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Literary Terms Handbook R
ALLITERATION Alliteration is the repetition of ini- tial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to draw attention to certain words or ideas, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects.
ALLUSION An allusion is a reference to a well- known person, event, place, literary work, or work of art. Allusions allow the writer to express com- plex ideas without spelling them out. Understanding what a literary work is saying often depends on recognizing its allusions and the meanings they suggest.
ANALOGY An analogy makes a comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike.
ANECDOTE An anecdote is a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. Writers tell anecdotes to entertain or to make a point.
ANTAGONIST An antagonist is a character or a force in conflict with a main character, or protago- nist.
AUTHOR ARGUMENT An author’s argument is the position he or she puts forward, supported by reasons.
See Conflict and Protagonist.
ATMOSPHERE Atmosphere , or mood , is the feel- ing created in the reader by a literary work or pas- sage.
AUTHOR'S PURPOSE An author ’s purpose is his or her main reason for writing. For example, an author may want to entertain, inform, or persuade the reader. Sometimes an author is trying to teach a moral lesson or reflect on an experience. An author may have more than one purpose for writing.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY An autobiography is the story of the writer’s own life, told by the writer. Autobiographical writing may tell about the per- son’s whole life or only a part of it.
Because autobiographies are about real people and events, they are a form of nonfiction. Most autobiographies are written in the first person.
See Biography, Nonfiction, and Point of View.
BIOGRAPHY A biography is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another per-
son. Most biographies are written about famous or admirable people. Although biographies are nonfic- tion, the most effective ones share the qualities of good narrative writing. See Autobiography and Nonfiction. CHARACTER A character is a person or an ani- mal that takes part in the action of a literary work. The main, or major , character is the most important character in a story, poem, or play. A minor charac- ter is one who takes part in the action but is not the focus of attention. Characters are sometimes classified as flat or round. A flat character is one-sided and often stereotypical. A round character , on the other hand, is fully developed and exhibits many traits— often both faults and virtues. Characters can also be classified as dynamic or static. A dynamic char- acter is one who changes or grows during the course of the work. A static character is one who does not change. See Characterization, Hero/Heroine, and Motive. CHARACTERIZATION Characterization is the act of creating and developing a character. Authors use two major methods of characterization— direct and indirect. When using direct characterization, a writer states the characters’ traits, or characteristics. When describing a character indirectly, a writer depends on the reader to draw conclusions about the character’s traits. Sometimes the writer tells what other participants in the story say and think about the character. See Character and Motive. CLIMAX The climax, also called the turning point, is the high point in the action of the plot. It is the moment of greatest tension, when the outcome of the plot hangs in the balance. See Plot. COMEDY A comedy is a literary work, especially a play, which is light, often humorous or satirical, and ends happily. Comedies frequently depict ordi- nary characters faced with temporary difficulties and conflicts. Types of comedy include romantic comedy , which involves problems between lovers,
LITERARY TERMS
R12 Literary Terms Handbook grade 7
and the comedy of manners , which satirically chal- lenges social customs of a society.
CONCRETE POEM A concrete poem is one with a shape that suggests its subject. The poet arranges the letters, punctuation, and lines to cre- ate an image, or picture, on the page.
CONFLICT A conflict is a struggle between oppos- ing forces. Conflict is one of the most important ele- ments of stories, novels, and plays because it caus- es the action. There are two kinds of conflict: exter- nal and internal. An external conflict is one in which a character struggles against some outside force, such as another person. Another kind of external conflict may occur between a character and some force in nature.
An internal conflict takes place within the mind of a character. The character struggles to make a deci- sion, take an action, or overcome a feeling.
See Plot.
CONNOTATIONS The connotation of a word is the set of ideas associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning. The connotation of a word can be personal, based on individual experiences. More often, cultural connotations—those recognizable by most people in a group—determine a writer's word choices.
See also Denotation.
COUPLET A couplet is two consecutive lines of verse with end rhymes. Often, a couplet functions as a stanza.
CULTURAL CONTEXT The cultural context of a literary work is the economic, social, and historical environment of the characters. This includes the attitudes and customs of that culture and historical period.
DENOTATION The denotation of a word is its dic- tionary meaning, independent of other associations that the word may have. The denotation of the word lake , for example, is “an inland body of water.” “Vacation spot” and “place where the fishing is good” are connotations of the word lake.
See also Connotation.
