Download Elements of Literature Final Exam Literary Terms Alliteration

Elements of Literature
Final Exam Literary Terms
Alliteration
Allusion
Antagonist
Assonance
Repetition of initial consonant sounds EX: “while I pondered weak and weary.” (Poe)
a reference to a well-known person, place event, literary work, myth, or work of art
(Classical Allusions, which are references to Greek and Roman history and mythology,
are often used by Shakespeare)
a character or force in conflict with the main character
Repetition of vowel sounds EX: Romeo: “So shows a snowy dove trooping with
crows" (“Oh” sound is repeated)
Character Foil a character who serves as a contrast to another character EX: Nurse and Lady Capulet
Colloquial Language ordinary, everyday speech
Conflict
opposition between characters or forces in a work of literature-- Standard conflicts are
person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. nature, person vs. society
Consonance repetition of consonant sounds within words EX: “And the silken, sad uncertain rustling
of each purple curtain…” (Poe) The “S” sound is repeated.
Diction
a writer’s or speaker’s choice of words
Drama
a work intended for performance by actors on a stage
Dramatic Irony when the reader or audience knows more than one of the characters on stage/when the
reader or audience knows something that the characters do not know
Dynamic Character
a character who grows, learns, changes through the events of a story
Flashback
an interruption of the chronological sequence of a story to describe an earlier event
Flat Character a character who embodies only one main character trait and does not change in the
course of the story
Hyperbole
exaggeration
Iambic Pentameter
a meter in poetry made up of 5 units of an unstressed syllable followed by an
stressed syllable. Shakespeare’s plays are written iambic pentameter, also known as
blank verse EX: “A pair/of star-/crossed lov/ers take/ their lives.” (daDUM x5)
Imagery
description that appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)
Interior Monologue
a passage of writing presenting a character's inner thoughts and emotions
Metaphor
a comparison, does not use “like” or “as” EX: “Juliet is the sun.”
Monologue
speech given by one character
Narrator
person telling the story
Oxymoron
two contradictory terms combined
Personification an object, idea or animal is given human thoughts, feelings or attributes
Point of view (first person) told from the narrator’s viewpoint, using “I” and “We”
Point of view (third person omniscient) told from the viewpoint of an all-knowing narrator who can
comment on or reveal all of the different characters’ thoughts and feelings
Protagonist
the main character in a literary work, faces the major conflict
Round Character
a character who is fully developed with a variety of traits, both good and bad,
and background
Setting
the time and place of a story
Simile
a comparison using “like” or “as” EX: Lord Capulet “Death lies on her like an
untimely frost/ Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”
Situational irony
Contrast between what the reader expects to happen and what actually
happens
Soliloquy
Sonnet
Symbol
Theme
Tragedy
Verbal Irony
in a play, a character speaks while alone on stage in order to reveal his or her
thoughts to the audience
a poem with fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with a specific rhyme
scheme
something that stands for or represents something else
the main idea or message (not a lesson) of a work of art
a type of serious drama that ends in disaster or downfall (usually death) for the main
character/s; the tragic ending may be caused by character flaws, fate or a combination
of both
intentionally saying the opposite of what is meant; saying one thing and meaning
another