Literary Terms Flashcards
What is the Authors Purpose?
The author’s reason for writing.
Ex. Gettysburg - Dedicate the cemetery and reunite the nation.
What Are Rhetorical Devices?
Figurative Language such as repetition or parallelism to effect an audience.
Ex. Gettysburg - Parallelism: “we cannot…” and “… the people.”
What is Symbolism?
An object, person, or place that stands for something else.
Ex. Gettysburg - The battlefield symbolizes a grave.
What is Theme?
The underlying message that the author wants the reader to understand.
Ex. Gettysburg - Reunification
What is an Inference?
A prediction; logical assumption.
Ex. Gettysburg - (People) Unity - one nation divided will not stand.
What is Parallelism?
A pattern of words or sentence structure.
Ex. Gettysburg - “we cannot…” ; “… the people.”
What is Repetition?
Repeating a sound or word for emphasis.
Ex. Gettysburg - Nation, dedicate, war, lives/life.
What is Text Structure?
The arrangement of the story; novel, poem, essay.
Ex. Gettysburg - Speech
What is a Simile?
Comparing one thing to another of a different kind.
Ex. They fought like cats and dogs.
What is Supporting Textual Evidence?
Material that serves to prove a claim.
Ex. Specific page/line numbers from the text.
What is a Metaphor?
Comparing two things by stating one is the other.
Ex. Her tears were a river.
What is a Claim/Point of View?
The writer’s position on an issue or problem.
What is Mood?
The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for a reader.
Ex. - Censors: An anxious mood. “Only his darling mother worried , but she couldn’t get him back on the right road.”
What is Foreshadowing?
A writer’s use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in the story.
Ex. Censors - Juan is going to intercept the letter that he wrote to Mariana.
What is an Extended Metaphor?
A figure of speech that compares two essentially unlike things at some length in several ways.
