Simile: the comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as” Example: The wind was howling like a wolf. Personification: Where animals, ideas, things, etc are represented as having human qualities Example: The dog smirked after he knocked the trash can over. Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement that is used to emphasize a point Example: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!

Alliteration: The repetition of initial sounds in neighboring or stressed syllables Example: She sees sheep sleeping 3 rd Person Limited Narrator: A story told through the point of view of a single character. Example: Winston in rd Person Omniscient Narrator: A story told through multiple points of view of different characters. Example: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Tone: a literary technique which encompasses the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work Voice: The way a story is told so the reader can connect to it Mood: The feeling that a piece of literature evokes Anecdote: A short story about a real person or an interesting event that is told to make a point Example: Young George Washington cutting down the cherry tree– always tell the truth!

Allusion: An implicit reference to an historical, literary, or biblical character, event, or element Example: The laptop incident in Pennsylvania was something out of 1984! Irony: A contradiction between appearance or expectation and reality; a figure of speech in which the literal meaning of the words is the opposite of their intended meaning Example: It’s like rain on your wedding day (“Ironic” by Alanis Morissette)

Parable: A brief story that is told to illustrate a moral or religious lesson Example: Anansi the Spider Compare: To see if two or more ideas are similar to one another Contrast: To see if two or more ideas are different from one another Example: To compare/contrast, you can use a T-Chart or Venn diagram or some kind of organizer to see the comparisons and differences

Genre: A category of a piece of literature Example: Romance, Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction Theme: The broad idea, moral, or message behind a story Example: Anansi and the sticky gum person Imagery: A literary technique an author uses to create a mental image in the reader’s mind (i.e. 5 senses) Example: The smell of turkey reminds me of Thanksgiving.

Folk Tale: A traditional prose narrative Example: Bre’r Rabbit Fable: A usually short narrative making a cautionary point and often employing as characters animals that speak and act like humans. Example: Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood Blank Verse: A type of poetry that has a regular meter, but no rhyme Example: “The Ball Poem” by John Berryman What is the boy now, who has lost his ball, What, what is he to do? I saw it go Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then Merrily over-there it is in the water!

Iambic Pentameter: A poem or sonnet defined by its rhythm of pairing ten syllables for each line into five pairs. Example: John Donne’s sonnet- Batter my heart three-personed God, for you as yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend. That I may rise and stand o'erthrow me and bend Your force to break, blow, burn and make me new. Rhythm- DUM da | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM da DUM | da DUM | DUM DUM | da DUM | da DUM da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | DUM DUM |dada DUM da DUM | da DUM | DUM DUM | da DUM | da DUM

Iambic Tetrameter: A meter of poetry with lines that consist of four iambic feet Example: Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”- Come live with me and be my love Rhythm- da DUM | da DUM |

Free Verse: A form of poetry that does not use meter, rhyme, or any other pattern Example: “ After the Sea-Ship” by Walt Whitman After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds; After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes, Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks, Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship: Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying, Waves, undulating waves—liquid, uneven, emulous waves, Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves, Where the great Vessel, sailing and tacking, displaced the surface;

Motif: A recurring element that has symbolic significance to the story Example: Urban decay in 1984 (i.e. Winston’s run down home, the city of London) Mystery: One that is not fully understood or eludes meaning that can be a challenge for the reader Example: Julia and O’Brien in 1984 Realism: A genre of literature that avoids any magical or fantastic elements in favor of realistic settings Example: Their Eyes Were Watching God (to a point)

Fantasy: A genre of literature that uses elements of magic and supernatural to tell a story Example: Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter Satire: A form of genre that uses irony, wit, sarcasm, and parodies to reveal the troubles of the world and the faults in people Example: 1984 and Animal Farm

Science Fiction: A type of genre that combines the elements of realism and fantasy with a set of rules that could make it appear the story could happen. Example: 1984 and I, Robot Historical Fiction: A type of genre that tells a story in an actual historical period with fictional characters Example: Their Eyes Were Watching God