English 11 Literary Terms

Voice• Voice has two meanings. First, voice is how you, as the

reader, hear the author speaking. It is the combination of qualities that conveys the author's unique attitude, personality, and character.

• In the second meaning, voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of narrator that may be a creation, or persona, of the writer.

• Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.

Dramatic Irony

• When readers know more about the situation than the characters do

• Example: In a murder mystery novel, we see the murderer’s movements but the detective doesn’t.

Situational Irony

• Contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen

Example: A police station is burglarized.

Diction• Choice of words in a piece of work; the

kind of vocabulary that is used

Diction affects tone!For example:

To a friend "a screw-up" To a child "a mistake" To the police "an accident" To an employer "an oversight"

Symbolism

• A person thing or action that represents more than itself; typically something concrete that represents abstract concepts like faith or courage.

Example:

• Conch shell in The Lord of the Flies

HyperboleAn exaggeration for effect.

I am so hungry I could eat a horse!

You’re killing me with all that talking!

When they started making excuses for why they couldn’t do it, she knocked them out

with all the reasons why they could.

Foil (Character)• A minor character whose qualities and

actions tend to contrast with those of a major character so that the audience can better appreciate the major character.

• In Macbeth, Banquo’s qualities, and his death, show us just how horrible Macbeth is by in contrast.

Stage Directions

• Written notes within plays which explain the movements, appearance and inner feelings of actors at specific points in a play.

MERCY: Oh, Jesus! (Falls back on bed. Enter Mary Warren, breathless. She is seventeen, a subservient, naïve girl.)

MARY: I just come from the farm, the whole country’s talking witchcraft!

Irony• Contrast between what is generally expected

and what actually happens; contrast between appearance and actuality

• It is said that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was to be beheaded, a special French executioner was hired for the job. When she greeted him, she pressed a coin into his hand saying, “Do it quickly, as I have but a thin neck.” But the man was so distraught at her polite resignation that he botched the job. It took three chops to sever her head from her body.

Metaphor

• Comparison of two UNLIKE things —not using like or as

• Usually linked by is/are or was/were

Examples:

She is a cow!

He’s a criminal behind the wheel.

He was a madman on the football field

UnderstatementA statement which lessens the importance of what is meant.

Example: It’s 125 degrees in the desert and you say, "It's a little warm today."

Your friend is in the Intensive Care Unit and you say “He’s a little under the weather.”

Paradox

• A statement or situation that seems contradictory but nevertheless expresses some truth.

• The money for a music video can feed people and provide lots of resources for others.

• Al Capone gave money to poor people.

Pun• A play on words. You use the

word in a way that plays on its different meanings.

Ex. “The hungry gorilla went ape.”

“Shift happens”

“She got the gold mine and I got the shaft.”

Simile

• Comparison using like or as

• Examples:

As graceful as a three-legged elephant.

Dance like nobody’s looking.

As busy as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

Personification

• You give something human traits.

Example:

The clouds were crying.

The brakes screamed as she slammed the pedal to the floor.

Hell is gaping and waiting for sinners.

Cliché

• Keep ahead of the pack.

• Never give up. • Give 110 percent. • She’s so phat!• It’s a rat race. • __________like

there’s no tomorrow.

•All's fair in love and war•bats in the belfry•It goes without saying •moment of glory•stubborn as a mule•what comes around, goes around

An overused phrase.

Theme

• The central or overarching idea in a piece of literature. Some big themes are:

• Our relationship with nature (Man vs. Nature) • Our relationship with society (Man vs. Society) • alienation and isolation • disillusionment• rebellion and protest • loss of innocence• coming of age• the American Dream

DialogueThe exact words exchanged among characters. Jesus, you startled me. I wasn’t expecting you here.

It’s been a real day for expectations. Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for an hour. You didn’t leave a note or—

I wasn’t planning on going anywhere—

I can see that. Where’s your coat?

I left the house in a hurry. I… um… my mother…

The hospital reached you? God, I’m sorry. That’s why—

The hospital?

They called me when they couldn’t get you.

I don’t understand.

Your mother. You said —

I ran out to buy some flowers for her. She’s been so down.

For three hours you’ve been buying flowers? http://hollylisle.com/dialogue-examples/

ImageryWords which appeal to the senses and so invoke sensory impressions in the mind of the reader.

MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains     

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk…

ToneTone is the author’s attitude toward the writing (his characters, the situation) and the readers. A work of writing can have more than one tone. An example of tone could be both serious and humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice of vocabulary and other details.

(Mood, on the other hand, is the general atmosphere created by the author’s words and the feeling the reader gets from reading those words.)