DESCRIPTION A description is a portrait, in words, of a person, place, or object. Descriptive
writing uses images that appeal to the five senses —sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. See Image. DEVELOPMENT See Plot. DIALECT Dialect is the form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group. Dialects differ in pronunciation, grammar, and word choice. The English language is divided into many dialects. British English differs from American English. DIALOGUE A dialogue is a conversation between characters. In poems, novels, and short stories, dialogue is usually set off by quotation marks to indicate a speaker’s exact words. In a play, dialogue follows the names of the charac- ters, and no quotation marks are used. DICTION Diction is a writer's word choice and the way the writer puts those words together. Diction is part of a writer's style and may be described as for- mal or informal, plain or fancy, ordinary or techni- cal, sophisticated or down-to-earth, old-fashioned or modern. DRAMA A drama is a story written to be performed by actors. Although a drama is meant to be per- formed, one can also read the script, or written ver- sion, and imagine the action. The script of a drama is made up of dialogue and stage directions. The dia- logue is the words spoken by the actors. The stage directions , usually printed in italics, tell how the actors should look, move, and speak. They also describe the setting, sound effects, and lighting. Dramas are often divided into parts called acts. The acts are often divided into smaller parts called scenes. DYNAMIC CHARACTER See Character. ESSAY An essay is a short nonfiction work about a particular subject. Most essays have a single major focus and a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. There are many types of essays. An informal essay uses casual, conversational language. A historical essay gives facts, explanations, and insights about historical events. An expository essay explains an idea by breaking it down. A narrative essay tells a story about a real-life experience. An informational
R14 Literary Terms Handbook grade 7
- Prose: fiction (novels and short stories) and nonfiction (biography, autobiography, letters, essays, and reports)
- Drama: serious drama and tragedy, comic drama, melodrama, and farce
See Drama, Poetry, and Prose.
HAIKU The haiku is a three-line Japanese verse form. The first and third lines of a haiku each have five syllables. The second line has seven syllables. A writer of haiku uses images to create a single, vivid picture, generally of a scene from nature.
HERO/HEROINE A hero or heroine is a character whose actions are inspiring, or noble. Often heroes and heroines struggle to overcome the obstacles and problems that stand in their way. Note that the term hero was originally used only for male charac- ters, while heroic female characters were always called heroines. However, it is now acceptable to use hero to refer to females as well as to males.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT The historical context of a literary work includes the actual political and social events and trends of the time. When a work takes place in the past, knowledge about that his- torical time period can help the reader understand its setting, background, culture, and message, as well as the attitudes and actions of its characters. A reader must also take into account the historical context in which the writer was creating the work, which may be different from the time period of the work’s setting.
HUMOR Humor is writing intended to evoke laughter. While most humorists try to entertain, humor can also be used to convey a serious theme.
IDIOM An idiom is an expression that has a mean- ing particular to a language or region. For example, in “Seventh Grade,”Gary Soto uses the idiom “mak- ing a face,” which means to contort one’s face in an unusal, usually unattractive, way.
IMAGES Images are words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Writers use images to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and smell. Poets often paint images, or word pictures, that appeal to your senses. These pictures help you to experience the poem fully.
IMAGERY See Image.
INTERNAL CONFLICT See Conflict. IRONY Irony is a contradiction between what hap- pens and what is expected. There are three main types of irony. Situational irony occurs when some- thing happens that directly contradicts the expecta- tions of the characters or the audience. Verbal irony is when something contradictory is said. In dramatic irony , the audience is aware of something that the character or speaker is not. JOURNAL A journal is a daily, or periodic, account of events and the writer’s thoughts and feelings about those events. Personal journals are not nor- mally written for publication, but sometimes they do get published later with permission from the author or the author’s family. LEGEND A legend is a widely told story about the past—one that may or may not have a foundation in fact. Every culture has its own legends—its famil- iar, traditional stories. See Folk Tale, Myth, and Oral Tradition. LETTERS A letter is a written communication from one person to another. In personal letters, the writer shares information and his or her thoughts and feelings with one other person or group. Although letters are not normally written for publi- cation, they sometimes do get published later with the permission of the author or the author’s family. LIMERICK A limerick is a humorous, rhyming, five- line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme. Most limericks have three strong stresses in lines 1, 2, and 5 and two strong stresses in lines 3 and 4. Most follow the rhyme scheme aabba. LYRIC POEM A lyric poem is a highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. It creates a single, unified impression. MAIN CHARACTER See Character. MEDIA ACCOUNTS Media Accounts are reports, explanations, opinions, or descriptions written for television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. While some media accounts report only facts, oth- ers include the writer’s thoughts and reflections. METAPHOR A metaphor is a figure of speech in which something is described as though it were
something else. A metaphor, like a simile, works by pointing out a similarity between two unlike things.
