English 11 Literary Terms

Voice

• Voice has two meanings. First, voice is how you, as the

reader, hear the author speaking. It is the combination of

qualities that conveys the author's unique attitude, personality,

and character.

• In the second meaning, voice is the characteristic speech and • In the second meaning, voice is the characteristic speech and

thought patterns of narrator that may be a creation, or persona,

of the writer.

• Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience

of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements

of a piece of writing.

Dramatic Irony

• When readers know more about the situation than the characters do

• Example: In a murder mystery • Example: In a murder mystery novel, we see the murder’s movements but the detective doesn’t.

Situational Irony

• Contrast between what is

expected to happen and what

actually does happenactually does happen

Example: A police station is

burglarized.

Diction

• Choice of words in a piece of work; the

kind of vocabulary that is used

Diction affects tone!Diction affects tone!

For example:

To a friend "a screw-up"

To a child "a mistake"

To the police "an accident"

To an employer "an oversight"

Symbolism

• A person thing or action that represents

more than itself; typically something

concrete that represents abstract concepts

like faith or courage. like faith or courage.

Example:

• Conch shell in The Lord of the Flies

HyperboleAn exaggeration for effect.

I am so hungry I could eat a horse!

You’re killing me with all that talking!

When they started making excuses for why

they couldn’t do it, she knocked them out

with all the reasons why they could.

Foil (Character)

• A minor character whose qualities and actions tend to contrast with those of a major character so that the audience can better appreciate the major can better appreciate the major character.

• In Macbeth, Banquo’s qualities, and his death, show us just how horrible Macbeth is by in contrast.

Stage Directions

• Written notes within plays which explain the

movements, appearance and inner feelings of

actors at specific points in a play.

MERCY: Oh, Jesus! (Falls back on bed. Enter

Mary Warren, breathless. She is seventeen, a

subservient, naïve girl.)

MARY: I just come from the farm, the whole

country’s talking witchcraft!

Irony• Contrast between what is generally

expected and what actually happens;

contrast between appearance and actuality

• It is said that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was to • It is said that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was to

be beheaded, a special French executioner was

hired for the job. When she greeted him, she

pressed a coin into his hand saying, “Do it

quickly, as I have but a thin neck.” But the man

was so distraught at her polite resignation that he

botched the job. It took three chops to sever her

head from her body.

Metaphor

• Comparison of two UNLIKE things —not

using like or as

• Usually linked by is/are or was/were

Examples:

She is a cow!

He’s a criminal behind the wheel.

He was a madman on the football field

UnderstatementA statement which lessens the importance of

what is meant.

Example: It’s 125 degrees in the desert and

you say, "It's a little warm today."

Your friend is in the Intensive Care Unit and

you say “He’s a little under the weather.”

Paradox

• A statement that expresses something

absurd (crazy) that is actually true.

• Example:

• The money for a music video can feed

people and provide lots of resources for

others.

Pun

•The use of a word in a

way that plays on its way that plays on its

different meanings.Ex. “The hungry gorilla went ape.”

“Shift happens”

Simile

• Comparison using like or as

• Examples:

As graceful as a three-legged elephant. As graceful as a three-legged elephant.

Dance like nobody’s looking.

As busy as a one-legged man in a butt-

kicking contest.

Personification

• You give something human traits.

Example:

The clouds were crying. The clouds were crying.

The brakes screamed as she slammed the

pedal to the floor.

Hell is gaping and waiting for sinners.

Cliché

• Keep ahead of the

pack.

• Never give up.

• Give 110 percent.

•All's fair in love and

war

•bats in the belfry

•It goes without saying

An overused phrase.

• Give 110 percent.

• She’s so phat!

• It’s a rat race.

• __________like

there’s no tomorrow.

•It goes without saying

•moment of glory

•stubborn as a mule

•what comes around,

goes around

Theme

• The central or overarching idea in a piece

of literature. Some big themes are:

• Our relationship with nature (Man vs. Nature)

• Our relationship with society (Man vs. Society)

• alienation and isolation

• disillusionment

• rebellion and protest

• loss of innocence

• coming of age

• the American Dream

Dialogue

The exact words exchanged among characters. Jesus, you startled me. I wasn’t expecting you here.

It’s been a real day for expectations. Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for

an hour. You didn’t leave a note or—

I wasn’t planning on going anywhere—

I can see that. Where’s your coat? I can see that. Where’s your coat?

I left the house in a hurry. I… um… my mother…

The hospital reached you? God, I’m sorry. That’s why—

The hospital?

They called me when they couldn’t get you.

I don’t understand.

Your mother. You said —

I ran out to buy some flowers for her. She’s been so down.

For three hours you’ve been buying flowers? http://hollylisle.com/dialogue-examples/

Imagery

Words which appeal to the senses and

so invoke sensory impressions in the

mind of the reader.mind of the reader.

MY heart aches, and a drowsy

numbness pains

My sense, as though of hemlock I had

drunk…

ToneTone is the author’s attitude toward the

writing (his characters, the situation) and the

readers. A work of writing can have more than

one tone. An example of tone could be both one tone. An example of tone could be both

serious and humorous. Tone is set by the

setting, choice of vocabulary and other details.

(Mood, on the other hand, is the general

atmosphere created by the author’s words and the

feeling the reader gets from reading those words.)

Archetypes

• Pre-existent personality patterns that lie

behind all the major characters, whether in

fiction or in real life.

There are many examples. Some are: queen, There are many examples. Some are: queen,

heroine, faithful companion, trickster,

warrior, rebel, rugged individualist, hero,

mentor, victim.

Hero/Heroine

• The chief character in a

work of literature.work of literature

Trickster

Faithful Companion

Outsider/Outcast

Rugged IndividualistRugged Individualist

Innocent

Villain

Caretaker

Earth Mother

Rebel

Misfit

Conflict

• A problem in literature

Example: Example:

Allusion

• A passing reference in a work

of literature to something

outside itself. outside itself.

