1. 70 Literary Terms HOLT Literature

2. plot

3. chain of related events that tells us what happens in a story

4. conflict

5. problem faced by a character conflict

6. resolved

7. how the story turns out resolved

8. complications

9. situations that create conflict complications

10. climax

11. when the outcome of the conflict is decided climax

12. resolutio n

13. the last part of the plot; the end of the story resolution

14. subplots

15. parts that are part of the larger story but are not as important subplots

16. parallel episodes

17. the storyteller repeats the main outline of an episode several times parallel episodes

18. proposition

19. an opinion; usually in the beginning of a persuasive article

20. facts

21. the results of scientific research and surveys

22. statistics

23. facts in number form

24. examples

25. specific instances that illustrate reasons or facts

26. anecodotes

27. brief stories, such as personal experiences anecodotes

28. opinion

29. a belief or an attitude

30. foreshadowing

31. clues that hint at what will happen later foreshadowing

32. characterizati on

33. the way a writer reveals character characterization

34. motivation

35. what makes people behave the way they do

36. motives

37. why characters do the things they do

38. biography

39. the story of someone’s life written by another person

40. actions

41. what characters say and do

42. character

43. the way someone is

44. biased

45. one-sided, treatment of a subject

46. autobiography

47. the story of a writers own life by the writer autobiography

48. setting

49. where and when a story takes place

50. mood

51. atmosphere; the feeling of the story

52. chronology

53. time order; what happens first, next, and last

54. inference

55. educated guess based on clues the writer gives you and your own experience

56. conclusion

57. final thought or judgement about what you have read

58. valid

59. both true and logical

60. generalization

61. a broad statement that can apply to many situations generalization

62. theme

63. answers the question “What does this reveal?” the general idea or insight about human existence

64. main idea

65. the message, opinion, or insight that is central to a piece of non-fiction

66. refrain

67. repeated sounds, words, phrases, lines, or a group of lines

68. allusion

69. a reference to features of a culture that people share (literature, religion, history, mythology, sports) Ex: “I have a dream” speech

70. narrator

71. person telling the story

72. verbal irony

73. we say just the opposite of what we mean

74. situational irony

75. what happens is different from what we expect

76. dramatic irony

77. we know something a character doesn’t know

78. fallacious reasoning

79. “false thinking” when people draw incorrect or false conclusions Ex: Because the world is flat, you’ll fall off if you sail to the end.

80. sterotyping

82. believing that all members of a group share a certain characteristic Ex: All teenagers are angry and rebellious, and they all sleep too late.

83. fallacy

84. the assumption that a problem or situation has only one possible cause Ex: If we don’t elect Jane class president, girls will have no say in running the school.

85. analogy

86. a comparison of two things to show how they are alike; used to explain one concept by showing how it is similar to another concept

87. personification

88. a non-human thing is described as if it were human or alive and did something only living things do

89. metaphor

90. directly compares two very different things Ex: The moon was a golden Grapefruit high up in the sky.

91. simile

92. compares one thing to another using like, as, than, resembles Ex: The moon looked like a gleaming new penny.

93. lyrics (poem)

94. poems that express feelings and do not tell stories

95. narrative poem

96. a poem that tells a story

97. ballad

98. song or a song like poem that tells a story usually about lost love or betrayal or death

99. tall tale

100. an exaggerated, far fetched story that betrayal or death is obviously not true

101. exaggeration

102. stretching the truth

103. epic

104. long narrative poem written in formal or elegant language that tells about a series of events undertaken by a great hero

105. ode

106. originated in Ancient Greece; celebrate a particular poem or thing

107. sonnet

108. fourteen line poem

109. lambic

110. verse in which the stress is on every other syllable, starting with the unstressed beat

111. elegy

112. a poem of mourning

113. free verse

114. does not follow a regular rhyme, scheme, or pattern

115. alliteration

116. repetition of consonant sounds Ex: snow falling fast

117. onomatopoeia

118. the use of words whose sounds echo their meaning Ex: the chains saw’s buzz

119. imagery

120. language that evokes sensations of light, sound, smell, taste, and touch

121. figures of speech

122. language that is based on comparisons and is not literally true (metaphors, similes, personification)

123. rhythm

124. the rise and fall of the voice, produced by sounds

125. speaker

126. the person who tells the story or talks to you in the poem

127. unity

128. all the story’s details support the main idea or topic

129. logic

130. correct reasoning

131. idiom

132. means something different from the literal meaning of each word Ex: “Hold your tongue” means don’t speak in English

133. epilogue

134. a brief closing section to a piece of literature

135. consumer

136. someone who buys something or uses what someone else buys

137. warranty

138. spells out exactly what happens if the product doesn’t work properly and what you are required to do to receive service

139. contract

140. spells out exactly what services will and will not be provided

141. product information

142. tells what the product will do product information