Drama, Structuring Techniques, and Character Models Iv: Definitions + Examples

literary term test 1

LITERARY FORMS AND MOVEMENTS V

allegory anecdote autobiography ballad biography character sketch comedy description editorial epic exposition fable folk tale genre legend lyric narration novel persuasion short story situational irony sonnet speech tall tale tragedy

______a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event; usually told to entertain or to make a point ______a brief work of fiction that resembles the novel but generally has a simpler plot and setting; tends to reveal character at a crucial moment, rather than develop it through many incidents ______a division, or type, or literature; commonly divided into three major categories: poetry, prose, and drama

1 literary term test 2

______a form of nonfiction in which a person tells his or her own life story ______a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the story of another person ______a fourteen-line poem focused on a single theme; usually written in iambic pentameter, following one of two traditional patterns: the Petrarchan, or Italian, which is divided into two parts, the eight-line octave and the six-line sestet OR the Shakespearean, or English, which consists of three quatrains and a concluding couplet ______a humorous account of the impossible exploits of a hero possessing superhuman abilities; typically part of the literature of the American frontier and usually narrated in a straight-faced, matter-of-fact style, in a realistic setting and using colloquial dialogue, almost make its hyperbole believable ______a long narrative poem in lofty style, set in a remote time and place, and dealing with heroic characters and deeds important in the legends and the history of a nation or race of people; the hero is larger than life, having superhuman strength, character, or intellect; the action is simple, presenting a central incident or series of incidents of historical or legendary significance; supernatural forces (gods, demons, angels) influence and participate in the action; the setting may be national, worldwide, or cosmic; the time, a distant past that seems greater than the present, a heroic or golden age; the style is objective, elevated, and dignified ______a long work of fiction; often has a complicated plot, many major and minor characters, a significant theme, and several varied settings; may be classified in many ways, based on the historical periods in which they are written, on the subjects and themes that they treat, on the techniques that are used in them, and on the literary movements that inspired them

______a poem that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker, usually focusing on a single, unified effect; types of this poem include the elegy, the ode, and the sonnet ______a portrayal, in words, of something that can be perceived by the senses; one of the major forms of discourse that appears often in literary works of all genres ______a public address expressing or describing thoughts, feelings, or perceptions; an effective speaker uses a variety of techniques to emphasize important points: restatement (repeating an idea in a variety of ways), repetition (restating an idea using the same words), parallelism (repeating grammatical structures), rhetorical question (asking a question whose answer is self-evident; intended to stir emotions) ______a songlike poem that tells a story, often one dealing with adventure and romance; most have the following characteristics: simple language, four- or six-line stanzas, rhyme, regular meter; often originated in the oral tradition and passed by word of mouth from generation to generation ______a story or legend forming part of an oral tradition; a story circulated by word of mouth among common people ______a story or tale with two or more levels of meaning—a literal level and one or more symbolic levels; the events, setting, and characters are symbols for ideas or qualities ______a writing or speech that attempts to convince a reader to think or act in a particular way; this form of discourse is used in advertising, in editorials, in sermons, and in political speeches ______a writing or speech that explains, informs, or presents information; the main techniques of this form of discourse include analysis, classification, comparison and contrast, definition, and exemplification, or illustration

______an article in a publication expressing the opinion of its editors and publishers; slanted to reflect the views of the writer or staff ______broadly, a serious work of fiction, especially a drama (play), that presents the downfall of a protagonist, a person “better than ourselves,” who through some error in judgment, weakness of character, or twist of fate suffers crushing defeat or death ______in particular, a play written primarily to amuse or entertain and usually having a happy ending; in general, any literary work that aims to amuse by dealing with humorous, familiar situations involving ordinary people speaking everyday language; ______specifically, an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected—the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen ______story, part fact and part fiction, about the life and deeds of a saint, folk hero, or historical figure, that is handed down from generation to generation and is popularly accepted as truth; differs from a myth in concerning itself less with the supernatural ______usually a prose piece that describes the physical appearance and personality of a real person or a fictional character; often provides insights into the subject’s behavior and motivations; sometimes a poem can be equally effective vehicle for conveying the description ______usually a short and fairly simple story designed to illustrate a moral lesson; the characters are often animals who exhibit human frailties; the stories attributed to the Greek slave Aesop are the most familiar ______writing that tells a story; this form of discourse is used in novels, short stories, plays, narrative poems, anecdotes, autobiographies, biographies, and reports