Literary Terms

Irony• A contradiction between what happens and what

is expected.

• Situational irony occurs when an unexpected contradiction occurs with a character or situation, such as a fire station burning.

• Verbal irony occurs when something contradictory is said (that was as pleasant as a root canal).

• Dramatic irony occurs when the audience is aware of the contradiction but the speaker is not (In the Lion King, Simba thinks he is responsible for his father’s death but the audience knows it’s Scar).

Point of View• The perspective from which a story is told

• 1st person told by a character who uses the pronoun “I”

• 3rd person is told by a narrator that uses the pronouns “he” and “she”

• Limited 3rd Person: the narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only one character

• Omniscient 3rd Person: the narrator tells what each character thinks and feels

1st Person Point of View

From The Hunger Games…

“I spread out my fingers, and the dark berries glisten in the sun. I give Peeta’s hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a good-bye, and we begin counting.”

Omniscient 3rd Person Point of View John laughed hollowly. “You’re joking,” he said, wondering

how on earth he would ever get over this.

Veronica shook her head slowly. Her heart was breaking at having to tell him this news.

John stood up and banged his fist against the wall, hard, once, but that did nothing to disperse the fury coursing through him. He still couldn’t believe it. “I’ll have to leave now,” he said, thinking that he couldn’t bear to stay there another moment.

Veronica nodded slowly. He was upset now, but she knew he'd

get over it. 

Limited 3rd Person Point of View

From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:

“Only a person who wanted to find the Stone -- find it, but not use it -- would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me, that is saying something.”

Protagonist

• The main character in a literary work.

• Usually a person, but it can be an animal.

Antagonist

• A character, or force, that is in conflict with the main character, or protagonist.

• Voldemort in Harry Potter series

Characterization

• The act of creating and developing a character

Flat character

• One-sided and often stereotypical

• Example: Hagrid or Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter series

Round character

• A fully developed character that often displays many traits, such as faults and virtues.

• Harry Potter, Katniss, Ponyboy

Unreliable Narrator

• A narrator who can’t be trusted, either from ignorance or self-interest. This narrator speaks with bias, makes mistakes, or even lies.

• Examples: children and madmen

• Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Oxymoron

• Two opposite or contradictory works linked together

• Examples: Jumbo shrimp, living dead, dark light

Theme

• The central message or purpose in a literary work.

• It can be expressed as a generalization about life.

• Theme can be stated directly or indirectly.

ImageryThe descriptive words or phrases a writer uses to represent persons, objects, actions, feelings, and ideas to appeal to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste & touch).

Types of imagery:

light, dark, , color, animal

“The tornado twisted through the town hurling hail and rain.”

Simile: A comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words LIKE or AS.“He was as tall as a giant.”

Metaphor: A comparison of two unlike things not using like or as.

“My uncle is a giant.”

Idiom

An accepted phrase or expression having a meaning different from the literal.

“He gets up with the chickens.”

Alliteration

Words grouped together with the same beginning sounds

Slimy, slithering snakes

Allusion

A reference to a literary, mythological, or historical person, place or thing.

“Did you see that Hercules move he made?”

Personification

Writing that gives animals, inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.

The spider waits and wonders for the unsuspecting fly.

Foreshadowing

The use in a literary work of clues that suggest events that have yet to come.

“Sam wished he could rid himself of the sick feeling in his gut that told him something terrible was going to happen, and happen soon.”

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like their meaning:

Hiss, plop, bang

Hyperbole

A deliberate, extravagant and often outrageous exaggeration; may be used for either serious or comic effect.

“I tried a thousand times.”

“I nearly died laughing.”

Symbolism

• The use of symbols or objects to represent certain elements in a literary work.

• Harry Potter’s scar symbolizes a badge of honor for surviving Voldemort’s attack.

Mood•The atmosphere or feeling created in a reader by a literary work.

•Mood shifts can occur in the literary work.

Tone

The writer’s attitude or feeling toward a person, a thing, a place, an event or situation.

Tone can be light-hearted, serious, optimistic.

Diction

• The writer or speaker’s word choice.

• Formal or informal

• Denotation: the dictionary meaning

• Connotation: the emotional meaning of a word; it can be positive or negative

• Example: a lake is an inland body of water represents denotation; a vacation spot represents connotation

Genre

• A type of literature

• 3 major genres: poetry, prose, drama

Aphorism• An original thought, spoken or written in a concise

and memorable form• Also associated with maxim, adage, proverb• Examples:

"Your children need your presence more than your presents."(Jesse Jackson)

"The first rule of Fight Club is--you do not talk about Fight Club."(Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Fight Club)

Epigram

• A brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement

• Example of poetic aphorism:

Little strokes

Fell great oaks. — Benjamin Franklin

Here lies my wife: here let her lie!

Now she's at rest – and so am I. — John Dryden