| A | B |
|---|
| figure of speech | expression or word used imaginatively instead of literally |
| flashback | section of literature that goes back in time instead of continuing in chronological order |
| foil | a character who provides a contrast to another character |
| folk literature | the body of stories, legends, myths, songs, etc. arising out of the oral traditions of peoples around the world |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to suggest events that are yet to occur |
| free verse | poetry with no regular rhyme or meter |
| genre | a type of literature, such as poetry, prose, or drama |
| gothic | the use of primitive, medieval, and supernatural elements in literature (ex: Poe) |
| grotesque | the use of bizarre, absurd, or fantastical elements in literature |
| Harlem Renaissance | A time of African-American artistic creativity centered around Harlem in the 20s and 30s |
| hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement |
| iambic pentameter | five units of iambic meter (unstressed--stressed) |
| idyll | a poem that idealizes country life (ex: Snowbound) |
| imagism | poetry movement from 1912 to 1927 the used ordinary language and free verse to create sharp, exact images |
| irony | contrast between what is stated and what is meant. Dramatic, verbal, situational |
| journal | a daily autobiographical account of events and personal reactions |
| legend | a traditional story that usually deals with a particular person |
| letter | written message or communication addressed to readers and sent by mail |
| local color | use of character and details unique to a specific geographical area |
| lyric poem | a melodic poem that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker |
| meter | a poem's rhythmical pattern |
| monologue | a speech delivered entirely by one person or character |
| motivation | a reason that explains a character's thoughts, feelings, and actions |
| myth | a fictional tale that explains the causes of natural phenomena or the behavior of gods and goddesses |
| narrative | a story told in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama |
| narrative poem | tells a story in verse |
| narrator | a speaker or character who tells a story |
| Naturalism | lit. movement among novelists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during which authors viewed people as hapless victims of immutable natural laws |
| ode | a long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme |
| omniscient | all-knowing narrator |
| onomatopoeia | words that imitate the sounds of their meaning |
| oral tradition | the passing of songs and stories by word of mouth |
| oratory | public speaking that is formal, persuasive, and emotionally appealing |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas |
| paradox | a statement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents a truth |
| parallelism | the repetition of a grammatical structure |
| parody | humorous imitation of a literary work |
| pastoral | poems that deal with a rustic setting and rural life |
| persuasion | writing or speech that attempts to convince a reader to think or act in a certain way |
| plain style | used by Puritans; characterized by short, simple words, direct statements, and references to everyday objects |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is told (first person, third person, etc) |
| prose | the ordinary for of written language |
| protagonist | the main character in a literary work--NOT always "good"! |
| Realism | the presentation of art in the details of actual life. TWAIN |
| refrain | a repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song |
| regionalism | the tendency to write about certain geographical areas |
| Romanticism | a lit. movement in the 19th century that was a reaction against Neoclassicism and valued NATURE, imagination, emotion, and individuality. See your umbrella diagram. |
| satire | writing that ridicules or criticizes individual ideas, institutions, social conventions, etc. |
| scansion | the process of analyzing a poem's metrical pattern |
| slant rhyme | words that almost rhyme, but not quite |
| sonnet | a 14-line poem focused on a single theme and usually written in iambic pentameter |
| spiritual | an African-American folk song dating from the period of slavery and Reconstruction |
| stream of consciousness | a narrative technique that presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a character's mind |
| suspense | a feeling of growing uncertainty about the outcome of events |
| symbol | anything that stands for or represents something else |
