: Person V.S. Person, Person V.S. Society, and Person V.S. Nature
25. Stream of Consciousness: A literary style that presents a characters continuous, random flow of thoughts and ideas as they arise. The characters thought process.
1. Horror: Tense and profound fear…something that inspires dislike: something horrible: repugnance.
2. Folklore: The traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and dances of a culture.
3. Folktale: a ANONYMOUS, TRADITIONAL STORY PASSED DOWN ORALLY, LONG BEFORE BEING WRITTEN DOWN.
4. Oral Tradition: literature that passes by word of mouth from one generation to another.
5. Myth: A traditional story of anonymous origin. Myths may tell of extraordinary events from earliest times and may deal with gods, heroes, and supernatural events.
6. Tall -Tale: An imaginative tale of adventures of amazing feats of North American foalk heroes. Legend: A traditional story handed down orally and believed to be based on history.
1. Urban Legend: A short tale that is told and re- told as true, although it usually has little or no basis on reality.
2. Suspense: A feeling of curiosity, uncertainty or dread about what is going to happen in a literary work.
3. Imagery: Language that emphasizes sense impressions that help the reader see, hear, feel, touch, and taste things described in a work of literature.
4. Direct Characterization: A method of characterization where a narrator directly makes statements about6 a characters appearance or personality.
5. Indirect characterization: A method characterization where a character appearance or personality is revealed though his or her words, thoughts or actions- or what other characters? Narrators say about him or her throughout the story. ***We are learning about our character indirectly!
6. ALLUSION: A reference to a famous person, place, event or work of literature. Allusions are sometimes recognizable and sometimes not.
1. Imagery: Emphasizes sense impressions that help the reader see, hear, feel, smell, and taste things described.
2.Personification: A figure of speech in which a human quality is given to an animal, object or idea.
3. Simile: A figure of speech using like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
4. Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two seemingly unlike things. Implies the comparison instead of stating it.
5. Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, most often at the beginning of words and syllables.
6. Rhyme scheme: The pattern formed by the end rhyme in a poem. The rhyme scheme is shown by the use of a different letter to name each new rhyme.
7. Onomatopoeia: The use of a word or phrase that actually imitates or suggests the word of which it describes.
8. Cliché: Anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
9. Hyperbole: Figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, to make a point, or to create humor.
10. Mood: The emotional quality or atmosphere of a story.
11. Figurative language: language that communicates ideas beyond their literal meaning.
12. Literal language: language that means exactly what they say.
13. Meter: patterns of heavily and lightly stressed syllables that give a poem a rhythm.
14. Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds.
15. Quatrain: four line poem.
16. Symbol: a thing or object that represents something else.
17. Rhyme: repetition of ending sounds.
18. Couplet: poems composed of two line stanzas that rhyme.
Poems:
Social Concern Poem:
Gangs are bad
They will shoot you in the face
And when they get mad
They will hit you with a vase
They will stab you with a knife
And let your red blood gush out
They will kill your wife
They make loud noises and shout
Gangs break the law
And go to jail
They’ll break your jaw
And can’t make bail
So don’t join a gang
And become a thug
Or else you’ll say dang
And realize it’s your own grave you’ve dug
Sonnet:
Mr. Brown
A very nice man
Went to town
And fell over an evil garbage can
He then picked himself up
Checked himself out
Caught sight of a pup
And gave him a shout
The weather turned bad
The pup ran away
He then became sad
And said “I’m not having good luck today”
When all of the sudden
The pup came running
Narrative Poem:
Mr. Jud
Wanted to become a clown
So he applied for a club
And went downtown
He saw his foe Ben
Who had a mean frown
An age of one hundred ten
And a desire to become a clown
Ben made the club
Most did not
And neither did Jud
Who never forgot
Jud was so mad
He became overzealous
He then became sad
It’s not good to get jealous
Free verse poem:
Pickled pie
Was Jim’s favorite food
He would eat it in the sky
Jim was a cool dude
Jim would say
Pickled pie
It’s great in May
Without it I would surely die
Pickled pie is a great treat
It’s good any time
I like it with a side of meat
I love that pie of mine
Pickled pie
Jim says with a sigh
I’d eat it with a fly
I love pickled pie!
Nature Poem
Today I went into the woods
To see what I could find
I saw all of nature’s goods
It just blew my mind
Squirrels and rabbits all around
In the air, birds flew
Leaves and nuts on the ground
As the grass showed the dew
Tall oak trees
Reaching to the sky
Honey from bees
Is sweeter than pie
Deer and turkeys were also there
Amongst all the rest
I thought I even saw a bear
The woods is nature’s best
OK, i would really like no know why POETRY didnt go on the POETRY page!
2. Flashback: You are taken back in time to see a past event.
3. Exposition: Background information- where something begins.
4. Rising Action: The series of conflicts that lead to the climax.
5. Climax: The turning point, the most intense moment- either mentally or in action.
6. Falling action: All of the action which follows the climax.
7. Resolution/ Denouement: The conclusion, the tying up of loose ends.
8. Irony: A contrast of what is and what ought to be. Or, what you think is going to happen as opposed to what actually happens.
9. Foreshadowing: The use o-f clues by the author to prepare readers for events that will happen in the near future.
10. Dialogue: what the characters are saying.
11. Setting: Where the story takes place.
12. Tone: The attitude of a narrator toward the subject. Ex.) Erie, threatening, serious, or light.
13. Mood: The emotional quality or atmosphere of the story.
14. Theme: What the story is about.
15. Protagonist: The central character (person or creature) in a story, drama, or dramatic poem.
16. Antagonist: A person or force that opposes the protagonist, orb central character in fiction. The reader is generally not supposed to sympathize with the antagonist.
