LITERARY TERMS LIST 1: THE BASICS

Question 1

subject

Answer 1

what a story is about

Question 2

theme

Answer 2

the central idea argued by a writer in a literary work, underlies the central conflict and all other literary elements of the work

Question 3

conflict

Answer 3

a struggle between opposing forces

Question 4

external conflict

Answer 4

pits a character against another character, society, nature or some other entity

Question 5

internal conflict

Answer 5

pits a character against him/herself

Question 6

protagonist

Answer 6

the character who undergoes the central conflict

- not a hero

Question 7

antagonist

Answer 7

the person or force that opposes the protagonist

Question 8

characterization

Answer 8

the way the writer reveals the personalities of the characters

Question 9

direct characterization

Answer 9

when personality or feeling are told through an absent statement

Question 10

indirect characterization

Answer 10

when personality or feelings are shown through and must be inferred from a character’s concrete actions, speech or physical traits, or revealed through other characters’ actions to the character

Question 11

setting

Answer 11

the time and place in which the events of a story occur

Question 12

point of view

Answer 12

the perspective from which a writer tells a story

Question 13

first-person point of view

Answer 13

told by a character in the story, using “I”

Question 14

third-person point of view

Answer 14

told by a narrator who does not participate in the story

Question 15

dramatic third-person narration

Answer 15

the narrator simply reports what the characters say and do

Question 16

omniscient third-person narrator

Answer 16

all knowing, narrator can report the inward thoughts and feelings of the characters

Question 17

irony

Answer 17

a form of contrast

Question 18

dramatic irony

Answer 18

the audience or reader knows something a character doesn’t

Question 19

verbal irony

Answer 19

when someone says one thing but means another

Question 20

situational irony

Answer 20

what happens is the opposite of what would normally be expected or appropriate under the circumstances

Question 21

foreshadowing

Answer 21

a writer’s use of clues to suggest something that will happen later in the story

Question 22

symbol

Answer 22

something in a work of literature that an author uses to represent something else

Question 23

motif

Answer 23

a recurring element in a work of literature

Question 24

epiphany

Answer 24

a moment of sudden revelation or insight

Question 25

imagery

Answer 25

language used to represent a sensory experience

Question 26

literal image

Answer 26

imagery that attempts to recreate an object or experience realistically

Question 27

figurative language (figure of speech)

Answer 27

non-literal language used to express an idea

Question 28

metaphor

Answer 28

a figure of speech that makes a non-literal comparison of unlike things

Question 29

simile

Answer 29

a type of metaphor that uses “like”, “as”, or “than”

Question 30

personification

Answer 30

a figure of speech giving human attributes to an animal, object or idea

Question 31

allusion

Answer 31

a reference to something in literature, film, religion, or history

Question 32

diction

Answer 32

the choice and placement of words

Question 33

denotation

Answer 33

basic, literal, or primary meaning of a word

Question 34

connotation

Answer 34

the ideas or feelings a word invokes in addition to its denotation

Question 35

syntax

Answer 35

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences

Question 36

tone

Answer 36

the author or speaker’s attitude towards the subject