Literature term Flashcards
(29 cards)
Plot
the main events of a play,
static character
dramatic character who undergoes little or no inner change
Foil character
character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character
Dynamic character
character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude.
Protagonist
the leading character or one of the major characters
Antagonist
a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something
Setting
is the time and place in which the story takes place also include social statuses, weather, historical period, and details about immediate surroundings
Theme
central topic of a story.
Point of view
is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see”
omniscient (all-knowing) narrator
third-person narration in which the teller of the tale, who often appears to speak with the voice of the author himself, assumes an omniscient (all-knowing) perspective on the story being told
Limited narrator
narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character
Objetive narrator
objective narration not describing the feelings or thoughts of any characters.
stream of consciousness
a person’s thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow
tone
is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience
style
it is the technique which an individual author uses in his writing
simile
a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind
metaphor
a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
oxymoron
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
Personification
the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
anaphora
the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition
Asyndeton
the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence
alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Polysyndeton
stylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect.
symbol
the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.