17. Narration: The telling of a sequence of events.
18. Point of View:
19. First Person Point of View: Is told by one of the characters where the reader sees everything through the characters eyes.
20. Third Person Limited Point of View: The narrator is outside the story and reveals the thoughts of only one of only one character but refers to that character as he or she.
21. Third Person Omniscient Point of View: The narrator is outside the story but can reveal all events, thoughts, and actions of the characters as well as background information.
22. Conflict: the dramatic struggle between two forces. Without conflict- no rising action and essentially no plot.
23. Internal Conflict: Person V.S. Self.
24. External Conflict: Person V.S. Person, Person V.S. Society, and Person V.S. Nature
25. Stream of Consciousness: A literary style that presents a characters continuous, random flow of thoughts and ideas as they arise. The characters thought process.
1. Horror: Tense and profound fear…something that inspires dislike: something horrible: repugnance.
2. Folklore: The traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and dances of a culture.
3. Folktale: a ANONYMOUS, TRADITIONAL STORY PASSED DOWN ORALLY, LONG BEFORE BEING WRITTEN DOWN.
4. Oral Tradition: literature that passes by word of mouth from one generation to another.
5. Myth: A traditional story of anonymous origin. Myths may tell of extraordinary events from earliest times and may deal with gods, heroes, and supernatural events.
6. Tall -Tale: An imaginative tale of adventures of amazing feats of North American foalk heroes. Legend: A traditional story handed down orally and believed to be based on history.
1. Urban Legend: A short tale that is told and re- told as true, although it usually has little or no basis on reality.
2. Suspense: A feeling of curiosity, uncertainty or dread about what is going to happen in a literary work.
3. Imagery: Language that emphasizes sense impressions that help the reader see, hear, feel, touch, and taste things described in a work of literature.
4. Direct Characterization: A method of characterization where a narrator directly makes statements about6 a characters appearance or personality.
5. Indirect characterization: A method characterization where a character appearance or personality is revealed though his or her words, thoughts or actions- or what other characters? Narrators say about him or her throughout the story. ***We are learning about our character indirectly!
6. ALLUSION: A reference to a famous person, place, event or work of literature. Allusions are sometimes recognizable and sometimes not.
1. Imagery: Emphasizes sense impressions that help the reader see, hear, feel, smell, and taste things described.
2.Personification: A figure of speech in which a human quality is given to an animal, object or idea.
3. Simile: A figure of speech using like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
4. Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two seemingly unlike things. Implies the comparison instead of stating it.
5. Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, most often at the beginning of words and syllables.
6. Rhyme scheme: The pattern formed by the end rhyme in a poem. The rhyme scheme is shown by the use of a different letter to name each new rhyme.
7. Onomatopoeia: The use of a word or phrase that actually imitates or suggests the word of which it describes.
8. Cliché: Anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
9. Hyperbole: Figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, to make a point, or to create humor.
10. Mood: The emotional quality or atmosphere of a story.
11. Figurative language: language that communicates ideas beyond their literal meaning.
12. Literal language: language that means exactly what they say.
13. Meter: patterns of heavily and lightly stressed syllables that give a poem a rhythm.
14. Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds.
15. Quatrain: four line poem.
16. Symbol: a thing or object that represents something else.
17. Rhyme: repetition of ending sounds.
18. Couplet: poems composed of two line stanzas that rhyme.
Poems:
Social Concern Poem:
Gangs are bad
They will shoot you in the face
And when they get mad
They will hit you with a vase
They will stab you with a knife
And let your red blood gush out
They will kill your wife
They make loud noises and shout
Gangs break the law
And go to jail
They’ll break your jaw
And can’t make bail
So don’t join a gang
And become a thug
Or else you’ll say dang
And realize it’s your own grave you’ve dug
Sonnet:
Mr. Brown
A very nice man
Went to town
And fell over an evil garbage can
He then picked himself up
Checked himself out
Caught sight of a pup
And gave him a shout
The weather turned bad
The pup ran away
He then became sad
And said “I’m not having good luck today”
When all of the sudden
The pup came running
Narrative Poem:
Mr. Jud
Wanted to become a clown
So he applied for a club
And went downtown
He saw his foe Ben
Who had a mean frown
An age of one hundred ten
And a desire to become a clown
Ben made the club
Most did not
And neither did Jud
Who never forgot
Jud was so mad
He became overzealous
He then became sad
It’s not good to get jealous
Free verse poem:
Pickled pie
Was Jim’s favorite food
He would eat it in the sky
Jim was a cool dude
Jim would say
Pickled pie
It’s great in May
Without it I would surely die
Pickled pie is a great treat
It’s good any time
I like it with a side of meat
I love that pie of mine
Pickled pie
Jim says with a sigh
I’d eat it with a fly
I love pickled pie!
Nature Poem
Today I went into the woods
To see what I could find
I saw all of nature’s goods
It just blew my mind
Squirrels and rabbits all around
In the air, birds flew
Leaves and nuts on the ground
As the grass showed the dew
Tall oak trees
Reaching to the sky
Honey from bees
Is sweeter than pie
Deer and turkeys were also there
Amongst all the rest
I thought I even saw a bear
The woods is nature’s best
OK, i would really like no know why POETRY didnt go on the POETRY page!