| A | B |
|---|
| symbol | A person, place, thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and stands for something beyond itself as well; it can signify something else |
| irony | A term that suggests some sort of discrepancy between appearance and reality; says one thing and means another |
| antagonist | The character that contends with or opposes another character |
| plot | The events or main story in a literary work |
| theme | The general idea or insight about life that a work of literature reveals |
| foreshadowing | The introduction of clues early in a story to suggest or anticipate significant events that will develop later |
| resolution | The last part of the story when the characters’ problems are solved and the story ends |
| characters | The people or animals in a work of fiction or drama |
| climax | The point of highest dramatic tension or a major turning point in the action; the most emotional or suspenseful moment in story |
| protagonist | The main character in a literary work |
| conflict | The struggle between persons or forces in a work of drama or fiction (man vs man, nature, or himself) |
| setting | The time and place in which the events of a work of literature take place |
| dynamic character | character changes throughout the story |
| static character | character remains the same throughout the story |
| dramatic irony | reader/audience knows something that the character does not |
| external conflict | struggle against someone or something |
| internal conflict | struggle with emotions and desires |
| tone | the author's attitude |
| imagery | appeals to the senses, such as color and sounds |
| situational irony | contrast between what sould seem appropriate and what actually happens |
| verbal irony | writer says one thing but means something totally different |
| flat character | one or two traits, which can be described in two words |
| round character | like a real person, has many character traits |
| exposition | presentation of chars. and explanation of background |
| rising action | develops the conflict to a high point of intensity. |
| falling action | is all the events that follow the climax |
| allusion | a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another well known work of literature |
| metaphor | a type of figurative language in which a statement is made that compares one thing to something else without the use of like or as |
| extended metatphor | a metaphor that goes beyond a simple description into describiing a main idea |
| figurative language | when words have a meaning that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say |
| meter | the basic rhythmic pattern of a verse or lines of poetry described in number and type of feet (ex. iambic pentameter) |
| rhythm | the pattern of sounds made by varying the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem. |
| iambic meter | a rhytm patter where every second syllable in a line of poetry is s |
| scansion | The action of scanning a line of verse to determine its rhythm |
| mood | the dominant impression or emotional atmosphere created by the text on the reader |
| hyperbole | A type of figurative language that exagerrates for effect. |
| narrative poem | A poem that tells a story. |
| personification | Figurative language where animals, ideas or inorganic objects are given human characteristics |
| simile | figurative language, similar to a metaphor, where comparisons between two things are made using like or as |
| near rhyme | when only the final consonants of words rhyme |
| end rhyme | when the ending vowel and consonant sounds of words are the same |
| internal rhyme | when words rhyme within a line of poetry (not at the end of the line) |
| alliteration | when words repeat the beginning consonant sounds |
| gothic | stories and poems dealing with horror, despair, the grotesque and other “dark” subjects |
| parable | a brief and often simple narrative that illustrates a moral or religious lesson |
| point of view - First person | story told by a character in the story as s/he sees the story ("I") |
| point of view - third person limited | story told by a narrator who only know the thoughts and feeliings of one character |
| point of view - third person omniscient | story told by a narrator who only know the thoughts and feeliings of all the characters |
| fable | folktale with animal characters that tells a moral |
| hubris | extreme pride by characters that is punished |
| myth | an ancient type of religious folklore that tells the story of gods, and/or heroes, and explains a view of the world |
| creation myth | a type fo myth that explains the origins of the world and humanity |
| trickster tale | a type of folklore that features a protagonist who tricks others |
