Chapter 3: Identifying Types Of Literature

Question 1

What is fiction?

Answer 1

Writing not based on real people, places, things or events. Flows naturally. Written in standard and paragraphs. Doesn’t typically rhyme and is not structured in stanzas.

Question 2

What is classic fiction?

Answer 2

Timelessly relevant. Have as much place and point today as it does 10 years from now or 100 years from now. An example of this would be the catcher and the rye.

Question 3

What is a fable?

Answer 3

Have a moral lesson. Often short and geared towards younger children. Often have animals as characters. An example would be “the tortoise and the hare”.

Question 4

What is a fairy tale?

Answer 4

Fantastical story geared towards children. Have writing theme of good vs. evil. An example would be the little mermaid.

Question 5

What is a fantasy?

Answer 5

Characterized by unworldly events or actions such as supernatural or magical beings or actions. An example would be Harry Potter.

Question 6

What is a folklore?

Answer 6

Characterized by its ties to a culture or part of the world. Often start as a story that was told through the generations put into writing and is still shared today. A good example would be babe the blue ox.

Question 7

What is a mythology?

Answer 7

Consists of stories of heroes or deities that explain the big question like how or why man and the universe exist. They are widely known and shared. An example would be a story like Zeus and his son Hercules.

Question 8

What is science fiction?

Answer 8

Ideas humans have of exploring. Things are dreamed up, like finding new worlds, traveling through time, and what may come in the future from the result of human exploration. Technology plays a role in science fiction. An example would be the Divergent Series.

Question 9

What is a short story?

Answer 9

Include all parts of a story but are condensed in length. An example would be the tell-tale heart.

Question 10

What is a drama?

Answer 10

Written with the intent of the story being acted out live.

Question 11

What is a dramatic comedy?

Answer 11

Characterized by their humor. Character’s experience happy endings and are designed to cause amusement. An example would be the taming of the shrew.

Question 12

What is a historical drama?

Answer 12

About actual events that occurred with the addition of a dramatic flair. An example would be the outlander book series.

Question 13

What is a dramatic tragedy?

Answer 13

Characterized by the death or ruin of one or more leading characters. An example would be Romeo and Juliet.

Question 14

What is a melodrama?

Answer 14

over-exaggerated emotions and boastful behaviors. Focus on real life situations or story lines and have some sort of moral point.

Question 15

What is a tragicomedy?

Answer 15

Both a comedy and a tragedy. Often have happy endings despite their dual characteristics.

Question 16

What is poetry?

Answer 16

Type of literature in which feelings, thoughts or ideas are expressed through the structure of the writing. Poetry is often written and expressed as ballads, epics, haikus, limericks, odes, and sonnets.

Question 17

What is a ballad?

Answer 17

Typically a song. A set rhythm in which the lines complement one another. Often true when the first, and third, and second and fourth lines complement each other.

Question 18

What is an epic?

Answer 18

Characterized by being much longer poem than most. These long poems tell a story of the accomplishments or valor of a hero or heroine.

Question 19

What is a haiku?

Answer 19

Japanese poetry with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third line. None of these lines are rhyming. Often focus on nature or natural elements.

Question 20

What is a limerick?

Answer 20

Only has five lines. First, second, fifth all rhyme. The third and fourth lines rhyme. Limericks are designed to be funny and quick-witted.

Question 21

What is an ode?

Answer 21

An ode uplifts, praises and compliments a person, place, thing or idea.

Question 22

What is a sonnet?

Answer 22

Written in iambic pentameter and further characterized by containing only 14 lines. Iambic pentameter has rhyming, but rhyming is usually done in smaller groups or patterns.

Question 23

What is literary nonfiction?

Answer 23

Defined as literature that are based on facts. Include but is not limited to historical events, current events, personal experiences, secondhand accounts and so on.

Question 24

What is an autobiography?

Answer 24

Writings about an individual’s personal life. They are written by the titular individual.

Question 25

What is a biography?

Answer 25

Factually based writing that are written about a person. Are not written by the person who had the experiences. They are based on the individual’s experiences are written by a secondhand account of the individual’s stories.

Question 26

What is informational literacy?

Answer 26

An be any factual information about a person, place, thing or idea. Can include travel guides, educational materials or any other material that gives information on a topic.

Question 27

What is a memoir?

Answer 27

Is like an autobiography in that it is written by a person about his or her own life memoirs are not meant to be a reporting of the events of one’s life. They are more reflective and can focus on a specific time period, event or experience in a person’s life.

Question 28

What is journalism?

Answer 28

An example of nonfiction literature. Include things like writing about sports or food guides to popular restaurants. It may be reporting the goings-on in another country, especially during difficult times or any multitude of real events.

Question 29

What is the theme individual vs. self?

