A Useful CRCT Review

Literary Terms and Definitions

How to take notes on this presentation

Write the term Summarize or paraphrase the definition. Example:

– Theme: This is the message, usually about life or society, that an author wishes to convey through a literary work.

– Theme – message author wants to get across.

Rising Action

This is the part of the plot where the conflict and suspense build.

Falling Action

This is the part of the plot where the conflict begins to be worked out and tensions lessen.

Setting

This is the time and place in which a literary work happens.

Resolution

This is the part of the plot where the conflict is ended.

Theme

This is the message, usually about life or society, that an author wishes to convey through a literary work.

Characters

These are the people or animals who take part in a literary work.

Conflict

This is the main problem in a literary work.

Climax

This is the part of the plot where the conflict and tension reach a peak. It is the turning point of the plot, or the point of no return.

Figurative Language

Imagery

This is the use of language that appeals to the five senses--touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight.

Example: – During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the

autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. (Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”)

Allusion

This is the reference to a person, place, or event from history, literature, or religion with which a reader is likely to be familiar.

Example: “At lovers’ perjuries,/ They say, Jove laughs” (Romeo and Juliet, II.2.92).

Personification

This is a type of figurative language in which human qualities are given to nonhuman things.

Example: calling a ship a feminine pronoun (She’s a good ship).

Onomatopoeia

This is the use of words that sound like the noises they describe.

Examples: Pop! Whoosh!

Metaphor

This is a direct comparison of two unlike things without using the words like or as.

Examples: – My love is a rose.– “If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy

shrine, the gentle sin is this: (Romeo and Juliet I.5.91-92). The holy shrine here is Juliet’s hand.

Idiom

This is a phrase in common use that can not be understood by literal or ordinary meanings.

Examples:– Shake a leg! (Hurry up!)– He had me in stitches! (I was laughing hard.)

Simile

This is a comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as.

Example: “… for thou art /As glorious to this night … / As is a winged messenger of Heaven” (Romeo and Juliet II.2.26-27)

Meter

This is the rhythm or regular sound pattern in a piece of poetry.

Poem

This is an arrangement of words in verse. It sometimes rhymes, and expresses facts, emotions, or ideas in a style more concentrated, imaginative and powerful than that of ordinary speech.

Terms

Alliteration

This is the repetition of initial consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.

Example: She sells sea shells by the seashore.

Autobiography

This is the story of a person's life written by that person.

Biography

The story of a person's life written by another person.

Fiction

This is writing that tells about imaginary characters and events.

Foreshadowing

This is the use of hints in written works about what will happen later.

Genre

This is the category or type of literature. Example: Poetry; prose (fiction and

nonfiction); drama; horror; mystery/suspense; romance; science fiction.

Hyperbole

This is extreme exaggeration used in a literary work.

Example: The rain seemed to last for one hundred years.

Irony

This is the contrast between appearance and reality or what is expected and what actually happens.

Literature

This is the body of written works that includes prose and poetry.

Main Idea

This is the central and most important idea of a reading passage.

Memoir

This is an account of the personal experiences of an author.

Nonfiction

This is factual writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, objects, or events.

Plot

This is the series of events that happen in a literary work.

Scene

This is a small division of a play that usually happens in a particular time and place.

Example: In Romeo and Juliet, Act I has five of these.

The End

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