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.
 "The room was warm and clean, the curtains
drawn, the two table lamps alight - hers
and the one by the empty chair opposite. 
On the sideboard behind her, two tall
glasses, soda water, whiskey.  Fresh ice
cubes in the Thermos bucket". Book is
Lamb to Slaughter.
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 Edward Cullen is 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.
Allusion
 - an expression designed to call something
to mind without mentioning it explicitly.
 Like a magician having a hat bringing a
rabbit out of his hat but really it probably
wasn’t there before he mustve did
something to make it look like magic
Analogy
 - a comparison between two things.
 a child who states, "I broked the toy"
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.ht
ml
Antagonist
 - a person who actively opposes or is hostile
to someone or something.
 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/storyt
elling/plots/five_stage/climax.htm
Comic Relief
 - comic episodes in a dramatic or literary
work that offset more serious sections.
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:dramat
ic+irony&defl=en&ei=c3VoS6-
AMI6QsgOKpNj1BA&sa=X&oi=definer&ct=&cd
=1&ved=0CAQQowMoAA
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/referenc
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/harrism
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/ha
mlet/examples_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
