Literary Writing

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TERMS
Words to be remembered in literary writing
Allegory:
A story in which the characters
represent abstract qualities or
ideas. For example, in
westerns, the sheriff represents
the good, and
the outlaw represents evil.
Alliteration:
The repetition of first consonants
in a group of words as in Peter
Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled
Peppers.
Allusion:
A reference to something or
someone often literary. For
instance, if you were trying to
instill confidence in a friend and
said, Use the force, that would
be an allusion to Stars Wars. The
verb form of allusion is to allude.
Antagonist:
A major character who opposes
the protagonist in a story or play.
Archetype:
A character who represents a
certain type of person. For
example, Daniel Boone is an
archetype of the early American
frontiersman.
Assonance:
The repetition of vowel
sounds as in Days wane away.
Atmosphere:
The overall feeling of a work,
which is related to tone and
mood.
Blank verse:
Unrhymed lines of poetry
usually in iambic pentameter.
Plenty of modern poetry is written
in blank verse.
Characterization:
The means by which an author
establishes character. An author
may directly describe the
appearance and personality of
character or show it through
action or dialogue.
Climax:
The point at which the action in a
story or play reaches its
emotional peak.
Conflict:
The elements that create a plot.
Traditionally, every plot is build
from the most basic elements of a
conflict and an eventual resolution.
The conflict can be internal (within
one character) or external (among
or between characters, society,
and/or nature).
Contrast:
To explain how two things differ.
To compare and contrast is to
explain how two things are alike
and how they are different.
Couplets:
A pair of rhyming lines in a poem
often set off from the rest of the
poem. Shakespeares sonnets all
end in couplets.
Denouement:
The resolution of the conflict in a plot
after the climax. It also refers to the
resolution of the action in a story or
play after the principal drama is
resolvedin other words, tying up
the loose ends or wrapping up a
story.
Dramatic Monologue:
A poem with a fictional narrator
addressed to someone who
identity the audience knows, but
who does not say anything.
Elegy:
A poem mourning the dead.
End rhyme:
Rhyming words that are at the
ends of their respective lines
what we typically think of as
normal rhyme.
Epic:
A long poem narrating the
adventures of a heroic figure
for example, Homers The
Odyssey.
Fable:
A story that illustrates a moral
often using animals as the
characterfor example, The
Tortoise and the Hare.
Figurative Language:
Language that does not mean
exactly what it says. For
example, you can call someone
who is very angry steaming.
Unless steam was actually coming
out of your ears, you were using
figurative language.
First Person Point of View: The
point of view of writing which the
narrator refers to himself as I.
Foreshadowing:
A technique in which an author
gives clues about something that
will happen later in the story.
Free Verse:
Poetry with no set
meter (rhythm) or
rhyme scheme.
Genre:
A kind of style usually art or
literature. Some literary genres
are mysteries, westerns, and
romances.
Hyperbole:
A huge exaggeration. For
example, Dans the funniest guy
on the planet! or That baseball
card is worth a zillion dollars!
Iambic pentameter:
Ten-syllable lines in which every
other syllable is stressed. For
example: With eyes like stars
upon the brave night air.
Imagery:
The use of description that helps the
reader imagine how something
looks, sounds, feels, smells, or taste.
Most of the time, it refers to
appearance. For example, The
young birds white, feathered wings
flutter as he made his way across
the nighttime sky.
Internal rhyme:
A rhyme that occurs within one
line such as Hes King of the
Swing.
Irony:
Language that conveys a certain
ideas by saying just he opposite.
Literal Language:
Language that means
exactly what it says.
Lyric:
A type of poetry that expresses
the poets emotions. It often tells
some sort of brief story, engaging
the reading in the experience.
Metaphor:
A comparison that doesnt use
like or assuch as Hes a
rock or I am an island.
Meter:
The pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in the lines of
a poem.
Monologue:
A long speech by one character in
a play or story.
Mood:
The emotional atmosphere of a
given piece of writing.
Motif:
A theme or pattern that
recurs in a work.
Myth:
A legend that embodies the beliefs
of people and offers some
explanation for natural and social
phenomena.
Onomatopoeia:
The use of words that sound like
what they mean such as buzz.
Paradox:
A seeming contradiction.
For example, It was the best
of times. It was the worst of
times.
Parody:
A humorous, exaggerated
imitation of another work.
Personification:
Giving inanimate object human
characteristics. For example, The
flames reached for the child
hovering in the corner.
Plot:
The action in the story.
Prose:
Writing organized into sentences
and paragraphs. In other words,
normal writingnot poetry.
Protagonist:
The main character of a novel,
play, or story.
Pun:
The use of a word in a way that
plays on its different meanings.
For example, Noticing the bunch
of bananas, the hungry gorilla
went ape.
Quatrain:
A four-line stanza.
Rhetorical Question:
A question not meant to be
answered such as Why cant we
just get along?
Sarcasm:
Language that conveys a certain
idea by saying just he opposite
such as if its raining outside and
you say, My what a beautiful
day.
Satire:
A work that makes fun of
something or someone.
Sensory imagery:
Imagery that has to do with
something you can see, hear,
taste, smell, or feel. For example,
The stinging, salty air drenched
his face.
Simile:
A comparison that uses like or
as For example, Im as hungry
as a wolf, or My love is like a
rose.
Soliloquy:
A monologue in which a character
expresses his or her thoughts to
the audience and does not intend
the other characters to hear them.
Sonnet:
A fourteen-line poem written
iambic pentameter. Different
kinds of sonnets have different
rhyme schemes.
Stanza:
A section of poetry separated
from the sections before and
after it; a verse paragraph.
Subplot:
A line of action
secondary to the main story.
Symbolism:
The use of one things to represent
another. For example, a dove is
a symbol of peace.
Theme:
The central idea of a work.
Tone:
The authors attitude toward his or
her subject. For example, a tone
could be pessimistic, optimistic, or
angry.
Voice:
The narrative point of view
whether its in the first, second, or
third person.

Literary Writing

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