Literary Terms Flashcards
(29 cards)
The arrangement and inter-relation of events in a narrative work
Plot
The main character in a work, usually also the hero or heroin
Protagonist
The major character in opposition to the hero pr protagonist of a narrative or drama
Antagonist
The moment in a play or story at which a crisis reaches its highest intensity and is resolved
Climax
Both refers to the events following the climax and implies some ingenious resolution of the conflict
Denouncement (French word for unknotting)
Literary technique of beginning a narrative in the middle of action
In media res (Latin for “in the midst of things”)
A protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero such as courage, idealism, an fortitude
Anti-hero
The narrator is “all knowing”; take us inside the characters for thoughts and feelings
Omniscient narrator
The narrator takes us inside 1 or 2 characters
Limited omniscient narrator
Point of view is solely that of the character telling the story
First-person narrator
Setting, character, action, object, name, or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other meanings
Literary symbol
An extended narrative that carries a second meeting along with the surface story
Allegory
The distinctive manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects
Style
The author’s implicit attitude toward the people, places, and events in a story
Tone
Exists where there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens
Situational irony
A discrepancy between what a character believes or says and what the reader understands to be true
Dramatic irony
Conversational manner which may include slang expressions or dialects
Informed diction
The choice and arrangement of words in a literary work
Diction
Associations and implications that go beyond a words literal meaning
Connotation
The explicit comparison between 2 unlike things without words such as like or as
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole object or idea
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a person not present or a personified abstract is addressed
Apostrophe
A figure of speech in which emphasis is achieved by deliberate exaggeration
Hyperbole
A form of paradox in which 2 contradictory words are used together
Oxymoron
