Literary Terms

Atmosphere

• The mood or emotional qualities of the scene

• Example: A stormy night creates a creepy, scary atmosphere.

Character

• Someone in the story• The main character is sometimes also

known as the protagonist.

Characterization

• How the author reveals the character• How you know whether or not to like the

character• The story details that let you judge the

character

Stages of a Story

• The typical process a story’s plot goes through as it progresses from beginning to end.

• Opening/Exposition• Rising Action• Climax• Falling Action• Resolution/Conclusion

Foreshadowing

• Clues or hints at what’s to come• Example: The character may have a

dream that someone dies. Later in the story, another character is killed.

Hyperbole

• Exaggeration• Example: “It’s so hot in here that I think I’m

melting.” or “I’m starving to death. When is lunch?”

Imagery

• “Word Pictures”• Example: The softly rustling leaves gently

moved in a caressing breeze along the banks of the happily bubbling stream in the quiet, shaded woods.

Irony

• When the opposite you expect happens.• Example: It was ironic when the student

with the worst eyesight turned out to have the smallest project.

Simile/Metaphor

• Both compare two things that don’t normally go together.

• Similes use “like” or “as” in the comparison as in, “My sister’s hair flows like a brown river.”

• Metaphors do not use “like” or “as;” for example, “My sister’s hair is a flowing river of brown.”

Personification

• Something not human is given human qualities

• Example: The sky wept sadly all week long.

Point of view

• The relationship of the narrator to the story.

• Types of point of view:– 1st person– 3rd person limited– 3rd person omniscient

Symbolism

• Something that represents a larger idea• Example: A dove sometimes symbolizes

or represents peace.

Theme

• The main idea or message of the story.

Onomatopoeic

• A word that is spelled to represent a sound.

• Example: buzz, fizz, whoosh

Alliteration

• A phrase where the initial (beginning) sound is repeated in most words.

• Example: The first fellow fell forward.

Analogy

• A comparison between two things that may have one aspect in common. Similar to a simile or metaphor, but it can be an entire story, passage, or just a phrase.

Rhyme Scheme

• The pattern of rhyming words in a poem.• Example:Two roads diverged in a yellow woodAnd sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the under growth