See Extended Metaphor and Simile.
METER The meter of a poem is its rhythmical pat- tern. This pattern is determined by the number of stresses , or beats, in each line. To describe the meter of a poem, read it emphasizing the beats in each line. Then, mark the stressed and unstressed syllables, as follows:
My fath | er was | the first | to hear |
As you can see, each strong stress is marked with a slanted line («) and each unstressed syllable with a horseshoe symbol (˘). The weak and strong stresses are then divided by vertical lines (|) into groups called feet.
MINOR CHARACTER See Character.
MOOD See Atmosphere.
MORAL A moral is a lesson taught by a literary work. A fable usually ends with a moral that is directly stated. A poem, novel, short story, or essay often suggests a moral that is not directly stated. The moral must be drawn by the reader, based on other elements in the work.
See Fable.
MOTIVATION See Motive.
MOTIVE A motive is a reason that explains or par- tially explains a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech. Writers try to make their char- acters’ motives, or motivations, as clear as possi- ble. If the motives of a main character are not clear, then the character will not be believable.
Characters are often motivated by needs, such as food and shelter. They are also motivated by feel- ings, such as fear, love, and pride. Motives may be obvious or hidden.
MYTH A myth is a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or heroes or the origins of elements of nature. Myths are part of the oral tradition. They are composed orally and then passed from genera- tion to generation by word of mouth. Every ancient culture has its own mythology, or collection of myths. Greek and Roman myths are known collec- tively as classical mythology.
See Oral Tradition.
NARRATION Narration is writing that tells a story. The act of telling a story is also called narration. Each piece is a narrative. A story told in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or even in drama is called a nar- rative. See Narrative, Narrative Poem, and Narrator. NARRATIVE A narrative is a story. A narrative can be either fiction or nonfiction. Novels and short sto- ries are types of fictional narratives. Biographies and autobiographies are nonfiction narratives. Poems that tell stories are also narratives. See Narration and Narrative Poem. NARRATIVE POEM A narrative poem is a story told in verse. Narrative poems often have all the elements of short stories, including characters, conflict, and plot. NARRATOR A narrator is a speaker or a charac- ter who tells a story. The narrator’s perspective is the way he or she sees things. A third-person nar- rator is one who stands outside the action and speaks about it. A first-person narrator is one who tells a story and participates in its action. See Point of View. NONFICTION Nonfiction is prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, objects, or events. Autobiographies, biographies, essays, reports, letters, memos, and newspaper articles are all types of nonfiction. See Fiction. NOVEL A novel is a long work of fiction. Novels contain such elements as characters, plot, conflict, and setting. The writer of novels, or novelist, devel- ops these elements. In addition to its main plot, a novel may contain one or more subplots, or inde- pendent, related stories. A novel may also have several themes. See Fiction and Short Story. NOVELLA A fiction work that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. ONOMATOPOEIA Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate sounds. Crash, buzz, screech, hiss, neigh, jingle, and cluck are examples of ono- matopoeia. Chickadee, towhee, and whippoorwill are onomatopoeic names of birds.
Literary Terms Handbook R
PROSE Prose is the ordinary form of written lan- guage. Most writing that is not poetry, drama, or song is considered prose. Prose is one of the major genres of literature and occurs in fiction and nonfiction.
See Fiction, Genre, and Nonfiction.
PROTAGONIST The protagonist is the main char- acter in a literary work. Often, the protagonist is a person, but sometimes it can be an animal.
See Antagonist and Character.
REFRAIN A refrain is a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or a song.
REPETITION Repetition is the use, more than once, of any element of language—a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence. Repetition is used in both prose and poetry.
See Alliteration, Meter, Plot, Rhyme, and Rhyme Scheme.
RESOLUTION The resolution is the outcome of the conflict in a plot.
See Plot.
RHYME Rhyme is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words. Poets use rhyme to lend a songlike quality to their verses and to emphasize certain words and ideas. Many traditional poems contain end rhymes , or rhyming words at the ends of lines.
Another common device is the use of internal rhymes , or rhyming words within lines. Internal rhyme also emphasizes the flowing nature of a poem.
See Rhyme Scheme.
RHYME SCHEME A rhyme scheme is a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem. To indicate the rhyme scheme of a poem, one uses lowercase let- ters. Each rhyme is assigned a different letter, as follows in the first stanza of “Dust of Snow,” by Robert Frost:
The way a crow a Shook down on me b The dust of snow a From a hemlock tree b
Thus, the stanza has the rhyme scheme abab.
