Literary Terms Defined

Literary Terms Defined Objective: Students will copy the short definitions and come up with example(s) and picture(s) to represent each literary term in a picture dictionary flashcard style.

1. Alliteration: starts with same letter or same sound 2. Allusion: symbolic reference 3. Antagonist: bad character (rivals protagonist) 4. Character: a person/animal in a fictional work Static: stays the same Dynamic: changes character 5. Connotation: meaning beyond literal (feeling based) 6. Denotation: dictionary definition 7. Digression: off topic 8. Euphemism: nice way of saying something 9. Figurative Language: not literal; deeper meaning (i.e. metaphor, simile, personification, allegory, irony, connotation, idiom, symbolism, allusion, etc.) 10. Flashback: prior event is mentioned 11. Foreshadowing: information about a future event 12. Genre: categories of literature 13. Hyperbole: obvious exaggeration 14. Idiom: group of words is different than the words in isolation (i.e. if you looked each one up in the dictionary it would mean something different) 15. Imagery: creates a mental picture 16. Irony: opposite of what is intended 17. Literal Language: true; factual; definition based 18. Metaphor: comparison (often uses “is/are/am”) 19. Mood: feeling 20. Onomatopoeia: sound effect 21. Oxymoron: contradictory/opposite words 22. Personification: human like qualities to non-humans 23. Plot: sequence of events -Exposition: setting, characters, conflict -Rising Action: conflict is developed -Climax: high point of interest/suspense -Falling Action: conflict is decreasing -Resolution: conflict is resolved/outcome 24. Poetry: prose with poetic qualities -Lyric: having rhythm, rhyme, feeling -Ballad: song like 25. Poetry: prose with poetic qualities -Couplet: two lines that rhyme -Rhyme Scheme: pattern in a poem 1st line = A Following lines are given a letter (rhyme = repeat letter, not rhyming = next letter) i.e. AABBCC (dark/park, miss/kiss, judge/pledge) -Stanza: poetry paragraphs 26. Poetry: prose with poetic qualities -Epic: long story (with hero) -Sonnet: fourteen lines; rhyming structure 27. Poetry: prose with poetic qualities -Elegy: sad; mournful; think funeral -Ode: shows a lot of emotion (expressive and enthusiastic) 28. Proposition: a proposal; a plan suggested for acceptance 29. Protagonist: good character 30. Setting: when and where 31. Simile: comparison using like or as 32. Symbolism: reference to something beyond the literal symbol 33. Theme: message/purpose of literary work 34. Thesis: topic + three reasons 35. Tone: person’s attitude (used to create mood of the reader)