Literary Terms

1. Literary Terms Definitions and Examples

2. Alliteration • the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words • Ex. tongue twisters • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers… • Ex. Papoose’s “Alphabetical Slaughter” • “Maneuvers made miraculously, microphone majesty/Music messiah mastered money makin' mathematically”

3. Allusion • a reference to a well-known character, place, or situation from history or from music, art, or another work of literature. • Ex. Langston Hughes’“I, Too, Sing America”(references Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”) • Ex. Lil’ Wayne’s “Dough Is What I Got” • “Got the Sub-Zero flow how you want me ma/Get over here like Scorpion/ And when it comes down to this recording/ I must be Lebron James if he's Jordan/ No, I want rings for my performance/ I'm more Kobe Bryant of an artist” (references video games and basketball players)

4. Antagonist • a person or force that opposes the protagonist, or central character, in a story or drama; often the “bad guy” • Ex. In The Odyssey, Poseidon is one of the many antagonists to Odysseus • Ex. The Dark Knight Rises: Bane is the antagonist to Batman

5. Assonance • the repetition of the same vowel sounds • Ex. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet • “Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks.” • Ex. Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” • “I can feel the • wind whipping past • my face./As we • dance the night • away”

6. Atmosphere • the physical qualities that contribute to the mood of the literary work, such as time, place, and weather • Ex. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” • “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;/ and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” • Ex. haunted houses in scary movies

7. Autobiography • the story of a person’s life written by that person • auto = self; bio = life; graphy=writing • Ex. Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals • Ex. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

8. Biography • an account of someone’s life written by someone other than the subject • Ex. John Adams by David McCullough • Ex. Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers

9. Character • a person portrayed in a literary piece of work

10. Direct Characterization • explicit statements about a character • Ex. description of Ivan in Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” • “The first thing Rainsford’s eyes discerned was the largest man Rainsford had ever seen—a gigantic creature, solidly made and black-bearded to the waist.” • Ex. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” • “Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world/She took a midnight train going anywhere/Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detriot/He took a midnight train going anywhere”

11. Indirect Characterization • the author’s use of a character’s speech, thoughts, and actions and through what other characters think and say about a character to describe that character • Ex. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” • “‘Our parson has gone mad!’ cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold.” • Ex. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song • “In west Philadelphia born and raised/On the playground was where I spent most of my days”

12. Dialect • a variation of a language spoken within a particular region or class • Ex. Evan Hunter’s “The Last Spin” • “This is how the club said we should settle it. Without a big street diddlebop, you dig?” Ex. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail - Madea: “Ella, c’mon! Where you at?” - Ella: “Right now?” - Madea: “Ride or die, fool! Ride or die!”

13. Foreshadowing • an author’s use of clues to prepare readers for events that will happen later in the story • Ex. Louise Edrich’s “The Leap” • “In the town square a replica tent pole, cracked and splintered, now stands cast in concrete. It commemorates the disaster that put our town smack on the front page of the Boston and New York tabloids.” • Ex. the music in scary movies

14. Hyperbole (“hi-per-buh-l-ee”) • a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express emotion, to make a point, or to evoke humor • Ex. Langston Hughes’s “Thank You, Ma’am” • “She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails.” • I was scared to death!

15. Imagery • the “word pictures” that writers create to evoke an emotional response • Ex. William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” “A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way” • Ex. Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” “Rise up this mornin’, Smiled with the risin’ sun, Three little birds Pitch by my doorstep”

16. Irony • a contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality • Ex. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet - Romeo kills himself thinking that Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she’s really just under a sleeping potion. • Ex. the “fake out” in scary movies

17. Metaphor • a figure of speech that compares two seemingly unlike things • Ex. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It • “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” • Ex. Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”

18. Onomatopoeia • the use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound that it describes • Ex. James Baldwin’s “The Rockpile” • “She heard, behind her, his scrambling movement as he left the easy chair, the scrape and jangle of the lunchbox as he picked it up…” • Ex. Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” • “Boy, you got my heartbeat running away, beating like a drum and it’s coming your way, can’t you hear that boom, badoom, boom boom, badoom, boom, bass?”

19. Personification • a figure of speech in which an animal, an object, a force of nature, or an idea is given human characteristics • Ex. Homer’s The Odyssey • “When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world…” • Ex. Disney movies • Beauty and the Beast

20. Plot • the sequence of events in a short story, novel, or drama

21. Point of View • the standpoint from which a story is told

22. First-Person Point of View •  the narrator is a character in the story and uses the words “I” and “me” • Ex. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • “I never felt easy till the raft was two mile below there and out in the middle of the Mississippi.” • Ex. Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party • “It don’t matter what plans I got, I can break ‘em/ Yeah, I can turn this thing around at the next red light”

23. Second Person Point of View • the narrator addresses the reader as “you” • Ex. Jay McIrney’sBright Lights, Big City • “You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning….You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head.” • Ex. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” • “Youtook your time with the callI took no time with the fallYou gave me nothing at all,But still, you're in my way”

24. Third Person Point of View • the narrator is someone who stands outside the story and describes the characters and action

25. Third Person Limited Point of View • the narrator describes events as only one character perceives them

26. Third Person Omniscient Point of View • “all-knowing” point of view; the narrator knows everything about the characters and events and may reveal details that the characters themselves could not reveal

27. Protagonist • the central character in a literary work, around whom the main conflict revolves • Andy is the protagonist in Sharon Draper’s Tears of a Tiger • KatnissEverdeen is the protagonist in Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

28. Simile • afigure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare seemingly unlike things • Ex. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet • “My bounty is as boundless as the sea,\ My love as deep” • Ex. Forrest Gump • “Jenny and me was like peas and carrots.”

29. Suspense • afeeling of curiosity, uncertainty, or even dread about what is going to happen next in a story • Ex. Frederic Brown’s “The Knock” • “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door….”

30. Symbol • any object, person, place, or experience that exists on a literal level but also represents, or stands for, something else, usually something abstract • Ex. Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games • Katniss’s bow and arrows are a symbol of survival. • Ex.

31. Theme • the central message of a work of literature, often expressed as a general statement about life • * Complete Sentence! • Ex. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet • Love is a powerful force that can overpower all other emotions, loyalties, and values.

32. Tone • an author’s attitude toward his or her subject material or the audience • Word choice! • Ex. Think about the tone of someone’s voice