Characterization

Literary Definitions
By: Tristan, Cassie, Josef
Plot
 - all the events in a story particularly rendered
towards the achievement of some particular
artistic or emotional effect.
 is the struggle found in fiction. Conflict/Plot may
be internal or external and is best seen in (1)
Man in conflict with another Man: (2) Man in
conflict in Nature; (3) Man in conflict with self.

Settings
 - includes the time, location, and everything
in a story that takes place, and initiates
the main backdrop and mood for a story.
 In the book, Twilight, the setting is in Forks,
Washington and Phoenix, Arizona
  

Point-Of-View
 -describes from which
grammatical person’s
perspective the story is
perceived.
 First person: (includes
the thoughts and
perspective of one
main character,
who's telling his/her
own story)
 Second person: (turns
the reader into the
character)
 Third person selective
singular: (includes
the thoughts and
perspective of one
main character)

Characterization
 - the process of conveying information about characters in
narrative or dramatic works of art or everyday conversation.
 is the method used by a writer to develop a character. The method
includes (1) showing the character's appearance, (2) displaying
the character's actions, (3) revealing the character's thoughts,
(4) letting the character speak, and (5) getting the reactions of
others. Example is in the book twilight, Edward Cullen is
described as a charming, polite, determined, and very stubborn,
protective of a girl he loves, girl describes him impossibly
beautiful.
Theme
 - the main idea of a essay, paragraph, or
book.
 "jealousy" (in Shakespeare's Othello)
Alliteration
 - a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in
repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of
several words in close succession.
 Coleridge describes the sacred river Alph in Kubla Khan as
"Five miles meandering with a mazy motion," which
alliterates with the consonant m.
 My example- Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
Allusion
 - an expression designed to call something to mind without
mentioning it explicitly.
 - An expression used to give you a picture of something in
your mind without directly saying what that thing is. .
 Were you born in a barn?
 Instead of saying you are dirty or you are an animal. You
express something to make people think what belongs in
a barn? They will visualize an animal, but you never say
the word animal.


Analogy
 - a comparison between two things.
 Example- Bella once said, "His eyes were like
liquid topaz." She was talking about Edward's
gold-colored eyes. From the book Twilight
 Comparing something/someone to something or
someone familiar. Comparing the characteristics
of something or someone to express better
understanding or clarity.


Antagonist
 - a person who actively opposes or is hostile
to someone or something.
 the enemy, it can be a thing in addition
to person.
 In the book, Twilight, the Nomads and James
are Antagonist.
Aside
 - to one side; out of the way.
 The Changeling' by Thomas Middleton:
DEFLORES [Aside] Will't never mend, this
scorn, One side nor other? Must I be
enjoin'd To follow still whilst she flies from
me? Well, Fates do your worst, I'll please
myself with sight Of her, at all
opportunities, If but to spite her anger.
Blank Verse
 - verse without rhyme.
 As an example, in Shakespeare's A Midsummer
Night's Dream, Theseus' speech to Hippolyta
appears in blank verse:
he poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,Doth glance

from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;And,

as imagination bodies forthThe forms of things
unknown, the poet's penTurns them to shapes
and gives to airy nothingA local habitation and a
name. (5.1.12-17)
Climax
 - the most intense, exciting, or important point of
something.
 Big fight sequence; finding the treasure; hero
enters villain's lair and rescues the maiden; the
mega-storm happens; girl and boy go out on
date at last.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/
plots/five_stage/climax.htm
Comic Relief
 - comic episodes in a dramatic or literary
work that offset more serious sections.
 Example-The Porter scene in Macbeth, the
grave-digger scene in Hamlet and the
gulling of Roderigo provide immense comic
relief. The mockery of the fool in King Lear
may also be regarded as a comic relief[

Conflict
 - a serious disagreement or argument.
 They were fighting.

Couplet
 - two lines of a verse, usually in the same
meter and joined by a rhyme, that form a
unit.
 I found a starfish in the bay
when I was fishing
yesterday source:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4979748/exa
mple-of-a-couplet-poem
Diction
 - the choice and use of words and phrases in
speech or writing.
 Wordsworth campaigned against
exaggerated poetic diction. Source –
dashboard dictionary
Dramatic Irony
 - the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at
least one characters in the narrative is unaware of, thus placing
the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters.
 the contrast is between what the audience knows (a murderer
waits in the bedroom) and what a character says (the victim
enters the bedroom, innocently saying, "I think I'll have a long
sleep").Source - http://www.google.com/search?
hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=define:dramatic+irony&defl=en
&ei=c3VoS6-
AMI6QsgOKpNj1BA&sa=X&oi=definer&ct=&cd=1&ved=0CAQQo
wMoAA
Dramatic Structure
 - the structure of a dramatic work such as a
play or film.
 The play was made up of 5 scenes.
Epithet
 - an adjective or descriptive phrase
expressing a quality characteristic of the
person or thing mentioned.
 They did a very good job on painting that
house.
Figurative Language
 - a distinction in traditional systems for
analyzing language.
 As she was reading, she started to
understand the words more then their
literal meaning.
Foreshadowing
 - a literary technique used by many different
authors to provide clues for the reader to
be able to predict what might occur later
on in the story.
 Before I finished reading the book, I had an
idea on how the story was going to end.

