1. Literary Terms

2. Protagonist The chief actor in any literary work. The focus of interest »The term is usually preferable to hero or heroine because it can include characters such as villains or weak characters who are not aptly called protagonists.

3. Antagonist a character or force that opposes (literally, “wrestles”) the protagonist

4. Conflict A struggle between a character and some obstacle (for example another character or fate) or between internal forces, such as divided loyalties

5. Conflict Internal A struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single person External A struggle against some outside force such as another character, society as a whole, or some natural force

6. Foreshadowing The use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot

7. Epiphany A moment or event in which a character achieves a spiritual insight into life or into her or his own circumstances

8. Characterization The presentation of a character, whether by direct description by showing the character in action, or by the presentation of other characters who help to define each other

9. Characterization Indirect By what the character says By how the character looks and dresses By what the character thinks By what others say or think about the character By what the character does Direct By telling exactly what the character is like – cruel, kind, sneaky, brave

10. Mood The atmosphere, usually created by descriptions of the settings and characters

11. Theme The central idea of a work of literature. The theme is the idea the writer wishes to convey about the subject. The theme must be expressed in a statement.

12. What piece of literature expresses this theme? Love is more powerful than family loyalty

13. Point of View The perspective from which a story is told Omniscient- all knowing Third person limited First person

14. Irony A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality VERBAL what is said and what is meant are contradictory

15. SITUATIONAL when what we expect to happen is opposite of what does happen

16. DRAMATIC What the audience knows is different from what the character knows. The character is in a state of ignorance.

18. Setting The time and place of a story, play, or poem The setting often contributes to the emotional effect “ It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season”

19. Tone The attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character Tone is conveyed through the writer’s choice of words, detail, syntax or imagery

20. Style The manner of expression, evident not only in the choice of words but in the use of sentence structure, characters, settings, and themes

21. Symbolism A person, a place, a thing or an event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well Ex. A scale is an instrument for measuring weights, but it is also a symbol for _______________

22. Parable A short narrative that is al least in part allegorical and illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson

23. Prose Literature written in paragraph form

24. Regionalism fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region. Influenced by Southwestern and Down East humor, between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century, this mode of writing became dominant in American literature.Southwestern

25. Satire Literature that entertainingly attacks folly or vice; amusingly abusive writing. Satire intends to change behavior What television programs are satirical?

26. Stream of Consciousness The presentation of a a character’s unrestricted flow of thought, often with free associations and often without punctuation Try it: Write a stream of consciousness about the most stressful (exciting) part of being a senior

27. Allusion A reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth politics, sports, science or pop culture She has a Mona Lisa smile.

28. Anecdote A short narrative, usually reporting an amusing event in the life of an important person

29. Genre Kind or type of literature Fiction Poetry Drama Nonfiction prose

30. Parody A humorous imitation of a literary work

31. Persona The speaker of a work The voice or mouthpiece created by the author

32. Pathos Pity or sadness

33. Personification A kind of figurative language in which an inanimate object, animal, or other nonhuman is given human traits Example: The cruel sea

34. Rhetoric The art of effective speaking or writing

35. Narrative Writing or speaking that tells a story

36. Annotation A brief description of a work that is non judgemental

37. Motif A recurrent theme within a work, or a theme common to many works