lit terms ms levine

Literary Terms

You Should KnowIn your notes, write the definition, and one example for each term.

Figurative Language• a tool a writer uses to help the

reader visualize what is happening in a piece of writing.

• Helps create IMAGERY, see the images that are written.

Imagery• the use of vivid sensory description

to create mental pictures. - The room was dark and musty and smelled like an old shoe.

- The blueberries were as big as your thumb and tasted like an berry explosion.

- We heard the horses hoofs clatter on the cobblestone street.

Metaphor• The definition of a metaphor is "a figure of

speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another

• -He was addicted to love - Sea of grief - Broken Heart - Rug rats

• George is a sheep.

Simile• two unlike things are compared using

the word "like" or "as" followed by a figurative example.-The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky.

- Her feet were bigger than boats.

- They fought like cats and dogs.

Personification• giving human qualities to non-human

objects

-

• - The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell.

- The car engine coughed and sputtered as it started.

- The microwave timer told me my pizza was ready.

Hyperbole• the use of a big exaggeration

to make a point or for effect.

- He has tons of money.

- Her brain is the size of a pea.

- I’ve told you a million times to capitalize people’s names.

Oxymorons• Two contradicting terms, words or phrases

brought together to create a new idea.• Young adult• Accidently on purpose• Military intelligence• I burn and freeze like ice• Civil war• Cautiously optimistic• Clearly confused• Random order• Big baby

Alliteration• repetition of an initial sound;

there should be at least two repetitions in a row

- The wooly walrus wonders when we’ll walk by.

- Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

- Peter Piper picks pickled peppers.

Consonance

• Similarity between consonants in a line of poetry, prose or dialogue

“Amidst the mist of fearsome frost with barest wrists and stoutest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the post and still insist he sees the ghost.”

Assonance

• In poetry, a repetition of vowel sounds

• "I lie down by the side of my bride"/"Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese"/"Hear the lark and harden to the barking of the dark fox gone to ground” --Pink Floyd

Onomatopoeia

•when a word sounds like what it represents

- splash -kiss- drip -whisper- smush -pow- splat -kaboom

Irony

• Sarcasm• Something humorous based on a

contradiction• Absurdity and Inconsistency

Dramatic Irony

• a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.

• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/in-on-a-secret-that-s-dramatic-irony-christopher-warner

Situational Irony

• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/situational-irony-the-opposite-of-what-you-think-christopher-warner

Verbal Irony

• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-verbal-irony-christopher-warner