Example: “Speak to my gossip

VENUS one fair word.”

Satire

• Literature which represents

something in a comical sense,

making it appear ridiculousmaking it appear ridiculous

Soliloquy

• A character speaks directly to the audience (thinking to the audience (thinking aloud about motives, feelings, and decisions)

Example:

Monologue

• A single person speaking, with or speaking, with or without an audience

Example: Saturday Night Live episode

Verbal Irony

•When someone states

one thing and means one thing and means

another

Tragedy

•Traces the career and

downfall of an downfall of an

individual

Sarcasm

• An ironical statement intended to

hurt or insult

(ex. “Brilliant,” stated to a student (ex. “Brilliant,” stated to a student

who is clearly wrong.)

Figurative & Literal Language

•Figurative Language-

an exaggerationan exaggeration

•Literal Language-

literally true

Free Verse

•Poetry that does not

have regular patterns have regular patterns

of rhyme and meter

Alliteration

A sequence of repeated

consonantal sounds in a

stretch of languagestretch of language

Example: Some late visitor entreating

entrance at my chamber door.” (from

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe)

Rhyme

Similarity of sound

between two words

End Rhyme

Poetry that rhymes at the end Poetry that rhymes at the end

of the line

Slant Rhyme

Words that sounds similar with a hint

of a rhyme (inexact rhyme)of a rhyme (inexact rhyme)

Example:

Internal Rhyme

Poetry that rhymes in Poetry that rhymes in

the middle of the line

Couplets

• Two lines by two lines that rhyme

Example:Example:

Blank Verse

•A poem written in

blank verse consists of blank verse consists of

unrhymed lines of

iambic pentameter.

Repetition

• Repeating of words or sounds in

poetry

• Example: “May the warp be…/May the

weft be…/May the border be…” (from the

“Song of the Sky Loom,” a Navajo song)

Refrain

Repeating a Stanza

Example: “Nevermore” from “The

Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Aside

• A character speaks in such a way that some of the characters on stage do the characters on stage do not hear what is said (while others do)

Catharsis

•Explains the effects of

tragic drama on an tragic drama on an

audience

English 11 Literary Terms Cont.

Caricature

• A grotesque or foolish image of a character, achieved through the achieved through the exaggeration of personality traits

Apostrophe

• A rhetorical (not requiring a

response) term for a speech

addresses to someone or addresses to someone or

something in the beginning of a

poem or essayClue: When your parents ask, “Who do you

think you are?” You are not supposed to respond.

Metonymy

• The substitution of the name of

a thing by the name of an

attribute of it, attribute of it, (Ex.the “crown” =monarchy)

Synecdoche

• A part is used to describe the

whole.

• Ex: all hands on deck=sailors

• All aboard=boarding a train

Rhetorical Question

Not requiring a response

Dialect

• The style and manner of

speaking from one particular

areaarea

(Ex.New Yorkers are from

“New Yark”)

Elevated Language/StyleElevated Language/Style

Parallelism

• The building up of sentence

or statement using repeated

syntactic units (repeated syntactic units (repeated

words and sounds)

Colloquialism/Vernacular

• The use of the kinds of

expression and grammar

associated with ordinary, associated with ordinary,

everyday speech rather than

formal languageEx. Cool, Phat!

Connotation/Denotation

• Connotation-emotional response evoked by

a word

Ex. Kitten=soft, warm, cuddly

• Denotation-literal meaning

Ex. Kitten=young cat

Stream of Consciousness

• Present the flow of a

character’s seemingly

unconnected thoughts, unconnected thoughts,

responses, and sensations.

English 11 Literary Terms

Literary Forms

Gothic

Grotesque characters, Grotesque characters,

bizarre situations, and

violent events

Historical Fiction

•Fiction that is loosely

based on some based on some

historical period

Proverb

• Short popular saying embodying a general truthtruth

Ex. “Look before you leap”

Aphorism

• A generally accepted principle or truth expressed in a short, witty expressed in a short, witty manner

Ex. “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”

Epigram

• Originally an inscription on a

monument…now used to

describe a witty saying or poem describe a witty saying or poem

with a sharp, satiric, or amusing

ending

Ex: “In God We Trust”

Tall Tale

• Humorous story characterized by exaggerationexaggeration

• Ex: Jack and the Beanstalk

English 11 Literary Terms

PoetryPoetry

Meter

• The repetition of a regular

rhythmic unit in a line of

poetry.poetry.

Foot

•One stressed syllable indicated by a `indicated by a `

•Two stressed syllables indicated by a

Iamb

•An unstressed syllable

followed by a stressed followed by a stressed

syllable

Pentameter

•Five feet

Stress

•The accent is on a

specific part of the specific part of the

word

Masculine Rhyme

•The accent is on a

specific part of the specific part of the

word, and stressed in a

deep voice.

Scansion

• The process of determining meter; when you scan a line of poetry, you mark its of poetry, you mark its stressed and unstressed syllables to identify the rhythm

Inversion

•Departure from normal

word order, common word order, common

in poetry

Assonance• The correspondence, or near-

correspondence, in two words of the

stressed vowel, and sometimes those

which follow, but not of the consonants which follow, but not of the consonants

(unlike rhyme).

Example: Can and fat food and droop

Child and silence nation and traitor

Ballad

A poem or song which

tells a story in simple, tells a story in simple,

colloquial language.Example: “O What is That Sound” by W. H.

Auden

Feminine Rhyme

• A rhyme in which two differing sounds in

two words are followed by stressed

rhyming syllables and unstressed rhyming

syllablessyllables

• Example: revival, survival, arrival