RHYTHM Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in spoken or written language.
See Meter.
ROUND CHARACTER See Character. SCENE A scene is a section of uninterrupted action in the act of a drama. See Drama. SCIENCE FICTION Science fiction combines ele- ments of fiction and fantasy with scientific fact. Many science-fiction stories are set in the future. SENSORY LANGUAGE Sensory language is writ- ing or speech that appeals to one or more of the five senses. See Image. SETTING The setting of a literary work is the time and place of the action. The 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 dialects, clothing, customs, and modes of trans- portation are often used to establish setting. In most stories, the setting serves as a backdrop—a context in which the characters interact. Setting can also help to create a feeling, or atmosphere. See Atmosphere. SHORT STORY A short story is a brief work of fic- tion. Like a novel, a short story presents a sequence of events, or plot. The plot usually deals with a cen- tral conflict faced by a main character, or protago- nist. The events in a short story usually communicate a message about life or human nature. This message, or central idea, is the story’s theme. See Conflict, Plot, and Theme. SIMILE A simile is a figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas. Everyday speech often contains simi- les, such as “pale as a ghost,” “good as gold,” “spread like wildfire,” and “clever as a fox.” SOUND DEVICES Sound devices are techniques used by writers to give musical effects to their writing. Some of these include onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, meter, and repetition. SPEAKER The speaker is the imaginary voice a poet uses when writing a poem. The speaker is the character who tells the poem. This character, or voice, often is not identified by name. There can be
Literary Terms Handbook R
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important differences between the poet and the poem’s speaker.
See Narrator.
SPEECH A speech is a nonfiction work that is delivered orally to an audience. There are many kinds of speeches suiting almost every kind of pub- lic gathering. Types of speeches include, dramatic , persuasive , and informative
STAGE DIRECTIONS Stage directions are notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be performed or staged. Stage directions are usual- ly printed in italics and enclosed within parenthe- ses or brackets. Some stage directions describe the movements, costumes, emotional states, and ways of speaking of the characters.
STAGING Staging includes the setting, lighting, costumes, special effects, and music that go into a stage performance of a drama.
See Drama.
STANZA A stanza is a group of lines of poetry that are usually similar in length and pattern and are sep- arated by spaces. A stanza is like a paragraph of poetry—it states and develops a single main idea.
STATIC CHARACTER See Character.
SURPRISE ENDING A surprise ending is a con- clusion that is unexpected. The reader has certain expectations about the ending based on details in the story. Often, a surprise ending is foreshadowed , or subtly hinted at, in the course of the work.
See Foreshadowing and Plot.
SUSPENSE Suspense is a feeling of anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events in a liter- ary work. Writers create suspense by raising ques- tions in the minds of their readers.
SYMBOL A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else. Symbols are common in everyday life. A dove with an olive branch in its beak is a symbol of peace. A blindfolded woman holding a balanced scale is a symbol of justice. A crown is a symbol of a king’s status and authority.
SYMBOLISM Symbolism is the use of symbols. Symbolism plays an important role in many different types of literature. It can highlight certain elements the author wishes to emphasize and also add levels of meaning.
THEME The theme is a central message, concern, or purpose in a literary work. A theme can usually be expressed as a generalization, or a general statement, about human beings or about life. The theme of a work is not a summary of its plot. The theme is the writer’s central idea. Although a theme may be stated directly in the text, it is more often presented indirectly. When the theme is stated indirectly, or implied, the reader must figure out what the theme is by looking at what the work reveals about people or life. TONE The tone of a literary work is the writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject. The tone can often be described by a single adjec- tive, such as formal or informal, serious or playful, bitter, or ironic. Factors that contribute to the tone are word choice, sentence structure, line length, rhyme, rhythm, and repetition. TRAGEDY A tragedy is a work of literature, espe- cially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character. In ancient Greek drama, the main character is always a significant person—a king or a hero—and the cause of the tragedy is a tragic flaw, or weakness, in his or her character. In mod- ern drama, the main character can be an ordinary person, and the cause of the tragedy can be some evil in society itself. The purpose of tragedy is not only to arouse fear and pity in the audience, but also, in some cases, to convey a sense of the grandeur and nobility of the human spirit. TURNING POINT See Climax. UNIVERSAL THEME A universal theme is a mes- sage about life that is expressed regularly in many dif- ferent cultures and time periods. Folk tales, epics, and romances often address universal themes like the importance of courage, the power of love, or the dan- ger of greed. WORD CHOICE See Diction.
