Literary terminology that will allow us to discuss poetry, short stories, plays and

novels

1. exposition – introduces the character and setting of a story

2. rising action – consists of most of the story; shows an increasing number of conflicts

3. climax- the turning point of the story for the major character; major secrets are revealed

4. falling action – the major secrets are out so you get to see how characters react

5. denouement/resolution- some stories don’t include this- shows what happens to characters after the story.

Time & Place

Example – To Kill a Mockingbird – 1930’s in Alabama

Example – Romeo and Juliet – 15th century Italy

Protagonist – the main character in the story; the reader should want this character to find success

Antagonist- opposes the protagonist and creates conflict

Static- these characters don’t really change in the story.

Dynamic- these characters learn, grow, develop, change over the course of the story

Foil – a character who contrasts another character

The meaning or lessons within the story

Example from Harry Potter - Humility, modesty, good vs. evil

Dramatic- the audience/reader knows something about the plot that the characters don’t know

Example – Romeo & Juliet – the audience knows from the opening scene that both the lead characters will die at the end

Situational- when the outcome is very different from what’s you’d expect

Example – Friday Night Lights – you think they’ll win the game, but they don’t

Verbal- when you say one thing, but mean something different (sarcasm)

Example – If the weather is pouring rain and you walk outside and say “It looks like a nice day for a picnic.”

Flashback- sometimes in a story you’ll “flash back” to an earlier time

Foreshadowing- when a future event in the plot is hinted at based upon prior plot events.◦ Example – Lenny killing Curly’s wife is foreshadowed –

everytime he pets something soft, he kills it.

Anachronism- when something is out of place or out of time◦ Example – if a character in a story about the 17th

century pulls out a cell phone

Diction: word choice – extremely key in poetry

Hyperbole: exaggerated, non-literal language

Example -"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand?

No. This my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine,

Making the green one red." from Act 2, scene 2 of "Macbeth" by William

Shakespeare

Allusion: a reference to an historical person, place, or event; or a literary or Biblical reference that elicits an association that is not directly stated◦ Example – Harriet Tubman was the Moses of her

time. Apostrophe: a device in which the

speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object

The Sun Rising by John Donne Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

Denotation: the literal, explicit, or surface meaning of a word – this is the dictionary definition

Example – dog- a carnivorous animal used for hunting or kept as a pet.

Connotation: the “deeper” or suggested meaning(s) of words

Example – dog – that cute, funny guy who curls up at your feet

Imagery: use of language to appeal to the reader’s senses; images are frequently, but not always, visual

Examples - Grandma's hugs burn my skin. The pitter-patter of the rain against the

window. The gurgling sound of my brother slurping.

Metaphor: an implied comparison or resemblance between two unlike things

Example – I am a rainbow.

Mood: a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind--especially the predominating atmosphere or tone of a literary work

Paradox: a statement or expression so self-contradictory as to provoke the reader into seeking another sense or context in which it would be true

"War is peace.""Freedom is slavery.""Ignorance is strength."(George Orwell, 1984)

Personification: giving human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas, or animals

Example - The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.

Poetic License: a poet’s privilege of departing from normal order, diction, rhyme, or pronunciation to make verse fit a pattern

Simile: a stated comparison between two things using like or as

Example – He was as tall as a tree.

Symbol: an object, action, person, or name that stands for something in addition to itself

Example - in To Kill a Mockingbird - the characters of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are symbolically mockingbirds

Syntax: the way in which words and clauses are ordered

Tone: the author’s attitude to the reader (or the speaker’s attitude in a work)

Understatement: form of speech in which a lesser expression is used than what would be expected – used by comedians frequently for humor◦ Example – Looking outside right now and saying

“It looks like we have a little snow in the parking lot.”

Meter: the rhythm established by the regular or almost regular patterns of sound

Example - Shall I com PARE thee TO a SUM mer’s DAY?◦ Foot: unit of rhythm in a line of verse (similar to

measure in music)◦ Lines vary according to number of feet (i.e.

pentameter = 5 feet)

Rhyme: similarity of sounds between syllables in corresponding positions in two or more lines of verse◦ Internal: rhyming that occurs within a line of

verse rather than at the endEx - Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered, weak and weary,◦ End: rhyming at the end of lines

Whose woods these are I think I know, aHis house is in the village, though; aHe will not see me stopping here bTo watch his woods fill up with snow a

Rhyme scheme: the pattern or sequence in which the rhyming sounds occur in a stanza or a poem

◦ Examples of rhyme schemes aabb ccdd abab cdcd abcb defe

Stanza: a recurring group of two or more lines (in terms of length, metrical form, rhyme scheme, and so on)◦ Couplet: two lines of verse with similar end

rhymes◦ Triplet: three lines with the same rhyme◦ Quatrain: stanza of four lines (rhyme schemes

may vary)◦ Refrain: a phrase, line, or group of lines repeated

at intervals

Language choice means everything in poetry

Alliteration: repetition of beginning letters or sounds (ex. six slender saplings)

Assonance: repetition of similar vowel sounds (lake, fake, take, make)

Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds; similar to alliteration, but repetition may occur anywhere within the words (such a tide as moving seems asleep)

Inversion: the reversal of the normally expected order of words – think of how Yoda talks “Ready, you are.”

Onomatopoeia: words sound like the sound their name (a crack of thunder)

Repetition: reiterating word, phrase, statement, or stanza to achieve emphasis

There are multiple ways to structure a poem

Fixed Verse: Poetry with clearly established meter and rhyme

Blank Verse: poetry that has meter (usually iambic pentameter), but does not have a rhyme scheme

Free Verse: poetry without a fixed meter or rhyme scheme

Prose Poetry: a poem printed as prose, but using characteristics of poetry

The End