Literary Terms - 9H
Literary Terms You Must Know – 9H
A. In your notebook, organize the list of words below into the 5 categories that follow. Some of the terms may fit into more than one category. Justify your choices:
allude to/ allusion
antagonist
climax
conflict (internal/external)
connotation
convention
denotation
denouement
diction
exposition
falling action
flashback
foreshadowing
genre
hyperbole
irony
imagery (visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic)
local color
metaphor/simile
narrator (omniscient, unreliable, 1st person, 3rd person)
oxymoron
paradox
point of view (also 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narrative)
protagonist
rising action
symbol/symbolism
theme
characterization (direct and indirect)
tone
voice
Plot Character Setting Ideas Language
B. Match the definitions below with the literary terms listed on the previous page:
1) People, places, or things used to represent something else.
2) A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, with or without the word like or as.
3) The sequence of events that follow the climax and end in the resolution.
4) A condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together.
5) A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning.
6) The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.
7) A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without in-tending to be literally true.
8) The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice.
9) A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.
10) A French word meaning kind or type. The major genres in literature are poetry, fiction, drama, and essays.
11) The dictionary meaning of a word
12) The character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story.
13) The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express.
14) Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word.
15) The part of a story that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the action.
16) Language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
17) The events following the climax of a drama or novel in which some sort of resolution or clarification takes place.
18) The main character in a drama or other literary work.
19) A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature.
20) A moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a crisis.
21) Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told.
22) A narrated scene that marks a break in the narrative in order to inform the reader or audience member about events that took place before the opening scene of a work.
23) A characteristic of a literary genre (often unrealistic) that is understood and accepted by audiences because it has come, through usage and time, to be recognized as a familiar technique.
24) The use of regional detail in a literary or an artistic work.
25) The series of events that lead to the climax of the story, usually the conflicts or struggles of the protagonist.
26) The attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character.
27) A statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense.
28) The struggle within the plot between opposing forces or between a character and himself.
C. Describe how Harper Lee uses 3 of the above literary devices in TKAM. Give specific examples.