1. Literary Term Review Words
11th grade- Two words a day
Test every two weeks

2. August 13
Allegory- a story or tale with two or more levels of meaning, a literal one and a more symbolic one
Ex. Animal Farm is an allegory about the Russian Revolution and what happens when socialism is allowed to grow.
Alliteration- The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or accented syllables.
Ex. Dunkin Donuts tries to use alliteration to get you to eat donuts.

3. August 14
Allusion- a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art.
Ex. I compared the basketball player to Goliath because he was so big, but he didn’t understand the Biblical allusion.
Analogy- An extended comparison of relationships. It is based on the idea that the relationship between one part of things is like the relationship to another pair of things.
Ex. Training your brain to read is like working out on the treadmill for some people- the more you do it, the stronger you get and the easier it is, but at first it really sucks. (this is an analogy).

4. August 15
Antagonist- character or force in conflict with the main character or protagonist.
Ex. In Grey’s Anatomy, often times the antagonist is a disease and not a person.
In ”The Office” Dwight is often the antagonist.
Assonance- the repetition of vowel sounds in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds.
Ex. Band Slam is not an actual rhyme; it’s just assonance.

5. August 16
Character- a person or animal that takes part in the action of a literary work.
Ex. Michael Scott is such an awkward character that he’s made The Office everyone’s favorite most uncomfortable show to watch.
Characterization- The act of creating and developing a character.
Ex. Characterization is done with the details of how they dress, talk, react to other people and think.

6. August 17
Consonance- the repetition of similar final consonant sounds at the ends of words or accented syllables.
Ex. Hit That Hut is an example of consonance- they all end with the same consonant sound, but they don’t rhyme.
Exposition- A piece of writing or a speech that EXPLAINS, INFORMS or Presents information.
Ex. Last year we gave expository speechs on different aspects about the Holocaust.

7. August 20
Foil- a character who provides a contrast to another character.
Ex. In “Julius Caesar”, the Brutus and Anthony are foils- opposite in personality and how they relate to Julius Caesar.
Frame story- A story with contains another story.
Ex. In the movie, ”The Princess Bride” the frame story is a grandfather telling his grandson a bedtime story, but the real story is the story he tells.

8. August 21
Genre- a division or type of literature. Literature is commonly divided into three major genres: poetry, prose and drama.
Ex. In tenth grade, English is divided by genres. One semester, we study poetry, then we study prose and lastly we studied drama.
Hyperbole- a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement, used for effect.
Ex. “I will NEVER graduate from high school” is obviously a hyperbole. It feels long, but only takes four years.

9. August 22
Idiom- a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from the individual words.
Ex. “He is ‘the goat’” is an idiom I just recently learned.
Irony- all three kinds- means the opposite of what one would expect
Verbal- saying the opposite of what you mean, “You’re the BEST”- when you suck.
Dramatic- in a play where something the characters think is opposite of what the audience knows to be true
Situational- when something turns out the opposite of how it should have
Ex. My brother almost didn’t get into college because his ACT was so low, but today he makes four times my salary- that’s irony!

10. August 23
Lyric poem- a melodic poem that expresses the observations or feelings of a speaker
”To a Mouse” is a lyric poem that is a guy telling a mouse how the mouses’ life is better than his.
Narrative poem- a poem that tells a story
“Coward of the County” is a country music ballad which is my favorite form of narrative poem.

11. August 24
Metaphor- a comparison of two unlike things NOT using like or as; a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were something else.
Ex. Our hallways are a crowded raceway.
Oxymoron- a figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas.
Ex. Jumbo shrimp is everyone’s favorite oxymoron, but I like “sanitary sewer” better.

12. August 27
Paradox- a stsatement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents a truth.
Ex. Sometimes you can’t succeed until you are literally burned to the ground.
Parody- a humorous imitation of a literary work.
Ex. Saturday Night Live is famous for its many parodies.

13. August 28
Personification- a figure of speech in which nonhuman subjects are given human characteristics.
Ex. My cell phone walked out of the room.
Protagonist= the main character in a literary work.
Ex. Who is the protagonist in your favorite movie?

14. August 29
Simile- a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two likes using either like or as.
Ex. She turned as red as a beet when he kissed her.
Sonnet- a fourteen line lyric poem focused on a single theme, usually love.
Ex. Shakespeare is known for his sonnets.

15. August 30
Symbol- anything that stands for or represents something else.
Ex/ The flag is a symbol of our nation and all the peoples who live here.
Theme- a central message or insight into life revealed in a literary work.
Ex. The theme of the story is the hardest part of the story to determine for most people.

16. August 31
Tone- the author’s attitude toward it’s topic OR the person he’s addressing
Ex. “Don’t use that tone with me, young man.”
Slant or half rhyme- occurs when the rhyming words sound the same but are not exact- two forms of slant rhyme are consonance and assonance
Ex. Prove and glove- they don’t fully rhyme