Answer 29

Characterized by the main character’s self-pride, self-awareness or vanity. The character’s failure or ability to fulfill his or her own desires. The characters fate or free will, internal struggles with the self, the character’s coming of age or loss of innocence, or the characters internal struggles, loneliness, isolation or disillusion.

Question 30

What is the theme individual vs. nature?

Answer 30

Characterized by the main character or characters being tested against the elements of nature. For example, a story about passengers shipwrecked on a desert island has a clear theme of this.

Question 31

What is the theme individual vs. society?

Answer 31

Characterized by the main character or characters being tested based on their role in society, their social rise or fall, their ability to fall in line with the way things are or the ability to go their own way. Can challenge gender or social norms, push social or status boundaries or challenge injustices.

Question 32

What is the theme individual vs. individual?

Answer 32

Characterized by the main character or characters facing off against each other. Can include betraying a friend or loved one, learning to have faith, hope, or love for one another or losing those same feelings for one another, retaliation for a wrongdoing and so on.

Question 33

What is first person point of view?

Answer 33

First person is written using “I” “me” “my” “mine” “ours” “myself”

Question 34

What is the second person point of view?

Answer 34

Second person uses the word “you” “your” “yours” “yourself”

Question 35

What is the third person point of view?

Answer 35

Third person uses “they” or “them” “she” “her” “him” “he”

Question 36

What is ethos?

Answer 36

Refers to the author’s credibility

Question 37

What is logos?

Answer 37

The use of logical reasoning in literature

Question 38

What is pathos?

Answer 38

Emotional evocation through a literary work.

Question 39

What is the plot?

Answer 39

Series of events that unfold within a story. There can be a defined singular plot, or there can be a key plot with multiple subplots.

Question 40

What is the tone?

Answer 40

Either the author’s opinion on the story’s topic or the attitude with which a story is written. Emotion and mood are the key indicators of a stories tone.

Question 41

What is the setting?

Answer 41

The time and location in which a story takes place and the surroundings that the characters find themselves in.

Question 42

What is dialogue?

Answer 42

Key to both fiction and nonfiction. Takes special significance in dramas because dramas most often focus on the interactions between at least two key characters. The characters themselves, their personalities and the rhetoric they use are also important in how a story unfolds and the tone and emotion that the story takes.

Question 43

What is a universal theme?

Answer 43

Things that humans can understand and have feelings for regardless of global location, cultural differences, gender differences, ethnic differences, and other differences among individuals. Examples include birth, childhood, adolescence, adult life, aging, and death. Examples include loss, success, achievements, and failures. Life experiences are what help to create universal themes across literature.

Question 44

What is literary interpretation?

Answer 44

Literal meaning, figurative meaning, the ability to draw inferences, evidence within the text and the ability to recognize themes that are universal to all readers and authors.

Question 45

How do you find an author’s literary purpose?

Answer 45

Understand the main idea. Sometimes it can be obvious but cannot be overlooked. Other items you must look deeper. It is important to note the main idea and any supporting details.

Question 46

What is alliteration?

Answer 46

Using the same letter repeatedly. Ex. The Sunday salmon sale

Question 47

What is foreshadowing?

Answer 47

When an author drops hints or makes inferences as to what is to come but does not actually come out and say it.

Question 48

What is hyperbole?

Answer 48

Exaggeration that is not meant in a literal manner

Question 49

What is an idiom?

Answer 49

Phrases with non-literal meanings. Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs.

Question 50

What is imagery?

Answer 50

The use of descriptive terms and language to help the reader conjure a picture in their mind of what the author is thinking about.

Question 51

What is a metaphor?

Answer 51

Taking two things that are vastly different and comparing them in a way that insinuates they are similar or the same. Ex. All the world’s a stage.

Question 52

What is an Onomatopoeia?

Answer 52

The use of a sound or multiple sounds in a place of a word or multiple words. Ex. Clank and screech

Question 53

What is personification?

Answer 53

Giving animals or other inanimate objects human emotions, expressions, thoughts or feelings.

Question 54

What is a simile?

Answer 54

Characterized by the use of words that compare two or more things. Typically using like or as

Question 55

What is symbolism?

Answer 55

The use of objects and other items to symbolize feelings or ideas. Ex. Wedding bands to symbolize union.

Question 56

What is the structure of poems?

Answer 56

Follows a pattern or rhyme scene.

Question 57

What is a verse in poetry?

Answer 57

Consistent rhyme scheme within a poem.

Question 58

What is blank verse in poetry?

Answer 58

An inconsistent rhyme scheme

Question 59

What is free verse in poetry?

Answer 59

Simple an inconsistent rhyme

Question 60

What is rhyme scheme?

Answer 60

There is a pattern or flow to what is written

Question 61

What is the rhyme scheme in a ballad?

Answer 61

Line one A, line two B, line three A, line four B