Foil
 - prevent from succeeding.
 The characters in the book were very
different from one another.
Imagery
 - visually descriptive or figurative language.
 The story makes you visually think of what’s
going on at that time period.

Irony
 - an expression of one’s meaning by using
language that normally signifies the opposite.
 "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent" source
-http://www.google.com/search?
hl=en&source=hp&q=define
%3A+irony&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=
Meter
 - the basic rhythmic structure of a verse.
 the Horatian ode has an intricate governing
meter | unexpected changes of stress and
meter. Source – dashboard dictionary
Metaphor
 - a figure of speech in which a word of phrase is
applied to an object or action to which it is not
literally applicable.
 “I had fallen through a trapdoor of depression,” said
Mark, who was fond of theatrical metaphors | her
poetry depends on suggestion and metaphor. Source
– dashboard dictionary
Monologue
 - a long speech by one actor in a play or movie.
 “ As young as I am, I have observed these three
swashers. I am boy to all three; but all three,
though they would not serve me, could not be
man to me; for indeed three such antics do not
amount to a man.” – Henry V By: William
Shakespeare

Oxymoron
 - a figure of speech in which apparently
contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
 “ amateur expert” -
http://www.oxymoronlist.com/amateur-
expert/
Personification
 - the attribution of a personal nature or human
characteristics to something non-human.
 “ He did not realize that his last chance was
walking out the door.”-
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/reference/exam
Protagonist
 - the leader or one of the major characters
in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional
texts.
 Edward and Bella are protagonists in the
book Twilight.

Pun
 - a joke exploiting the different possible
meanings of a word or the fact that there are
words alike but have different meanings.
 “A dog not only has a fur coat but also pants.”-
http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/bedford/harrisms/puns
Rhyme Scheme
 - the ordered pattern at the ends of the lines of a
poem or verse.
 There once was a big brown cat      a                 
That liked to eat a lot of mice.         b                 
He got all round and fat                   a                 
Because they tasted so nice.            b
- http://www.rbuhsd.k12.ca.us/~rgrow/Rhyme

%20Schemes.html
Simile
 - a figure of speech involving the comparison of
one thing to another thing of a different kind.
 “It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing
kids around with power tools”-
http://writingenglish.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/
the-25-funniest-analogies-collected-by-high-
school-english-teachers/
Situational Irony
 - describes a discrepancy between the expected result and
the actual results.
 “In literature, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
provides an example of tragic situational irony. Juliet takes
a drug to fake her death, Romeo however takes poison as
he believes Juliet to be dead, when she awakens from her
self-induced coma, she finds Romeo's body and thus kills
herself for real.”-
http://www.ironyexamples.com/situational-irony/
Soliloquy
 - a literary device often used in drama whereby a character
relates his or her thoughts and feelings without
addressing any of the other characters.
 “To play or not to playWhether it's nobler in the mind
to sufferThan to be in pain on the courtOr suck it
up and playAnd by defeating your adversary, to
pain: to swell”-
http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/hamlet/exam
ples_of_hamlet_soliloquy.htm
Sonnet
 - a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number
of formal rhyme schemes.
 “She was found to wilt . With words she scours .
Ivory towers . The thick walls she built . Well
tarnished with guilt .”- Excerpt of Her Wilting
Regrets By: Paul McCann
Symbol
- a thing that represents or stands for
something else.
- “bright sunshine symbolizes goodness and
water is a symbolic cleanser.”-
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/liter
ary_elements.htm
Tragedy
 - an event causing great suffering.
 "For never was a story of more woe / Than
this of Juliet and her Romeo.”-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juli
et
Verbal Irony
 - verbal irony is intentionally produced.
 ".....I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I
swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I
hate, rather than Paris ...”-
http://www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet/q-
and-a/what-some-examples-verbal-irony-
romeo-juliet-70761
