Literary Terms #2

Question 0

a one-dimensional character, often revealing a single personal quality and staying the same throughout the story.

Answer 0

Flat Character

Question 1

a person, animal, thing, or natural force appearing in a lit work

Answer 1

Character

Question 2

a fully developed character who is complex, revealing several sides to his/her personality and growing and changing as the story progresses.

Answer 2

Round Character

Question 3

a character who opposes the main character or who is against the main character.

Answer 3

Antagonist

Question 4

the main character in the story.

Answer 4

Protagonist

Question 5

the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

Answer 5

Setting

Question 6

the sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.

Answer 6

Plot

Question 7

the vantage point from which a narrative is told.

Answer 7

Point of View

Question 8

the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words—use of first person pronouns
e.g., Updike‟s “The Lucid Eye in Silver Town,” is narrated by an adult who recalls an incident from his youth:
“The first time I visited New York City, I was thirteen and went with my father. I went to meet my Uncle Quin and to buy a book about Vermeer.”

Answer 8

First person

Question 9

the narrator is not a character in the story at all but is telling about the characters in the story—use of third person pronouns.

Answer 9

Third person

Question 10

narrator focuses on only one character.
e. g., Eudora Welty‟s “A Worn Path” focuses on Phoenix Jackson.

Answer 10

Third person limited

Question 11

narrator focuses on all the characters e. g., Stephen Crane‟s “The Open Boat.”

Answer 11

Third person omniscient

Question 12

The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to convey in a lit work.

Answer 12

Theme

Question 13

a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life.
e. g., “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.” ~Ben Franklin

Answer 13

Aphorism

Question 14

a book of months and days for one year with weather predictions, a wide variety of miscellaneous info, and proverbs.
e. g., Poor Richard’s Almanac ~Ben Franklin

Answer 14

Almanac

Question 15

a short, often biblical, saying that expresses a basic truth.
e. g., “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.” ~Proverbs 9:10

Answer 15

Proverb

Question 16

an inscription on a tombstone or a short poem written in memory of someone who has died.
e. g., “Lucinda Matlock”
. . . I spun, I wove, I kept the house, I nursed the sick,
I made the garden, and for holiday
Rambled over the fields where sang the larks . . . It takes life to love Life.
~Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology

Answer 16

Epitaph

Question 17

a question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer.
e. g., Patrick Henry‟s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” :
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak—unable to cope with so formidable an
adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?”

Answer 17

Rhetorical Question

Question 18

the use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary in structure or in meaning.
e. g., Walt Whitman‟s “Beat! Beat! Drums!”
Beat! Beat! Drums!—Blow! Bugles! Blow!
Make no parley—Stop for no expostulation
Mind not the timid—Mind not the weeper or prayer Mind not the old man beseeching the young man . . .

Answer 18

Parrellelism

Question 19

repetition of words, sounds, or phrases for effect—a sound device in poetry.
e. g., Edgar Allan Poe‟s “The Raven” :
. . . Quoth the Raven, „Nevermore.‟ . . . With such name as „Nevermore‟ . . . Then the bird said, „Nevermore‟ . . . Of „Never—nevermore.‟

Answer 19

Repetition