Honors English 9
Name_____________________________________
LITERARY terms
Literary Term
alliteration
Definition
the recurrence of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words
allusion
a reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event
Example(s)
Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers.
In Robinhood: Men in Tights,
Robinhood says, “Friends,
Romans, countrymen, lend me
your ears.” This is an allusion to
Antony’s funeral speech in Julius
Caesar.
In Mr. Deeds, Babe Bennett says
that she climbed Boo Radley’s
tree. This is an allusion to To Kill
a Mockingbird.
anecdote
analogy
antagonist
apostrophe
assonance
aside
author’s purpose
autobiography
blank verse
a brief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident (often
used to begin an essay, as a catchy hook)
the comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the
purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or
object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one
 Analogy is an extended explanation, often used to illustrate or
persuade.
the principal character in opposition to the main character, or protagonist
 The person may not be “bad” or “evil” by any conventional
moral standard, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a
significant way.
the direct address of someone absent or dead or something nonhuman, as
if that person or thing were present and could respond
 Its most common purpose is to display intense emotion, which
can no longer be held back.
the repetition of vowel sounds within nonrhyming words
when a character in a play speaks his/her thoughts aloud, in words meant
to be heard by the audience but not by other characters
 Asides are labeled within the script of a play.
the reason for which an author writes
 The author’s purpose is usually one of the following:
 to express himself
 to inform or explain
 to persuade
 to entertain
an account of a person’s life written by that person
unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter (five pairs of two syllables
each)
 Blank verse imitates the pattern of natural speech.
Being an active participant in class
can be likened to being a part of an
athletic team. Just showing up
isn’t enough. You wouldn’t just
stand around in the middle of a
soccer field as the game goes on
around you…
Juliet says, “O Romeo, Romeo!
Wherefore art thou Romeo? /
Deny thy father and refuse thy
name! / Or, if thou wilt not, be but
sworn my love, / And I’ll no
longer be a Capulet” (Romeo and
Juliet II.ii.34-39).
The cat had a ham.
The purpose of the Harry Potter
series would be to entertain.
The purpose of MLK’s “I Have a
Dream” speech was to persuade.
More light, you knaves! And turn
the tables up, / And quench the
fire, the room is grown too hot.
(Romeo and Juliet I.iv.29-30)
biography
an account of a person’s life written by someone else
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characterization
climax
(also see plot)
comic relief
conflict
connotation
consonance
denotation
dialect
dialogue
diction
fiction
figurative
language
flashback
foil
foreshadowing
the ways in which an author presents his/her characters
 The primary methods of characterization are…
 description of physical appearance
 the character’s speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions
 the speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions of other characters
 direct comments about the character
the turning point in a story; the “dramatic high point” of a story
 usually occurs toward the end of the story
a humorous scene, incident, or speech that is included in a serious drama
to provide a change from emotional intensity
a struggle between opposing forces, which is the driving force of a story
 There are two types of conflict:
 internal – a conflict within a character; often a
decision the character has to make
 external – a conflict between the character and
an outside force
attitudes and feelings associated with a word; may be positive or negative
(A connotation could essentially be a meaning, or interpretation of the
word, that doesn’t appear in the dictionary.)
repetition of consonant sounds in the middles or ends of nonrhyming
words
dictionary/literal definition of a word
the particular variety of a language spoken in a particular place by a
distinct group of people
where characters speak to one another
the writer’s choice of words
works that have imaginary elements
Any use of language where the intended meaning differs from the actual
literal meaning of the words themselves
 There are many techniques that can be called figurative language,
including…
 personification
 metaphor
 onomatopoeia
 simile
 oxymoron
 hyperbole
 verbal irony
a conversation, an episode, or an event that happened before the beginning
of a story; often interrupts the chronological flow of a story to give the
reader information to help in understanding a character’s present situation
a character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc.,
which are directly and completely opposed to those of another character
genre
hints or clues used to indicate events and situations that will occur later in
a plot
poetry that does not contain a regular pattern of rhyme and meter; has a
more natural flow than do rhymed, metrical lines
a literary type or form
hyperbole
a description which exaggerates
iambic pentameter
a metrical line of five feet, each of which is made of two syllables, the first
unstressed and the second stressed
 Iambic pentameter is the most common form of meter used in
English poetry. It is used in blank verse and the sonnet.
 Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter often in his poetry and
plays.
free verse
idiom
a figure of speech that native speakers of a language understand; an
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Internal conflict:
1. deciding whether to use
a hall pass or a tardy in
order to go to the
restroom
External conflict:
1. Batman vs. Joker
A connotation of the “word”
puppy might be cute or cuddly.
A connotation of the word “hot”
may be attractive.
It’s a little hot outside.
The denotation of the word
“puppy” might be “a baby dog.”
1. Batman and Joker
2. Ron and Hermione (from Harry
Potter)
Drama and novel are examples of
genre.
My books weigh a thousand
pounds.
Let two more summers wither in
their pride / Ere we may think her
ripe to be a bride.
(Romeo and Juliet I.ii.10-11)
It’s raining cats and dogs.
imagery
irony
metaphor
meter
expression which has a meaning different from the literal interpretation
language which describes something in detail, using words that appeal to
the five senses
a special kind of contrast between appearance and reality—usually one in
which reality is the opposite of what it seems
 dramatic irony: where the reader or viewer knows something that
a character does not know
 situational irony: the contrast between what a reader or character
expects and what actually exists or happens
 verbal irony: when someone knowingly exaggerates or says one
thing and means another (Sarcasm is a tone of voice that often
accompanies verbal irony, but they are not the same thing.)
a comparison between two unlike things that does not use use “like” or
“as”
the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in a line of poetry
 Although all poems have rhythm, not all have regular meter.
 Each unit of meter is known as a foot, which contains one
accented and one or two unaccented syllables.
1. The hallways of Darby
High School are a zoo.
From an Emily Dickinson poem:
Because I could not
stop for Death
He kindly stopped for
me
mood
moral
motif
narrative
narrator
nonfiction
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
paradox
the feeling or atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader
the lesson taught in a literary work
a recurring important idea or image
writing that tells a story
character or voice from whose point of view events are told
works that deal with real people, events, and places
the use of words whose sounds suggest their meanings
a contradiction in terms
where a situation is created that cannot possibly exist because different
elements of it cancel each other out
personification
a figure of speech in which human qualities are attributed to an object,
animal, or idea
sequence of events in a story
 The elements of plot are as follows:
 exposition: begins a story by establishing the setting,
introducing the characters, and giving important background
information
 rising action: events in a story that move the plot along by
adding complications or expanding the conflict
 climax: the turning point in a story, the “dramatic high point”
of a story
 falling action and resolution: when the conflict ends and
loose ends are tied up
the method of narrating
 first person point-of-view: the narrator is a character in the story
(uses “I”)
 third person point-of-view: story is told by an outside voice that
is not one of the characters (does not use “I”)
the main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to
identify
 The person is not necessarily “good” by any conventional moral
standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is
most invested.
where a specific word, phrase, or structure is repeated several times, to
emphasize a particular idea
plot
point-of-view
protagonist
repetition
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crash, bang, snap, crackle, pop
jumbo shrimp
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two
Cities starts with the famous
paradox, “It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times.”
The wind whistled in my ear.
rhyme
From Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the
Hat:
They looked and
they saw him
step in on the mat.
They looked and
they saw him
the cat in the hat.
End Rhyme
the occurrence of a similar or identical sound at the ends of two or more
words
 In terms of poetry, there are two types of rhyme:
 internal rhyme: occurs within a line
 end rhyme: occurs at the ends of lines
Internal Rhyme
rhythm
setting
simile
soliloquy
speaker
stanza
symbol
theme
tone
tragedy
tragic flaw
tragic hero
The pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and
unstressed syllables in a line of poetry
 Stressed (accented) syllables are marked with a .
 Unstressed (unaccented) syllables are marked
with a .
 A regular pattern of rhythm is called meter.
the time and place of a story
a comparison using “like” or “as”
a speech in which a character speaks thoughts aloud, not addressing any
specific person or group of people
the “voice” of a literary work; not to be confused with the writer
a grouping of two or more lines in a pattern that is repeated throughout a
poem (a stanza is like a paragraph)
a person, a place, an activity, or an object that stands for something
beyond itself…
 A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it
symbolizes must be something abstract or universal.
the main idea or message conveyed by the piece
 A theme is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea
expressed as a single word or phrase is a motif.
the attitude a writer takes toward a subject
where a story ends with a negative or unfortunate outcome which was
essentially avoidable, usually caused by a flaw in the central character’s
personality
the single characteristic (usually negative) or personality disorder which
causes the downfall of a central character
a central character who comes to a bad end as a result of his own behavior
(i.e., his tragic flaw)
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I’m as hungry as a bear.
A dove symbolizes peace.