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| situational irony | is a trope in which accidental events occur that seem oddly appropriate, such as the poetic justice of a pickpocket getting his own pocket picked. However, both the victim and the audience are simultaneously aware of the situation in situational irony--which is not the case in dramatic irony. |
| flashback | A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events--usually in the form of a character's memories, dreams, narration, or even authorial commentary (such as saying, "But back when King Arthur had been a child. . . ."). |
| symbol | A word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level. For instance, consider the stop sign. It is literally a metal octagon painted red with white streaks. However, everyone on American roads will be safer if we understand that this object also represents the act of coming to a complete stop |
| narrator | The "voice" that speaks or tells a story. Some stories are written in a first-person point of view, in which the narrator's voice is that of the point-of-view character. For instance, in The Adventures of Huck Finn, the narrator's voice is the voice of the main character, Huck Finn. |
| point of view | The way a story gets told and who tells it. It is the method of narration that determines the position, or angle of vision, from which the story unfolds. Point of view governs the reader's access to the story. Many narratives appear in the first person (the narrator speaks as "I" and the narrator is a character in the story who may or may not influence events within it). Another common type of narrative is the third-person narrative (the narrator seems to be someone standing outside the story who refers to all the characters by name or as he, she, they, and so on). |
| simile | An analogy or comparison implied by using an adverb such as like or as, in contrast with a metaphor which figuratively makes the comparison by stating outright that one thing is another thing. |
| setting | The time and location of where a story takes placeThe general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs |
| soliloquy | A monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes himself to be alone. The technique frequently reveals a character's innermost thoughts, including his feelings, state of mind, motives or intentions. |
| alliteration | Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. For instance, the phrase "buckets of big blue berries" alliterates with the consonant b. |
| climax | The moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis reaches its point of greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved. |
| metaphor | A comparison or analogy stated in such a way as to imply that one object is another one, figuratively speaking. When we speak of "the ladder of success," we imply that being successful is much like climbing a ladder to a higher and better position. |
| plot | The structure and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction. |
| theme | A central idea, insight about human experience revealed in a work of literature or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work. |
| A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art in another literary work is | an allusion |
| A kind of writing that ridicules human weakness, vice or folly in order to bring about social reform is called | satire |
| Cicero referred to irony as "saying one thing and meaning another." Irony comes in many forms. A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality is | irony |
| The use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot is known as | foreshadowing |
| (the most important type for literature) involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know. In that situation, the character acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or the character expects the opposite of what the reader knows that fate holds in store, or the character anticipates a particular outcome that unfolds itself in an unintentional way. The literary element otherwise known as sarcasm is | dramatic irony |
| The writer's attitude toward the reader, a subject, or character is called | tone |
| It is an error in judgment or a character weakness that causes a character's downfall; for example, Macbeth's greed and lust for power was his | tragic flaw |
| Which of the following quotations contains hyperbole? Hyperbole is over exaggerating something | I would love you ten years before the Flood,/ And you should, if you please, refuse/Till the conversion of the Jews. |
| The following line contains an example of what literary element? She walks in beauty, like the night. | simile |
| Which of the following elements occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate? It is also known as sarcasm. | verbal irony |
