Literature senior 1

1. LITERARY TERMS
e will be using these literary terms
throughout the school year.

2. LITERARY TERMS:
Character Antagonist Protagonist
Denotation Connotation Alliteration
Imagery Mood Plot Tone Theme
Rising Action Climax Setting
Falling Action Resolution Conflict
Flashback Foreshadowing Point of View
Metaphor Simile Oxymoron Personification

3. CHARACTER
character is a person or an
animal that takes part in the
action of a literary work.

4. ANTAGONIST
he Antagonist is a character or force in conflict
with a main character, or protagonist.

5. PROTAGONIST
he Protagonist is the main character in a
literary work
an you name some famous Protagonists
that are found in literature?

6. DENOTATION
he denotation of a word is its
dictionary meaning, independent of
other associations that the word may
have.

7. CONNOTATION
he connotation of a word is the set of ideas
associated with it in addition to its explicit meaning.
The connotation of a word can be personal, based
on individual experiences. More often, cultural
connotations – those recognizable by most people
in a group – determine a writer’s word choices.

8. DENOTATION VERSUS
CONNOTATION
ome examples –
heap is “low in cost” (denotation) but “stingy” or “poorly made” are
the connotations of cheap

9. IMAGERY
magery is words or phrases that appeal to
one or more of the five senses. Writers use
imagery to describe how their subjects look,
sound, feel, taste, and smell.

10. MOOD
ood, or atmosphere, is the feeling created in
the reader by a literary work or passage.
Writer’s use many devices to create mood,
including images, dialogue, setting, and plot.
Often, a writer creates a mood at the
beginning of a work and then sustains the
mood throughout. Sometimes, however, the
mood of the work changes dramatically.

11. PLOT
lot is the sequence of events.
n most novels, dramas, short stories, and narrative
poems, the plot involves both characters and a
central conflict.
he plot usually begins with an exposition that
introduces the setting, the characters, and the
basic situation. This is introduced and developed.
The conflict then increases until it reaches a high
point of interest or suspense, the climax. The
climax is followed by the falling action, or end,
of the central conflict. Any events that occur
during the falling action make up the resolution.

12. PLOTLINE
Exposition
Resolution
RisingAction
Climax
FallingActionConflict Introduced

13. RISING ACTION
ising Action is the part of the plot that
begins to occur as soon as the conflict is
introduced. The rising action adds
complications to the conflict and increases
reader interest.

14. CLIMAX
he Climax is the point of greatest emotional
intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot of
a narrative. The climax typically comes at
the turning point in a story or drama.

15. FALLING ACTION
alling Action is the action that
typically follows the climax and
reveals its results.

16. RESOLUTION
he Resolution is the part of the
plot that concludes the falling
action by revealing or suggesting
the outcome of the conflict.

17. CONFLICT
onflict is the struggle between
opposing forces in a story or play.
There are two types of conflict that

18. EXTERNAL CONFLICT
xternal conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside force, such as
another character, nature, society, or fate.
an vs. Man
an vs. Nature

19. INTERNAL
CONFLICT
nternal conflict exists within the mind of a character who is torn between different
courses of action.
an vs. Himself

20. FLASHBACK
flashback is a literary device in which an
earlier episode, conversation, or event is
inserted into the sequence of events. Often
flashbacks are presented as a memory of the
narrator or of another character.

21. FORESHADOWING
oreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what might
happen later in the story. Writers use foreshadowing to build their
readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help
readers prepare for what is to come.

22. POINT OF VIEW
oint of View is the perspective, or vantage point, from
which a story is told. It is the relationship of the narrator to
the story.
irst-person is told by a character who uses the first-person
pronoun “I”.
hird-person limited point of view is the point of view where
the narrator uses third-person pronouns such as “he” and
“she” to refer to the characters.

23. SETTING
he setting of a literary work is the time and place of the
action.
he setting includes all the details of a place and time –
the year, the time of day, even the weather. The place
may be a specific country, state, region, community,
neighborhood, building, institution, or home.
etails such as dialect, clothing, customs, and modes of
transportation are often used to establish setting.
n most stories, the setting serves as a backdrop – a
context in which the characters interact. The setting of
a story often helps to create a particular mood, or
feeling.

24. THEME
he theme of a literary work is its central
message, concern, or purpose. A theme can
usually be expressed as a generalization, or
general statement, about people or life. The
theme may be stated directly by the writer
although it is more often presented indirectly.
When the theme is stated indirectly, the reader
must figure out the theme by looking carefully
at what the work reveals about the people or
about life.

25. TONE
one is a reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a
subject of a poem, story, or other literary work. Tone may be
communicated through words and details that express
particular emotions and that evoke and emotional response
from the reader.
or example, word choice or phrasing may seem to convey
respect, anger, lightheartedness, or sarcasm.

26. METAPHOR
Metaphor is a type of speech that compares or equates two or more things
that have something in common. A metaphor does NOT use like or as.
xample: Life is a bowl of cherries.

27. SIMILE
Simile is another figure of speech that compares seemingly unlike
things. Simile’s DO use the words like or as.
xample: Her voice was like nails on a
chalkboard.

28. OXYMORON
n Oxymoron is a figure of speech that is a combination of seemingly
contradictory words.
xamples: Same difference
Pretty ugly
Roaring silence

29. PERSONIFICATION
ersonification is a figure of speech in which an
animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given
human qualities or characteristics.
xample: Tears began to fall from the dark
clouds.

30. ALLITERATION
lliteration is the repetition of sounds, most often consonant sounds,
at the beginning of words. Alliteration gives emphasis to words.
xample: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers